Scoring A for 'O' level English Literature?
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Hey all. I'm having my 'O' level exams this year and honestly, I'm pretty worried about my grade for Literature. My desired grade is about A2 (the same grade for English) but I managed to have only gotten a B4 for MYE, which was enough to galvanize me!
I'd like to know what must I really do to attain a good grade (e.g. A2) for Literature? Besides knowing one's set texts/plays really thorough, what else must I do to score a distinction? I thought I wrote pretty well for MYE but it came out as a B.
And is it true that being individual i.e. having your personal opinion and response towards a text helps score a better grade? A senior told me that because of that, he'd scored an A1 for Literature in '08.
Peeps, help me out, yeah?
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Originally posted by ShawnMyr:
Hey all. I'm having my 'O' level exams this year and honestly, I'm pretty worried about my grade for Literature. My desired grade is about A2 (the same grade for English) but I managed to have only gotten a B4 for MYE, which was enough to galvanize me!
I'd like to know what must I really do to attain a good grade (e.g. A2) for Literature? Besides knowing one's set texts/plays really thorough, what else must I do to score a distinction? I thought I wrote pretty well for MYE but it came out as a B.
And is it true that being individual i.e. having your personal opinion and response towards a text helps score a better grade? A senior told me that because of that, he'd scored an A1 for Literature in '08.
Peeps, help me out, yeah?
Having your personal opinion and response is good, but I can tell you it will be a gamble.
If the marker is not please with the response which you have given, you may get even lower grades than without it.
Indeed, your senior is right on target, those who has A1/2 are the ones who give their personal opinions and thoughts onto the paper, BUT let me warn you, if you are not fully-prepared to give proper statements which you can back up, and is just writing what straight away comes to your mind, you might end up flunking the paper instead.
In short, what you will mostly be giving is "standard answer opinion", instead of your REAL own opinion, as it will take a lot of effort to back up what you believe in, and it is highly unrecommended for people who are not able to back up their own points properly.
Ask your senior to lend/give you his works, and look at how he wrote his opinions, and what opinions he gave for what type of questions. Nevermind what you have in mind when you faces such questions, just give back the same opinions which your senior has given, and you should be able to score well.
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O Level literature is all about memorising quotes from your Shakespeare or Chekhov or Emily Dickinson works and bombarding them to the marker.
For some reason or another, markers always like to see candidates quoting lines here, there and everywhere.
That's the only way you can score an A for O level lit.
Forget about your personal opinion about the work. Unless it is really a fresh look or new spin at the characters or settings or theme or ideology, the marker has probably seen it and read about it thousands of times. So going through that route will likely not help you much.
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i took mine in 04
and surprise surprise i got an A2
i've been failing all my lit exams from sec 3 to prelims
i oni rmb writing alot of bs for my opinion on the character
and then spam alot of quotes
maybe u shud do it like i did
which play did u get?
mine was 12th night. haha
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Originally posted by ChoCoChips:
i took mine in 04
and surprise surprise i got an A2
i've been failing all my lit exams from sec 3 to prelims
i oni rmb writing alot of bs for my opinion on the character
and then spam alot of quotes
maybe u shud do it like i did
which play did u get?
mine was 12th night. haha
Same here.
Just memorised all the important quotes and just regurgitated them during the exam even if the question didn't really seem to be asking about it specifically.
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My school offers local text/play. How pathetic in a way.
Drama: Off Centre by Haresh Sharma
Set Text: Island Voices.Perhaps the worst possible thing is that since IV is so very fresh, there are no known notes drifting around the internet and my lit teacher doesn't give enough intepretation. I had to attempt everything by my own and in a way, it's rewarding but the results... let's just say it ain't that pleasant. For me.
(I'm the guy who posted this thread, FYI.)
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Well I guess for O'levels, other than knowing your writing techniques of poetry etc very well, by memorising quotes and stuffs would not be enough, becase if you can have a set of cases of irony in your text, other students can easily come out with it. Yes, you may need opinions from your teachers, however, at the end of the day, it's up to you to be really really sensitive towards your text, be it unseen or plays or whatever. You have to have moments of eureka in your answer which well, isn't in the marker's suggested answers, that makes sense and shows a deep, clear, sensible and mature point of view instead of just really retelling the whole story to the marker.
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Originally posted by iamapebble:
Well I guess for O'levels, other than knowing your writing techniques of poetry etc very well, by memorising quotes and stuffs would not be enough, becase if you can have a set of cases of irony in your text, other students can easily come out with it. Yes, you may need opinions from your teachers, however, at the end of the day, it's up to you to be really really sensitive towards your text, be it unseen or plays or whatever. You have to have moments of eureka in your answer which well, isn't in the marker's suggested answers, that makes sense and shows a deep, clear, sensible and mature point of view instead of just really retelling the whole story to the marker.
