English!!

Echo72

Does anyone have any advice on how to do well in the English Junior Cert exam????
I love English, but I feel that I'm really bad at it and I wont get my honour!
And does anyone else think that it's really hard??

soccymonster

Echo72 wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on how to do well in the English Junior Cert exam????
I love English, but I feel that I'm really bad at it and I wont get my honour!
And does anyone else think that it's really hard??

once the english exams are over, ill be a very happy girl indeed:D
dreading that exam:(
well maybe you should go onto dictionary.com and check their word of the day and learn it?? it could come in handy in your essay?? thats what i do to build up my vocab:pac:
or skoool.ie has a revision checklist.. just prepare all answers from that revision checklist and you'll be flying it..

my english teacher says that trained monkeys could do the english exam, its so easy???
wouldnt i just love to see those monkeys!!!!:cool:

Frank3142

Echo72 wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on how to do well in the English Junior Cert exam????
I love English, but I feel that I'm really bad at it and I wont get my honour!
And does anyone else think that it's really hard??

just talk $h1te and throw in afew quotes and you should be fine.

soccymonster wrote: »

my english teacher says that trained monkeys could do the english exam, its so easy???
wouldnt i just love to see those monkeys!!!!:cool:

well obviously if theyre trained i suppose they could do it after all they did train a monkey to go to space.......sort of...but he died of suffocation during the flight

soccymonster

Frank3142 wrote: »

well obviously if theyre trained i suppose they could do it after all they did train a monkey to go to space.......sort of...but he died of suffocation during the flight

how could you train a damn monkey???
hmm... theres an idea for my english essay.. i could write about trained monkeys:D:D..
well, if he died from suffocation, i dont think they trained if well enough, do you???
ok, im getting off the point here... OP, if you dont have a good imagination, try do the debate for your personal writing??? its very easy to get marks in if you plan it out carefully! and just learn lotsa quotes from poems and the play and just throw them anywhere.. dont forget to look out for the major things in poems such as personification, similes, metaphors, assonance, alliteration etc..
then id say if you do that, you'd get yourself an honour (or scrape one!:P just kidding!!)
btw, love the picture of the monkey? is he trained too? :L

partyatmygaff

soccymonster wrote: »

how could you train a damn monkey???
hmm... theres an idea for my english essay.. i could write about trained monkeys:D:D..
well, if he died from suffocation, i dont think they trained if well enough, do you???
ok, im getting off the point here... OP, if you dont have a good imagination, try do the debate for your personal writing??? its very easy to get marks in if you plan it out carefully! and just learn lotsa quotes from poems and the play and just throw them anywhere.. dont forget to look out for the major things in poems such as personification, similes, metaphors, assonance, alliteration etc..
then id say if you do that, you'd get yourself an honour (or scrape one!:P just kidding!!)
btw, love the picture of the monkey? is he trained too? :L

Measuring beats and rythm helps loads in poetry, learn how to count a rythm and use it to make the examiner feel impressed.

soccymonster

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Measuring beats and rythm helps loads in poetry, learn how to count a rythm and use it to make the examiner feel impressed.

how do you do dat?? just clap your hands and count the beats??

partyatmygaff

soccymonster wrote: »

how do you do dat?? just clap your hands and count the beats??

Well if you don't want to get booted out of the exam centre :pac:, you should just tap your fingers on your desk.



Here is a line from a poem that Im pretty sure you will know

"I once knew a simple soldier boy / Who grinned at life in empty joy"

Here it is broken down in phonic beats

1 2 3 4 5
I Once knew a simple soldier boy
1 2 3 4 5
Who grinned at life in empty joy

5 Beats per line aka Iambic Pentameter.


My english teacher is kick ass.

lallychops

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Well if you don't want to get booted out of the exam centre :pac:, you should just tap your fingers on your desk.



Here is a line from a poem that Im pretty sure you will know

"I once knew a simple soldier boy / Who grinned at life in empty joy"

Here it is broken down in phonic beats

1 2 3 4 5
I Once knew a simple soldier boy
1 2 3 4 5
Who grinned at life in empty joy

5 Beats per line aka Iambic Pentameter.


My english teacher is kick ass.

i finished the juniour cert last year and got an A i wouldnt reccomend this counting beats thing..... the essay is your best bet usually the story is a safe bet make it interesting, personal and quick to th point. unseen poetry is basic enough just list the theme techniques and tone ........ dont get too stressed over english its not the worst of them honours maths on the other hand .............................

soccymonster

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Well if you don't want to get booted out of the exam centre :pac:, you should just tap your fingers on your desk.



Here is a line from a poem that Im pretty sure you will know

"I once knew a simple soldier boy / Who grinned at life in empty joy"

Here it is broken down in phonic beats

1 2 3 4 5
I Once knew a simple soldier boy
1 2 3 4 5
Who grinned at life in empty joy

5 Beats per line aka Iambic Pentameter.


My english teacher is kick ass.

i dont get it!!!!!!!!
omg i need to know how to do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this could get me an honour!!!!..
i clapped my hands to the beat and i got 9 beats for the first line and 7 for the second???
this is what im doing?...
I-ONCE-KNEW-A-SIM-PLE-SOL-DIER-BOY?
WHO-GRINNED-AT-LIFE-IN-EM-PTY-JOY?

