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Is 6 months enough time to pass English Language IGCSE starting from scratch?

Do you think 6 months is enough time to study and pass the English Language IGCSE for someone starting from complete scratch?

When I say 'from stratch', I do pretty much literally mean starting from 'complete beginner'

I am a mature student, but extremely uneducated. I never sat my normal GCSE's when I was in school (which I now regret)

If I had to guess, I probably have the reading and writing ability of a year 6 primary student. (Perhaps alittle worse if im being completely honest)

Im hoping to sit the IGCSE English Language this novemeber. This gives me about 5,6 months to study.

Do you think it's possible?

BUMP

BUMP #2

It's a little hard to give you a definite answer given that you claim to be "extremely uneducated". I would argue to the contrary - there aren't that many spelling or grammar errors in your initial post, I've definitely seen worse, but anyway...

Basically it's 120 hours to cover I/GCSE content, plus additional hours for revision. That's doable in 6 months certainly if it's the only subject you're studying.

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 4

ZenDixon

Thanks very much for replying. I appreciate it. I guess when I claim to be extremely uneducated, I basically mean I lack self confidence, due to dropping out of school and although I have tried many times to get into reading as an adult, I found it quite difficult as there are so many words I struggle spelling out. (Honestly, some are embarrasing) I have family relatives who put me to shame.

However, ill be honest, I spent all last night looking up past papers for English Language B (the exam ill be doing) and im now not as apprehensive as I initially was. It doesn't seem too complex, as long as I get my head down and study.

I have just enrolled onto a distance learning course, so I have about 5 months. Im aiming to get a grade 4, (C) so hopefully I can do it, anything better would be a bonus.

Thanks again for replying.

Reply 5

MrDude21

It’s difficult to say. I completed my IGCSE English Language in 2014 and got a B. That was after 10 years of formal primary/secondary education, private tutoring at age 10-11 for a year and forcing myself to read more. I was not the brightest student and was in the average class set in my school.

My advice would be just start it and go for it. You should work on your confidence, from seeing your original post, your English does not seem too bad, a few grammatical problems but nothing that is too horrendous. Seeing you are a mature student who seems like you want to do this (for whatever reason) could play a huge part of how much time you dedicate towards self studying. Start asap, read more, revise your nouns, adjectives, verbs, spelling and grammar. Look back at past papers, to understand what questions you could expect. Write to inform - begin writing practice emails and letters using formal English, making an argument etc. Get someone you know who has good English skills to read over it and give you feedback. Use that feedback to improve your writing skills. Overall, just work hard and go for it. Take the test and if you pass then fantastic, but if you fail then try again. There is no problem with trying again, it just mean you can improve on what you have failed upon in the test.

I only give this advice because you don’t want to look back and say to yourself “what if??”
Just go for it, but also realise you are setting yourself up for a huge task, so as long as you are determined then I see no reason in trying.

Original post by ZenDixon