Revising for English GCSE

[Conspiracy.]

How on earth could I revise for an English exam? :| I have one on Tuesday and I don't know what to do. I've read my "how to write a formal and informal letter" notes, my persuasive writing notes and my comprehension notes. Other than all the things I've mentioned I don't know what to do. We will have a comprehension exam at 9:30am and a writing exam (which will more than likely be a letter) at 10:30am.

[Chippiewill]

Have you tried practising? Because that's the best thing to do.

[MKR&*42]

How on earth could I revise for an English exam? :| I have one on Tuesday and I don't know what to do. I've read my "how to write a formal and informal letter" notes, my persuasive writing notes and my comprehension notes. Other than all the things I've mentioned I don't know what to do. We will have a comprehension exam at 9:30am and a writing exam (which will more than likely be a letter) at 10:30am.

I think I have the same exam as you? English Language - year 11? If so, I am absolutely dying over it - this 1 exam is dependant upon 2 of my college courses and if I don't achieve a "strong" B, then I have to kiss Philosophy and Lavv goodbye :l

Anyvvay, I think Chippievvill has already provided good advice. Just do a simple practise and try to make sure that your timings are fine... time is your vvorst enemy in an exam lol. If you are doing the year 11, I'd try and find out about "VVriting to advise" and "VVriting to argue" if you don't knovv about that.

:P x

[Conspiracy.]

I'm actually 20 :') I'm re-sitting maths and English now due to my poor attendance it school (due to health problems) I think it's the same exam as year 11's though.

I'll just have to practise writing stories/letters/whatever D:

I'm pooping myself :(

[kuzkasate]

English Language is piss easy! I get an A* in the exam last year, but what I would do if I were you is pick one or two things you'll want to do, e.g writing to persuade and writing to argue or whatever. I'd say pick the easiest two, I say two and not one because if you spend all your time practising and preparing for one and the question turns out to be terrible, it'll be harder to achieve a good grade whereas if you pick two and focus and revise those then you have a choice of what to pick, depending on which question you find easier. Remember, the main thing is to use ALL the techniques needed for that specific area, if I were you I'd choose writing to persuade simply because it has loads of techniques and you can easily use them all and get more marks. It doesn't matter what question it is, the techniques never change. The techniques for writing to persuade/argue are quite similar:

- Rhetorical Questions
- Emotive Language
- Sound patterns (alliteration and assonance and all that stuff)
- Description and imagery (that's all stuff on metaphors, similies, personification)
- The rule of three
- Repetition
- Hyperbole
- Maybe even throw in an anecdote

Also, don't forget about the audience - it's very important when you write, that you consider the audience and of course the form e.g letter, newspaper article etc. Another very simple, yet very effective thing that will easily pick marks up is the use of discourse markers. Examiners LOVE them, because it shows you know exactly what you're talking about and also helps your ideas flow so the reader can follow your argument. Some examples are below:

- Furthermore
- Nevertheless
- Undoubtedly
- Unquestionably
- Obviously
- Therefore
- On the other hand
- However
- To conclude
- As you can see

If you choose writing to argue, it'll be great if you followed the 'argument, counter argument - SMASH' structure. Basically, that just means make your point (make sure its valid and concise) - give a counter argument for e.g 'However, other people believe that...' and then SMASH their argument. Also try to give a variation of sentence structures (long, short) but the most important thing you must do, is back up what ever you say, remember it doesn't have to be true you can make it up! Think of the examiner as an idiot, you can't just make a point you have to explain it and support it with relevant details.

Make sure you sound confident! Depending on what you're going to write about, throw in some statistics - make them up as long as they're related to what you're talking about and they're reasonable! Also make sure you use commands if appropriate for e.g 'You must quit smoking' (must is the command and you can insert a nice statistic after that as well)

Now, in writing to persuade to get the best marks, it's easier to follow this structure:

Opening Paragraph:

Engage or grab your reader's attention straight away!
State why you are writing.
Involve your reader by using 'you', 'we' - this will definitely get you a lot of marks.
State why you have the authority to write on this topic and that you are reasonable and trustworthy.
Mention an outcome both of you would endorse.
Use a rhetorical question.
Choose your words carefully

Central Paragraphs:
This is the main part of your writing! Here is where you would use the argument, counter argument, SMASH structure. Some other tips I'd like to give you is make sure that all your ideas link, use connectives etc. This is the part where you would use all those techniques! Also remember to have a variety of punctuation and if you're not sure about how to use some e.g I always struggled on semi-colons then just leave them out, don't use them!