Am i not doing it right? how did you get five beats??

smileeey

Im most nervous about my essay..:eek:
im just not sure how to construct a good solid A essay.. Like, what is the examiner looking for..? any tips would be seeeeeriously appreiciated! X

hacx

In the mocks i forgot everything about Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry and I wrote 2 maragraphs on Fight Club.

Don't make my mistake.

partyatmygaff

hacx wrote: »

In the mocks i forgot everything about Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry and I wrote 2 maragraphs on Fight Club.

Don't make my mistake.

Oh, the irony

@lallychops
Are you aware the whole fabric of poetry relies on rhythm/beats? We aren't talking about essays or short stories!


@soccymonster
F*ck, the post came out wrong, I had the beats placed over the words.

Anyways beat counting isn't easy, if you do music or are naturally good at rhythm it comes naturally but here's an easy way to learn.

Speak it out as you would normally, note the syllables you stress in the line.


I - once knew a - simple - soldier - boy.

Just try saying it like you normally would. 5 beats per line, thats what my teacher told us anyways!


It isn't essential really to count beats for the J.C., any poem with about 7 or more words usually has 5 beats and any less 3 beats. Thats usually what you get at J.C.

An educated guess at counting the beats won't get you marks if its right but it will atleast give the examiner the view that you know your stuff atleast which will make them a bit more lenient.




I can't wait until this f*cking exam is over......:(

eVeNtInE

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jumpguy

eVeNtInE wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I agree with you on that. I stopped reading since like last summer when I was too tired to read before bed. But I started again and it helps with English, I especially notice it when writing the essay. It also helps you sleep so it's great.

I hate the English exam as it's one of those subjects where you don't just need knowledge and intelligence, you also need a good deal of luck (like a good essay you can write on will come up).

RHRN

As has been said, read a lot.
You'll pick up some great phrases that you can pretend you thought of on the spur of the moment. I did this, got 64/70 on the PW in the mocks

Echo72

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Oh, the irony


Are you aware the whole fabric of poetry relies on rhythm/beats?


I can't wait until this f*cking exam is over......:(

On the former: My teacher never once mentioned anything about rhythm to us! Although in the exam I did stupidly write about rhythm in the mocks. Luckily I nearly got full marks, so I guess I was on the right track... Or just lucky...

On the latter: DIDO!!

GirlsAloud

I spent 10 hours today reading goodnight mister tom from start to end. sighss.
xxxxx

partyatmygaff

GirlsAloud wrote: »

I spent 10 hours today reading goodnight mister tom from start to end. sighss.
xxxxx

Why o_O?

Sure, you can only be asked about either a
Character
Scene
Theme
Relationship

In a novel, so reading it all was a waste imo.

Echo72

GirlsAloud wrote: »

I spent 10 hours today reading goodnight mister tom from start to end. sighss.
xxxxx

WOW! I did 5 hours of english study yesterday and I thought that was a lot!
I've kind of been neglecting the rest of the subjects that I'm doing...

Yeah, I've always read a lot, so hopefully that will stand to me in the exam.

Don't mind whatever partyatmygaff is saying about counting beats and rhythm, you're not expected to do that at Junior Cert. level; you're not even expected to do it at Leaving Cert. level.

For anyone interested, it's counting the number and variations of natural intonations when reading a piece aloud. It's nothing to do with syllables, nothing to do with looking at a piece. Just ignore it; it'll make you look like a pretentious twat to the examiner.

partyatmygaff

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

Don't mind whatever partyatmygaff is saying about counting beats and rhythm, you're not expected to do that at Junior Cert. level; you're not even expected to do it at Leaving Cert. level.

For anyone interested, it's counting the number and variations of natural intonations when reading a piece aloud. It's nothing to do with syllables, nothing to do with looking at a piece. Just ignore it; it'll make you look like a pretentious twat to the examiner.

Less people giving good poetry answers = Less competition = Higher Grades for me


We all know its not expected, but if you can put in the extra to impress your examiner, why not?
Its not exactly difficult for JC, the majority of poems are written in Trochic Tetrameter or Iambic Pentameter for the JC

Sean-Tom

Any predictions for the english exam?

partyatmygaff

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Less people giving good poetry answers = Less competition = Higher Grades for me


We all know its not expected, but if you can put in the extra to impress your examiner, why not?
Its not exactly difficult for JC, the majority of poems are written in Trochic Tetrameter or Iambic Pentameter for the JC

But talking about the structures and meters and rhythms of a piece of poetry isn't as important as you perceive it to be. Fair enough, you may have an idea of what a trochaic tetrameter or an iambic pentameter is, but that isn't what's important about poetry; it's not what will impress the examiner - it'll just make you look pretentious, and, to be honest, silly.

Talk about your understanding of the poem, about what it means to you and how you can relate to it. That's far more important than waffling about the structure of the poem.

