Hi A*y*a.
I suspect you have clicked a link from the website, so I will direct you to some links there rather than repeat it all here.
You must go into the exam room knowing exactly how you will use your time, and then do it from the moment the exam starts.
" This year I am going to sit for my 'O'Level Examination and I am so scared. During my qualifying exam, I scored 40+% on my English but I already prepared a lot for it."
It's quite hard to prepare for English as it's not like swotting for other exams - you are not tested on content. I cannot know what preparation you did. O-level is really a test of many years' work and especially many years' reading English. If you have not done these then you must consider that you may be able to push your mark over 50 if you sit the exam intelligently.
"I think I need a new brain or something. I didn't have much time to write my summary."
You don't need a brain to time your paper two. You need a watch or clock. You need discipline to use them properly.
In paper two you MUST leave yourself at least 30 minutes for the summary, more is better. It is worth half the marks. It is easier to get marks in the summary than the comprehension questions. The exam is like a football or netball game, not like a game of tennis - you do not play until you have finished - when time is up, what you have done gets your result - win or lose - even if in another two minutes you could have scored another goal.
So if the comprehension is taking too long, stop and move on. There are simple and very hard questions in the comprehension, all mixed up. Make sure you find and answer all the easy ones. The vocabulary is the part of the paper which Brunei students are bad at - if you do not have time leave it out.
comprehension hints
(I hope you have used Mr Wolstenholm's book in class to help you understand questions)
Your job in summary is to find the points that the question asks for - study and underline the parts of the question that guide you. O-level summary is not about making the passage shorter, it is about CHOOSING. So go through the lines they tell you to with a pen or pencil and underline parts that match the question. Check the underlined words are fewer than the word count. Write down these phrases as your answer. THEN, if you have time, rewrite them in complete sentences, trying to join some of them too. You can get 15/25 (60%) for copying the correct parts and staying under the word limit - expect to find at least fifteen points that match the question.
" I can't plan my time very well if I do my English Paper 1. Please help me!"
Anyone of your age can plan time. You must be strict with yourself. You must have a watch and write times on your paper to help you follow it. Exactly 30 minutes and one hour on each of the paper one questions. Be sure to follow the questions exactly.
composition hints 1
(read points one and two only)
For example, if you include all five ideas mentioned in the structured composition you will get five marks; if not, there is no other way to get them, so that's five marks less. If your story is all about something not in the topic you will get zero.
composition hints 2
(read points two and three)
You will have practised compositions. You will have been shown where you make mistakes - probably the same things over and over again - so you must fix this - make a list of the three or four things that go wrong most often and go into the exam room knowing you will be very careful over those points. As you are getting forty percent, your only hope is to follow a simple plan and make sure you do it in the exam room. Most important is write a narrative in past simple tense -
narratives
having checked that you know the common irregular verbs.
irregular verbs
You cannot fix everything before the exam so concentrate on getting more accurate, and forcing yourself to keep moving with the time.
Good luck, but work hard at these few things.
Mr Ozone.
