2004 Paper 1 Section 2
Throughout your Leaving Certificate studies be curious in all your subjects. Read widely and write regularly. General knowledge and regular writing will make you an interesting, articulate and quick-thinking student, three attributes that are necessary in responding to the Higher Level English papers.
Don't stick to one style, or one genre. Write in a variety of language categories: information, argument, persuasion, narration and aesthetic.
Take care with your penmanship. Remember your writing must be legible! Although you will be under time pressure, you should not scribble; your answers deserve respect (and the examiner has to read them!).
If you have built up a number of very good pieces, keep them for reference. You may well be able to utilise some of your ideas and techniques in the actual exam.
Don't be frightened by misspellings. The examiner understands that you are under pressure and that odd 'human' errors do happen. Much more important is your structure and use of the English language and how you form your responses and develop you arguments.
If you capture the right tone for your composition, you are heading down the right road. This requires you to reflect and find a poise before you actually start writing. Thereafter, an intelligent and well-read student, who has confidence, can only do well in the Composition section of the examination.
General advice for Short Story writing in examinations:
A good short story won't just 'come to you' on the day. And a great idea might not look so great in one draft, which is all you're going to have time for in the exam. You need to be a skilled writer to master the art of the short story and skill comes with plenty of practice. The following pointers are essential:
- Do not try to span a lifetime or several years in your story. That's what novels are for. It's very irritating when students start a new paragraph with 'Twenty years later …). Your short story is going to be very short, so aim to cover one incident/moment, preferably taking place on one day. (Read the short story 'Thank You, Ma'am', by Langston Hughes, if you want to see how this can be achieved.)
- A sense of place and atmosphere is very important. The reader should be able to see where this incident is happening. Set the scene early in the story and bring it to life with description of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. Baffled? Can you see how these would be important if you were describing the following?
— a chipper at 12.30,
Friday night
— a public library
— a city street, Saturday afternoon
— a middle-aged hippy's living-room.
- Introduce a character with a couple of well-chosen details with reference to: face, build, clothing, gesture/body language, speech. Imagine you're giving the reader a quick look at the character's appearance. Don't overdo it; just a couple of details should get the message across. What kind of people are evoked by the following details?
— a pierced tongue
— white tights
— clenched fists
— a nervous laugh.
- Don't forget the plot! Avoid melodramatic storylines — being reunited with your long-lost parents, losing your home and family in a nuclear war, committing a crime of passion, working as a secret agent for the CIA … You can just as easily write a great story about small but significant happenings in everyday life. Whatever happens in your story, aim for an incident which brings about change in a character/characters or in a situation.
Practise writing dialogue as this is essential in a good narrative. Don't get carried away, however, as your narrative mustn't turn into a script.
