What exactly did you do when you went home?

[onur369]

Hi guys as a member who has to do English next year  I am just curious to know what the English pros who received 40+ for their SS did after school? How they studied? How long they studied etc.

[Greatness]

My study will be reading the texts these hols, doing our compulsory VN essays and any prep for sacs....

[taiga]

Just read your texts properly and highlight quotes you think are important, then write down why they are important xD

As for when you get home? There's not much more than to use every resource your school gives you, and to keep on writing essays.

[onur369]

My study will be reading the texts these hols, doing our compulsory VN essays and any prep for sacs....

Ill probobly do the same, but also go over the study guides frequently.

[taiga]

My study will be reading the texts these hols, doing our compulsory VN essays and any prep for sacs....

Ill probobly do the same, but also go over the study guides frequently.

Don't read study guides till the very end, I didn't even look at any except sparknotes this year. They can sometimes hinder peoples' ability to do well.

[Greatness]

I plan to read study guides once - after ive done my annotations

[onur369]

My study will be reading the texts these hols, doing our compulsory VN essays and any prep for sacs....

Ill probobly do the same, but also go over the study guides frequently.

Don't read study guides till the very end, I didn't even look at any except sparknotes this year. They can sometimes hinder peoples' ability to do well.

Fair enough, good point.

[Streaker]

I got a 46 in English but didn't have the greatest study habits for it. I really took my essays up another notch in early October when I did two essays a day until the exam (after averaging B in my SACs for the whole year - in a very strong cohort).

AN IMPORTANT TIP: Do not only get feedback from your teacher! Get it from as many teachers/tutors as possible. Talk to somebody who is an examiner and ask what an examiner is looking for when they mark essays. This helped me so much, and I am grateful for having one session with a tutor who is also an examiner a few weeks before my exam. It improved my essays almost two-fold. I only did two language analyses in the lead-up to the exam. I thought I would do very poorly but I ended up fluking it. For context, I practiced rewriting the same essay over and over so many times. I knew I could adapt it to any prompt so I was safe in that department. The hard work I did in context resulted in me writing out 6 pages for it on the exam.

Apart from that exam preparation advice, avoid doing what I did and make sure you work consistently during the year. Ensure you read all your texts over the summer holidays. I didn't re-read any texts but didn't feel the need to do it either. For some people, it helps so really it depends on what kind of learner you are. Study guides for text response are also extremely beneficial to your learning as well as bringing up valid and relevant points in your body paragraphs. Good luck

[cypriottiger]

i actually marked a lot of essays on VN, and read the criticisms of others on the same essays
if you see a quote thats rarely used, write it down and hang it in front of your desk i felt that helped me to remember the tricky ones
i also on read from sparknotes, but that was only on 2 occasions leading into a SAC

you dont want to write too many essays early on or else you'll fizz out by then time exams come. maybe 2-3 practise ones leading into a SAC, otherswise one a week + school assigned work should suffice. reading your texts well is obvious, noting the key quotes, themes, symbolism ect.

hmm thats all i can really think of right now, but i would strongly advice reading the essays of others and trying to identify faults, before attemping your own rendition of the prompt. i felt that contributed most towards my A+

good luck!

EDIT: you want your writing at its peak from the first SAC, perhaps a tutor if you feel as though your writing is not adequate, otherwise submit essays for correction here, im sure we'd all be glad to assist you
my mistake was my writing peaking in October so my GAs only read B+ A A+ for 38. more SAC preparation and less dillusion would have allowed me to get the 42+ i expected.

[iffets12345]

Um I just wrote essays consistently if I felt I was rusty. I read my teacher's criticism and really tried to apply it in the next essay. Reading people's essays on VN also motivates you cause you know you have to improve your standards. I made notebooks which had different purposes for study. Being a girl, having cute asian stationery really made me like doing it LOL
1. Year of Wonders- quotes
2. Year of Wonders- Chapter Analysis (NOT REVIEW).
3. Imaginative Landscape- poem analysis + examples + ties to context.

Instead of having a massive folder which is boring. I used the folder for class notes and essays.
WRITING ESSAYS IS IMPORTANT.
I tried to write alot and do English exams for practice in the holidays.

That was it :S my study habits were quite poor, I didn't write like 50+ essays unlike everyone else on this site lol.

[Souljette_93]

I only had my teacher mark my essays, and I still got a 40 + SS. But if you can get more, then that's better.

I would make sure I write at least one essay per week..but aside from that, I also made sure I knew my texts inside out, read other high scoring examples, and jot down important information here and there..but the major factor for English is writing essays.

Also, you have three AOS.  For me :

Text Response: Know your novel/study inside out, try forming your 'opinion' and use relevent quotes to help strenthen your essays

Context: Find out what style of writing suits you..I personally did a speech, and used famous sayings by people etc etc

Language Analysis: I followed lynt. example from VN.

[Streaker]

I only had my teacher mark my essays, and I still got a 40 + SS. But if you can get more, then that's better.

I would make sure I write at least one essay per week..but aside from that, I also made sure I knew my texts inside out, read other high scoring examples, and jot down important information here and there..but the major factor for English is writing essays.

Also, you have three AOS.  For me :

Text Response: Know your novel/study inside out, try forming your 'opinion' and use relevent quotes to help strenthen your essays

Context: Find out what style of writing suits you..I personally did a speech, and used famous sayings by people etc etc

Language Analysis: I followed lynt. example from VN.

So important. Probably added 5 points to my score.

[onur369]

Im going to try and adapt to the advice you guys have given me. Im not a great writer and I always have the same comment by my teacher: EXPRESSION. I suck at expressing my opinions, any tips on that?

[Streaker]

Im going to try and adapt to the advice you guys have given me. Im not a great writer and I always have the same comment by my teacher: EXPRESSION. I suck at expressing my opinions, any tips on that?

Read a lot of higher quality essays. Notice how these writers express themselves and also take note of their lexicon.

[Greatness]

Try writing in a very simple manner. Keep your sentences short, dont worry about using big words.