English Literature from 5 to 7?

[Tina]

Hello everyone! I've done one semester of English Literature and I'm pretty sure my average grade is a 5. We've only been doing commentaries and oral presentations, so I am not sure if it would get even worse next semester, when we are introduced to new topics. I am really worried! I really want a 7 in English! Do you think it is possible for me to improve the 5 to a 7? And btw we've done our IOP and I've most likely got a 6 not a 7 (or even worse?)😭 I feel so hopeless! Could you please give me some advice on how I can improve my grades?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[flinquinnster]

Hey! Even though English is a lot of hard work and the 7 can sometimes seem so unattainable in essays/IAs, I think it's definitely possible to improve from a 5 to 7. 

 

Firstly, as you've got Written Assignment (25%) and IOC (15%) still to go, work on nailing it. It's worth 40% together, which is almost half. Try and get drafts done early, and get as much feedback as you can from teachers and peers to improve. For IOC in particular, whilst getting practice of impromptu speaking in different contexts like debating is of course useful, you can also script to some extent your response to the first half of IOC, and prepare beforehand answers for discussion questions. Mostly, just practising IOC in 'mock' exam conditions is really useful. 

 

Paper 1 - I think that there is the greatest potential for improvement in this paper. I personally didn't write very good Paper 1 commentaries to begin with, but I improved. It just came out of practice - lots and lots of texts analysed and hypothetical essays planned, and then slightly fewer (though still many) practice essays written under exam conditions. Constantly practising different types of texts and different approaches to organising the commentary helped me prepare for the random text that that came up in the final exam. 

 

Paper 2 - this is a challenging paper, but it is hard to prepare for it until you study the texts for Part 3. Whilst having good notes on quotes/themes/analysis of your texts is great, it's perhaps more useful to have essay plans prepared on a wide variety of questions (based on both thematic and technical elements) and a diverse combination of your texts. Then, again, practice helps make perfect. The point isn't that you end up preparing a rote memorised essay. Rather, practising essays helps you specifically and appropriately respond to an essay question posed. 

 

There's more specific information on each element of the IB English Literature course available online, and of course, on this forum. Best of luck!

[Tina]

Hey! Even though English is a lot of hard work and the 7 can sometimes seem so unattainable in essays/IAs, I think it's definitely possible to improve from a 5 to 7. 

 

Firstly, as you've got Written Assignment (25%) and IOC (15%) still to go, work on nailing it. It's worth 40% together, which is almost half. Try and get drafts done early, and get as much feedback as you can from teachers and peers to improve. For IOC in particular, whilst getting practice of impromptu speaking in different contexts like debating is of course useful, you can also script to some extent your response to the first half of IOC, and prepare beforehand answers for discussion questions. Mostly, just practising IOC in 'mock' exam conditions is really useful. 

 

Paper 1 - I think that there is the greatest potential for improvement in this paper. I personally didn't write very good Paper 1 commentaries to begin with, but I improved. It just came out of practice - lots and lots of texts analysed and hypothetical essays planned, and then slightly fewer (though still many) practice essays written under exam conditions. Constantly practising different types of texts and different approaches to organising the commentary helped me prepare for the random text that that came up in the final exam. 

 

Paper 2 - this is a challenging paper, but it is hard to prepare for it until you study the texts for Part 3. Whilst having good notes on quotes/themes/analysis of your texts is great, it's perhaps more useful to have essay plans prepared on a wide variety of questions (based on both thematic and technical elements) and a diverse combination of your texts. Then, again, practice helps make perfect. The point isn't that you end up preparing a rote memorised essay. Rather, practising essays helps you specifically and appropriately respond to an essay question posed. 

 

There's more specific information on each element of the IB English Literature course available online, and of course, on this forum. Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement!!! It means a lot!!! I feel much better now because I know a way to survive English Literature! I just have a question regarding the practice you have done for Paper 1: how many practice commentaries and essays have you done approximately? Do you do some every week? I still don't know much about the content of Paper 1& 2, but I will look them up and I am sure your advice will help me a lot when I get to that point! And lastly I just have to say your grades are simply amazing!!! And I can't believe that someone can actually get a 7 in both English HL and Maths HL!!! Because it just seems so equally impossible to get an 7 in these two subjects!!! And one off-topic question: do you have any tips for studying for geography? I do it too but I don't seem to get it!

