Does it really matter?

GoldRush4821

So I got my English result back, an A2 which I was happy with. In my poetry, my teacher constantly marks me down for not discussing enough poems. I personally think going in depth into 3 poems is plenty and actually preferable to skimming the surface of 5 poems, yet my teacher always writes it down at the end of the essay that I need to "refer to more of her (Boland's) poetry".

I would be 99% sure that it doesn't say in the marking scheme "candidates must discuss at least 4 poems" because that's not how English works, but at the same time if that's the standard expected in the LC then I might as well conform So how do you guys prefer to approach it? In depth focus on a few select poems or a more expansive account of 5?

BrendaN_f

got the same result as you, but did the opposite. i skimmed over 4 poems (because i didnt study haha), and the examiner mentioned this and that i should be more in depth. so i'd say that an in depth referral to 4 poems would a good compromise

Patriciamc93

The recommended is three or four (just make them, as you did, in more depth if you do three) thats recommended by a supervising examiner.

My teacher is always saying four if not five and am always like...... Just go away! (in my head that is)

But ya three is grand just make sure that you have plenty of personnal response aswell!!!!!!!

techieteacher

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

My teacher is always saying four if not five and am always like...... Just go away! (in my head that is)

But ya three is grand just make sure that you have plenty of personnal response aswell!!!!!!!

Odds are your teacher is giving you more than enough to prepare you for unlikely scenarios on the day. you'd be surprised how your memory can slip once you go into an exam - if you have 4 or 5 poets prepared, you increase your odds of remembering 3 of them in detail.

Yes, it may be required to have 3 or 4 in the exam, but always prepare more than you need to! You never know what might happen on the day - trust me I've been there!

Patriciamc93

techieteacher wrote: »

Odds are your teacher is giving you more than enough to prepare you for unlikely scenarios on the day. you'd be surprised how your memory can slip once you go into an exam - if you have 4 or 5 poets prepared, you increase your odds of remembering 3 of them in detail.

Yes, it may be required to have 3 or 4 in the exam, but always prepare more than you need to! You never know what might happen on the day - trust me I've been there!

Totally but she just says its quantity more than quality! Which isnt the case really.

But ya the more you prepare outside the better!!!

keeirs

my teacher told us about a girl that only wrote about one poem in her poetry question & got an A1, so no, it doesnt matter!

Chuchoter

My teacher says 6 poems :eek:

LilMissCiara

If your teacher says more, then write about more.

She has a degree and I'm sure several years experience of teaching leaving cert English as well as the possibility of at least a summers experience marking scripts - if not she'll be used to marking schemes and what's required anyway.

Aoifums

I think four poems is the most I've ever discussed and I've been getting low A's/high B's all year. I do go fairly in depth though. I usually just cover three. I guess if you're doing the essays at home, then you should aim to cover four.

Gordon Gecko

3 poems is absolute madness, an A1 for one poem is believable only at Ordinary Level. Never less than 4

Bbbbolger

We're told to do 3 in detail and then 2/3 skimmed over or referenced once or twice. Base our answer around the question (i.e.theme/mood) as opposed to going down through the essay poem by poem.

Patriciamc93

Gordon Gecko wrote: »

3 poems is absolute madness, an A1 for one poem is believable only at Ordinary Level. Never less than 4

Its not really i got an a1 from discussing three when i handed it up to an examiner! It was about 5 pages.

What u write is more important than how much you write.

Aoifey!

I would say 3 at the least, but if you do 3 in a lot of detail with in depth discussion then you could easily get an A1 with that. Obviously the less poems you do the better you have to know each one, but it is quality over quantity. I did 3 in my Leaving and got a B3 (which was good for me).

techieteacher

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

Its not really i got an a1 from discussing three when i handed it up to an examiner! It was about 5 pages.

What u write is more important than how much you write.

It may have happened in your case, but for the majority of students it's not advised. This is coming from the people who have the experience....

The more poems you have prepared, the more you increase your odds of writing well about them. An exam centre on the day of the leaving cert is VERY different to any other essay you've ever written - you won't have the notes, and you will be under pressure and may forget some things. The more you prepare, the better. It's as simple as that. To recommend to students that they can get an A1 by only preparing one poem is not the best advice in the world...

im invisible

Does it really matter?
Nah, 'tis only the Leaving Cert.

Patriciamc93

techieteacher wrote: »

It may have happened in your case, but for the majority of students it's not advised. This is coming from the people who have the experience....

The more poems you have prepared, the more you increase your odds of writing well about them. An exam centre on the day of the leaving cert is VERY different to any other essay you've ever written - you won't have the notes, and you will be under pressure and may forget some things. The more you prepare, the better. It's as simple as that. To recommend to students that they can get an A1 by only preparing one poem is not the best advice in the world...

I wasnt talking about writing on one poem...... sorry i meant the three

Newaglish

I would definitely recommend doing three or four in detail, then briefly discussing two or three more - possibly by referencing similar (or opposing)themes when discussing your main poems.

Steve!

I answered a Boland question recently and only covered 2 poems. Got a B1. My teacher is an advising examiner as well so I'd say it just depends on how well you answer the question!

Aoifums

Steve! wrote: »

I answered a Boland question recently and only covered 2 poems. Got a B1. My teacher is an advising examiner as well so I'd say it just depends on how well you answer the question!

I did something similar. In a Boland class test (no notes, just writing for 45 minutes straight) I only discussed three poems and got an A2. I did go very in depth, as always.

Eathrin

My teacher always says 6 poems MINIMUM whether you go in depth or not, 9-10 poems for A1 standard. I'm not saying anyone's a liar but 3-4 poems out of 10 seems kinda strange seeing as there there and all to be learned...

