ENGLISH LANGUAGE

THE MARK SCHEME IS YOUR HOLY GRAIL: it tells you EVERYTHING the examiners are looking for. Use it to your advantage.

Memorise a story of your own that has many techniques and would score high: check the story with your teacher. Improve on it to get the highest you can, and memorise it. Make sure that it's versatile so it can work for any prompt they give you. If not, write the story but edit it in the exam to fit the question. Rewrite it multiple times and sing it in a song-like way if it helps to memorise it.  

Do practice papers under timed conditions: this helps you prepare for the real thing and you can see how well you do under pressure and what you need to improve on. 

Read examiner reports: these tell you what other students did well and didn't do. This way you know what to work on and add to your essay & stories that other students don't tend to.

Memorise your timings for each question in the paper: The key to the English Language exam is timing. Remember, you aren't allowed a watch in the exam. You need to know how long to spend on each question so that you finish everything on time.  

Draw a bracket next to the section that you are meant to answer the question on: this way you make sure that you don't answer beyond the lines and lose marks.

Watch Mr Salles and Mr Bruff: they will explain everything to do with the exam and they honestly are amazing at it. 

Improve your vocabulary: this is a must. In the mark scheme, ambitious vocabulary must be used for a top mark.

Practice your creative writing.​

For the speech that you have to do: breathe. Ask your teacher if you can do it in front of a few of your friends if it helps your confidence. As long as you don't look too many times at your notes & act confident, there's nothing stopping you from getting a Distinction.