Need a Higher grade ( first time on the forum)

[Lost.(AS-Level)]

I am re-doing AS level to achieve the necessary grades in order to get accepted by a good university. I got a C for english last year, and I'm aiming for an A. Problem is, although my first and only language is English, my teacher claims I will not succeed because I apparently don't have a culture of English. I think that his theory has credit but I am quite sure there's another way. Does anyone have some tips ?

 

[minhal]

Try reading good english novels....while u read, try to take in new vocab words and the expressions used by the writer....read articles....practice is the only key to have a good grade in this subject. try writing a composition once a week taking topics from past papers.

 

[Zephyro]

Dont worry too much about what your teacher says. I got a D in my english AS the first time aswell. During my retake I ran out of time and left half a question and still got a 78 ums ( B )..2% more and it would have been an A. Anyway my point is its quite possible to get an A.

 

[ktc]

my teacher claims I will not succeed because I apparently don't have a culture of English.

What’s that suppose to mean? :/

 

[MindStealth]

Firstly why are you taking English AS Level? I think you only need it for English literature, no other field really needs English to be studied in AS or A Level, just an average score in TOFEL or IELTS is enough to fill the English Language requirement and trust me they are a lot easier than AS Level English(Go for IELTS as it is quite similar to GCSE or IGCSE English but if you're not good at speaking then go for TOFEL, it doesn't include the speaking test. Both have the exactly same value). But for some reason if you have to take it then start reading novels, you need a huge container of vocabulary in your head to get an A or B in it. Try to grasp any new word you hear into your head and also work on your comprehension skills and also try reading essays by good writers and observe the techniques they use to attract you to the essay. Moreover, try to write on different common topics that appear in papers, you need good points for any kind of topic they give you.

 

[Lost.(AS-Level)]

What’s that suppose to mean? :/

Honsetly i'm no so sure myself, I didn't bother to get into it. i figured i'll just work out another way to get an A.

 

[Most_UniQue]

The best thing is to read novels. Well just ignore your teacher. My teacher expected me to get a D but I got an A instead And you need to have a lot of ideas of how to use the vocabs and idioms will help too.

 

[Lost.(AS-Level)]

Thanks everyone

 

[minhal]

The best thing is to read novels. Well just ignore your teacher. My teacher expected me to get a D but I got an A instead And you need to have a lot of ideas of how to use the vocabs and idioms will help too.

By good vocab, do we mean complex words? and how should we learn it? did u read many novels before paper? if yea then how did u manage time doing other subjects nd reading the novels at the same time?

 

[panda222]

i would like to know the answer to the above question as well.

Now to answer your question, I seriously thought i was gonna get a U in AS English last year. No exaggeration. This was my method last year (although i've modified it a bit this year). Here it goes. about a week before the exam, i went to Sparknotes (Google it) and started reading and making summarizive notes on the plays and novels that we had done throughout the year. I hadn't even read through the entire novels/plays (big mistake, i know). Anyway, i went to the summary section for each play and further summarized each section/ chapter into my own notes. This took a lot of work and time, but you can cover a play in 1-2 days time. Make sure you understand each section well. There is also analysis at the end of each section and that is the stuff that you need for essays.

Make notes on the themes/motifs/imagery sections as well.

I ended up getting a B which isn't too bad. Had I done this more thoroughly throughout the year I could've easily obtained an A. I'm doing A2 English this year and I'm applying the above method as we read through the novel/play and I'm feeling confident about exams. If you have any questions pm me.

EDIT: Reading more novels is also a great way to increase marks, but it's much more long term and you gotta read lots of novels to get there.

Goodluck with your exams.