Advanced Englishhhh Help: how to study (1 Viewer)

[MJ23]

Hi Im a long time listener first time poster LOL I always wanted to say that!
Ummmm this is an extremely general question but how do you study for English?
I am getting alot of mixed signals about what to do:
a) Should I memorise my essays and then adapt it to the question
b) Should i memorise quotes, technqiues and meanings and then make up my essay in the exam?
Your help would be much appreciated

 

[simplistic]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

option B is the best .. you wnt be tempted to write a wrote learned essay then in the exam allowing to to actually answer the question

 

[MJ23]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

Arghhhhh! Everyone is saying that and i think im gonna cryyyy! My language is overly simplistic and i think im really bad at english which is why i was considering option a.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! This thing is MAD!

 

[noir.]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

a) Should I memorise my essays and then adapt it to the question
b) Should i memorise quotes, technqiues and meanings and then make up my essay in the exam?
Your help would be much appreciated

Yes. you should be memorising essays that you'll be able to adapt to a number of questions. make sure it's broad. memorising essays however doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a sound knowledge on your texts. as well as memorising, go over techniques, quotes and analysis'

 

[starrysky]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

Yes. you should be memorising essays that you'll be able to adapt to a number of questions. make sure it's broad. memorising essays however doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a sound knowledge on your texts. as well as memorising, go over techniques, quotes and analysis'

What she said. A combination of both is most desirable; memorise key quotes, techniques, and how to link them to whatever journey/module you're studying, and then have broad-ranging essays which essentially communicate your ideas but which are flexible enough to help you so that you don't get thrown by any questions they might ask.

 

[morganforrest]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

I like doing a mixture of both. Essentially you should have a skeleton essay plan filled with quotes/techniques etc that are memorised. Then you can insert key words from the question as padding around this skeleton. I find this works particularly well for modules when the questions can be extremely broad and its difficult to write a broad yet specific enough essay that you can just memorise. Remember to put these skills into practice. Once you've memorised your skeleton, throw about ten past questions into a hat, pull one out and do it in 40 minutes. That way you'll know where you're at and whether you can make your skeleton a little more specific, or if it needs to be broader etc

For Area of Study though, your questions are pretty much going to be about assumptions, greater understanding or obstacles so I don't necessarily think it would be so bad to memorise a broad essay that you can adapt and it definitely wouldn't be a bad idea to memorise your creative writing piece.

 

[MJ23]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

Thank you all soooo much! You have been extremely helpful and I really am grateful because i kind of struggle with english, and i guess its my worst subject mainly because i hate it so much!
I was looking at the past papers and the marking notes and alot of them said "weaker responses included those who used a preplanned essay" which is why i fraked out a little. Also the questions in last years paper as well as the years before had alot of inclusive questions which ask for your personal response. And we have been taught never to include your personal judgement of the text by using words like 'i' and 'my'.
Sorry to be annoying but Frontline will be the death of me, and i was wondering if anyone had any well known supplementary texts i could use...

 

[sophar so good]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

hellooo

I would advise not to learn essays off by heart- alot of people do it- but coming from someone who also has simplistic language.. they look more for an understanding through answering the question then a.. regurgitated perfect essay with big words!

as for supp texts- the movie Quiz show is good.

goodluck!

 

[mithril1337]

Re: Advanced Englishhhh Help!

I second that request.
O and how can i make a skeleton?? for my essays.

 

[noir.]

the only way that you can screw up in english is by not answering the question. the marker will obv. know if you just write out what you've memorised without any reference to what's been asked. planned essays help with structure and save time from thinking. you can't expect to write marvellous stuff in 40 mins when around 10 - 15 mins of it is just thinking.

memorise an essay that is BROAD. Apply the memorised essay to the QUESTION/STATEMENT.

memorised essays always work, no matter what's being asked. you just need to answer the damn question.

 

[Forbidden.]

I took a gamble and chose option B for the trials and I got better marks.
Makes your understanding on your modules worthwhile.

 

[caitycat]

It depends what mark you're going for. A general essay isn't going to earn you a place in the top bands, but if you're not confident composing things on-the-spot, a high 4 really isn't that bad is it? (especially since you'll have peace of mind in knowing you have something to write!)

Instead of just doing past questions, see if there is anything that remains constant. Eg. Module C is pretty predictable and therefore easy to pre-prepare.

 

[Kujah]

As long as you know how to integrate what you have (quotes, examples, techniques, generic essays, themes, contexts, interpretations) to answer the question with good detail and sophistication, you'll will be fine (hopefully ).

Good luck guys with Paper 1 and 2!

 

[claudia b]

any other idea's for frontline supp texts??
mine are too media oriented

 

[MJ23]

Honestly thank you all for replying to me! You dont understand how lost and confused i was! I have the slightest bit of hope and that means ALOT to me right now!
Thank you all again! You all are so wonderful and I wish you the best of luck!
Thanks again....Seriously thankyou!

 

[morganforrest]

Mmm...the one thing I didn't put in my post before is that when you write your skeleton it is absolutely essential that you integrate the question into your response. The better you are at adapting ur response to the question the higher up the bands you'll go.