O Level English Language Paper 1 is more driven on your writing style rather than vocabulary. Only fit in those difficult words that you know will sound right. The more you read, the better your grasp of said words. You cannot write a good paper in a month without luck; it requires a lot of hard work on your end. There’s a general misconception that for English you don’t need to study anything, but the inverse is true; you need to study/read a lot of things to master the language. You must speak a language if you want to be in good in it.
Regarding what to read; read articles on politics, sports, reviews, whatever you like or go to books (most preferred). The more you read, the more you will write (in school or home), the more practice you will have and the better it will be. That’s just how languages work! However, it isn’t that is tough. The percentile for this subject is low.
Do not start each paragraph with a numbered point-firstly, secondly, thirdly, and so-on as this can get tedious for the reader and sound quite artificial if the ideas are not in fact sequential. Use other paragraph linking words, the ones which show whether your argument is continuing in the same direction (e.g ‘Furthermore’, ‘in addition) or changing direction (e.g ‘nevertheless’, ‘on the other hand’). The key is to make sure that your argument is “building” as you go. Use your connectives to help you take your reader with you so that they can follow your train of thought all the way through.
Most of you have this conception of word limit, in directed writing and composition writing, don’t worry there’s NO on exceeding the word limit, however students tend to be self-penalizing as they write long responses and lose focus on the task.
DO NOT COUNT THE WORDS. Word limit is only provided as an advise that how long your composition should be, counting words is just wastage of time, however in Paper 2 summary writing you should be careful about it.
For Paper 2, reading for ideas; 12 marks you are advised to write at least 16 content points in the space provided. For Summary writing; Highlight/underline the key words in the question. This will enable you to stick to the subject and not write anything that is not relevant.
Skim the passage to find the key words that relates to the task. Number and underline each key area that you find so that your summary will be ordered, and you can’t lose track. Read only the key areas that you have underlined once again. Turn over the page and try to remember the key areas, in your own words. Remember that the summary is not tested on advanced academic English but on your ability to understand the next and use your own to show that you have.
Write the summary, the word count is 150 words then writing too little means that you have not included all the key areas, writing too much means that you have probably repeated things or have included information that is not relevant to the question. Do not write your opinion simply stick to the test. Between 140 and 160 is OK.
