As a tutor myself , I felt obliged to help forummers taking O level English Exams this year
Based on my many months of teaching , I have some pointer to offer to the student who are taking English this year
Passage of High Literacy Value gaining Prominence
It is no sheer coincidence that more and more of such passage of literature land themselves in O level Comprehension in recent years .
Student who wish to prepare for this ,should be encouraged to read up 4 or 5 books on book of such values
Books like Shawshank redemption , to kill a mockingbird , Schindler's list , A river runs through it ,and short stories of William Somerset Maugham and John London stories of Alaska
Such books provide the insight to understanding the situation of the subject matter [Comprehension Passage]
Vocabulary wise, student are encouraged to buy a A4 book to write the meaning , the form of the word [adjective, adverb, present,past tense,noun] and the sentence example
A good guide will be learning 20 words per day ,reaching the goal of 500 wordsand beyond before English O level Paper .
When a question express in your own words, it is greatly encourage to extract the answer from the passage in pencil and changing the word to a suitable vocabulary so to achieve the question requirement
Note : do not overdo this in the form of words like "of , the , and all articles
If there is any question raised in this thread , i will be willing to answer as this thread continues
regards
Collin
Talking about dictionary , most student will be contented with the use of Student edition paperback for it lightweight .
In my observation , Once i possessed the Collin Cobuild Dictionary of English Language and Usage Database which is the most comprehensive which gives you the sentence structure and even the thesaurus for it .It makes your English learning an enriching experience
I strongly encouraged student to go for that dictionary as it is beneficial in the long term
English! =D It's a very nice subject.
but my field of studies, is dealing with biology, medicine, and chemistry( science).
All my reports are done in a very technical way :( little room for me to exercise my creativity in writing.
The 3 main kind of question that commonly appeared in Comprehension Papers
Direct Question
Student are expected to answer what the question wants
Inference question
Student are expected to gauge the writer feeling or even one of the character feeling when a thought is expressed there
Vocabulary Question
Student are expected to quote from a phrase of a specific word given by the setter
or a certain word that matches the setter intention
got Own Words too. For summary, if one is unsure , do not rephrase the points lol.
Summary can be a science if one knows the art of extracting the relevant points
In the next few post , i will show from Cambridge paper ,what are the common skills involved extracting points for summary
To be an excellent summary writer, please answer all the question first before attempting the summary question
This gives the candidate a "feel " of the point needed in the exam
I cant say how much difference when Oxford takes over , but i believe the initial phase is still remain the same , unless Oxford takes on a scientific approach on the type of Comprehension Passage
The English Syllabus have changed significantly throughout the years , to excel , please do the tedious task for researching and appreciate English Writing.
When you do not cane yourself , the cane [GCE O level result] will still dawn upon you
regards
Collin
Originally posted by syncopation_music:Summary can be a science if one knows the art of extracting the relevant points
Yes,i have to agree, but why i say to not rephrase one's points if one is unsure as a student might be good at extracting relevant . YET, when he writes it down and rephrases it, it loses its MEANING. Hence make the originally relevant point irrelevant !
Originally posted by yiha093:Yes,i have to agree, but why i say to not rephrase one's points if one is unsure as a student might be good at extracting relevant . YET, when he writes it down and rephrases it, it loses its MEANING. Hence make the originally relevant point irrelevant !
Syncopation is talking about the main questions in the Comprehension. As he said, he will include summary in later as another part.
I have no idea how you manage to grab a line out of nowhere, throw it to him, and started arguing with him.
As he said, he is here to share some ideas on doing well for English, so let him finish his stuff 1st before you throw lines out of nowhere and start rebuking him.
Originally posted by Forbiddensinner:Syncopation is talking about the main questions in the Comprehension. As he said, he will include summary in later as another part.
I have no idea how you manage to grab a line out of nowhere, throw it to him, and started arguing with him.
As he said, he is here to share some ideas on doing well for English, so let him finish his stuff 1st before you throw lines out of nowhere and start rebuking him.
oh my god. what i meant was wanted to say was just that summary if not sure better dun rephrase ur points........ no trying to start anything ._. my bad.....
to do a good summary you have to have some form of vocabulary at hand already, to make it succinct and precise at the same time.
moreover, to craft it so that it fits the requirement (e.g. to answer it from some viewpoint or some angle), and make it sound like a smooth, flowing piece of prose rather than a 150-word regurgitation, is an art worth mastering.
