5th Year English

Bellaxo

Hey guys,
I got my Christmas Test for Higher Level English back a few days ago and I am still so mad.

All through Junior Cert I got As ..yet now in 5th year.... I have a teacher that is known to correct very hard and unrealistic. She gives me Bs in my class essays yet in this Christmas Test she gave me 69! I truly believe that my grades should be higher than that..most people in my class are barley getting passes. Should I listen to her results? I think my essays are of an A standard but yet she marks so bloody hard.

What do you think?:(:confused:

leaveiton

The exact same thing happened to me in 5th year. I'd always done well in the Junior Cert and got an A in the actual exam. And then, like you, I got 69 in my Christmas exam. This was partly due to not having adjusted properly to writing essays to Leaving Cert standard, and her being a harsh marker.

It probably doesn't seem like it, but most hard markers I've found do it to motivate you. After that, I think I got a B in my summer test that year. Then a B in my Christmas exam in 6th year, an A2 in the mocks (corrected by an external examiner) and finally an A1 in the real thing. Don't let it put you off

Also if she's anything like my old teacher she may have favourites too. Funnily enough I was always one of hers and I'd often get Bs, whereas she'd never give certain people anything above a C. It's not right to carry on like that at all but it does happen, so be aware of it and if it is a case that she's just handing out unreasonable marks then ignore her.

Bellaxo

leaveiton wrote: »

The exact same thing happened to me in 5th year. I'd always done well in the Junior Cert and got an A in the actual exam. And then, like you, I got 69 in my Christmas exam. This was partly due to not having adjusted properly to writing essays to Leaving Cert standard, and her being a harsh marker.

It probably doesn't seem like it, but most hard markers I've found do it to motivate you. After that, I think I got a B in my summer test that year. Then a B in my Christmas exam in 6th year, an A2 in the mocks (corrected by an external examiner) and finally an A1 in the real thing. Don't let it put you off

Also if she's anything like my old teacher she may have favourites too. Funnily enough I was always one of hers and I'd often get Bs, whereas she'd never give certain people anything above a C. It's not right to carry on like that at all but it does happen, so be aware of it and if it is a case that she's just handing out unreasonable marks then ignore her.

Thanks for that, glad I am not the only one!

CookieMonster.x

Bellaxo wrote: »

Hey guys,
I got my Christmas Test for Higher Level English back a few days ago and I am still so mad.

All through Junior Cert I got As ..yet now in 5th year.... I have a teacher that is known to correct very hard and unrealistic. She gives me Bs in my class essays yet in this Christmas Test she gave me 69! I truly believe that my grades should be higher than that..most people in my class are barley getting passes. Should I listen to her results? I think my essays are of an A standard but yet she marks so bloody hard.

What do you think?:(:confused:

It's quite a jump from Junior Cert to Leaving Cert and it takes time to adjust to how to structure your answers etc. It's better to get Bs and Cs now and learn how to improve

123SC

Hi I did my LC in 2012 and I got an A1 in English. JC is completely different to LC across the board so you can't compare them however I understand your frustration as you obviously feel you can get an A and in my opinion A's in English are there for the taking!
Your English essay has to be original well organised and easy to understand. I don't know what your style is but I always wrote lighthearted or personal essays.
Here are a few rules I always followed:
1.No essay or answer is wrong in English .. Ever, you just need to back it up.
2.Write from your heart, nobody else's, the examiner doesn't want your teachers notes you have learned off.
3.Don't be cheesy or use over used phrases. You want the examiner to laugh not cringe.
4.Exaggerate, but realistically. Dont pretend your a 40yr old working mother, your a 5th year, give YOUR opinion in YOUR words.
5. Have a good intro especially the opening line. Maybe start with a question.
6.Your conclusion should not have anything new in it but shouldn't be a summary either.
7.My favourite: Write and rewrite until its right! You need to take the essay you got 69 in and analyse it. Did you pick an unsuitable title? How was your spelling and grammar? Were your sentences well structured or were they long winded. If so, try changing a few commas to full stops. Were there any good points/ paragraphs? Rewrite the intro/ conclusion . Thinking through and improving on this essay will help you better approach answers in the future.  Ask your teacher for feedback on it. Her being a hard marker will only improve your grade.
8.You need to be personal in how you approach an essay. Be original!
9. Have fun... English is the one subject that gives you complete freedom, use it!!

11Charlie11

Ok this is a really weird question but if a suitable topic came up in the essay section could I write about an experience I have had with sucicide but change the story to something I was thinking was going to happen but thankfully didn't.. Sorry if this doesn't make much sense but really I mean can I write an essay where I talk about a family member commits sucicide or is that a bit too personal?

BetterThanThou

You can write about stuff like that, if it's suitable for the question your answering, while I've personally never done such a thing, I've written a short story about a prostitute before, plus used the word "****" in a couple of pieces, it just has to be suitable to what you're answering, it's one of the things I love about English. Also, this is a huge mistake I made, when you're answering questions in English, make sure you actually answer them. Like, for example, I remember getting asked a question something like "Ambition and self-interest are key factors in Macbeth's destruction, do you agree?", I was told to write an essay on that, instead, I ended up writing pretty much a perfect essay on Macbeth's character that my teacher said she couldn't fault, but I didn't answer the question.

Bellaxo

wow! Looking back on this now!! I am now getting A1s in english! I got an A1 in my summer 5th year test and in my 6th year christmas test I got 90!