[IBfreakingout!]

flinquinnster has given some top notch advice but I'd also like to add that I was in the same boat as you last year at the end of semester 1. I had a 5 and wasnt to upset about it (because i had this notion that i was terrible at english). However, I always had this aim to acheive at least a 6 for English as I thought that that was perhaps more achievable and so with every new essay I focused on the feedback given to me, to direct what was bringing me down and seeing which criteria always brought me down.

 

I am now on a 6, with a rough idea that I got a high 6 or low 7 for my IOP that I did last year and have moved my aim to a 7. So if you make short term goals such as aiming for a 6 in the next essay you write that gets marked, is a better way of learning than attempting to jump straight to a 7. I think it will be easier that way and more realistic.

[flinquinnster]

 

Hey! Even though English is a lot of hard work and the 7 can sometimes seem so unattainable in essays/IAs, I think it's definitely possible to improve from a 5 to 7. 

 

Firstly, as you've got Written Assignment (25%) and IOC (15%) still to go, work on nailing it. It's worth 40% together, which is almost half. Try and get drafts done early, and get as much feedback as you can from teachers and peers to improve. For IOC in particular, whilst getting practice of impromptu speaking in different contexts like debating is of course useful, you can also script to some extent your response to the first half of IOC, and prepare beforehand answers for discussion questions. Mostly, just practising IOC in 'mock' exam conditions is really useful. 

 

Paper 1 - I think that there is the greatest potential for improvement in this paper. I personally didn't write very good Paper 1 commentaries to begin with, but I improved. It just came out of practice - lots and lots of texts analysed and hypothetical essays planned, and then slightly fewer (though still many) practice essays written under exam conditions. Constantly practising different types of texts and different approaches to organising the commentary helped me prepare for the random text that that came up in the final exam. 

 

Paper 2 - this is a challenging paper, but it is hard to prepare for it until you study the texts for Part 3. Whilst having good notes on quotes/themes/analysis of your texts is great, it's perhaps more useful to have essay plans prepared on a wide variety of questions (based on both thematic and technical elements) and a diverse combination of your texts. Then, again, practice helps make perfect. The point isn't that you end up preparing a rote memorised essay. Rather, practising essays helps you specifically and appropriately respond to an essay question posed. 

 

There's more specific information on each element of the IB English Literature course available online, and of course, on this forum. Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement!!! It means a lot!!! I feel much better now because I know a way to survive English Literature! I just have a question regarding the practice you have done for Paper 1: how many practice commentaries and essays have you done approximately? Do you do some every week? I still don't know much about the content of Paper 1& 2, but I will look them up and I am sure your advice will help me a lot when I get to that point! And lastly I just have to say your grades are simply amazing!!! And I can't believe that someone can actually get a 7 in both English HL and Maths HL!!! Because it just seems so equally impossible to get an 7 in these two subjects!!! And one off-topic question: do you have any tips for studying for geography? I do it too but I don't seem to get it!

 

 

Oh my, I did many, many commentaries... I sort of didn't do very many in Year 11/IB1 - only about 2 or 3 a term, but then I did a lot more in my final year. I ended up doing about 1 a week in the final year, though I did a lot more in the 6 weeks I had off from school immediately before our final exams (we had a very very long time). I don't have exact figures, but I think I did around 15 practice commentaries in that time, along with a similar number of Paper 2 comparative essays. It was a lot of work and whilst I think the practice was useful, it did take up a lot of time - so depending on how much work your other subjects need you do have to adjust the amount of practice done for English! I think that with a subject like English inevitably the correlation between hard work and high marks is less certain than in maths/science - but it generally is still worth it.

 

In terms of Geography tips, I've written about some general tips before here so I hope you find them useful! Also, as with other subjects, it's worthwhile getting a high mark in IA to make exams less stressful. 

