Exceptional English with Ellen

With Year 10 mock exams on the horizon or already in progress, here are my top tips when preparing for exams:

1. Practice writing in timed conditions: When it comes to your English exam revision, how often do you actually write? Remember that reading notes is passive and you absolutely CAN revise for English Language! Find a past paper (these can be found online) and do a trial mock.

2. Know your timings: Make sure that you are spending the right amount of time and enough time on each question. Do you know what each question is worth in the exam? Are you splitting your time accordingly? If you are spending the same amount of time on a ten marker as you are on a twenty marker, you need to make yourself familiar with the suggested timing for each question in the exam.

3. Read mark schemes and examiners reports: When I did my GCSEs, mark schemes seemed like magical documents that we didn’t have access to! Now, students have them readily available online and some will even be able to access examiner reports. Examiner reports are issued after each exam series and are incredibly useful. They outline the strengths and weaknesses of responses to each question, and they help you learn what to avoid! The more you understand the workings of the exam, the more prepared you will be for the real thing!

Good luck to all Year 10s sitting mocks in the coming weeks!

Ellen.💫

Yesterday's announcement regarding the social media ban for under-16s might have already sparked a lot of conversations in your household!

Whatever your stance on the decision, it can serve as a valuable opportunity to talk to your children about alternative things that they can do in their free time - like reading!

Increasingly, parents tell me that their children don't like reading. It is not uncommon and it is hardly surprising in today's world. Students often associate reading with school work, reading takes time and demands their full attention and it doesn't have the same quick dopamine hit as short-form video content. Quite simply, there have been other things to be distracted by! My own children don't always want to read so it is a battle I am faced with also, but I make it a part of their day for a very good reason.

It is around now I will be asked by parents what their child can do over summer to improve their English grade. My answer, whatever year group, is always the same - read.

The earlier, the better.

The more, the better.

This gives your children the best chance when it comes to exam success than anything else they can do. Reading engagement is more important for a student’s academic success than their family’s socio-economic status. It impacts success in every school subject at GCSE, including maths and science. It eases stress, encourages empathy, promotes critical thinking and is good for their mental health.

It’s as important as their five a day.

If you have followed me for some time, then you will have seen lots of my posts about the importance of reading. I know it’s not easy, I'm faced with the same groans about it too sometimes, but it is something we can all do at home that helps our children in ways they don’t even realise yet.

Please reach out for book recommendations if you would like me to suggest any. I have created lots of reels you can revisit, but I am always happy to offer further advice when it comes to books.

Ellen. 😊📚

Mock exam approaching?

End of year exam results back and your child isn't really sure where they have gone wrong?

I have some very limited availability for 1:1 sessions in June/July only. If you feel like your child would benefit from a session or two with me then please don't delay.

When spaces are gone, they are gone!

My 1:1 slots are one-off sessions and are £60 an hour. Please inbox me if interested with your child's year group, details of assessment or upcoming assessment and exam board.

Ellen. ✨

Courage.

This was given to me this week by one of my leaving Year 11s. She joined me in September, full of self-doubt and believing she couldn’t achieve in English.

I knew she could. In fact, I noticed quickly how much potential she had and made a point of telling her every week. And her writing just got better and better.

By the time she sat her first English exam she said she knew exactly what she had to do.

Courage - what a beautiful gift, from teacher to student and student to teacher.

Good luck to all Yr 11 students sitting your GCSE Language Paper 2 exam today. And to my Year 11 tutees, I will truly miss you all! It has been a privilege to have helped you all along the way. Today is the final stretch for GCSE English and I believe in every one of you! Go into that last exam today with courage.🤍

Did you know, you don't have to buy any of my services to support me as a small business?

Every like, comment or share is a much appreciated show of support.💖

And please do pass on my details to friends and family if you feel that I could help them next academic year. Gratefully, spaces in my groups are filling fast but I won’t be opening any new groups next year. Once spaces are gone, they are gone! I really don’t want to disappoint anyone who intends to get in touch!

Thank you so much for supporting my small business. It truly means the world to me. 😊

Final chance to book. Zoom links and resources will be sent out later today.

My GCSE in-person English groups are already half-full for next academic year.

Please contact me soon if you would like to secure a place! 💫

The first thing I would like you to know is that you can revise for this exam!

Students often believe that without any facts to learn, there is nothing that can be done but that is just not true! If I were preparing to sit the final Language Paper next week, here is what I would do.

Learn from Paper 1: How did you feel that paper 1 went? Were you happy with your approach and your timing? Remember, your language grade is determined by two exam papers. For most exam boards, this is half time. If you are an Eduqas student, 60% of your grade is determined by Paper 2 so you need to consider carefully what your approach will be to maximise your marks!

Practice Papers timed: This is a must and it doesn’t have to be full papers at this point. Which questions are your weaker ones and how can you improve? From there, read mark schemes and examiner reports. This is an exam that tests skills and so the best approach is to master exam technique, review mark schemes and complete targeted practice.

Know your timings: Do you know how long you should spend on each question and are you sticking to the allocated time for each question? Make sure that you are giving sufficient time to the questions that are worth more marks. Spending 20 minutes on an 8-mark question, for example, is just too long!

Write well: Your writing section is worth a considerable amount of marks and you only really improve here if you are prepared to put pen to paper. I recently posted about this with some suggested tasks for each exam board. Revise the layout features of non-fiction writing and have some persuasive sentences ready that you might be able to use across different tasks. Read back your work and review the quality of it. Are you using apt, ambitious vocabulary? Varying sentence structures? Using a range of punctuation? If not, make changes in your next paragraph. This is about crafting, not writing at the speed of lightning in the hope that 6 pages is what the examiner wants to see. If you want to ace this section, you must write well.

Good luck to you all next week!

Ellen.