English HL question

Rustywtf

would someone mind explaining to me what Purpose (P) means in the context of the marking scheme for English? or more accurately how someone would go about maximising their marks in that area?

the marking scheme itself says something about answering the question and engaging with the material but in the mocks it was the only area where i consistently got low marks despite being generally conscious of referring back to the question.

For example in the Composition I wrote a short story prompt about a person making a life-changing decision, I stuck to the topic pretty thoroughly and even ended the essay with the main character declaring his big decision, but I only got 17/30 marks, whereas I got 62/70 for everything else (Coherency, Language, Mechanics).

is there something I'm missing?

A97

Broadly speaking, it's how well you answered the question. The composition is slightly different to other parts of the paper regarding this.

Anyway, a high P mark in prescribed poetry for example refers to how much your answer has to do with the question asked. You need to stay on topic and give good insights to get high marks.

Similarly, you won't do well on the composition if you write some off topic essay, regardless of how good it is. However, you won't get high marks unless your story is of a very high quality.

As a general rule, I would avoid doing the story essay as it is difficult to get high marks in. This is because it's a very popular question and it's difficult to stand out when the examiner has to read a lot of similar stories. Secondly, more than any other form of writing, story writing is often something you have an innate talent for or you don't. Don't do it unless you have frequently gotten good marks in class. Finally, it's hard to write a good story in such a short time period.

It's all up to your personal skills and talents, but I would have a preference for other topics such as speech writing and descriptive essays.

You should probably aim to do the type of writing you're best at, but under no circumstances should you do a question that doesn't suit you on the day.

Good luck. You'll do great.

Rustywtf

A97 wrote: »

It's all up to your personal skills and talents, but I would have a preference for other topics such as speech writing and descriptive essays.

thanks for your reply

I usually go for the short story essay because i'm pretty good at it but the time constraint definitely concerns me.

Are descriptive essays really as simple as writing about a generic topic in flowery language over 4 pages? would the marks for Purpose then just be contingent on sticking to the generic topic?

spurious

Descriptive essays and speeches are two areas where the more you read examples of them really stands to you.

A97

A descriptive essay is less concerned with plot than a short story is, while putting more attention on immersion, even on things which may be trivial. "Flowery language" is helpful, yes but you really have to capture the object or moment. A good descriptive essay, along with many good pieces of literature do a great job of making you feel like you are there. Make use of all five senses. Don't just say that the croissant is brown. Say that it was cooked to perfection leaving it with a golden brown hue, and that you could see steam emanating from it and being near it gave you a whiff of melted chocolate which caused you to salivate. Say that picking it up was not uncomfortably hot, but more of an ambient warmth akin to a hot water bottle on a cold night. It was not crusty, but it was smooth, almost frail enough to break apart in an instant. As you started to slowly bring it up towards your mouth, you closed your eyes in an attempt to savour the taste. The feeling when it touched your lips was divine. You bit down on it and it began to crunch as the flavour spread all over your taste buds. Different parts of your tongue started to differentiate between the pastry and the melted chocolate but they also combined to create a unique flavour that was just as good.

You should probably go into further detail about the taste than I did.

Also, unless the question explicitly tells you otherwise, the present tense and pronouns like "I" are good because they decrease the distance between the reader and the action. I don't want to hear about the croissant you ate. I want to imagine myself eating it right now.

As spurious stated, examples are quite helpful in explaining how a descriptive essay should be done. There is a decent explanation with an example on leavingcertenglish.net.

http://leavingcertenglish.net/2013/11/descriptive-essays/
http://leavingcertenglish.net/2013/11/fragments-from-a-lost-weekend/

A descriptive essay that really gives the correcter a feel for what you're talking about should score pretty highly with regards to purpose. Just ensure that what you're describing is relevant to the question.