That is what I strongly advise again, unless you have been contantly able to write outstanding opinions which are on a different level. Personally, I still prefer to stick to 'photocopying' opinions of those who constantly write stuffs which are excellent yet not often seen.
If one has been getting B4 and suddenly decided to try using his/her own opinions and thoughts, he/she will be taking a gamble here, and if he/she lose, he/she will lose very badly.
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i taking E.lit . got b4 too. ha. ~.~ but have you talked to your cher about ur mistakes alreadY??
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Originally posted by ShawnMyr:
Hey all. I'm having my 'O' level exams this year and honestly, I'm pretty worried about my grade for Literature. My desired grade is about A2 (the same grade for English) but I managed to have only gotten a B4 for MYE, which was enough to galvanize me!
I'd like to know what must I really do to attain a good grade (e.g. A2) for Literature? Besides knowing one's set texts/plays really thorough, what else must I do to score a distinction? I thought I wrote pretty well for MYE but it came out as a B.
And is it true that being individual i.e. having your personal opinion and response towards a text helps score a better grade? A senior told me that because of that, he'd scored an A1 for Literature in '08.
Peeps, help me out, yeah?
maybe you can ask me .. if u willing to meet and tell me wat problem u encountered
else you should read your school recommended guide book on that literature topics for O level
Okay .now is my opinions on O level literature.Having your own opinion is good ,but have you realised its more of hard work and making strong impactful arguments to make sense ?
English Literature is still based on English Language , as we all known the native markers are Vultures ,ready to spot mistake of students 5000 Km beyond their shores in the Tropics .
My advise is you should ask your teacher if you have the "making" in writing your own opinions .In another words ,it means when you write argumentative essay , are you strong enough .If not ,please do not test water on your impending O level English Literature ,can be disasterous
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Originally posted by yiha093:
i taking E.lit . got b4 too. ha. ~.~ but have you talked to your cher about ur mistakes alreadY??
Nope, I haven't. For the record, he doesn't correct my mistakes at all. :(
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Originally posted by Forbiddensinner:
That is what I strongly advise again, unless you have been contantly able to write outstanding opinions which are on a different level. Personally, I still prefer to stick to 'photocopying' opinions of those who constantly write stuffs which are excellent yet not often seen.
If one has been getting B4 and suddenly decided to try using his/her own opinions and thoughts, he/she will be taking a gamble here, and if he/she lose, he/she will lose very badly.
Yes, I do agree with you that TS should not test water on the O'levels. However, one has to put in effort to secure an A. Thus, what I would suggest is that TS should really try to jot down some of his own opinions of the text and if really hardworking enough, expose himself to some easy to understand short poems and just jot down his thoughts and feelings and perhaps get his teacher to comment during consultations.
In this way, he would be able to gain confidence as time goes on and listens to what his teacher has in store for him, so that he knows if he's heading towards the right way. Well at least it worked for me.
Just a penny of my thoughts. =)
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no. is not correct mistakes, my bad. is where you have gone wrong and HOW you can improve. normally i read notes gotten from online? lol
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Originally posted by yiha093:
no. is not correct mistakes, my bad. is where you have gone wrong and HOW you can improve. normally i read notes gotten from online? lol
Now that's the annoying part. As Island Voices (my set text) is a relatively new book in the syllabus (introduced only in 2007), there aren't much notes online so I cannot double-check whether my intepretation is authentic or not.
In this way, I'm having much difficulty in truly comprehending what the text might imply.
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could u give us more info on island voices... maybe i can find out if there is critics guide available ...
just trying to help you find some more resources
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music , lol can help me too ? mine to TKAB . so far gotten notes from cliffnotes, those webbies, but i nvr come across critic guide, whats one anyway X.O
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Originally posted by syncopation_music:
could u give us more info on island voices... maybe i can find out if there is critics guide available ...
just trying to help you find some more resources
Island Voices is essentially just a compliation of several short stories written by Singaporean authors. The timeline ranges from 1978 to 2006.
The stories are taken from works of Catherine Lim ("Paper"), Stella Kon ("The Martyrdom of Helena Rodriguez"), Gopal Baratham ("Sundowner"), Ho Minfong ("Tajong Rhu"), Phillip Jeyaretnam ("Evening Under Frangipani"), Claire Tham ("Lee"), Simon Tay ("A History of Tea"), Ovidia Yu ("A Dream of China"), Tan Mei Ching ("Release"), Patricia Wong ("An Obituary for Fifth Aunt Come Late"), Alfian Sa'at ("Corridor"), Tan Hwee Hwee ("Mid-Autumn"), Zuraidah Ibrahim ("Hamid and the Hand of Fate"), Wena Poon ("The Move") and Sim Wai Chew ("Pastime").
