higher level english jc Help! I'm becoming desparate

im stuck! cnt tink of gud name

i would very much appreciate any help at all (I'm sorry about any spelling mistakes)
I need help my with my paper 1 mainly .I think it's to do with my style of writing, But this affects all aspects of my english paper so any help is really apreciated. I need to up my grade to a B
my play is the merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
my novel is the cay by Theodor Taylor
most of my poems are by irish poets
please any help by anybody is great

EileenG

What sort of help are you looking for?

Everyone has a unique style of writing, and you have to develop your own. My only advice would be to write simply. Don't try to get clever and use big words or complicated sentence structure because you think it sounds literary. Read what you have written out loud and you'll quickly hear if you are doing that.

im stuck! cnt tink of gud name

i think im doing the opposite i've had the the same english teacher for three years and she tends to give good grades to the same girls every time so i think she she likes big fancy words. ah sure thanks i think i'll stay at what i'm doing thanks the mocs will get second opinion hopefully it will be good

EileenG

The Leaving is not marked by your English teacher. Trust me, if you make a good point in simple English, you'll get much better marks than if you make a so-so point in complicated prose.

However, looking at your post, you might want to work on things like capital letters, spelling, punctuation, knowing where to end a sentence and begin a new one, stuff like that.

thenageone

the only advice i could give you is to write it as if you are talking about the topic, you dont need fancy words to get good grades, or to write an enormous amount, write as much as you can, dont worry if its not enough, as long as you explain your points as clearly as possible, youll be fine.

for your poets, stick to themes, tones, style, etc. basically just the techinical side of it, and say whether or not you think it works. examiners cant mark you down if you say you dont like a poem or a poet if you explain under each of these headings why you dont like them. but it is a hell of a lot easier to praise them than it is to fault them. but try to be honest as well, it sets you apart from everyone else.

apart from that, unfortunately the rest is up to you. dont stress, just practice questions and you'll find your style of writing.

maggiebee

You might be doing this already but just in case you haven't I would say to take a look at the marking scheme for the Junior Cert paper on www.examinations.ie.

Marks are given on the studied drama, novel and poetry when you present your argument with reference to the text. So if I were you I would learn as many quotations as I could covering different situations that arise in the text. As far as I can remember the questions are fairly broad for the studied texts e.g. tension between characters, male/female relationships, male/male relationships, main message from the play. So take a look at the themes that crop up in the texts you have studied and practice presenting your argument with reference to the text and incorporating quotes.

Does your teacher give you much feedback on where you were going wrong?

cobsie

Maybe the same girls in your class are getting good marks because they are giving good answers. Maybe they have read the texts, taken notes, studied the notes and put some effort into their homework.

Sounds like you just want fast answers.

You need to schedule your homework time, focus, concentrate, take notes, summarise them and learn them. There's no other way. Even geniuses need to study.

Some advice I would give you is to try and avoid using "txt speak" as much as possible. It's incredible how the use of this can greatly affect someone's grammar and spelling abilities.

partyatmygaff

im stuck! cnt tink of gud name wrote: »

i would very much appreciate any help at all (I'm sorry about any spelling mistakes)
I need help my with my paper 1 mainly .I think it's to do with my style of writing, But this affects all aspects of my english paper so any help is really apreciated. I need to up my grade to a B
my play is the merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
my novel is the cay by Theodor Taylor
most of my poems are by irish poets
please any help by anybody is great

You need to work on your mechanics first and foremost. I don't know if you write as above in your written work or if it's just because you're on a computer but if it's the former you need to polish from the ground up. You can't possibly expect to write well without doing the groundwork.

The only way to improve your English is to read, read and then read some more. You need to widen your vocabulary and get used to using more complex sentence structures so as to impress the examiner. In real life usage of English, there's no need for verbosity and excessively complex sentences and the like. However, the JC is an exam and you need to stand out from the rest by upping the level of your writing.


As for answering exam questions the most important thing to note is to stick to the question asked. Don't waffle and don't go off on pointless tangents. Never summarise a poem or a text. That's not worth anything in terms of marks. You need to present clear arguments to answer the question and you need to develop and substantiate your point by making references to the text.

Something else I could advise is to continue to post on boards, but be very wary of your grammar, spelling and structure. If I remember correctly, a few years ago there was a student (possibly Junior Certificate, maybe Leaving Certificate) who once created a thread thanking boards for improving their grammar and spelling.

Do you read much? I don't think I ever really learned proper grammar in school and discovered that a lot of sunk in through the many, many, many books I consumed on a regular basis.