Originally posted by yiha093:oh my god. what i meant was wanted to say was just that summary if not sure better dun rephrase ur points........ no trying to start anything ._. my bad.....
erm , actually Yihao is right in a way ,hi forbidden93 :)
different people have different ways to summarise :)
Rephrase though a makeshift method ,reduce messiness and for those who arent so strong in linking sentence without writing down
Thats why summary writing require practise and intelligent extracting
Take for example ,
the 197x San Francisco left an indelible scar on the resident of San Francisco
How do we summarise this ?
The weaker student will just copy it down first and change the phrase "indellible scar"
to a similar meaning
Its by no mean easy ,for ones without a good vocabulary bank , will find this part daunting
Nevertheless even if its tough , I still wish to share some light according to my tutoring experience
Please feel free to circle my shortcomings as I also learning from many Expert tutors out there
Originally posted by syncopation_music:erm , actually Yihao is right in a way ,hi forbidden93 :)
different people have different ways to summarise :)
Rephrase though a makeshift method ,reduce messiness and for those who arent so strong in linking sentence without writing down
Thats why summary writing require practise and intelligent extracting
Take for example ,
the 197x San Francisco left an indelible scar on the resident of San Francisco
How do we summarise this ?
The weaker student will just copy it down first and change the phrase "indellible scar"
to a similar meaning
Its by no mean easy ,for ones without a good vocabulary bank , will find this part dauntingNevertheless even if its tough , I still wish to share some light according to my tutoring experience
Please feel free to circle my shortcomings as I also learning from many Expert tutors out there
Somehow you turn me and him into forbidden93. : D
I know he is right, but I guess I misunderstood him. You promised that you would post up the summary parts later :
In the next few post , i will show from Cambridge paper ,what are the common skills involved extracting points for summary
but he suddenly pop in and said this:
Yes,i have to agree, but why i say to not rephrase one's points if one is unsure as a student might be good at extracting relevant . YET, when he writes it down and rephrases it, it loses its MEANING. Hence make the originally relevant point irrelevant !
Hence I thought he was trying to start an argument or something.
I apologise if I ruffled a few feathers, but I will rather you put up your full summary work 1st before anyone start any scrutinising.
lol, i apologise too, what i meant is, knowing how to extract points from a summary sometimes ain't enough : D ; hence i said that it would be better not to rephrase if one is unsure...........
Comprehension Summary Writing
One of the main area why student find it difficult to summarise is they summarising based on the whole passage in point form
If one look carefully , every paragraph have one main idea and supporting statements
some paragraph even have sub ideas and supporting statements for that \
Will be showing more in the next posting
regards
in November 1998 Paper 2 ...the Passage about the Climb at Mount Roraima
the Author's journey is difficult and worrying
Student are to write those related to present how difficult the journey and worrying to the author
As this passage is sprinkled with alot of details on the feelings of the author ..some of the feelings may not be answering the Summary question requirement
so ,extract with great caution
In November 2001 paper , the Lauren and Tickie hiding in the forest to spy on criminal who illegally smuggling arms by sea into Africa
Passage of this nature is by no means easy , because of the author's use of expression, figures of speech to make summary tough .
How they did to avoid capture and close to being discovered and what eventually saved them
Line 70 "We lie so still and silent that the birds came and pecked unconcerned among ferns at our feet "
What would be the best way to summarise this ?
Ans:We lie still in the forest
Recommended Examiner Answer :We lie flat ...
Hi, how to I improve in my paper 1?
Off Topic slightly, but why is it express in your own words? Last time I checked, we didn't own any of the words found on the dictionary nor did we "invent" any new words. Shouldn't it be rephrased?
Originally posted by Pfft:Off Topic slightly, but why is it express in your own words? Last time I checked, we didn't own any of the words found on the dictionary nor did we "invent" any new words. Shouldn't it be rephrased?
rephrase is good .Only if you have strong sentence structure .I tried rephrasing answer in the past ..but after several attempt i realised its put the strain on the student as it is very demanding on the overall comprehension of the passage ...
worst is, if you rephrase wrongly . you get no marks
Originally posted by syncopation_music:rephrase is good .Only if you have strong sentence structure .I tried rephrasing answer in the past ..but after several attempt i realised its put the strain on the student as it is very demanding on the overall comprehension of the passage ...
worst is, if you rephrase wrongly . you get no marks
but sometimes exam got 1 or 2 qn must answer in ur own words. meaning rephrase.
this is what sometimes diff from a a1 to an a2