Newaglish wrote: »

I would definitely recommend doing three or four in detail, then briefly discussing two or three more - possibly by referencing similar (or opposing)themes when discussing your main poems.

yeah that seems about right

LilMissCiara

Cian A wrote: »

My teacher always says 6 poems MINIMUM whether you go in depth or not, 9-10 poems for A1 standard. I'm not saying anyone's a liar but 3-4 poems out of 10 seems kinda strange seeing as there there and all to be learned...




yeah that seems about right

Most teachers only teach 6 or 7 of the 10. Not all 10 need to be learned. Covering 10 poems in an essay is almost as bad as just doing 3. 4-6 poems in an essay is a good balance as it is sufficient quantity but allows enough time to write a quality essay.

Aoifums

Cian A wrote: »

My teacher always says 6 poems MINIMUM whether you go in depth or not, 9-10 poems for A1 standard. I'm not saying anyone's a liar but 3-4 poems out of 10 seems kinda strange seeing as there there and all to be learned...

yeah that seems about right

How long are your essays then? 10 poems in 45 minutes is absurd. You would spend less than five minutes wriing about each poem. You'd barely even begin to say why they apply to your point and how they back it up.

Aoifey!

Cian A wrote: »

My teacher always says 6 poems MINIMUM whether you go in depth or not, 9-10 poems for A1 standard. I'm not saying anyone's a liar but 3-4 poems out of 10 seems kinda strange seeing as there there and all to be learned...

10?! Wow, that seems way too many. I would say 6 or 7 tops. Last year we only got taught 6 poems by each poet.

Chuchoter

Cian A wrote: »

My teacher always says 6 poems MINIMUM whether you go in depth or not, 9-10 poems for A1 standard. I'm not saying anyone's a liar but 3-4 poems out of 10 seems kinda strange seeing as there there and all to be learned...

10 is an insane number of poems (do all the poets even have ten poems on the course?) and that many quotes will disrupt the flow of your writing and make it drawn out and boring.

Personally I'd say 2 or 3 is far too few, 5 or 6 is about enough, but then I can never tell what on earth my English teacher actually wants.

resistantdoor

Yeah, we learn 6 poems from each poet, sometimes 5 if we do a particularly long one (Wordsworth), and we done 7 for one of the poets. Our teacher just tells us to discuss what we need to discuss, and what is relevant to the answer. He says to never force a poem into your answers, because it will not look like a good structure and your discussion will be hampered.

In summary: write what you need to write; don't follow a set pattern. It never really works like that (for myself anyway).

P.S. DON'T do 10! That's insanity.

Eathrin

Aoifums wrote: »

How long are your essays then? 10 poems in 45 minutes is absurd. You would spend less than five minutes wriing about each poem. You'd barely even begin to say why they apply to your point and how they back it up.

Well maybe it is absurd then, in my last exam essay, i wrote about 3-4 points and would back each of those points up with 2-4 poems.

Maybe It's not such a great strategy

wayhey

Gordon Gecko wrote: »

3 poems is absolute madness, an A1 for one poem is believable only at Ordinary Level. Never less than 4

I did about 3 in last year's paper. I saw the paper and I got 48/50 on it. My teacher this year says the scheme mentions 6 poems but I haven't seen it myself. She recommends skimming over 4 and mentioning 2 as you go... but personally I did the 3 in-depth, about a page each because I had a nice flow and plan to each of them. The poems were either linked or contrasted thematically or stylistically.

But that's why I hate this subject it's completely subjective. I didn't do nearly as well on my Lear question even though I felt I answered it well..

partyatmygaff

A good rule of thumb is discuss four poems in detail and two in passing.

ChloeElla

My teacher is one of the chief examiners, & we've only done about 5 poems from each poet. She advised us that we don't have to write about every poem, so in essays I usually use 3 poems, and maybe mention the other two. EG This can be seen in Poem A and Poem B, then go on to explain one of the poems in more detail. We're getting a substitute teacher next week, because my teacher's going on maternity leave, so it'll be interesting to see what she says!

Violafy

We're told to discuss 4 "in depth" and then briefly refer to about 2 more. My teacher always goes mad if people do less than that. :rolleyes: I find it quite hard to believe that someone could get an A1 by only discussing 2 or 3 poems tbh.

partyatmygaff

I've gotten an A1 for a poetry essay that was only three pages long. It discussed three in detail, one in slight detail (As in four lines or so) and two in passing mention.

Doing 10 poems however is madness. Any more than four in detail and you're over-diluting the essay.

PARARORY

I got an A in my poetry question in the leaving and I dealt with 2 poems in detail and talked about a 3rd - It was TS Eliot but still , its about the quality of information you give and how the question is asked.

If it was a question along the lines of ' Boland explores a diverse range of themes throughout her poetry' , you could'nt just pick one theme , discuss it in huge detail and relate it to two poems ... It's not what the question asked for! Hope that helps a bit

Eathrin

PARARORY wrote: »

I got an A in my poetry question in the leaving and I dealt with 2 poems in detail and talked about a 3rd - It was TS Eliot but still , its about the quality of information you give and how the question is asked.

If it was a question along the lines of ' Boland explores a diverse range of themes throughout her poetry' , you could'nt just pick one theme , discuss it in huge detail and relate it to two poems ... It's not what the question asked for! Hope that helps a bit

So say you're discussing themes, you would focus on 1 poem for a particular theme but surely you back it up with references to other poems by that poet. And then begin on the second or third theme and so on. By the end of this process you would have examined three poems in detail and mentioned a good 8-10 poems. Do you guys see something wrong with doing this?