Writing to inform/explain/describe

Look at some letters that you got from school, as most of them are to inform you about something. Look at the letters, and you will have an idea how to write them.

In argue include statistics or evidence from the reading comprehension if you want to (advisable though). Therfore, you won't have to think of stuff to write, as you are using the evidence/information from the reading comprehension. I'm assuming that the 'argue' on is in paper 1, if it is use the facts/evidence in the reading comprehension from section A.

For explaining and describing, it depends what the statment/question is asking really. I would write in detail with good vocabulary if possible, especially for describing. If you read some textbooks and stuff, most of the stuff are describing and explaining. Reading them will give you a feel of how to write them. Last year for the explaining question, it says: choose a time when you are happy or unhappy, explain why you felt that way. For describing: describe when a shopping center is open and closed.

inform/explain/describe questions suck! I always choose decribe if I can...I'm boring like that but this is kinda the idea my English teacher gave me;

inform.
make sure you can show you understand the topic by;
1) make a list of advantages and disadvantages right at the beginning, you don't necessarily have to write it down.
2) choose 3, 4 or 5 of your best points for both advantage and disadvantage.
3) write an introductary paragraph, about five to eight sentences if you can. Just explain what the point of the essay is...like anyother essay.
4) make sure the examiner is positive you understand the point you've chosen from your table for the middle bit.
5) round of your points nicely and try to come to a pesonal, well informed conclusion.

explain.
pretty much the same just making sure you answer the question.

describe.
trev got that one explained as far as i know

is that okay?

Thanks
What do you mean the facts from the comprehension part in section A? Aren't the essay questions totally different to the comprehension?

Yeah, I find the poetry and media comprehension parts harder than the essay parts. The think with describing is really let your imagination flow (within limits). I'm pretty imaginative, which is probably why I find this section the easiest.

The reading comprehension is hard, however the media ones (i.e. newspaper or magazine articles are easier than the story ones though). The poetry is the hardest one in the exam. If you write off topic a bit for the poetry, you will still get marks.

Last time when I done it, our teacher gathered some questions that they might ask about poetry:

first person view
language
identity
value
stereotyping
authorial purpose
strucuture
style
meaning
content
extended metaphor
prejudice

I can tell you that content and identity won't come up, as they are asked in November and June 2004 (my friends told me this who are repeating it). In addition, they asked the poems Half Caste and Not my Business. For sure they won't ask them, nevertheless, you should still study those poems as you might want to use them to compare with the other named poem.

Thanks - you are very helpful Trev!
Yeah, we've seen those past papers. It's a shame because identity is quite easy to do. I'm more confident on the poetry about Different Cultures and Religions than the poems we had to do on out English Lit. paper, they were horrible.

You're welcome. hehe

Cool. I think the other stuff I mentioned are quite easy to like content, strucuture, authorial purpose, meaning, and value. I think the others are hard though.

I hope you covered cluster 2 in 'different cultures'.

I can't believe I still remember all those from a long time ago.

I just wish they change the syllabus and not to include poetry in exams. It should be just reading comprehension and writing.

Good luck on the exam.

I don't like structure much, but everything else is okay-ish.
Yeah, we covered Cluster 2, but not Cluster 1. Or at least, not in much detail.

I wonder if I'll still remember all this stuff... probably not, I think I'll try to forget it all! Especially the poetry

Yeah, I think they should do that. Poetry smells.

Thanks very much!

You're welcome. I'm sure you will do fine. Just write about the stuff related to the question as much as possible. It's fine to go off topic, as you still get marks for it. However, don't go too off topic though.

My school always cover cluster 2. I guess the questions asked for cluster 2 is easier to understand.

lol, yeah. Forgetting the poetry is good, as you don't want to learn it anymore - free up some space in our brains.

I doubt they would abolish poetry unfortunately. I guess they put it there, as there is nothing else to ask in paper 2 (section A).

I forgot one thing that they might ask: contrasting between two poems. That should be an easy one too.

My teacher asked us if we wanted to go over Cluster 1, but we said no, we felt it was too late in the year to start going over a whole new bunch of poems. Having looked at them, I think I would have used poems from Cluster 2 anyway, if I had the choice.

As I said before, I feel a lot more confident about this paper, than the English Lit. one. Now that I've got that one out of the way, I feel a lot better

My bro did it last week or something like that. He just crammed the whole lot of poems and short stories from the Anthology the night before. Hope he does well. I think it's quite hard to know everything in the Anthology. Luckily, you just need to know one cluster of poems in paper 2.

When I've done it, cluster 2 seems more interesting.

What grade did you get on your mocks for english (i.e. paper 1 & 2)? I'm sure you will get good grades when results day arrives.

I just got an A I think.

You only have to know one cluster for poems of other cultures? So when you get asked a question, can't you mix between the different clusters?

god i just practiced exam question and it took me 2 hours to write 2 sides for writing to inform.this is hard.

Cool! I'm sure you will get that grade A during results day!!