hL English advice needed

CookieMonster.x

I'm in 5th year at the moment preparing for summer exams. I need help with English. I used to get As all the time (Junior Cert) but all through 5th year I've gotten Bs with the exception of a few As. For our summer test, we are having a question a and b comprehension, unseen poetry, studied poetry, Macbeth, comparative and a composition. We've only done 2 conprehensions (no question Bs though), one personal essay, a poetry essay and a comparative essay. We haven't done any essays on Macbeth and haven't looked at question B or unseen poetry. My teacher doesn't tell us how we can improve or how to structure or begin our essays or work. I'm always stuck for what to say. Until this year, I'd never written an essay in secondary school and I still don't know how to write one properly.
Can anyone guide me on how to approach any or all aspects of the paper? While I have been getting Bs all this year, I completely stress myself out about exams and so in the exam I will most likely not get a B. I'd love to get a B or even an A as I know I'm capable of it, I just need some guidance.
Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it.

Stewie Griffin

You're getting all that in your summer test? Sure that's the entire exam in the LC! 6 hours and 10 mins. worth!

You're sure you're getting all that?

Chuchoter

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. I was like yourself, always an A student at Junior cert but only average in 5th year. Its because the style they want is such a drastic leap. You'll have it back up to As by 6th year, but in the interval, refer back to the question in every single paragraph ie ANSWER THE QUESTION.
After that, try and link your paragraphs together like if you were talking about the self in terms of Plath, you could then lead into motherhood and family were big issues in her sense of self-next paragraph. Also, minimum 5/6 poems in a poetry essay, deal by theme not by poem.
As for the comparative, don't delve into anything, you want to be like a comparison tornado. Get as close to 20 comparisons in an essay as possible.

PictureFrame

CookieMonster.x wrote: »

I'm in 5th year at the moment preparing for summer exams. I need help with English. I used to get As all the time (Junior Cert) but all through 5th year I've gotten Bs with the exception of a few As. For our summer test, we are having a question a and b comprehension, unseen poetry, studied poetry, Macbeth, comparative and a composition. We've only done 2 conprehensions (no question Bs though), one personal essay, a poetry essay and a comparative essay. We haven't done any essays on Macbeth and haven't looked at question B or unseen poetry. My teacher doesn't tell us how we can improve or how to structure or begin our essays or work. I'm always stuck for what to say. Until this year, I'd never written an essay in secondary school and I still don't know how to write one properly.
Can anyone guide me on how to approach any or all aspects of the paper? While I have been getting Bs all this year, I completely stress myself out about exams and so in the exam I will most likely not get a B. I'd love to get a B or even an A as I know I'm capable of it, I just need some guidance.
Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it.

That's a MASSIVE amount to get in one exam. I remember (weirdly) our 5th year Summer Exam. We had a Character Question on Hamlet, Adrienne Rich Essay and a speech in 1.5 hours

Corruptedmorals

That's an enormous amount of content for a summer test. I reckon it's to test your ability to write ****loads under time pressure, as that is what paper 2 is all about.

I wouldn't worry overly much about your grades. I myself was very steady in English but not brilliant. I got a C in the JC, B's all through 5th and 6th year...never one of the favourites. Got a C in the mocks but I worked hard all year through and I got the A1 in the leaving and none of the favourites did.

All of the paper 2 compositions are testing your ability to fit the content to your theme. Introduce your theme, fit it loosely into the content. Then methodically work through it, point by point, using quotes to back up your point and/or that particular facet of the point.

For example, Macbeth. Did it myself in 2007. A popular question would be something along the lines of kingship/power. It's a great one to use, and one can be altered easily to fit the other. So for kingship you would be talking about the three kings present in the play and how their power is used for good/evil and how it effects the kingdom. Working your way through, everything rosy in Duncan's kingdom and everyone happy, then how Macbeth's reign corrupts everything..animal kingdom, unnatural occurences, Lady Macbeth's end etc. and then in the end, righteousness restored and everything back to normal again. Power is the same, except with more of an emphasis on corruption and less of an emphasis on Duncan and Malcolm's reigns. Try bullet-pointing it, and then get your relevant quotes and stick them into your plan. E-xamit should have samples also to use.

CookieMonster.x

Thanks for your help! Yep, I'm correct, we are having all that for summer! We're having 2 papers.
We're preparing a comparative essay atm and ny teacher says we should see the outline of our essay but I don't have a clue.
Just wondering, what do you when you mean for poetry, write by theme and not by poem? I think I know what you mean but I don't know how to do it, how to put it together well.
Unfortunately I can't use examit as I have other papers. My sister had edco before but the codes are year specific so I can't. Does anyone know where I can get good sample essays? I'm not looking to copy, any topic/poet/comparative woul do as I'd just like to see how a good one looks and how it's structured.
Thanks again.

0mega

I'm in 5th year at the moment and I have no idea how you've got all that covered in one year..

:eek:

CookieMonster.x

0mega wrote: »

I'm in 5th year at the moment and I have no idea how you've got all that covered in one year..

:eek:

We've done 2 poets, 2 of our comparatives, Macbeth and 2 conprehensions. Now much though really when it's listed!