How to prepare for Yr 12 English

[-Tay-]

Hi guys, a few people have PM'd me asking exactly what to do to get the edge on the state, here's what I did:

• Read your texts twice before school goes back (at least)
  Pretty self explanitory no?
• Keep a detailed diary of the way you feel about the texts now.
  
  By the end of the year you'll have forgotten how it felt to read them for the first time, and this is the new focus of the design. Students who are able to explore the way reading the text feels will get the 10s.
• If possible, write an essay on at least one (or two!) to hand to your teacher on the first day. Your essay writing skill will determine your mark, let it evolve along with your knowledge of the texts...
• Write a list of questions you have about the text
  
  "Why does X do this?" is a good start.
  Only keep the really meaty questions you can't answer on your own. Take the list into class and start firing them at your teacher and classmates- it's a great way to navigate a text.
• "Chain read" the text in question...
  
  When you begin studying a text in class, start reading it. When you get to the final page, turn it over and start that baby again. I would have read my exam texts 20 or 30 times by years end.
• Spend time with the texts
  
  Have them in your bag all the time. Especially those who don't like english very much. Carrying them around is a very handy exercise... They have to become familiar objects, not foreign entities sent to upset you.
• Develop your own essay style
  
  Easier said than done. I was lucky in that i had written a lot (A LOT) of essays before i even got near year 12. I had my own way of structuring them and my voice came through clearly - Microsoft Sam is not what the marker is looking for. Write some essays and experiment, take risk with expression and let your teacher applaud the good ones and point out the dumb ones.
• Get to the Author.
  
  The holy grail of any essay is a reference to not only the characters and events in a text, but the creator. After you're familiar with a text start questioning the author, look closely at passages and wonder why things have been done in that way - this is the highest level of comprehension and a pretty sure way to a decent mark.
  
  Good luck and send me lots of PM's - i like chatting about texts or just looking over essays... Work Hard - it's a hard subject!

[mang0es]

Thanks Tay, great advice... very insightful !!

[Muz4PM]

Thank you Tay.

[loz8888]

thanks so much for the advice, very useful
i really appreciate it

[Kujah]

Great advice

[danieltennis]

Tay- do you offer any tutoring? thanks

[spinit7]

thanks for the advice!!

[-Tay-]

Yes i do offer tutoring but i'm not so good at travelling - i hope you are :-)

[willitblend007]

Hey Tay i'm just curious, did you get a study score of 50 for english last year? Because if you didn't i can honestly say you were robbed.

peace

[kevinn]

hey,
i'm in year 11 now and was wondering what i should do this year to prepare for year 12 eng

[psychlaw]

hey,
i'm in year 11 now and was wondering what i should do this year to prepare for year 12 eng

Two steps

(1) Hold down the page up/up/home button
(2) READ!!!

[gahlicious]

Two steps

(1) Hold down the page up/up/home button
(2) READ!!!

lol

[cute.asa.button]

• "Chain read" the text in question...
  
  When you begin studying a text in class, start reading it. When you get to the final page, turn it over and start that baby again. I would have read my exam texts 20 or 30 times by years end.

Wow, this is dedication!!! Certainly good advice, but 20 or 30 times!!! There is no point in going over a text so many times that it fails to interest or surprise you any more, surely? I read texts about 3 times, maybe rereading the most important parts up to 5, and watched film texts about 10 times and got 48 in english...
What i found more important was reading other books recreationally - nothing is better for improving your writing style than reading good writing so that you learn to recognise and write well-structured sentences and develop an understanding of what works in a sentence, a paragraph, and for particular statements and what doesn't and widen you vocabulary.

I completely appreciate that everybody has different ways of learning, and well done for staying sane after reading one text that many times in one year, but personally i couldn't do it!!

[lollyluu]

Hi guys, a few people have PM'd me asking exactly what to do to get the edge on the state, here's what I did:

• Read your texts twice before school goes back (at least)
  Pretty self explanitory no?
• Keep a detailed diary of the way you feel about the texts now.

I've read the text 3 times and I know what happens in the text and everything but when it comes to practice exams I can't seem to remember all the important quotes especially the appropriate quotes for my points. Any advice people? I'm doing Maestro...

[cute.asa.button]

Knowing the text and its themes is one thing, but learning quotes is simply about rote learning - which means use whatever memory technique works for you, the same as remembering a case study for another subject or a maths rule. Some people find that learning it in a number of different ways (verbally, writtin, in a mind map, hearing it etc) helps, or just having it around you all the time - shower, toilet, bedroom wall etc, or repeating it over and over to yourself. IT is simply a matter of memorising them, and everyone learns to remember things differently so it is hard to give advice - use whatever method you have found works for you in the past.

[Legal Girl]

could you assist me with language analysis? my teacher does not teach us STRUCTURE. its horrible. xx

[delta rox 91]

Thanks for that! I've done English Language this year, but I'm doing both General English and EL next year. Hoping it's not too hard getting back into the swing of reading texts for English...

[imren]

Hi guys, a few people have PM'd me asking exactly what to do to get the edge on the state, here's what I did:

• Read your texts twice before school goes back (at least)
  Pretty self explanitory no?
• Keep a detailed diary of the way you feel about the texts now.
  
  By the end of the year you'll have forgotten how it felt to read them for the first time, and this is the new focus of the design. Students who are able to explore the way reading the text feels will get the 10s.
• If possible, write an essay on at least one (or two!) to hand to your teacher on the first day. Your essay writing skill will determine your mark, let it evolve along with your knowledge of the texts...
• Write a list of questions you have about the text
  
  "Why does X do this?" is a good start.
  Only keep the really meaty questions you can't answer on your own. Take the list into class and start firing them at your teacher and classmates- it's a great way to navigate a text.
• "Chain read" the text in question...
  
  When you begin studying a text in class, start reading it. When you get to the final page, turn it over and start that baby again. I would have read my exam texts 20 or 30 times by years end.
• Spend time with the texts
  
  Have them in your bag all the time. Especially those who don't like english very much. Carrying them around is a very handy exercise... They have to become familiar objects, not foreign entities sent to upset you.
• Develop your own essay style
  
  Easier said than done. I was lucky in that i had written a lot (A LOT) of essays before i even got near year 12. I had my own way of structuring them and my voice came through clearly - Microsoft Sam is not what the marker is looking for. Write some essays and experiment, take risk with expression and let your teacher applaud the good ones and point out the dumb ones.
• Get to the Author.
  
  The holy grail of any essay is a reference to not only the characters and events in a text, but the creator. After you're familiar with a text start questioning the author, look closely at passages and wonder why things have been done in that way - this is the highest level of comprehension and a pretty sure way to a decent mark.
  
  Good luck and send me lots of PM's - i like chatting about texts or just looking over essays... Work Hard - it's a hard subject!

thank you heaps

[gibbo153]

cheeeeeeeeeeeeeers

[_susy_]

Spend time with the texts

• Have them in your bag all the time. Especially those who don't like english very much. Carrying them around is a very handy exercise... They have to become familiar objects, not foreign entities sent to upset you.

great! ill take romulus on my next picnic!

[desh15]

do any one have stucture they follow like say a formula when you are writing a language analayise.
i suck at english those tips only seem to apply to those you are good at english
please help

[jannypana]

Thanks Tay, great advice... very insightful !!

[8student]

Thank you, mate. It is great!