Reading is a valuable skill that you will depend on in more ways than you might want to consider throughout your life.
It is also a great practice for students that are looking to improve and learn English outside of the classroom. You will learn a lot from reading and it will also help you to achieve a higher test score in English.
Reading skills are transferable across just about any avenue in life, Strong readers have an easier time developing foreign languages, articulating themselves, forming an opinion, appreciating art, concentrating as well as finding a productive hobby which they can enjoy.
In this article, I will take a look at how the leaving cert English paper is structured and explore some of the sections where reading features the most.
When you answer questions in your next English test, make sure to include correct grammar, and all of the vocabulary that you learned from your time reading. If you feel that you need to learn or improve your existing vocabulary pool, you would be surprised at how many new words you can pick up just from reading.
This way you will be able to see first-hand how valuable developing your reading skills can be in navigating the leaving cert English paper and perhaps more importantly, how you can maximise your grade as a result!
Quite a large part of the leaving cert overall mark for leaving certificate English comes from reading of some description. If you are a leaving cert student who is preparing for some of the questions that feature on paper 2 of the exam, then you are likely already familiar with the comparative studies.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which having a strong competency in reading can improve your exam scores in the subject!
Since there are so many marks going towards poetry, reading this article might just help you to squeeze some more marks out of this section.
Reading to help your comparative answer
The comparative section of the paper is a study of a play, a text and a movie that students will have to analyse throughout their two years in the leaving cert cycle. They will need to study the themes, cultural context, relationships and character progressions which feature across each, drawing comparisons and presenting contrasts which existed or surfaced within their study.
The comparative section of the leaving cert paper 2 will provide students with some degree of choice. Historically there will be two questions which feature on the paper, one containing three parts and the other being an overall, open-ended question which will require a longer answer drawing on all three texts.
Overall, both questions will require approximately the same amount of pages or level of detail in the answers that students hand up. The difference is purely in which question is of preference to the student and how they choose to go about answering.
Given that this section requires an in-depth analysis of three different mediums of literature, students will need to do quite a bit of reading. You will likely have to read some of your chosen texts many times before you arrive at an understanding at the level required by higher level leaving cert students.
By reading regularly in your own time outside of the classroom you will have an advantage over some of your classmates and other leaving cert candidates right from the start!
Reading will teach you how to digest the information provided by the author, and decipher what the key pieces of information are for when you get around to note taking. You will realise the importance of this particular skill when you get around to drafting some of your answers for the questions that might arise in the exam.
It is easy for students to get buried in their notebooks when they go about answering questions from their English exam papers. Instead of getting bogged down in what might often seem like countless pages of notes that you jotted down on your texts, having more concise and to-the-point notes is just one of the products that come with improving your reading skills.
Not to mention that you will inherently improve your ability to read. While this might seem rather straightforward, it is still an invaluable skill that will help you get through your chosen texts faster than other students. This will enable you to read through the texts more often than your classmates, develop a more in-depth understanding and subsequently draft answers that will earn you a higher mark.
If you are looking for some inspiration on where to get started with your reading, give this article a try!
The comprehension component of the exam
Paper one of the English Leaving Cert exam can perhaps be more effectively described as the ‘unseen’ section of the course. Here students will find a comprehension question which examines a prescribed reading that will feature on the paper.
Given how constrained students will be for a time in a leaving cert exam, and particularly in the English exam where they are required to write such a high volume of content for their answers reading smart and fast can be quite the lifesaver!
By learning how to find information in the text, and skim a passage you can save yourself a substantial amount of time in the exam hall on the big day!
By getting through the reading at a faster rate than others who are sitting the same paper, you will inherently save yourself more time that you can spend answering the questions.
With your developed knack for comprehension that you develop from reading, not only will you retain more information than other students, but you will be able to put your time to a more productive capacity.
It’s no secret that there are no marks going for reading, the quicker you can develop a strong understanding of the respective text and get to answering the question the better!
When you open up your leaving cert English paper 1 you will need to take sufficient time to read through the exam paper. The second step is to study the prescribed texts and try to find examples of appealing literature, images, themes or poetic techniques that you can discuss from your leaving cert English course.
With the leaving cert English paper 2 exam paper you will need to read the questions carefully of course, though you will spend most of your time writing. Students will need to write about the poetry, literature and text that they study for the comparative section.
We can see just how much strong reading skills can help you in the English exam. By practising your reading frequently you will be putting yourself at a significant advantage over other students when the exam rolls around!
If you want to improve your English test scores, your reading, grammar, and the time that you spend answering questions and strengthening your vocabulary then you need to start reading on a daily basis.
Reading can also help to improve your comprehension skills, this will help you to jump up a few grades in the exam.
Improve your English scores with Superprof!
Perhaps one of the more effective resources, and also possibly the least adopted by students is availing of a personal tutor. A personal tutor can provide some much-needed clarity for students studying English, particularly for international students who wish to improve their grasp of the language and reading.
Having seen the opportunities which surface as a result of achieving high marks in the leaving cert, investing in a personal tutor to guide you in your preparations will most definitely justify the expense.
If you have an interest in developing your reading skills and seek an extra hand in your studies, it is certainly worth reaching out to a professional with Superprof.
Superprof is a community which comprises of millions of tutors around the world. There is certainly no shortage of English tutors available to students looking to prepare for their international language qualifications.
Tutors that currently list their services across the country range anywhere from €8 right up to €25. Many of which list their services on the site offer students the option to arrange a trial tutoring session free of charge.
This gives students the opportunity to select a tutor based on their preferred style of learning, and will give students the opportunity to select a tutor suitable for their own level of reading
The platform also provides students with the option to work from the comfort of their own home, the home of the tutor or alternatively, on a remote basis via webcam. This choice helps students to target their specific weaknesses across the subject while providing some much-needed flexibility for those who are working.
When you write up your study plan for leaving cert English, make sure to include reading poems, reading literature and learning to write both of these too! If you study each of these it will help exam results.
Many of the English tutors on the platform offer help right up to college level so why not pick up where you left off and continue developing your reading skills with Superprof today?
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