The preparation for my trial exams was done in class through the essays that we wrote. I find it hard to study for English as it has a lot to do with writing essays and presenting thoughts which have to be backed up with facts from pieces of writing. Writing essays in class gave us time to practice for the mocks and since it was marked and commented on we learnt ways of improving our writing. Though the essay writing helped me to prepare for the Literature paper I feel that the Literature Circle Groups did too, because in them we got to share our opinions and thoughts on the stories, which is basically what the Literature paper requires us to do. Last year in English class our final exam was on a English Language past paper so I already knew what to expect from that. I can't really say that that helped me to prepare for the language paper though since that was a whole year ago, it just let know what the format of the exam would be like. I think that looking at literary elements in class was helpful for the English Language exam because in it we were asked to identify effective descriptions and effective uses of language which learning about the literary elements helped us to do. I always get nervous when I enter an exam room and throughout all the exams I felt pressed for time. I was less nervous for the Literature paper because we had more practice with it, but even so I was constantly worrying about time. I think that I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself which isn't good for my writing but I can't help it. I think that I did alright in both exams and I'm hoping for an A, or just not lower than a B!
When I first saw my grades for English I was disappointed; I was happy with the "A*" but I was hoping for better than a "B" in the Literature paper. I never really expect a result, I just hope for the best. I know that B is not an outrageously bad mark but my dad's standards are really high and throughout the years they've rubbed off on me. Grades really bug me and I guess that this just added to the stress because I didn't do well on a lot of my mocks but I know that I just need to try harder and put in more effort. For the literature paper I thought that I could write about what I thought of the poem and I didn't know that I would have to notice specific points. I thought that so long as I wrote about what stood out most to me that it would be fine but I guess I didn't explain my ideas clearly enough. After getting the "B" in literature I didn't really want to take it for IGCSE because I have 7 other subjects to worry about, some of which I'm still not confident in, but it was listed as one of the subjects that I'm going to be taking so I guess that I'll just have to work harder and hopefully that will help me to do better in the real thing.
When I sit for the real paper I am going to make sure that the first thing I do is to look at how long I have to finish the exam. For the second literature paper I planned my work for 20 minutes, which is what the paper said to do, but I was planning on taking less time than that and I just got carried away. I completely freaked out because I thought that I had fifteen minutes less than I actually did to finish the exam. Then in a state of panic I speed wrote my essay. When I was finished I quickly edited my work in what I thought was my last few minutes and I remembered the other ideas that I had been planning to include but that I "didn't have time for". I then sat there for a while wondering why the exam wasn't ending and realized that I had had 15 more minutes than I thought I did. I then went back over my essay one more time trying to make more adjustments. I wish I had just taken my time right from the beginning though. I think I'm stressing myself out and I need to seriously find a way to relax and calm myself down.
Chelsea fc
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Monday, 21 January 2013
The Great Gatsby Essay Reflection
I think that I did okay for my essay on Gatsby and his greatness. I got most of my ideas about him down in the time given but I do think that I could have structured it better. I never plan because I'm worried about not having enough time and since my thoughts don't necessarily come to me in the order that they should be written down in my writing sometimes seems a bit messy. I also struggled with starting and finishing my essay. My introduction for "The Great Gatsby" wasn't too great, it wasn't particularly captivating or creative and although by the time I got to the end of my essay my thoughts were more organized, and therefore I could conclude better than I began, I still think that my conclusion could definitely use some improvement.
I did as well as I expected to do, my introduction was mediocre and could use improvement along with my conclusion. I completely agree that I need to plan because it is obvious that I need to better structure my paragraphs. I get ideas but since I don't plan them out at the beginning, I remember them at random times and think to myself about how I should have added them in to a different paragraph, one that I've normally already written by that time. I also really need to work on my time management because I didn't get a chance to reread my writing which was probably my biggest problem. When I go back over my work I add in more information if I think I am being too brief and I correct grammar mistakes but I didn't get a chance to do that while writing my essay on Gatsby. When I'm in an exam atmosphere and there is absolutely no talking I will be able to focus better and hopefully make less mistakes while writing, or at the very least, have time to go back over my work. I always make a point of editing my writing and I love editing so I knew that not rereading my work would cause some problems!
On my next essay I would like to spend more time planning and to write a better introduction. I would like to be able to capture my audience's attention when they read my introduction and I think that the planning itself will help with that. Planning will allow me to organize my thoughts before I begin with my introduction and therefore by the time I start writing, my introduction will be clear and polished.
I did as well as I expected to do, my introduction was mediocre and could use improvement along with my conclusion. I completely agree that I need to plan because it is obvious that I need to better structure my paragraphs. I get ideas but since I don't plan them out at the beginning, I remember them at random times and think to myself about how I should have added them in to a different paragraph, one that I've normally already written by that time. I also really need to work on my time management because I didn't get a chance to reread my writing which was probably my biggest problem. When I go back over my work I add in more information if I think I am being too brief and I correct grammar mistakes but I didn't get a chance to do that while writing my essay on Gatsby. When I'm in an exam atmosphere and there is absolutely no talking I will be able to focus better and hopefully make less mistakes while writing, or at the very least, have time to go back over my work. I always make a point of editing my writing and I love editing so I knew that not rereading my work would cause some problems!
On my next essay I would like to spend more time planning and to write a better introduction. I would like to be able to capture my audience's attention when they read my introduction and I think that the planning itself will help with that. Planning will allow me to organize my thoughts before I begin with my introduction and therefore by the time I start writing, my introduction will be clear and polished.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
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