While some NCEA subjects have external exams with multiple questions and short answers, one of the challenges for sitting NCEA Level 3 English is some of the unit standards have more in-depth exams, requiring a full essay response.
However, as with all exams, it is highly recommended that students complete at least one previous year’s exam to ensure they understand what is required and are confident going into the exam.
Using past exams to pass NCEA English
Looking at a single Level 3 English unit standard “respond critically to specified aspects of studied written texts, supported by evidence” as our main example of an external exam in formal essay format, which students will take at the end of the year, can give us some clear tips as to how to not only pass this exam but to achieve an Excellence grade.
Past exams are all freely available from the NCEA website. If you’re working with a tutor to improve your understanding of NCEA English Level 3, then past exams provide a very clear guideline to focus on.
NCEA English Strength Training
One of the things that you will want to practice is writing by hand for an extended period of time, particularly for long-form essay exams. If you are not used to writing for the time allowed for this exam students often will get to the end and start to find that their hand cramps up which distracts from their ability to come up with new ideas or to write that amazing conclusion that would take them from an Achievement to an Achievement with Excellence.
It may seem like a silly thing to worry about as far as sitting an English exam goes, but strength in your hands can actually make a huge difference. Practice writing for extended periods, but don’t write so long your hands start to cramp up (this can cause long-term damage and bring about things like carpal tunnel syndrome).
Change your grip or positioning, and make sure that the pen you're going to use is comfortable for writing over extended periods of time.
If you intend to go onto university being able to write for extended periods of time is an incredibly valuable skill. You may think that you'll be taking your notes using a keyboard, however, no matter what your touch-typing speed is, multiple studies have shown that people retain knowledge better when taking notes using a handwriting technique – whether using a digital stylus or using pen and paper.
So, strengthening your handwriting is not something to do just for this exam, it will be a skill that will help throughout your academic career – and will make your life easier going forward.
Using the Texts You Know
For your English course, you will be studying a variety of texts. Some of these will be fiction, some will be nonfiction, and there will be poetry, perhaps plays or comics and graphic novels.
There's a variety of different texts that you will be looking at, with the idea that you will develop an ability to critique and complete a close reading of these texts.
By this level, you should understand that studying or analysing a text is not the same as simply sitting down and reading it you are looking for a deeper meaning you are looking to understand what the author was trying to portray.
While you often will enjoy the text that you are studying developing that additional knowledge will also help you to become a better communicator.
Past NCEA English Exam Statements
Looking at past exams, one of the examples that you need to write is a full essay on a single text choosing one statement from a given list to build your essay around:
- the power of a persuasive text comes from well-crafted language
- a skilful writer conveys their purpose through believable relationships
- characters who reach a turning point are those from whom we learn the most
- the important messages in a text are conveyed by the differences between settings
- significant connections between the start and end of text reveal important ideas
- characters who criticize society are those who teach us the most
- effective text use uses imagery to present the ordinary and extraordinary ways
- texts that offer an insightful view of the world are worth the readers time
You can choose one of these eight statements and relate them to any of the texts that you have read throughout the year. The statement you will choose will often be influenced by which text you are going to work with.
If you have focused on a text that uses language you love but you found the characters to be bland or unrelatable, look at working with one of the statements focused on language. You can, and usually should, still talk about the characters, but unless you are particularly passionate in your dislike of their portrayal you are likely to run out of words to craft a strong analysis.
As an exercise to try before your exam, look at a comic book or pick a magazine article to do a close read of. Then, write a short essay that uses one of these eight statements.
You don’t need to practice with a 600-page novel, you can use a short story or poetry; you can use a digital or online text; the key is that you have done a close reading and analysis and have a deep understanding of the text that you have written.
This exam isn’t so much about what you have read, but how you interpret it, and then how you can communicate the ideas that your reading inspired. So, get someone else to read what you have written, ideally your teacher or tutor, for feedback.
When you go into your exam you will need to know the type of written text you will be working with, the title, and the author or the authors – without this information your marker will be less likely to be able to interpret your essay.
If you are a person who has a mental blank when you walk into an exam practice, just practice this using several different titles, several different authors, and just keep writing.
This will make it easier when you walk into the exam to actually work out what is going on, and to remember all those brilliant thoughts and out of the blue insights you reached while you were studying a particular text.
How much should you write?
Although each exam will provide you instructions on how much they expect you to write, generally for a long form essay you should write a concise piece of no more than five to six pages in length.
The quality of your writing is more important than the length of your essay, but can you write 5 to 6 pages? Practice - sit down and try!
To pass English Level 3 exams (as with many exams), the key thing is to ensure that you are able to write down your planning. You will be given a scrap piece of paper, so use this to jot down ideas or create a mind map if you need.
This can help you make sure that your essay covers all the key points asked in the question. Break your question down and tick each one as you write a beautiful paragraph response.
Looking at the “respond critically to specified aspects of studied written texts, supported by evidence” exam, in order to achieve excellence you must respond critically and perceptively to specified aspects of studied written text supported by evidence.
The difference between Excellence and Achievement is being perceptive. Crafting a critical essay will see you achieve a pass, this is the bare minimum required from students at Level 3.
If you want to achieve full Excellence you need to show that you have a deep understanding of the text, and that you are able to make inferences about what the author meant with certain phrases or certain imagery and relate that back to the context of the statement you are writing about.
Using Other Students' Work Isn't Cheating
Along with past exams, the New Zealand Ministry of Education provides marked exemplars to help students know what their goals should be. As part of your study process going through these marked exemplars not only gives you the opportunity to see what other students have written but also to see what the examiner's feedback of each answer is.
If you were writing about the story of Cinderella you wouldn't necessarily focus on the relationship between Cinderella and the Prince, or Cinderella and her step sisters, you could analyse the role minor characters have in building the story (such as her father). Could we use a cultural or societal example about Cinderella at the ball?
A situation where she is receiving approval from the guests around her so therefore she is more likely to feel comfortable fitting in as a Princess than if she outwardly appeared as a maid. There is a lot to analyze and a lot to infer from a simple retelling of a story.
However, you are not retelling the story, you are analyzing the story and you're making inferences.
One of the interesting things about writing for English studies is that this isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer. You do, however, need to be able to craft a well-written response that justifies your position.
You could make a statement that Cinderella was ungrateful in a time when others of her circumstance would have been homeless, or that the story is holding up misogyny and a cultural norm - but the key is that you have to be able to justify your inferences and match them not only to the story but to the statement that you have chosen to write your essay on.
Let the words flow
Students get bogged down with the stress of sitting exams, of having so much information to retain and regurgitate - however, if you let yourself be moved by the text you are studying, love it or hate it, you'll find that the words start to come easier.
However, just like anything, if you don't practice you won't get better. So, keep writing. Write reviews for blogs, share your thoughts on social media, the more you write, the easier it will be to write once you're in your exam.
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