My story on how I failed English Language!
My name's Tarik by the way...Bear in mind, I got a grade 6 in the mocks and was aiming for a 7, 8 or 9. English Language was a subject I took a lot of pride in and worked really hard on. I was confident about getting at least a grade 6. The chances of me failing was pretty much inexistent. Well, that's what I thought at least.
5th of June: English Language Paper 1.
Essentially, a day before the exam, I was revising paper 1 on YouTube and came across a technique which pretty much destroyed my 5 years of work. This technique seemed logical, and I still do find it logical, only if you know how to manage your time properly. The technique was to do the paper in reverse by starting from question 5 and work downwards. Now, since I've never tested this method before, it was extremely stupid for me to give it a go in the real thing. Time was the fundamental cause of my failure. Since I felt as if English Literature was really long, I assumed that English Language would also seem long, not remembering that they both consisted of different times. Due to that mindset, I ended up taking my time on question 5 until I looked at the clock, only to realise that there were 7 minutes left. At that point my heart sunk, I started to shake and I even asked one of the invigilators to clarify the time. This was one of the scariest feelings I've ever had in my life. Well, at least I completed question 5 which was half the marks (40 / 80). Once I exited the exam hall, I realised that I needed to perform miraculously on the second paper.
8th of June: English Language Paper 2.
The amount of revision I done for this paper was.. eternal in some respects. I got home from school the day before, and revised till 12 at night with literally no breaks at all.. Yes, no breaks.. The dedication I had was immense. My confidence levels were really high right before the exam. I was so prepared that I bought 3 highlighters (not that extreme). I opened the paper and dived straight into the insert. The insert was about surfing. Both sources seemed really comprehensible and explicit to me. The questions seemed really easy, too. I managed to answer question 1 (the one about 8 statements which were either true or false) in about 2 minutes, but right after that in question 2, I begun to reconsider the fact that I needed at least 65 / 80 on this paper to get a good overall grade, since I was capped to 40 / 80 on the first paper. That thought caused me to panic, and took away my ability to focus. One of the things I learned from that stupid mistake I did in paper 1 was to manage my time properly. I tried applying that to paper 2 by moving on after (the mark multiplied by 1.5) minutes. So for an 8 mark question, I would give myself 12 minutes and immediately move on after 12 minutes. Due to the lack of focus I had from the panic, I couldn't find anything interesting to contrast so I did a single paragraph of potentially the most uninteresting difference between both sources. When I moved onto question 3, my instincts pretty much told me that I had failed. Luckily, I had highlighted all the language devices at the start, as I was reading. However, the panic I initially had and the instinct of failure, both merged together to completely take away my ability to analyse the effects and intentions of the writer. At that point, I realised that I needed to resit the paper next year. The panic just built up cumulatively as I answered questions 1 to 4. My answers did not make sense, and the quantity was substantially low; I answered with 1 paragraph for each question. Once I got to question 5, I felt redundant. The cumulative build-up of panic caused me to perform horrifically in question 5. The exam was over, and I felt as if it was the end. I knew I was going to have to retake.
As of now (a day after paper 2), I don't know what grade I got, but I can almost guarantee that I got below a grade 4, essentially failed. Colleges, universities, and jobs will now assume that I am incompetent, even if I retake because retaking would imply that I have some elements of incompetence as I initially did not pass. What hurts most is the fact that I got a grade 6, was aiming for a grade 7, 8 or 9, and one stupid mistake caused me to fail in the real thing. Thankfully, this didn't impact my self-esteem since I know for sure that grades don't define anything, at all. At the beginning of year 11, I promised myself that I would not resit any exams because it won't look great, anywhere. But I'm going to end up resitting. Also, that grade 6 I got in the mocks: that should've been a 7.
PS: The reason this sounds like a story is because my mind is currently programmed in that tone, which is reflected from my revision. This might even imply how much revision I've done. Also for the people who are wondering, my exam board was AQA.Btw guys, it still isn't certain that I will not pass as there is a slight potential of a grade 4 (only if the marker is lenient).
5th of June: English Language Paper 1.
Essentially, a day before the exam, I was revising paper 1 on YouTube and came across a technique which pretty much destroyed my 5 years of work. This technique seemed logical, and I still do find it logical, only if you know how to manage your time properly. The technique was to do the paper in reverse by starting from question 5 and work downwards. Now, since I've never tested this method before, it was extremely stupid for me to give it a go in the real thing. Time was the fundamental cause of my failure. Since I felt as if English Literature was really long, I assumed that English Language would also seem long, not remembering that they both consisted of different times. Due to that mindset, I ended up taking my time on question 5 until I looked at the clock, only to realise that there were 7 minutes left. At that point my heart sunk, I started to shake and I even asked one of the invigilators to clarify the time. This was one of the scariest feelings I've ever had in my life. Well, at least I completed question 5 which was half the marks (40 / 80). Once I exited the exam hall, I realised that I needed to perform miraculously on the second paper.
