Guide to Paper 1 with English teacher Sandra O’Donoghue
You must prepare for Paper 1, so don’t listen to those who say you don’t! says Sandra O’Donoghue
All too often I hear students remark, “Ah sure, Paper 1 is easy!” or “You can’t prepare for Paper 1”. Whenever possible, I shout loudly after them “If you believe that you’re only fooling yourselves!” never mind the passing students eyeing me warily in the corridors. I find it unbelievably frustrating that so many students still fail to realise that preparation for Paper 1 is as important as that for Paper 2 – and can make a huge difference in the overall grade. Paper 1 is worth the exact same 200 marks as Paper 2. The Paper 1 essay alone is worth a whopping 100 marks. Now, I’m no mathematician (praise the good lord!) but even I know that’s a quarter of the entire 400 marks available. So! Sit forward, crack your knuckles and get ready to find out how to prepare for Paper 1.
The first thing you need to do is check the theme of this year’s paper. It is written on the front of the paper and will be something random like, “2017: Different Worlds”. “2016: Journeys.” “2015: Challenges.” The title will offer some flavour for this year’s texts and essay titles.
Next, tackle your Question A. Choose only ONE Question A from the choice of three texts. Question A is a reading comprehension task. To prepare, you need to learn the techniques of the five language genres and practice recognising them in past Question As. Thereafter, you should use your past papers to plan and write a variety of Question A tasks.
In the exam, take a few deep breaths before you start your Question A. This is your first task of the Leaving Cert. It’s a good idea to relax and focus a little before you jump in. Make sure you read the questions carefully and make three points in three paragraphs for 15 mark questions and four for 20 mark questions. Always use quotes to show evidence for your points. This task should be completed in around 45 minutes.
Your next task to complete is a Question B. You must choose one Question B from a DIFFERENT TEXT to your Question A. Hundreds of students make this simple mistake every year and lose out on 50 marks. Don’t discount the power of first-day nerves. Cross out the Question B that accompanies your chosen Question A to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. Your Question B is a functional writing task. Popular types include; letters, diaries/ blogs, articles, speeches/text of talk etc. To prepare for this task you must learn the correct layout for each one and practice writing a selection of them. Make sure that you use the appropriate tone for the audience and topic of the Question B. In the exam, ensure that you focus on your task, use the correct layout, write around two pages and have the task finished in around 40 minutes.
Your final task for Paper 1 is your Essay. Read the seven essay titles carefully and consider your best options. You should know before you go in if your strengths tend toward the creative (stories and descriptive essays) or opinion/logic (speeches, articles, personal essays, discursive and persuasive essays).
If you prefer creative essays you should prepare by reading lots of fiction and writing at least five short story essays from past essay titles, ideally essays that contain entirely different plots. For descriptive essays, you need to know all of the various descriptive techniques and practice using them, again by writing past essay titles. If essays using opinion/logic are more your bag, then you should be reading as many articles as you can. This works in two ways; not only will you be appreciating (and hopefully even absorbing) excellent writing skills, but you will also be learning about interesting topics that you can use in your essays. I recommend that students compile a list of interesting contemporary topics on which they can form an opinion, and collect points from articles that can be read through before sitting for Paper 1. Believe me when I tell you that your examiner will be impressed to see that you’ve made the effort to research topics and that you will be rewarded handsomely for it. You need to write five to six pages and you have 1ƒ hours to plan and write it.
As you are reading this, you have around four months to prepare for your English Paper 1 and 2. Use this time wisely by incorporating preparation for Paper 1 into your study plan. Your best possible result depends on it.
IF ESSAYS USING OPINION/LOGIC ARE MORE YOUR BAG, THEN YOU SHOULD BE READING AS MANY ARTICLES AS YOU CAN