Miltonkeynes1 wrote:
Hi All
I just wondered if anyone had any tips on resources to help DS with his essay writing or answering paragraph style questions?
DS1 is taking A'Level History, Geography and Politics, all of which are essay heavy subjects. His knowledge is very sound and he does a lot of reading round the subject but he often struggles to put his knowledge down on paper. The feedback from teachers is always that his exam answers don't reflect his knowledge.
He has asked a few times to have extra guidance in forming his essays but does not seem to have had much help. I just wondered if anyone had any tips or ideas how he could get help?
The key with A level is to make sure that he is answering the question! I know that sounds obvious but, to a certain extent (particularly in the old style GCSEs), a lot of longer answers were testing "what you knew" - a kind of "tell us everything you know about...." which, if he has good knowledge, is relatively straight forward. For A level it is much much more about application of knowledge - so not just tell us what you know but tell us HOW what you know applies to this.... Underlining key phrases in the question might help, planning certainly should, and revisiting the question title every few sentences to ensure he is answering the specific question, will also help. I would agree that if the subject teachers are unable to sit down with him and explain how he needs to improve his essay writing then sitting down with an English teacher may well be a good start.