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English HL

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  • 03-09-2014 8:07pm
    #1
    jackb123456789
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭


    Im a B/C grade student in English. Im in transition year and wondering what I can do to hopefully achieve an A in HL English in the leaving cert...?


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    #2
    Mardy Bum
    Registered Users Posts: 3,674 ✭✭✭Mardy Bum


    jackb123456789 wrote: »
    Im a B/C grade student in English. Im in transition year and wondering what I can do to hopefully achieve an A in HL English in the leaving cert...?

    Start reading novels for fun. Learn the correct structure for different types of questions. Try writing creatively at home. Read, read, read and write.


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    #3
    xLisaBx
    Registered Users Posts: 901 ✭✭✭xLisaBx


    Learn synonyms for words to vary your vocabulary. Challenge yourself to use all the words you can recall in essays. For every piece you write, make sure to use at least one new word from the dictionary


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    #4
    Seanf999
    Registered Users Posts: 369 ✭✭Seanf999


    jackb123456789 wrote: »
    Im a B/C grade student in English. Im in transition year and wondering what I can do to hopefully achieve an A in HL English in the leaving cert...?

    I am an A grade English student, I greatly improved my English over Ty by first asking the teacher I they have any idea which novel will come up for next year and then reading that,
    After that you can do the same with the poems and read over them (granted the teacher may not know exactly but this can be done over the summer before 5th year)
    I than began watching YouTube videos and reason articles in 'how to improve your English'
    Finally and this may sound strange, but I improved my English by watching The Dead Poets Society! That movie gave me a deeper love of the language, that in turn improves what you put into your answers...

    Being that your a B/C grade already I suspect you already know your terms such as simile, theme etc, but I you do learnt them too!


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    #5
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,160 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    Read. Read books written two hundred years ago. Read different styles of writing.
    Read prose. Read great speeches.

    Perfect your punctuation, then read some more.


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    #6
    LauraaWhelann
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭LauraaWhelann


    Got an A1 in English feel free to PM me any questions :)


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    #7
    Aspiring
    Registered Users Posts: 2,204 ✭✭✭Aspiring


    Hey I got an A1 in English. For Paper 1 my tips would be to write well structured answers for the comprehension (intro, para 1, para 2, para 3, conclusion for 15 marks). Also I'd practice speech writing. I was terrible at speech writing going into 5th year. Eventually I learned to just write what the voice in my head was saying and that's when I got good at them. For the composing I'd choose one or two of the options and really practice those over the two years. For me it was personal essays. I was constantly getting C's on my personal essays. I couldn't understand why as I was following all guidelines to the letter, etc, etc. Eventually I got so frustrated I said yano what, fook it, and just wrote whatever came into my head onto the page. Basically I stopper censoring my imagination. I would advise you to do the same. If you choose personal essays, really make it personal. Don't fake it, because it's not going to be the same. When I did this my grades went up. I ended up getting 92/100 for my personal essay there in the LC.

    For Paper 2 I'd say really know your quotes and understand your texts and poetry. Our teacher gave us notes on what the poems were about but 9 times out of 10 I got a completely different meaning from them and these were the things I talked about in my answers. I didn't write them down anywhere or anything as I didn't need to, they were my own true thoughts and because of that they were stuck in my mind. I'd really suggest you draw your own conclusions about each poem also. I actually ended up getting full marks for my poetry essay which I'm pretty sure is in part due to the fact I answered on Plath, which was pretty rare this year. The point to take from this is don't listen to predictions. Really focus on the poets and poems you like most. That way you can answer truthfully and comment with your own true opinions. That is where the A is, not writing out notes prepared by your teacher. No notes can prepare you for the question on the day, and that's where your own knowledge and opinions shine. Please never learn off an essay of any kind. For the comparative, I personally used key moments (provided by my teacher) and I'd say you'll be the same. However this will get you a C at best. The top marks will go for how well you weave everything together and more importantly, your conclusion. This is where you will answer the question in relation to the texts. Its probably the most difficult thing in paper two but once you do it once you develop your ability to do it I'm future.

    I would advise you also to practice writing quickly. It will serve you well in each subject and also forces you to think quickly. If you've any other questions please feel free to PM me.


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    #8
    Magnate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 877 ✭✭✭Magnate


    I know everyone says to read novels - and that's great if you can get enjoyment from them but I think there's more efficient ways of studying English.

    One thing that really helps me is going through past exam papers with the edco book and then using the e-xamit codes to look up sample answers. Even if you attempt the question yourself first and compare it to the sample answer you can see how to improve your answer.

    I just think the material is a lot more relevant as you're seeing both the question and the specific answer to that question. It's more focused reading as opposed to just picking random books and speeches. (Which is still great if you're willing to put the time into doing that and don't mind doing it.)

    It's important to remember that English is a skill more than anything and you have to keep practising it. Never rote learn essays or answers!


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    #9
    unicat
    Registered Users Posts: 3 ✭unicat


    jackb123456789 wrote: »
    Im a B/C grade student in English. Im in transition year and wondering what I can do to hopefully achieve an A in HL English in the leaving cert...?
    buy a thesaurus. you will know what your writing about before your leaving cert and you should know them off . learn extracts from the novel and play. learn quotes off by heart and learn three world that seem fancy to decribe each poem. i got a H 1 and i failed in spellin, grammer and punctuation. so dont give up!!!!


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    #10
    mhiggy09
    Registered Users Posts: 513 ✭✭✭mhiggy09


    unicat wrote: »
    buy a thesaurus. you will know what your writing about before your leaving cert and you should know them off . learn extracts from the novel and play. learn quotes off by heart and learn three world that seem fancy to decribe each poem. i got a H 1 and i failed in spellin, grammer and punctuation. so dont give up!!!!

    Think it might be a bit late to be giving him advise.


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