Hi everyone,
One of my classes, because they were timetabled at this time, was able to come and sit in on the WACE English Seminar given to the students about to sit their WACE Exam for ATAR English. I wonder what they must have been thinking – it seems a long way off, that’s a huge amount of work, sounds hard, is he kidding?
The reality is that the exams you will sit at the end of the year are hard, really hard. BUT, if you start now and pace yourself across the year, you can attack them in a confident and prepared manner. You may, as many do, find that English becomes one of your best subjects.
WACE Exam ATAR English 2017 Front Cover
So, some advice:
- Know your texts – all of them.
- Know your texts really well.
- Read texts, those studied in class and those given, unseen, in exams, in their entirety.
- Choose questions wisely – different texts are better (and worse) for different questions.
- Read every question carefully – there is always multiple parts to a question; you must engage with all of them.
- Have an exam strategy.
- Understand that each section of the exam requires from you different skills, understandings and knowledge.
- THINK before your write.
- Have a strategy to manage the course – daily, weekly, monthly, by term.
- Know the concepts and the metalanguage used to describe a variety of conventions, elements and features.
Remember, you will have to earn your success.
What did you learn from the seminar today? If you didn’t attend the seminar, what have you learnt already from experiencing the first class or classes of the year?
Work hard, be good.
Mr Taylor
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