Happy exam season everybody! If you are a youth anywhere in North America who is currently attending school, chances are you are in the midst of final exams. There are highs and lows to this season of the school year- the exhausting workload and stress of school is coming to an end once again, but before we are free for summer there is the final push. Exams. For many including myself, it can be difficult to force ourselves to study when the beautiful blue sky and warm air beckon us to simply relax. However, in order to not throw a semester’s worth of hard work down the drain, studying is unfortunately a necessity. For biology, social studies, chemistry, physics, and math, it’s fairly straightforward. If you put in the hard work, read the textbook, and do the practice questions, you should recieve a grade which you deserve.
However, studying for english is a completely different story. Many believe that there is no way to prepare for the intimidating written and reading comprehension components of the examinations, and it’s best to simply wing it. However, according to the opinion of one of my favourite english teachers, those are simply the words of the lazy, and I’ve come to agree. You see, in middle school I did not study for english exams. At all. And it showed, very much, through the less than satisfactory marks I was achieving. Once I entered high school though, I decided to give it a try, because I was no longer okay with recieving marks that I felt didn’t reflect my best efforts. So I started studying for english, and my marks went up quickly and effectively. Here are my tips to doing well on both the written and the reading comprehension portions of the English finals!
(But first, in case you are feeling the summer vibes and hence a lack of motivation, here is a nice quote to keep ya going)
Written Portion (Personal Response/Critical/Analytical Response to text):
If you haven’t experienced this already, in grades 11 and 12 you are required to respond to texts (including images) via a personal response only in grade 11 (a story, letter, speech, essay, play, etc) and both a personal response AND critical/analytical response in grade 12, in a limited amount of time.
1. Learn from past Diploma Exemplars
My world of studying was completely revolutionized when I learned about this resource, or rather these resources. I was quite confused about what the standards were, and what I was supposed to write, and how I was supposed to write it, even though my teachers had briefly touched on it. One day, I went home, and googled “English 30-1 diploma examples” (because even if you are in grades 10 or 11, these examples are the best), and this website came up. The diploma examples provide us with a look at the satisfactory, proficient, and exemplary scorings of different students’ writing. In order to find out what you need to do to achieve an exemplary, you can read the exemplary paper and the comments associated with it. If you want to avoid doing worse than your standards, take a look at the other papers too! There are plenty of Alberta 30-1 Diploma examples- all you have to do is google it.
2.Practice analyzing and writing
Nobody likes to do it, but it is unbelievably helpful. Any time you see an opportunity to practice, take it. If you’re driving by and you see an interesting poster, think about it-analyze it. Search up writing prompts, and practice writing in a set period of time. Although it takes motivation to actually set apart time to practice writing, I guarantee that you will not regret your hard work when it comes to the day of the exam.
3.Learn about sentence starters
I know so many individuals who have stunning ideas but have trouble transitioning them from inside their heads to the paper. Why? because they don’t know how to state them. A common solution to this issue is to familiarize yourself with sentence starters. By this, I mean: “The source expresses that”, “Demonstrated in the source is”, and so on and so forth. Not only can you google sentence starters and write them all down on a piece of paper, but you can also look, once again, at past diploma examples and take note of what the students use.
4.Research different formats
(everyone thinks and processes information in a unique and interesting way, hence the different shapes of bubbles. Choose a writing method which suits YOUR thought process)!
Everyone knows about short stories, and everyone knows about essays. But did you know that you could write either a critical, formatted essay, or a freer, more creative personal essay about one of your own experiences? If you’re like me and enjoy talking a lot, personal responses are like speaking to a friend. If you are passionate about a subject, you could do a rant. Keep a journal? Write a journal entry. If you’re into drama, you could write a play. I think that everyone has something- all you need to do is experiment a bit, and discover where your strength lies. For example, I love stories, so I find it easiest and most natural to convey my main idea through a short story. Unfortunately, poems are the only form of prose which is disallowed. All you have to remember when writing any format, is to maintain your main idea!
5.Read
It’s an oldie but most definitely a goldie. Read, read and read. Read books, magazines, cartoons, Shakespeare ( it will help), nonfiction. Read. Did I mention read? Reading not only instills in you ideas and allows you to daydream about the material and expand your imagination (which will come in handy when you’re staring at the most likely confusing texts/images which you are supposed to analyze), but it also subsconsciously shapes your own unique writing style. Reading different materials helps individuals to find their “writer’s voice”- the tone which best suits you when you write. Often, the people who mark you look for this distinctive, unified, confident voice0 whether it be humourous, serious, philosophical, and so on and so forth. Also, reading will help you understand grammar and punctuation, as well as sentence structure, and so many other literary tools, which will all act to helpfully influence you at the time of the exam.
Reading Comprehension Portion:
Once again, if you haven’t done this already, you are recquired to sit in a room for about two hours and fill in a scan tron for the reading comprehension component.
1.Read
I know I just mentioned this above, but it stays true to this section as well. Reading will help you gain the skills needed to survive the comprehension exam- it will expand your vocabulary, allow you to read at more efficient pace and therefore save time, and broaden your understanding of different topics.
Exambank is helpful for every subject, even english. There are countless reading comprehension practice tests on this website, and although they are tricky (I can attest to this) they are helpful. Most schools have a username and password which enables access to exambank, but if yours doesn’t you can practice all the same by searching up “reading comprehension tests”.
3.Google
Google! Google lists of literary devices and types of poems and anything else english-related. Doing this will solidify your knowledge of the possible literary devices and will give you a boost of confidence before the exam.
That’s it, guys! Give all of these study tips a try, and watch as your english mark skyrockets! After all, the old saying remains tried and true- Hard work pays off.
Good luck everyone!
sources: 1