LC 2011 English SOS

surfergirl92

Hey there, I know it's early but I was just wondering can anybody help me with english higher level....notes and structure of answers etc. Our english teacher doesnt show us how to answer questions etc he just expects us to grasp the concept.I got an A for JC in Honours so Im very dissapointed that Im not doing well in english well according to my teacher!!Your help would be much appreciated

JayEnnis

Give us a chance to get over our own exams first haha!

Chuchoter

Change teacher. You can't learn the whole LC by yourself.

irish_man

go to the leeson street 5th year revision course for all your English needs.
i think theres one in August.

surfergirl92

I can't change teacher,there is only one honours class in our school.Leeson Street...is that a summer camp revision thing?haha yeah I know its early but I want to be prepared and confident in my writing again!:p

wayhey

At least you've identified it, most people don't realise til the mocks! "Leeson St." is The Institute of Education on Leeson Street near Stephen's Green in Dublin... it's great, Cian Hogan is an amazing teacher there.

I got a book for the exams called "New English Key Notes Leaving Certificate 2010- Higher Level" by Tony Lake, published by Mentor. Should be able to get the new one in a decent schoolbook shop. It's a great book- poem-by-poem analysis, sample answers on poets, scene-by-scene analysis on the Shakespeare play, its themes and characters, some sample comparatives (probably won't match yours but still well worth the money!). If I'm repeating it'll be the first thing I buy

To be honest you can really improve your poety answers by reading as much analysis as you can I think...

sabrinaspelman

For paper 1 just practice practice practice. Read newspapers, topical magazines etc.

Paper 2 know your texts inside out. I have a friend who despises english but can answer a question on Hamlet or the comparitive really well just by studying the texts over and over.

ihavequestions

can I just say.... ITS SUMMER!!!
Sorry I'm not trying to be rude!
What I wouldn't give to not have to worry about school stuff! (from5pm tomorrow I wont be )
Just relax, read a few books over the summer and everything will fall into place in Sept!

surfergirl92

Wahey thank you for your insight into Leeson St.I might consider it,however it is pretty pricey!I will defitnetly look into that book.

I have been reading a lot more over these last few weeks,I can see how it helps the flow of language and building up vocab etc. but i really just need an efficient way to learn how to answer the questions.I can learn off quotes etc all i like but i need to know how to mould the information i have obtained and sculpy it into a lc answer.The worst thing is my teacher doesnt tell me where i went wrong or how to fix it.He just says u'll get there.

Hey Im well aware its summer and I am relaxed and not worrying...I'm just using my freetime to organise some sort of plan for next year as I know English is now one of my weaker subjects i really need to be prepared and know what I'm doing because my teacher doesnt!So :p:D

Keep the suggestions coming please!Thanks for all the replies so far :D:)

surfergirl92

Btw congrats on nearly finishing your lc

ihavequestions

Thank you
Your one to watch for the 600 points next year I'd say

surfergirl92

haha thanks Im aiming for 500 range. What subjects you doing?

ihavequestions

I'm a repeat so dropped Irish , but I do honors Eng,Physics,Bio,Spa,H.EC,Con St and pass maths!
What subjects you doing?

fairyprincessx

I know how you feel, when I went into 5th year history after getting an A in the JC I felt awful that I'd suddenly become the c/d student. But I learned that practise practise practise is the key, and now I hope I got a B1/A2 in history.

It's the same with English. Read as much as you can, I always find John Steinbeck and Jane Austen good. Develop your own style, if you think you'll be good at personal essays start keeping a diary (don't just record the events, anaylse/respond to them), there's no 'proper' way to write a personal essay, just keep it completely to the point and totally about me, myself and I .

For Paper 2 do essay after essay after essay, its the only way I'm afraid! After each essay write out the main points/quotes on a flashcard, and learn these. That way, you learn the information as well as practising the essay writing.

Even if there's only one HL class would there be another teacher who could correct work for you? If you asked nicely I'm sure they'd be happy to help you! Good luck, you will get there!

surfergirl92

Cool,always wanted to learn Spanish:) but wasnted offered in my school.:mad:I am doing honours Bio,Chem,Eng,Irish,DCG,Construction,Dutch(outside of school as Im dutch) and Im dropping to Pass maths as the effort of honours isnt worth it for me.:cool:

Thank you for all your advice but will that really teach me the structure of answers..I mean i could write all the essays i want but they could be utter shiiite!I know all the writing would help and reading helps too but does it really help with the stucture?:pBecause I think it's my structure and formation of answers is letting me down...!

I think I'll purchase English Key notes 2011 and shortcut english essay writing...anyone recommend any other english self help books?:)

Jane Auston hmmm does she write interesting books?I used to love reading when I was 12...kinda stopped and got into a lot of sports so id need something interesting to read to grab my attention!A diary oooo i like the idea of writing responses on my daily events but would hate the idea my mind is captured on paper and avaible to read for some nosey people lol.:pac:

Also the english teachers are all good friends so be kinda a bad idea as they are like bff lol.The other teacher is a legend and is awesome at explaining etc.Damn i wish i had him!He teaches pass,typical!

lc2010

surfergirl92 wrote: »

I think I'll purchase English Key notes 2011 and shortcut english essay writing...anyone recommend any other english self help books?:)

That shortcut to success is sh!t!!! Just get key notes.

