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Approach to Timed Essays

I have just embarked on my English Lit As course with AQA. I know that I will love the course- just as I did at GCSE level, however I am slightly concerned about the timed essays in June.

Timed essays have always been a fear as I think spatially so I tend to work on many levels at once whilst writing down comparatively little of what I think and feel (as if I were to do that, then I would ruin any structure my essay would have), and on top of that tend to be rather particular about word choices and sentence syntax, which is all very well for creative writing, but not so great when you are trying to put forward a progressive argument.

I also don’t tend to cope particularly well with the said exams. This June, I came out of the English paper 2 completely disillusioned about humanity, which probably meant that I had engaged a little too much with the subject of the essay, as wasn’t able to be objective enough.

I have always been told that I have a sound base for critical analysis, my old teacher gave me full marks for all of my coursework essays, though I still feel insecure. Perhaps I just worry too much.

Does anyone have any tips or techniques for how best to approach preparing for and sitting exams?

I know this is very early on in the year, but I have thi----is much to do later in the year, so I want to start to work on my weaknesses when I have the time.

Reply 1

Platinum Mech

If you've done really well on your coursework essays, I don't think writing timed essays should be too much of a struggle -- you've learned half of what is needed to succeed anyway. The only real extra thing you have to be careful of is that you really revise the texts and your ideas about them thoroughly, so that you know instantly what to write for most of the questions that pop up.

Personally, I did largely as well at timed essays as I did at coursework essays, and tried to get as much information in as I possibly could without sacrificing the quality of the writing and the structure of the essay.

Reply 2

elliejayne

I finished the whole AQA B course this year - you really have more time than you think you have in the exams :smile:

Reply 3

slk999

i think with timed essays the best advice i can give is to really know your stuff. that's why this term and the spring term is so important- so that you really UNDERSTAND the themes/contexts etc of the texts you're doing. this way, when it comes to easter/june and you look back at your notes, it'll be easy to cram it back to the front of your mind. also have in your head themes with various different texts but obviously central to the text you're doing for the exam. this way you won't be concentratin on the plot and in the exam you can easily write quickly on themes which get marks- not on plot descriptions that don't get marks. use your time well- think more than writing lots of crap. also plan essay- if it's passage based go through the passage and pick out themes that occur and write quotes for them from the passage. then put it into paragraph order and when you write your essay, you can easily make comparrisons to other texts etc. but as long you approach the essay thematically and not chronologically, you'll be fine :smile:

hope all that dribble made at least some sense!

Reply 4

polka_dott

I know what you mean... in the timed essay in english this year for Spies I freaked out and thought I didn't have enough time (when I did have an hour!) and panicked and my mind went blank for the first 15 minutes... I ended up with an E when I had been getting A's for my Spies essays. All I can say is try to relax and remain calm in the exam!

Reply 5

Peter North

Pray.

Reply 6

all of the above plus you may find it helpful to practice working up to timed essays in your own time.

What I mean by this is taking your text, revise in a way which you prefer, make notes on the topic of essay then create those notes into an essay but not timed.

Then there are two main options:

1. Take the same topic a week later, read the notes that you made from revising and write a timed essay.

2. Take a different topic, make notes and then do a timed essay about that. You could then do number 1 for number 2 if that makes sense.

As you're already confident at essays which aren't timed (cw for example) the practice at essays which aren't timed may not be necessary.

After doing number one, you can then take the same topic another week later and write a timed essay without looking at notes.

Building up to a timed essay really helps me rather than launching into it.

Also, one last thing, don't forget when revising it's not wrong to do what you used to do in middle/junior/first school; Look, cover, write, check. It's a very effective way of remembering information, especially things like themes etc.

Reply 7

violent

thanks a lot

Reply 8

carpe_jugulum

In my AS modules, (though I did Lit/Lang, the theory remains the same,) I concentrated on the PEEL system.

Point: 'The author creates a semantic field of war'
Evidence: 'As seen in the third and fifth paragraphs, wherein... [quote here]'
Explanation: 'Given the author's background in the 3042 AD war against lesser-spotted aliens from Bandark, this shows that she is biased against the characters mentioned therein, by their use of violent imagery against the peaceful lexis already discussed. As she uses these intrusively in paragraph two

, the anti-war attitude is expected to be shared by her target audience.'
Link: (Make sure that it is properly answering the question!)

Or something like that. It usually works if you use at least five or six repetitions of the PEEL structure, with an introduction and a conclusion.

Revision-wise, it's often easiest to make sure you know the texts inside and out. Ask your teacher for mock questions, and start working on them now. My teachers made my class do a timed essay every other lesson, but I came out of AS level with 298/300 in English (I lost two marks in my coursework).

I really hope that helps. Good luck in your studies!

Reply 9

esmaraldo

Ah, just found this again today. Thank you everyone. You've been really helpful.

Reply 10

mwjc

Don't get too worried about introducing or concluding your essays perfectly neatly; examiners get precious little time with each script and, from what I understand, mark almost with a list of 'right things to say' in mind. On the other hand, make an effort to structure your essays so that they appear to be more than just a list of points and arguments: it's really about getting a good balance, which isn't as hard is it seems.

Reply 11

thats_my_poison

im just like you because i can easily write A-grade english essays but like you said, I "tend to be rather particular about word choices and sentence syntax" so spend far too much time worrying about how to word a phrase, rather than actually getting my point down. what i found really helpful was doing some practice timed essays in the week before the exam because it just helped me focus on the time constraints and be more disciplined.

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