English Revision Tips for Secondary 1 and 2 Students

The method of examination for English in secondary school is entirely different from primary school. Gone are the multiple-choice questions (MCQ) and fill-in-the-blanks for grammar cloze passages and comprehension cloze passages.

Students are no longer only tested on writing a good narrative story, but also on essays such as  argumentative, discursive and reflections.  Although oral and listening comprehension are still tested, they have become more demanding in terms of deciphering the passage that is played out from the speaker and the analysis of the questions and the choices given.

Never leave your child’s performance in English to luck or chance. English is a subject that students can study and prepare themselves well for it.  Here are some tips that students can use to help them prepare well for their English examinations.

Editing

Considered to be one of the easier segments in the exam, the editing component tests the students on their knowledge of grammar. Students who want to score well for this segment should make sure to revise their grammar rules thoroughly. It is important to take note of whether the passage is in Present Tense or Past Tense and carefully analyse each verb used in the passage to ensure it matches the overall passage. Students should not focus on only a few words but read through the entire sentence while answering. There are occasional hints found in the preceding or following lines for the current question. Besides tenses, students should also be familiar with word types – Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs. Adjectives are used to describe Nouns; Adverbs are used to describe Verbs. It is recommended for a student to constantly practise as much as they can using revision books or past year papers, for the editing component as grammar will become much clearer the more practice is done.  Consolidate the unique grammar rules onto a note book with the example sentences and understand how they are being used in the sentences.  Refresh consistently these grammar rules from time to time to build up the students’ grammar skills.

Visual Text Comprehension

The visual text comprehension component is much shorter compared to its primary school’s counterpart. However, the questions asked require students to be able to think at a deeper level in order to obtain the maximum number of marks. Firstly, students must be able to identify the visual and the text that conveys the message from the webpage and the excerpt provided.  Secondly, students should always read the questions carefully and understand what they are asking for. There will always be a question asking students to list down the information or text or state if the tone depicted appears in one or both or none of the passages. There will also be another question whereby students have to make use of the information provided in the visual text to infer whether it supports the statement given in the question. Lastly, students should expose themselves to different types of questions, through additional revision books or past year papers. This allows the student to be prepared for whatever might be thrown at them during the exam and not stumble when they come across an unfamiliar question type.

Comprehension and Summary

Comprehension has become more challenging than primary school due to its abstract content and formal languages used. There are now less direct-answer questions, and more questions that require students to understand the deeper meanings of the language used throughout the passage. It is recommended that students strengthen their knowledge of vocabulary to avoid being lost when they come across an unknown word in the passage. Through consistent reading of model essays, newspaper articles and novels, students can enrich their vocabulary, which will be of great help in the comprehension segment. Students should read the questions carefully and answer them directly. Looking out for helpful words such as “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why” and “how” in the questions will also make it easier to find the answer.

A new component in comprehension at the secondary school level is summary. Students should highlight the topic and subject of the summary, as well as where they should get their information from. Summary is graded based on content (8 marks), and language (7 marks). Students must try to score as high as possible for the content component as it only requires the students to find and copy the information from the passage. Students should always ask themselves if the information they have found is relevant to the subject of the summary. For example, if the summary is about the “effects of technology”, students will do well to only look for information related to the impacts of technology and not get tricked by seemingly relevant content. After finding the 8 main points, students should not lift directly from the passage or their language marks will suffer. Instead, they should replace words from the original citation with synonyms, or change the sentence structure. A good method of rephrasing should be to read and understand the meaning of the original point, then rewrite the entire point using different synonyms and sentence structure. Lastly, while the summary should be no more than 80 words, students should take care not too write an overly short summary. If they find that their summary amounts to less than 70 words, it could be due to them not finding all 8 main points. Students should strive to keep their summary to at least 75 words, and no less.

Composition and Situational Writing

Composition in secondary school now introduces other forms of essay such as argumentative, discursive and reflection. Narrative essay is still present, but it would be beneficial for the student to be familiar with the other types as well.

The Argumentative Essay requires the students to state their stand on a topic, and give proper substantiation for their choice. Students should always remember to introduce the topic properly instead of just writing if they agree or disagree with the topic. It is important to start off with a strong introduction to convince the reader of their stand. For the following paragraphs, students need to elaborate and give good reasoning for their chosen stand. Besides just explaining their main points, students should give examples from real life. This is where most students face difficulties, and should be remedied by consistent reading, especially on current affairs. It is good to have a well of knowledge on current affairs to draw from when writing the argumentative and discursive essays. Only through giving strong examples and anecdotes, will the student’s essay stand out from their peers’. Before writing their conclusion, students must include a counterargument. The purpose of the counterargument is to make the essay seem objective. However, the counterargument should not outweigh the student’s original argument, so students should take care not to write themselves into a corner. A simple counterargument with at most one point of elaboration will suffice, and students will then need to “counter” their counterargument. While this may sound confusing, reading up on many model argumentative essays will give the student much inspiration they can draw from for their own essays. Lastly, we come to the conclusion. Just as important as the introduction, the conclusion should summarise the essay as a whole, while reiterating the student’s position on the subject. A strong conclusion ensures that a student’s essay does not end on an unsatisfying note, which will waste their earlier efforts.

The Discursive Essay is very similar to the Argumentative Essay, except this time, students should avoid picking a side and instead discuss about both sides of an issue. Students should approach the discursive essay as they would for an argumentative essay, except they need to be careful to be objective and unbiased. If students are uncertain on the type of essay they should write, always look out for certain phrases or words in the question. An argumentative essay tends to lead the student into making a decision, for example, by using the phrase “do you agree?”. Whereas a discursive essay invites the student to share their opinion, like “what is your opinion?”. Generally, if the question can be answered with a “yes” or “no”, it is an argumentative essay.

For the Situational Writing, students need to take note of the tone that should be used in the writing. In general, any letter, email or proposal written to a superior such as your teacher, principal or employer, must be in formal writing. An email written to a friend or sibling, will be in informal writing. Students may also some times be tasked to write newspaper or magazine articles for a school or club. In such cases, students should still adopt a formal tone, but also balance it out with some light-hearted comments in their writing.

Einstein Takeaway

We hope that by following the above tips, your child will be much better prepared for their English examinations. If they have any doubts, do not hesitate to seek clarifications from the school teachers before they sit for the EOY exam. We wish your child the best in his or her EOY exam!  If you have genuine concerns or worries about your child’s proficiency in English in the secondary or O level, feel free to contact us for we would share with you more insights about doing well in English through the Einstein English Achievers’ Program.