The key is to know your info inside out and just practice I hate to say it but trust your teacher, you'll come right after a bit of practice!!!:cool:

Good luck! I dont envy in the slightest!!!!

sheep-go-baa

I've more of a mathsy brain so i always found it helpful to think of english in a more logical way. Like when writing a speech I would think about the techniques, short sentences, rhetorical questions and the like. Then I'd make a conscious effort to use them. I mean that's what purpose (under PCLM marking scheme) is all about.
Obviously to get it to flow more you need to be reading yourself and all that but you can break it down to the basics. Don't just put pen to paper and keep writing, give it thought and structure.
Dunno if that helps, my 2c anyway

surfergirl92

haha trust my teacher,now that is a frikin scary taught!I dont think I trust him to do that,I've lost faith in him really!Okay thanks for the advice on the books!I HAD a lingo flowy and mathsy head...dont mean to sound vein but i am pretty good academically in all subjects so its just frustrating that without the right guidance my future wont be as bright as it could be!But thanks for your input :) Keep the suggestions coming

EuropeanSon

surfergirl92 wrote: »

haha trust my teacher,now that is a frikin scary taught!I dont think I trust him to do that,I've lost faith in him really!Okay thanks for the advice on the books!I HAD a lingo flowy and mathsy head...dont mean to sound vein but i am pretty good academically in all subjects so its just frustrating that without the right guidance my future wont be as bright as it could be!But thanks for your input :) Keep the suggestions coming

Not at spelling, obviously.

Your future is what you make it. Everyone has some bad teachers, the top students are the ones who overcome that, which I'm sure you'll be able to do with enough work.

surfergirl92

hahaha yeah *vain oops :cool:

I thank you for your encouragement..Just it's hard to see yourself where you go wrong and how to judge your own work.But I will try my hardest..I need a B of some sort to get the points for the course I want!

EuropeanSon

In English, one of the most important things, in everything except the essay, is relevence. Just keep asking yourself "does what I just wrote in some way address the question?". Avoiding waffle is very important. That's the best way, IMO, to judge your own work.

Best of luck to you!

toto14

hey i know what you mean about the bad teacher in english situation...i was the same in fifth year but i moved schools for 6th (not just for that reason) and i was blessed to have a very good english teacher and i somehow managed to turn things around in a year and i feel very confident about my english exam in both papers.

What everyone else is saying is quite true...practice practice practice...but for both paper make sure you have a structure flowing in your answer and ALWAYS make sure it relates to the question.
Brush up on styles and techniques recognisable as this is very handy for paper one and analysis of your work for paper 2. Practice strong introductions and conclusions for paper 1 and i cannot stress enough how important it is to have as much CURRENT media case studies as possible down cos i guarantee it will make your essay stand out.

Paper 2 just know your single text inside out and be able to describe themes/characters in as many different words as possible so you dont have a lot of repitition in your answer. And know LOADS of quotes now...it will make life easier! Make out mind maps (LIFESAVERS!!) on characters and themes nd use a thesaurus or something to improve your vocab for describing them. For poetry know the styles and all (SLITS-T...Style Language Imagery Theme Symoblism - Tone) for each poem and incorporate as much relevant backround info as possble once its relevant to the question....also with poetry its quite handy to be able to relate the poems/poets to today and try and universalise their themes etc. i know a lot of teachers say you need like 6 poems in your answer but my teacher (who i would seriously trust on this) adviced we only need 4 at most and can easily get away with analysing 3 poems for each poet. For comparative know what your modes mean nd what questions can come up on them.

Basically i would say if you really wana brush up on things before september...go onto examinations.ie and get like an english exam paper and practice questions nd allow yourself a little over the time limit at first but keep working towards the timeline....timing is KEY in both papers so whilst practicing your technique try and improve that too.

You have plenty of time and fair play to ya for acknowledging your weaknesses and trying to improve on them...ESPECIALLY during summer haha! Youll get there no doubt...trust me if i can do it...ANYONE CAN! haha

oh what comparatives are doing just out of curiousity??

(P.S sorry if that was really long...i have a tendancy to rant!)

surfergirl92

Okay thank you for that detailed advice. So far all I've learned about poetry answers is to keep each paragraph with one point. Do the Point,Quote,Explain. For the structure Introduction then paragraphs of p,q,e. then a conclusion at the end which is basically rephrasing the intro most of the time!I would move school if I had more problems with other teachers but its just the english!All the other teachers rock :'D

I asked my eng teacher to write out a sample answer and he got really thick and exclaimed that it wont help or something along does lines.I've been aware english was slipping since about yeah when i knew who my teacher was I had him for another subject for jc,I got a D in that subject thanks to his guidance and explaining the papers.

No,I like detailed answers!:D Our comparitives are Lies Of Silence,Dancing At Lunasa and Il Postino.They are relativly simple to understand and easy to compare etc. but like i said my structure just isnt there...my answers tend to be all over the shop.That's what I've noticed myself.Im hoping this book Key to Sucess will help!

I taught I structured my summer exam answers. I done an intro then i compared the 2 texts so far that we done and choose similarities one paragraph and alternated with differences.Then I done a conclusion.That was the bones of my answer which was about 2.5 a4 pages long. The poetry we only got a question on a poet write a personal response and i wrote of all the stuff he uses like symbolis,.senses,imagery and how i like it and how it is universal but i got a lousy 45% percent!I taught I wrote a atleast 60% answer.Grrr. Keep the suggestions coming!!:D;)

irish_man

What about grinds?
there has to be a good grinds teacher near you.

I got grinds all last year and it helped me a load especially as my teacher was a joke. My grinds teacher gave us essays that got top marks already in the leaving cert and I just learnt them off. No hassle with writing out essays.

surfergirl92

Hmm grinds,I might consider one or two.I've never looked into grinds so I wouldnt know if there is any good grinds availble!