8th of June: English Language Paper 2.
The amount of revision I done for this paper was.. eternal in some respects. I got home from school the day before, and revised till 12 at night with literally no breaks at all.. Yes, no breaks.. The dedication I had was immense. My confidence levels were really high right before the exam. I was so prepared that I bought 3 highlighters (not that extreme). I opened the paper and dived straight into the insert. The insert was about surfing. Both sources seemed really comprehensible and explicit to me. The questions seemed really easy, too. I managed to answer question 1 (the one about 8 statements which were either true or false) in about 2 minutes, but right after that in question 2, I begun to reconsider the fact that I needed at least 65 / 80 on this paper to get a good overall grade, since I was capped to 40 / 80 on the first paper. That thought caused me to panic, and took away my ability to focus. One of the things I learned from that stupid mistake I did in paper 1 was to manage my time properly. I tried applying that to paper 2 by moving on after (the mark multiplied by 1.5) minutes. So for an 8 mark question, I would give myself 12 minutes and immediately move on after 12 minutes. Due to the lack of focus I had from the panic, I couldn't find anything interesting to contrast so I did a single paragraph of potentially the most uninteresting difference between both sources. When I moved onto question 3, my instincts pretty much told me that I had failed. Luckily, I had highlighted all the language devices at the start, as I was reading. However, the panic I initially had and the instinct of failure, both merged together to completely take away my ability to analyse the effects and intentions of the writer. At that point, I realised that I needed to resit the paper next year. The panic just built up cumulatively as I answered questions 1 to 4. My answers did not make sense, and the quantity was substantially low; I answered with 1 paragraph for each question. Once I got to question 5, I felt redundant. The cumulative build-up of panic caused me to perform horrifically in question 5. The exam was over, and I felt as if it was the end. I knew I was going to have to retake.
As of now (a day after paper 2), I don't know what grade I got, but I can almost guarantee that I got below a grade 4, essentially failed. Colleges, universities, and jobs will now assume that I am incompetent, even if I retake because retaking would imply that I have some elements of incompetence as I initially did not pass. What hurts most is the fact that I got a grade 6, was aiming for a grade 7, 8 or 9, and one stupid mistake caused me to fail in the real thing. Thankfully, this didn't impact my self-esteem since I know for sure that grades don't define anything, at all. At the beginning of year 11, I promised myself that I would not resit any exams because it won't look great, anywhere. But I'm going to end up resitting. Also, that grade 6 I got in the mocks: that should've been a 7.
PS: The reason this sounds like a story is because my mind is currently programmed in that tone, which is reflected from my revision. This might even imply how much revision I've done. Also for the people who are wondering, my exam board was AQA.Btw guys, it still isn't certain that I will not pass as there is a slight potential of a grade 4 (only if the marker is lenient).
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Compare Differences in Surfboards???
Yeah I basically failed English lit paper 1. I wrote so much for section A and B, forgetting to do C which was 30 marks. I didn’t even realise until hours later. I was so confident that I’d get at least an 8 because my inspector calls and poetry comparison were two of the best essays I’d ever written. But even with full marks in both, I’d still be 30 marks less. I was concentrating so hard that time flew by and I ducked it up. It’s heartbreaking to know that no matter how good I wrote, no one will realise, all they’ll see is a grade that isn’t reflective of my actual ability to write 😞 at least it taught me time management for my other English exams but sadly I doubt that’ll save me. I didn’t revise at all really apart from memorising quotes and now I realise that was stupid and past papers are ESSENTIAL. So don’t worry, you’re not alone in any way and you’re right- exams don’t define us.
Original post by Destined_Player
Compare Differences in Surfboards???
It was such a lame question, the two sources were; source a - an autobiography of a professional surfer reminiscing on his introduction to surfing in california in the 1950s and then source b - a letter written about witnessing surfing for the first time in Hawaii, by an English explorer to her sister in 1875
Don't worry about it, once you start doing A Levels GCSEs effectively become obsolete. Learn from it, don't dwell and move on. 
I tried a new strategy for paper 1, doing question order 12354 and I only got half way through Q5 and I completely missed out on Q4 before running out of time. I should've stuck with 23451 which worked on my mocks 
Lots of people found this paper harder than last year's so maybe the boundaries will be lower.
In paper 2 the person to the left of me just wrote their name on the paper and didn't open it. They just sat there for the whole 1h 45mins doing nothing. Apparently some other people in other schools have also done nothing so maybe the boundaries will be low
Lots of people found this paper harder than last year's so maybe the boundaries will be lower.