Conclusion:


Aim to finish strongly,positively and interestingly.
Restate your viewpoint in an interesting way - express it slightly differently from the way you did in your first paragraph.
Emphasise again only briefly, why your view is worthy of close consideration.
Make sure your reader knows precisely what you would like to happen next. This might be a discussion, a compromise... you decide.
If appropriate to your audience and purpose, end with an emotional plea.

Last of all, it may seem stupid but read over what you write! I know it's something nobody really does and they hate doing but trust me, you will lose a few marks if you don't. Follow this and you'll smash that exam! Of course, if you have any questions you want to ask, maybe you're unsure of some of the techniques, how to use them or anything else - feel free to PM me and I'd love to help! :D But practising is the key, especially with the comprehension! I've not mentioned that at all in my post, but again if you have any questions about comprehensions then I'd love to help.

Lastly, I think you should watch the video below, the guy who makes them is called mrbruff and he's just amazing! He's actually a consultant and basically teaches teachers, what to teach us if that makes sense :P But seriously he's great, have a look at some of his videos - he's got around 90 and obviously not all would apply to you but he's got some great stuff about English Language, click here (http://www.youtube.com/user/mrbruff) for his channel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2r4bkqgjM

[Conspiracy.]

Thank you so much <3 I've read everything you just said and I'll write most of those points down :) I'll watch that video now :D :D <3

[Choco]

I've just had my English exam, and i just revised quotes from passages, it did me really well! i think I've passed. :)

[kuzkasate]

Thank you so much <3 I've read everything you just said and I'll write most of those points down :) I'll watch that video now :D :D <3

No worries, glad to be of use :P But I do highly recommend his videos! If you do have any questions, drop me a PM and I'll get back to you asap :D Oh another big thing you need to consider is timing! Timing is vital, don't spend too long on one section, don't spend too long planning etc, manage your time well - I never had a problem with it but a lot of my friends did, so I guess you just need to practise to get it right. Good luck!

[Conspiracy.]

I had my exam today :) It wasn't as terrible as I thought. I watched that guy's videos and they were helpful ^____^ I COULD pass, I'll just wait and see :P

Thanks anyway.

[Jssy]

I did the exam and it wasn't too bad

[Conspiracy.]

What board are you with? I'm with WJEC

[MKR&*42]

What board are you with? I'm with WJEC

I did it as well, I'm positive I was with AQA for English.

I found it quite easy tbh, a bit tedious but I loved it - especially the final section <3. Also, thanks for the video Arfar; babes.

[kuzkasate]

I did it as well, I'm positive I was with AQA for English.

I found it quite easy tbh, a bit tedious but I loved it - especially the final section <3. Also, thanks for the video @Arfar (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=50462); babes.

No worries :P Hope you did well! Best of luck for when your results come through, not that you need it!

[Conspiracy.]

Did you have the question on TV Talent Shows? and the boy who was a ballet dancer?

[MKR&*42]

Did you have the question on TV Talent Shows? and the boy who was a ballet dancer?

No :P Here was our q. layout:

1a) Language question about an event in "Of Mice & Men".
1b) Comparing the 1st part ^, to a different part of the novel - and picking out the language features used there.

2. We could either choose to write about i) An article for a teenage website about "Personal Safety" or ii) Your response to a news article stating that "Mobile phones are essential to modern life".

1a was quite.. weird IMO. They based the language around the "atmosphere" as opposed to a character, which is what most of us expected to appear. 1b. was fine. I chose to do number 2ii) and loved it ^_^

[Conspiracy.]

Ah, we had completely different papers then. A lot of people struggled with timing with Question 2 (paper 1) with the WJEC paper. I finished paper 1 with 2 minutes left :P