From what I know, this collection was commissioned by the MOE and was published in 2007. I haven't heard any of the stories except for Catherine Lim's "Paper". The others are pretty much strange and unknown to me.
I don't think any information can be unearthed regarding these stories due to the time and possibly the lack of promotion of such authors.
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Originally posted by ShawnMyr:
Island Voices is essentially just a compliation of several short stories written by Singaporean authors. The timeline ranges from 1978 to 2006.
The stories are taken from works of Catherine Lim ("Paper"), Stella Kon ("The Martyrdom of Helena Rodriguez"), Gopal Baratham ("Sundowner"), Ho Minfong ("Tajong Rhu"), Phillip Jeyaretnam ("Evening Under Frangipani"), Claire Tham ("Lee"), Simon Tay ("A History of Tea"), Ovidia Yu ("A Dream of China"), Tan Mei Ching ("Release"), Patricia Wong ("An Obituary for Fifth Aunt Come Late"), Alfian Sa'at ("Corridor"), Tan Hwee Hwee ("Mid-Autumn"), Zuraidah Ibrahim ("Hamid and the Hand of Fate"), Wena Poon ("The Move") and Sim Wai Chew ("Pastime").
From what I know, this collection was commissioned by the MOE and was published in 2007. I haven't heard any of the stories except for Catherine Lim's "Paper". The others are pretty much strange and unknown to me.
I don't think any information can be unearthed regarding these stories due to the time and possibly the lack of promotion of such authors.
based on what shawn have say ..i getting the picture to your help, yihao
you should find this long out-of-print literature guide to GCE O level of Iittle ironies ..most the the short stories is covered in the year as what shawn has pointed out
you should try to buy it at book point or knowledge book centre at bras brasah ..its an out-of-print guide book anyway
Martyrdom of Helena Rodriguez and Paper by catherine lim is under Little Ironies in the 1994 GCE O levl English Literature set text "little Ironies "
Philip Jeyaretnam story guide book is published by another author for another school E.Lit Guide Book .
Any Past E.literature Lao Jiao willing to help ?
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Originally posted by syncopation_music:
based on what shawn have say ..i getting the picture to your help, yihao
you should find this long out-of-print literature guide to GCE O level of Iittle ironies ..most the the short stories is covered in the year as what shawn has pointed out
you should try to buy it at book point or knowledge book centre at bras brasah ..its an out-of-print guide book anyway
Martyrdom of Helena Rodriguez and Paper by catherine lim is under Little Ironies in the 1994 GCE O levl English Literature set text "little Ironies "
Philip Jeyaretnam story guide book is published by another author for another school E.Lit Guide Book .
Any Past E.literature Lao Jiao willing to help ?
In any case, I thank you for your effort in trying to help me!
Another thing I might need help in would be tracing the past year questions for Lit. As Lit isn't exactly the most welcoming subject, there are no known TYS.
Is there someone out there who has the 2007 and 2008 Lit paper? I'd like to get the feel of the nature of the questions.
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so, im supposed to find this book called GCE O level of Iittle ironies ? ? *confused *
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Originally posted by yiha093:
so, im supposed to find this book called GCE O level of Iittle ironies ? ? *confused *
its so long ago i seen that book the title i could have remembered wrongly
Guide to Little Ironies
Little Ironies guide
Little Ironies study guide
O level English Literature guide to Little Ironies
You should be able to dig it out in knowledge book centre or book point if you spend a few hours at the literature shelf
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Originally posted by syncopation_music:
its so long ago i seen that book the title i could have remembered wrongly
Guide to Little Ironies
Little Ironies guide
Little Ironies study guide
O level English Literature guide to Little Ironies
You should be able to dig it out in knowledge book centre or book point if you spend a few hours at the literature shelf
So basically that's a guide book to some of the stories in Island Voices?
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Originally posted by ShawnMyr:
So basically that's a guide book to some of the stories in Island Voices?
yes . :)
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Originally posted by syncopation_music:
yes . :)
One more question: How do you cope with the short timing in the exam? I seemed to rush through the paper to write down everything I know.
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Originally posted by syncopation_music:
its so long ago i seen that book the title i could have remembered wrongly
Guide to Little Ironies
Little Ironies guide
Little Ironies study guide
O level English Literature guide to Little Ironies
You should be able to dig it out in knowledge book centre or book point if you spend a few hours at the literature shelf
book point is at bras basah right ? ? knowledge book centre at? ?