Maurice Ravel Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 (edited) English has one of the lowest averages in the IB subjects. Has the IBO given out any set of mistakes that must be avoided? Any mistake that has been repeatedly made? I see lots of people with 7's in everything and a 5 in English. You can't possibly say they didn't study or work hard enough, so what is it that's causing the difficulty? Edited April 3, 2009 by Maurice Ravel Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwib Posted April 5, 2009 Report Share Posted April 5, 2009 Basically, the English exam is an extremely [b]subjective[/b] paper to mark. There isn't a clear-cut right or wrong answer as in Biology, Physics or Chemistry. There is the issue of revision as well. You have to read [b]between the lines[/b] of a poem or prose passage in order to evaluate and understand what the author may have been referring to emotionally or metaphorically. This isn't something you'd need to do much in other subjects, but in English it's all there is. Finally, an English essay is purely hypothetical. You can attempt to analyse passages and make [b]assumptions[/b] based on quotes, but you'll never have hard evidence that what you're writing is correct (see the subjective point above). This, again, isn't a problem in other exams where you have fact to rely on. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 I think it depends a lot on how you are taught and where you come from. At my school it's normal to get 6/7 for english at both HL and SL. For us, it's maths-- nobody has ever got a 7 at SL! Really it depends on how you approach things. English doesn't have a mark scheme as such, it's more of a manner of dealing with things. If you can't get that, you can be as bright as you want, but you're going to miss out. English requires no revision except for remembering how the plots go/how things are in the novels/plays/whatever you're studying for the examination paper. It's purely a technique Once you've got the technique right, stuff like the unseen commentary are almost like a gift of marks! My guess is that you're not approaching it from the right angle, because once you do, it's definitely easy to score 5's and above no problem. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
__inthemaking Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 I'm one of those people who got 7's in everything else but 5 in English haha. I don't really understand what went wrong, because I was predicted a 6 in English, along with 5 other people. But after the exam, only 2 people got 6 and pretty much 80% of the class got 5. English is very subjective, it all depends on if your examiner likes your writing style or not. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-2-3 Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 [quote name='Sandwich' post='42581' date='Apr 6 2009, 10:45 AM']I think it depends a lot on how you are taught and where you come from. At my school it's normal to get 6/7 for english at both HL and SL. For us, it's maths-- nobody has ever got a 7 at SL![/quote] That is really odd. The complete opposite of my school. Last year, so many people had 7s in SL Math. Also, English papers are very subjective. Personally, I do not think that examiners should get their own personal opinions on topics interfere with how they mark the candidate's response... but I guess it is inevitable... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 The thing is that English is actually analysis, so it's not at all subjective provided you make your point and then argue it through with supporting material. English is less simple opinion than many people think. I think of it more like History-- you decide what YOU think the major causing factor was for something (WW2, for example) and then support it. Provided you support it convincingly, even if it's not what the examiner thinks, they have to mark it. People who treat English as a 'how I interpret this' are by default not going to do very well because it's an analytical study of what the author does and the effects of this. If you support everything you say correctly, the examiner could be in total disagreement with you from a personal view but have to mark your commentary highly And I really don't understand how everybody can get 7's in SL Maths! D: Being serious, we've had some exceedingly bright people take mathematics at SL and yet there's still never been a 7 in 7 years! Either we're taught very badly, or... well, who knows? 8[ Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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