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English Help!

I'll be in year 11 this September and really need help with pushing up my English Lit and Lang grades. I'm generally predicted A*'s and A's in all my subjects apart from English Lit and Lang which are both predicted B's and are an area that i seriously hate and struggle in.
Over year 10 we've done most of our English Lang controlled assessments in which I've gotten a range of high and low end B's, which I'm not extremely pleased with.
My main issue is my lack of sophisticated vocabulary and lack of extended sentences in my writing. My analytical and essay writing skills aren't too great either and are the main reason behind my current grades. I'm really worried that if this doesn't improve I wont be able to write anything of a better standard in my exams next year.
We haven't done our controlled assessment in English Literature yet and will be doing it in year 11, on An Inspector Calls, which I have already studied for one of my English Lang controlled assessment, and Of Mice and Men.
Am I still able to get an A in English Lang with my current controlled assessment grades? What can I do to ensure I get a good grade for my English Lit controlled assessment next year? Any general help with my exams next year and what I can do to improve would also be appreciated. The exam board I’m taking English from is AQA.
Read a dictionary.
Reply 2
Okay, so you'll be doing the same GCSE exams as me.
I tend to read a variety of books that interest me. Go online and search for "top 100 books for teens" and go read one or if you don't like reading (recommend you should read anyway), go on audible.com and download one and listen to it. You'll be surprised on how many techniques and sophisticated words you pick up. It's great for the creative writing tasks as you need ambitious vocabulary. Also, if you need more ambitious vocabulary for controlled assessments, spend a few hours on an online thesaurus and dictionary finding sophisticated vocab that you can put on your planning sheet.

With your controlled assessments, you can still get an A. You just have to ace the exam. In your mock, try your hardest using the techniques on how to answer each question from your teachers, it helps a lot. I did a mock at the end of year 10 and I was 1 or 2 marks of an A* for english literature. It's great because I'm usually around an A.

I haven't done an English Language mock yet but you need to know the techniques for that anyway in English Lit. I just wrote out all the possible techniques and the effects from my revision guide and the internet. I revised them. I also revised making a PEEE paragraph. Just make your point (one sentence), evidence (one sentence), and for your extended interpretation and explanation aim for around 4 sentences. Getting the structure is really handy for the exams because you can use the structure for basically every different exam (past papers and mocks).

I did my OMAM at the start of Year 10, I got an alright grade but I wasn't too happy. It was mainly because I didn't think that you needed to put loads of explanation for each point, but you do. When you do it, just say all you can possibly think about the quotes. Extend your paragraphs and points with 'furthermore' and 'additionally'. Also give alternative interpretations and more than one quote for each point. It shows the examiner that you know what you're talking about.

If you need anymore help about anything, just PM me and I'll try to reply ASAP. :u:
(edited 8 years ago)
I've just finished my GCSE's this year, sorry I don't know how much coursework is worth for the overall grade but I can advise you on the exams itself, I also did AQA. I highly recommend buying the cgp revision guides for the books you will be studying I found them really helpful. You probably won't remember exactly what happens on each page of the books but it's important to know what order things occur so it's easier to find quotations in the exam. Although I heard that soon pupils won't be allowed the books in the exam but I think that's in 2017 not sure though. Also for the poems your teacher may tell you which poems are good to compare in your section, I would advise remembering which poems go together well so you won't have to spend time in the exam deciding what poem to compare to the poem in the question. To get an A/A* in the Lit exams you'll need to pick a point and say it could mean this but it could also mean this with good explanations, I advise doing this 2-3 times in both exams. Good luck :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by 98589
I'll be in year 11 this September and really need help with pushing up my English Lit and Lang grades. I'm generally predicted A*'s and A's in all my subjects apart from English Lit and Lang which are both predicted B's and are an area that i seriously hate and struggle in.
Over year 10 we've done most of our English Lang controlled assessments in which I've gotten a range of high and low end B's, which I'm not extremely pleased with.
My main issue is my lack of sophisticated vocabulary and lack of extended sentences in my writing. My analytical and essay writing skills aren't too great either and are the main reason behind my current grades. I'm really worried that if this doesn't improve I wont be able to write anything of a better standard in my exams next year.
We haven't done our controlled assessment in English Literature yet and will be doing it in year 11, on An Inspector Calls, which I have already studied for one of my English Lang controlled assessment, and Of Mice and Men.
Am I still able to get an A in English Lang with my current controlled assessment grades? What can I do to ensure I get a good grade for my English Lit controlled assessment next year? Any general help with my exams next year and what I can do to improve would also be appreciated. The exam board I’m taking English from is AQA.


Alrighty, I've already done my English Lang and Lit GCSEs, but my advice to you would be alternative interpretations. Seriously, for me they were the key to success. Literally, when your analysing a quote or a key word, ensure that you state something like "alternatively, this could be interpreted as..." It shows the examiner that you are thinking from multiple perspectives which is evidence of close reading and extensive analysis. Also, try not to pick lengthy quotes and, where possible, focus on a single word for analysis. Literally analyse the crap out of it: give its denotations, connotations, word class (abstract noun, adjective, adverb, etc.) and the effect it has on the rest of the sentence. Also, literary devices! Pick out things like pathetic fallacy, extended metaphors, etc. and if you really want to impress chuck in some obscure literary devices like chiasmus and the like. But, at the end of the day, its all about your depth of analysis.

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