GirlsAloud

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Why o_O?

Sure, you can only be asked about either a
Character
Scene
Theme
Relationship

In a novel, so reading it all was a waste imo.

Haha yeah.. Just felt I didn't know it well enough. =]

GirlsAloud

Echo72 wrote: »

WOW! I did 5 hours of english study yesterday and I thought that was a lot!
I've kind of been neglecting the rest of the subjects that I'm doing...

Yeah, I've always read a lot, so hopefully that will stand to me in the exam.

it is a lot!! I wasn't doing anything really.. just reading a book. =] It won't help me at all.

soccymonster

Sean-Tom wrote: »

Any predictions for the english exam?

not really:p
this is what i do just to see if ive studied each paper good enough..

1. get your exam papers
2. randomly open a page
3. do it!

sounds kinda crazy but thats how i make sure im ready, because anything could come up!!!

Echo72

GirlsAloud wrote: »

it is a lot!! I wasn't doing anything really.. just reading a book. =] It won't help me at all.

Haha yeah but then I didn't do a tap today (well done to me ) ! I am sseriously screwed for this exm. All I want is to get my honour so that I can do higher for the lc... I don't see myself getting an A sadly.

partyatmygaff

Echo72 wrote: »

Haha yeah but then I didn't do a tap today (well done to me ) ! I am sseriously screwed for this exm. All I want is to get my honour so that I can do higher for the lc... I don't see myself getting an A sadly.

Getting an in english is near enough impossible, barely anyone gets an A.

Back in 1st year I thought I would be getting a high A in my xmas exams. Was in for a massive shock when I actually ended up getting 72%.

Really difficult if your bad at languages like I am.

Echo72

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Really difficult if your bad at languages like I am.

Yeah, I am actually bad at languages. French and Irish are impossible imo. But English always seemed to come naturally to me, I've been a huge reader ever since I was 6. I don't know, in seconadary school it's really hard to provide the teacher/examiner with exactly what they want.

partyatmygaff

Echo72 wrote: »

Yeah, I am actually bad at languages. French and Irish are impossible imo. But English always seemed to come naturally to me, I've been a huge reader ever since I was 6. I don't know, in seconadary school it's really hard to provide the teacher/examiner with exactly what they want.

I'm kinda the same, Im horrible at any language besides english, I just can't seem to get grammar rules and tenses etc along with vocab.

Im scared of the Irish exam :pac:

Hiccuper

I'm not really afraid of the English exam, just keep putting down enough points and I should get through, hopefully a B or an A. For personal writing I always use themes and settings from games, not many examiners are gamers, so I won't get marked down for plagarism. My mock personal writing section was basically FarCry 2 with a better storyline, I got good marks on it.


I'm more afraid of Irish, I can't understand the bloody exam, I'm not great with languages.

Penguinman93

What I did for my essay in the mocks, I asked a 6th year pupil before hand and I got an essay off him. I was extremely delighted because I got 70/70 for it! Now i'm just hoping that the right essay title will come up 2moro

For the irish exam if you're worried just learn some phrases for the comhra/agallamh and in paper 2 for the poetry/fiction/letter. For me i'm comfortable with no study and still getting an A, like for example before the mock irish I did no study at all and still pulled 89% out of the bag. Basically for me I just made up an essay and the summaries! Whoooo go me

Zipp101

Any tips for brief notes to have tomorrow?

animalcrazy

Echo72 wrote: »

Haha yeah but then I didn't do a tap today (well done to me ) ! I am sseriously screwed for this exm. All I want is to get my honour so that I can do higher for the lc... I don't see myself getting an A sadly.

You can do honours English anyway even if you don't get a high grade, they can't force you to do pass.

partyatmygaff

animalcrazy wrote: »

You can do honours English anyway even if you don't get a high grade, they can't force you to do pass.

Yeah but surely if you cannot cope with honours JC how do you expect to do honours LC, the stuff they do for the LC looks unbelieveably difficult

partyatmygaff

Whats everyone studying for seen poetry. Im stuck as to what to do. Way too many poems that Ive done.

animalcrazy

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Whats everyone studying for seen poetry. Im stuck as to what to do. Way too many poems that Ive done.

You just need to learn some quotes and know what techniques the poet used in the poem, and also a bit about the stuructre of the poem.

partyatmygaff

Yeah thats what Im doing but which poems.
I have atleast 100 here that our teacher did with us.

Only a few hours now.

omgz

In my mock i got an A in english.. i was shocked and delighted..
In the christmas test I only got a C...
I didnt expect it at all.

The only advice I can give on getting high grades from looking over my paper, just write as much as you can on each. But be careful and make sure you are keeping an eye on your watch!
Just try to realise yourself how much would be worth 15 marks etcetc...

GOODLUCK!

Depp

For my english exam i made up a poet/poem to discuss and got a b

Echo72

Thank God it's over!!

I was sort of miffed off at the drama questions and the set fiction question, but i felt that it went really well on the whole!:D

soccymonster

Depp wrote: »

For my english exam i made up a poet/poem to discuss and got a b

is that possible?? to make up one??