The Difference Between Effective & Ineffective English Revision
Let’s imagine what your teenager’s English revision looks like,
If they are revising at all.
I bet,
They have made some flash cards.
They’ve almost certainly watched some videos.
They likely have spent an exhausting amount of time re-reading and annotating their books.
And maybe if we are really lucky, they have written a couple practice essays.
But have they spent any real time improving the one thing that will determine what grade they can get in their English exams?
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My most used revision catch phrase is probably,
If your essay writing is at a level 5, the best grade you can possibly get is a level 5.
So if Jimmy wants to get a grade 6 in English GCSE,
Perhaps he even NEEDS a grade 6 in order to get into his desired sixth form,
But his essay writing is at a level 5,
His first paragraph, his conclusion, his links, his analysis,
They are all at a level 5.
IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY OF HIS LOVELY FLASH CARDS HE REMEMBERS!
IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW WELL HE UNDERSTANDS THE BOOKS!
If his writing is at a level 5, that’s the best grade he can get.
A student’s writing level decides the maximum grade they can get.
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But I am not writing this newsletter just to tell you how important essay writing is
The point of this newsletter is to explain the subtle change your teenager can easily make that will significantly improve the effectiveness of their English revision.
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The Subtle Change
Firstly,
We need to encourage your teenager to make the effort of writing more practice essays as part of their revision.
I use the word effort on purpose.
Writing practice essays is the opposite of what most students want to do.
Ultimately that’s their choice.
But I would always prioritise quality revision, for a shorter period of time, compared to the reverse.
And it doesn’t get much more quality than practice essays,
When they are done right.
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The Problem
When most students write practice essays,
They tend to do something like this.
They begrudgingly find a question,
And then attempt to do the question in timed conditions with no help.
This is a glorified memory test!!
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The point of writing practice essays should absolutely not be to test your memories.
You can do that with your flash cards.
Practice essays need to be written with the clear and focused intention of improving at the skill of essay writing.
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The Solution
Instead of making it difficult,
You teenager needs to give themselves all the advantages possible before they write a practice essay.
Absolutely keep their notes in front of them.
Pick an easy question.
No need for a time limit (this can and should be introduced later).
And potentially most importantly,
They should have their feedback from their previous essays right in front of them.
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Then instead of the exercise becoming a glorified memory test,
The student should be solely focusing on:
How can I write this introduction in the exact way the feedback is telling me to?
How can I do the thing that I saw in that YouTube video I like?
How can I use what I read in that Examiners report?
And so on.
The focus needs to be completely on the skill.
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Finally,
Students need to send their essays into their teacher/tutor,
Get their feedback,
And then repeat the exercise.
That’s how you get better at the skill of essay writing.
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I hope you have a great week ahead,
Best wishes,
Joel