In paper 2 the person to the left of me just wrote their name on the paper and didn't open it. They just sat there for the whole 1h 45mins doing nothing. Apparently some other people in other schools have also done nothing so maybe the boundaries will be low
Original post by hugebrain
I'm sorry for you, but with all the effort you put in maybe you haven't done as bad as you think in paper 2. The majority of people (in my school at least) don't do anything for english language, so the grade boundaries could be quite low.
Yes, I really do hope that the grade boundaries will be lower.
Don't worry. Really. I did well on the maths paper 1. Got 70+ marks but in the second one. Oh boy. Made so many stupid mistakes. I doubt I will get a grade 9. The worst thing is is that is means I wont be doing IB maths higher level where you require a grade 9. And I know that I am good at maths but it is just that I am error prone.
Original post by AquinasTheHero
Don't worry about it, once you start doing A Levels GCSEs effectively become obsolete. Learn from it, don't dwell and move on.
I agree, although the remorse will stay with me for a while.
(edited 5 years ago)
i know excatly how u feel. for paper 2 i came across the technique of starting off from the back. thats what i started doing.
then i realised i had little time life, about 30 mins for the other questions. i then went ahead and did q2 (q1 i did at the beg) and then i did q4 because that was worth 16 marks. i missed out the 12 marker. i am so dissapointed.
in the mocks i got 7 on paper 1 and 6 in papaer 2-i was one mark away from a 7. overall my grade was a 7.
i liked paper 1 and i think i did okay but i seriously messed up paper 2 as i missed out the 12 marker and i feel as tho my other answers were answered poorly because of the timing. i am so scared ill end up with a 5 seeing as i had a 7 in the mocks.
please pray for me.
then i realised i had little time life, about 30 mins for the other questions. i then went ahead and did q2 (q1 i did at the beg) and then i did q4 because that was worth 16 marks. i missed out the 12 marker. i am so dissapointed.
in the mocks i got 7 on paper 1 and 6 in papaer 2-i was one mark away from a 7. overall my grade was a 7.
i liked paper 1 and i think i did okay but i seriously messed up paper 2 as i missed out the 12 marker and i feel as tho my other answers were answered poorly because of the timing. i am so scared ill end up with a 5 seeing as i had a 7 in the mocks.
please pray for me.
I have zero sympathy for people that decided to use a 'method' that is exceptionally uninformed.
I have seen so many 'teachers' on YouTube saying to use that method, such as Mr Salles and Mr Bruff, as soon as I saw that I knew that they had no clue what they were talking about.
Logically, the exam is put in a specific order for a reason, with the exception of Question 3 on each paper being skipped and being done after Question 4. AQA advise you to use aspects of the texts in your own answer, so it makes no sense if you have only just read it (if that!) and not analysed the texts to try and create a perceptive response to the quesition of Q5.
People are wishing for higher grade boundaries because they didn't read the question, didn't revise or found it hard, but the reality is (and I can GUARANTEE it) the grade boundaries will be moving up.
I have seen so many 'teachers' on YouTube saying to use that method, such as Mr Salles and Mr Bruff, as soon as I saw that I knew that they had no clue what they were talking about.
Logically, the exam is put in a specific order for a reason, with the exception of Question 3 on each paper being skipped and being done after Question 4. AQA advise you to use aspects of the texts in your own answer, so it makes no sense if you have only just read it (if that!) and not analysed the texts to try and create a perceptive response to the quesition of Q5.
People are wishing for higher grade boundaries because they didn't read the question, didn't revise or found it hard, but the reality is (and I can GUARANTEE it) the grade boundaries will be moving up.
coolstory
Original post by Your Local Cat
Doyle the type of guy to ask the bronzed gods to ride them instead of the surfboard.
i was deadass convinced he was gay and was just crushing over the guys lmaoo
Original post by alireza280202
Don't worry. Really. I did well on the maths paper 1. Got 70+ marks but in the second one. Oh boy. Made so many stupid mistakes. I doubt I will get a grade 9. The worst thing is is that is means I wont be doing IB maths higher level where you require a grade 9. And I know that I am good at maths but it is just that I am error prone.
What has this got to do with English language?
Omg!! My situation was pretty similar to yours. I messed up big time p1 because of question 5. I tried to describe the old man but couldn't find anything interesting after spending 15 minutes lol then decided start section B and time was up before i even finish the first paragraph plus panic caused me to focus and analys the other questions on p1... and p2, I made one of the biggest mistake of my life, I started q5 just like you fist time and spent more than 50 mnts just talking mostly unrelated stuff like how parents and coaches are to blame for putting a lot of pressure to young kids etc I haven't talked corruption. My article was more about sports is not anymore but punishment.. and barely wrote one paragraph for the other 3 questions on p2. I'm sure I miserable failed.
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