Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

How to get an A* in English narrative in IGCSE ?

Well i'm trying to get an A* and I don't know how to exactly do that. Help ?

The trick, if you ask me, is to use complex grammar and vocabulary without it seeming out of place. In other words, don't use long words for the sake of it.

E.g.

"Bob arose out of his bedstead, then rubbed his ocular organs oftentimes. He moved his legs; in doing this he was not abortive in transmogrifying himself from a prostrate position to a position which was perpendicular to his cerulean carpet."

This uses long words and decent grammar, but it flows like water in a blocked drain. The examiner will have seen far too many of these A* desperadoes and they often end up getting an A from what I've heard (I'm just a GCSE student myself, so I may be wrong but I think it makes sense).

This would be a lot better when rewritten as:

"Bob woke up, bleary-eyed and unaccountably more tired than the night before. Nevertheless, the world was not going to come to him, so he stumbled out of bed and shoved his feet into his slippers. Today was going to be one of those days."

I'm not saying this is perfect, but it flows decently, it gives Bob a bit of character depth and it gives the story an interesting atmosphere straight away, in addition to having quite a bit of nice vocab. Obviously you'll need to adapt this to your specific task, but the general idea is there.

Ask me if you want any more help.

Posted from TSR Mobile