English

chickens

Hi, I just wanted to ask a question about the higher and pass course for the leaving cert. I've been doing to higher course until now and i've covered the main text, the comparsion and 3 poets and I was wondering about pass. I know that with subjects like maths its on the day that you cna change and do the paper but is the english course the same in the both levels?

I also wanted to ask about the marking scheme, my english teacher grades my paper with some system e.g so many makrks for language, for comperision (comertension?), actually point. Now i was wondering if it is like that in the leaving cert? my teacher is careful she does not let the fact that I use simple language affect any grade section appart from language but I am affraid that the teacher who is correcting my work will see that I alwasy write like this (or with a little worse grammer if I'm nervous) and I can never can get the short words that people on the internet can use like u=you (well I get that one) and i was really worried if this will really effect my mark. Also final questuon, my writing, it is very slanted the wrong way and I am afraid it wil make me lose marks beacause it is not clear.

Thank you for reading this, I hope you can help.

DawnMc

The marking schemes are available at www.examinations.ie
I would strongly suggest doing the higher paper as I believe there isn't much of a difference between the two.
Teachers encourage students to sit pass papers far too easily

angeldelight

DawnMc wrote:

I would strongly suggest doing the higher paper as I believe there isn't much of a difference between the two.
Teachers encourage students to sit pass papers far too easily

I'm sorry but for English there is quite a difference in the standard expected. There are some different poets. There are also different texts on the courses. You don't have to do a Shakespearean text for OL. Speak to your teacher about it.

As for the marking scheme there's marks for language and mechanics. Mechanics are spelling, punctuation etc. Only 5% of each question is mechanics though.

As for your writing you have 9 months to try and make it more legible! Do try, no point throwing away marks

chickens

Thank you for your help. Sinc you have explained to me that there are different texts them I shall deffinitly not go down to pass! It took so long to understand Pride and Prejudice I wouldn never do that again!

Thank you fro the marking schemes, as long as there is a seperated mark for language I will be fine, I can make a point but just not with long words!

newgrange

I really do not mean to disillusion you, but you will have to improve your English substantially if your posts are anything to go on. What sort of grades are you getting at Higher Level at the moment?

For Higher Level English, you cannot afford to have many spelling or grammatical errors - if you have, you will lose a large number of marks. For Ordinary Level, there is a set amount of marks docked for poor spelling and grammar, but for Higher Level, they really expect a different standard of language use and sophistication.

Illegible handwriting is something you need to improve for life, not just the Leaving Cert.

defiantshrimp

As far as I remember from people who dropped to pass all the honours texts are on the pass course but pass has a few extra texts. The poetry is different but is printed on the paper I think. So you should have no trouble dropping from higher level

Shyster

From what I can see OP, your english has improved greatly from what it was even a few months ago when you started posting here, so you should be able for the higher paper.
Obviously, your own teacher will know your standard better than any of us here, but if it's any help... most teachers cover the pass course in the honours class anyway so if you changed to pass late in the year you wouldnt need to worry about covering extra material, good luck!

chickens

Thank you Shyster! I've started to notice the difference myself!

Newgrange, that is exactly what I am worried about, at the moment I would probably get near A/B for ideas or B for compertension but well the language would be more like an F! it is the lack of seperation that I think will be the problem! The sophistication is the part that I think I have most trouble, I can now do most of the tenses and my spelling is passable (thanks to an excellent language class!) but most of my words I am learning from the tele, and well, not to discredit but I am not sure that coronation street and heartbeat have exactly the level of sophistication that I need! I am trying to listen to BBC4 lately, once I understand the accent I am sure I will learn mush better words, but would you have any advice? is there any smart people programs that i could watch to pick up words?

Thank you defiantshrimp, I thknk I will ask my teacher about the extra books and such, but to learn the higher texts were so much trouble I am not sure I could manage the ordinary ones again!

As for my teacher, she is a nice woman, but I am not sure she is exactly much help, she seems to believe that i am deeply dyslexic (despite what seems like hundreds of fancy tests)and that the fact that I only started to learn english a few years ago has no bearing on my language skills!

newgrange

If English is not your first language, the person correcting your paper will be aware of this, as your school should have informed the Department. The corrector will make some allowance for this, but it will not be enough to overcome any substantial difficulties with grammar and spelling.

If your teacher thinks you are dyslexic, remember there are a number of special arrangements that can be made in exams for people with what the Department classes as 'disabilities', so if they want to say you are dyslexic and offer extra help available because of it on the day of the exam, I would take up their offer.

In terms of improving your English, you could read quality newspapers and magazines that use a higher level of English - for example 'The Irish Times' newspaper, or 'The Times' from the UK, or similar magazines. Most TV programmes are 'dumbed down' for a general audience, but again, you could watch things like the Channel Four News, and 'Newsnight' on BBC - they will feature more in-depth reports and discussions.

You should also make it clear to your English-speaking friends that you will not be offended if they correct your English. Sometimes, Irish people do not like to criticise others to their face, and sometimes feel it would be rude to point it out if you make an error, so make sure they know you WANT them to help you improve. Where you come across a phrase you do not understand, ask them to explain it.

One other thing your teacher can do is to help you be absolutely clear on the sort of language used in examination papers. Be very clear, for example, about the meaning of words such as 'influenced', 'discuss', 'describe' and all the other words used in questions. Most people who do badly in exams do so because they fail to answer the question asked, and you need to be absolutely sure you understand what you are being asked. There are some subtle differences in certain terms, so ask your teacher to go through every question on the papers for the past five years or so, and make sure she feels you know exactly what was being asked. I can't stress how important this is, for native speakers as well. Read sample 'A' standard answers, to get an idea of the language used.

For the texts, if you had difficulty reading them in English, there is no reason why you could not also read them in your first language, so that you understand the plot and characters fully.

I applaud your attempts to take the Higher Level paper after learning English for such a short time. Remember if it does not work out this time, and you take the Ordinary Level Paper, you can always take the Higher Level paper at another time.

chickens

Unfortunatly I don't actually appear to be dyslexic! all the test say that while my spelling is cretainly not the strongest point it is a lack of knowledge and not dsylexia.

It is a good idea to try and get the books but I'm not sure how many shops in Ireland (or even on the internet) would sell copys!

I will try to read the irish times more often, we get it most days but I often only read the front page!

Thank you for telling me about those words in the papers, from what i have looked trough it would be very easy to just think they are all very the same, I will ask as soon as I get back!