Monday 11 January 2010

Last minute exam help


If you have managed to make it into school and are sitting any English modules this week, well done and good luck! Hopefully last week’s snow meant that you got in some uninterrupted revision time.

Select your detail

This may be your first time of needing to write an exam answer at a greater level of detail than previously. Knowing this, it is tempting to put in as much as possible, but DON’T!

The examiner knows that you are answering under pressure of time and can’t include every example – instead they are looking for you to select the most relevant instances, and to ruthlessly ignore anything that is not pertinent to exactly what you are being asked. So keep reminding yourself of the question!

Time management

The best way to lose marks is to fail to regulate the time you spend on each answer. In a paper of four equally weighted questions, one extensive piece that gains you 25% won’t make up for the fact that you only half do the third question and don’t even get to the last – that’s 37.5% lost without even trying and no-one can afford to do that!

Believe in yourself and what you have been taught – and while it snows, keep revising…

Monday 4 January 2010

NATE digs Crossref-it.info

Those of you who teach English in the United Kingdom will know what NATE is. To keep teachers in the loop about the latest developments in the field, The National Association of Teachers of English publishes the NATE Classroom magazine, the latest issue of which has a nice spread about your favourite English Literature website!

NATE have kindly agreed to let us share the article with those of you who don't yet subscribe to their magazine:

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