[Tina]

flinquinnster has given some top notch advice but I'd also like to add that I was in the same boat as you last year at the end of semester 1. I had a 5 and wasnt to upset about it (because i had this notion that i was terrible at english). However, I always had this aim to acheive at least a 6 for English as I thought that that was perhaps more achievable and so with every new essay I focused on the feedback given to me, to direct what was bringing me down and seeing which criteria always brought me down.

I am now on a 6, with a rough idea that I got a high 6 or low 7 for my IOP that I did last year and have moved my aim to a 7. So if you make short term goals such as aiming for a 6 in the next essay you write that gets marked, is a better way of learning than attempting to jump straight to a 7. I think it will be easier that way and more realistic.

Thank you for your advice too!!! It is a very reasonable one! I think my teacher said the same thing to me: achieve a 6 by the end of this year and aim for a 7 next year. Edited June 28, 2014 by Tina

[Tina]

Hey! Even though English is a lot of hard work and the 7 can sometimes seem so unattainable in essays/IAs, I think it's definitely possible to improve from a 5 to 7. 

 

Firstly, as you've got Written Assignment (25%) and IOC (15%) still to go, work on nailing it. It's worth 40% together, which is almost half. Try and get drafts done early, and get as much feedback as you can from teachers and peers to improve. For IOC in particular, whilst getting practice of impromptu speaking in different contexts like debating is of course useful, you can also script to some extent your response to the first half of IOC, and prepare beforehand answers for discussion questions. Mostly, just practising IOC in 'mock' exam conditions is really useful. 

 

Paper 1 - I think that there is the greatest potential for improvement in this paper. I personally didn't write very good Paper 1 commentaries to begin with, but I improved. It just came out of practice - lots and lots of texts analysed and hypothetical essays planned, and then slightly fewer (though still many) practice essays written under exam conditions. Constantly practising different types of texts and different approaches to organising the commentary helped me prepare for the random text that that came up in the final exam. 

 

Paper 2 - this is a challenging paper, but it is hard to prepare for it until you study the texts for Part 3. Whilst having good notes on quotes/themes/analysis of your texts is great, it's perhaps more useful to have essay plans prepared on a wide variety of questions (based on both thematic and technical elements) and a diverse combination of your texts. Then, again, practice helps make perfect. The point isn't that you end up preparing a rote memorised essay. Rather, practising essays helps you specifically and appropriately respond to an essay question posed. 

 

There's more specific information on each element of the IB English Literature course available online, and of course, on this forum. Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your advice and encouragement!!! It means a lot!!! I feel much better now because I know a way to survive English Literature! I just have a question regarding the practice you have done for Paper 1: how many practice commentaries and essays have you done approximately? Do you do some every week? I still don't know much about the content of Paper 1& 2, but I will look them up and I am sure your advice will help me a lot when I get to that point! And lastly I just have to say your grades are simply amazing!!! And I can't believe that someone can actually get a 7 in both English HL and Maths HL!!! Because it just seems so equally impossible to get an 7 in these two subjects!!! And one off-topic question: do you have any tips for studying for geography? I do it too but I don't seem to get it!

 

Oh my, I did many, many commentaries... I sort of didn't do very many in Year 11/IB1 - only about 2 or 3 a term, but then I did a lot more in my final year. I ended up doing about 1 a week in the final year, though I did a lot more in the 6 weeks I had off from school immediately before our final exams (we had a very very long time). I don't have exact figures, but I think I did around 15 practice commentaries in that time, along with a similar number of Paper 2 comparative essays. It was a lot of work and whilst I think the practice was useful, it did take up a lot of time - so depending on how much work your other subjects need you do have to adjust the amount of practice done for English! I think that with a subject like English inevitably the correlation between hard work and high marks is less certain than in maths/science - but it generally is still worth it.

 

In terms of Geography tips, I've written about some general tips before here so I hope you find them useful! Also, as with other subjects, it's worthwhile getting a high mark in IA to make exams less stressful.

Wow I see. My English grades wouldn't be improved ver easily! So I guess I will start doing practice commentaries from now on and be an early bird! Well actually it's not that early. 6 weeks off from school?? Are you referring to the holiday after the third term? I guess holiday really is a good time for catching up! I will try work harder in this coming holiday (which is very unlikely to happen)! Thanks for the link! The tips are very helpful! You always give very good suggestions.