HELP! Compare and Contrast Question English Lang

My exam board is CCEA (Northern Ireland) and I have an exam on Friday (Unit 1) and on Monday (Unit 2).

Unit 1 Part A consists either of a personal story, speech or an article (my teacher never taught me on how to write an article and speech can you give me advice?)

Unit 1 Part B consists of Multi-Model Compare and Contrast Question either on 2 DVD covers, 2 posters, 2 leaflets or 2 book covers. (Hopefully it's a DVD or book cover; again my teacher never taught the rest.) I really need advice on what to look out for.. How do i go about "answering" these questions.

I haven't got the best vocabulary and I'm not really good on writing descriptive language (Use the 5 senses, but i can't think of WORDS)

Is there any techniques I could follow to ensure good marks?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

Scullzyy

BUMP: Even if you are on a different board can you at least give me some helpful tips? As the popular boards are AQA and WJEC

Reply 2

holly1211

Hello! I'm also on CCEA for GCSE English lang, it's my best subject and I've got near enough full marks in all of the past papers we've done in class so hopefully I could help! ;D

First tip would be do Part B first, that way you'll have all the techniques in your head and it is also easier to cut down Part B rather than Part A if you are tight for time. Part B has a question 1 and 2. For question 1 you'll have to analyse language so to structure it I take a paragraph per technique eg. one paragraph for alliteration. Make sure you reference both texts and use words like comparably, similarly, in contrast etc. For the next part of Part B you have to analyse the presentational devices used. Use the same system as before by systematically going through all the techniques one paragraph at a time, making sure to comment on both texts. I think they provide a list of things to cover on the paper but if not make sure you talk about colour, structure and images.

Next do Part A. You need to spend 5 mins or so planning your answer because there are marks for having an organised structure. If it's a speech try to use plenty of language which will evoke emotion and refer to whoever the speech is to be written for (eg. fellow classmates). If it's an article you'll need to use a less flowery style and write it like a newspaper article. If it's a personal story try to use plenty of imagery so the reader feels as if they are part of the story. One good way to do this is by referencing the senses - describe what you can touch, taste, see or feel.

It's maybe not a bad idea to write out a couple of essays beforehand on a positive event that's happened to you, a negative event and someone who impacts your life. Generally you could take elements from each of these essays and apply it to your personal question.

Hope this is of some help! :badger:

Reply 3

That one student

I have this EXACT CCEA English language exam tomorrow! Good luck! Section B: Comparing and contrasting linguistic/language techniques refer to the following:
Direct address - Directly addresses the reader and makes them feel included in the text.
Alliteration - Is catchy and sticks in the readers head.
Fact - Makes the text more reliable and believable to the reader.
Opinion - Sways the reader toward the writers view point.
Rhetorical question/Repetition - Keeps the reader actively ingaged/catchy-sticks in readers head.
Emotive language - Shows the reader a more humane approach to the text.
Statistics - Makes the text more reliable and believable to the reader.
Three (rule of) - Catchy and sticks in the reader's head.
Anecdote - A short story used to keep the text interesting to the reader.
Humour - Brings life to the text and keeps the reader interested.

ALWAYS REFER BACK TO HOW EACH AND EVERY LINGUISTIC TECHNIQUE EFFECTS THE READER BY INFORMING OR PERSUADING THEM.

As for Section B: Comparing and contrasting presentational devices, refer to the following:

Audience - Who is the audience aimed are? Children, adults or teenagers?
Colour - What does each colour connote/mean/symbolise/represent?
Layout - how is the text layed out? Columns?
Images - What images are used... Why?
Font - Is the font big, small, fancy, plain or colourful? What does this mean?

(Media studies really helps with this section 😂)

Once again, good luck! I am doing higher tier... In June I got a D in this exam so I wish you all the best!

Reply 4

bar73

i done this exact exam yesterday and im stressing because i dont think i answered it as well as i could have with more descriptive language and explanation etc, how did it go for you guys?

Reply 5

Scullzyy

Original post by That one student

Original post by bar73

i done this exact exam yesterday and im stressing because i dont think i answered it as well as i could have with more descriptive language and explanation etc, how did it go for you guys?

I don't think I did particularly well in this exam :frown:

...

In Section A, I didn't use advance vocabulary and the only language devices I included were: Metaphors, Similes, Direct Address, Anecdote and lists of three.
The question was "Write an article for your school magazine about a time when you received/ give a meaningful gift"... My teacher never taught me out to write and "article" only a story.

For section B, I felt that I done better but i'm not 100% confident that I will pass this exam. :frown:

I feel so stressed.

And I have Unit 2 to do on Tuesday. Is there any tips you could give me?

Arghhh.. My anxiety is through the roof!

Reply 6

bar73

pretty sure I used: direct involvement, exclamation, rhetorical questions, rule of three, alliteration, ''picture this'' and semicolons and my vocab was pretty bad also, however, for section B I'm not sure I wrote abut enough things for task one I wrote 4 paragraphs and 3 for task two

I'm not doing unit 2 on Tuesday so I can't help you there

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

That one student

Guys, regardless of my previous comment.
My exam went SOO BAD! (

The Section A: Article was fine... I wrote in an article style layout and engaged a lot with the reader, I wrote about 2 1/2 pages.

The section B: I have no words... It was horrendous for me! I'm not too hopeful that I passed... I wrote like two/three paragraph for each task... That's like one page each 😅😶

Never am I ever looking at 'Full Whack' or 'City of Bones' the same way ever again, for the entirety of my existence. (Higher, multi-modal texts)

Reply 8

That one student

Original post by Scullzyy

I don't think I did particularly well in this exam :frown:

I feel so stressed.

And I have Unit 2 to do on Tuesday. Is there any tips you could give me?

Arghhh.. My anxiety is through the roof!

Yep, what I done for the 'Write an article' question was,
I wrote in block capitals a heading on the second line of the page.
'WHAT IS THE BEST GIFT TO RECEIVE?'
Then below that I wrote a sub heading...
'Are you going out for Christmas or birthday shopping? If so, this article is for you!'
'(Article by Aled Morton, Yr 12)' <--- This is my name XD

After all that stuff I left a few lines blank and started my answer.
The reason I done the heading and sub-heading was to show the examiner that I was aware the question was asking me to make an article.
(I wouldn't be too worried if you didn't layout your question like this- I'm sure it's 100% optional.)
You get marks for showing the examiner: You KNOW it's an ARTICLE you are writing, for your SCHOOL/SCHOOL MAGAZINE... And that you are writing about the best gift YOU HAVE RECEIVED OR GIVEN.

As for the Section B... I can even remember anything I wrote... It's all just a messy blur of unorganised stuff that I described really badly!
I wrote about a presentational device in the task about language... Which was bad. Really bad. (I wrote about it in the wrong task)-
HOWEVER AT THE LAST LITERAL 10 SECONDS OF THE EXAM PUT A LINE THROUGH THE WHOLE PARAGRAPH IN WHICH I DESCRIBED THE PRESENTATIONAL DEVICE... So it's now non-existent in my answer 😐

Generally I have 'A's and 'B's in my controlled assessments so I'm not all that worried...