O-Level English

[LarryG67]

student123456789:

Hello, I just received my O-level results, scored an A1 in English, and now want to share my and my friends’ experience. I primarily wrote this note for my juniors, so I hope parents will forgive my tone


Just like any advice, mine may or may not work for you. As we have 8 months before the O's, I suggest you try out the advice that you like, together with what your teachers and other materials have to offer, and decide how to accommodate it to your needs. Also, since we improved from B4s, B3s to As, the advice will mostly benefit those within such grade range.


1. EDITING:

Buy a book from Popular and practise. After a dozen exercises, you'll begin to notice where you tend to get wrong. Remember them, and train yourself to have a specific course of doing the editing.

This is what I do in the exam hall: I read through the passage, quickly tackle the blatant errors, and read the remaining lines closely-almost word by word. This often leaves me with about 4 lines, some containing words that I'm unsure about. If time allows, I'll try to find rational reasons to prove if they are (in)correct. If I see that the editing session is taking up more than 10 minutes, I will just give 4 sticks, secure my 8, and move on.
My teacher strongly opposed this tactic, though. He argued that even if you felt that there were 9 errors in the passage, just correct them all and give one stick- you would only lose 1 point. However, trying this out only got me 5s and 6, as I decided the wrong lines with the errors. If I aim to get 10, I need to know the exact line, the exact word AND the exact correction- the odds were too high to trust my feelings and risk losing everything. Well, perhaps it's just the cowardly me, so try your luck a few times before the O's.

And also, be extremely vigilant to simple errors, especially those of tense. During my O's itself, for some unknown reasons, I completely had no doubt that the past tense of 'sit' was correctly written as 'sit'!


2. WRITING:

You must have heard this advice for a million times, and yet I will repeat it: READ, READ, READ, because it DOES help, even though the effect is hard to measure.

But read what? As someone who always does expository (sorry that I'm of no use to friends who love the narrative and descriptive. I've never been able to write creative, beautiful essays) I find the Opinions section in The Straits Times extremely helpful. In fact, I spent my Sec 4 reading it almost every day. The articles and letters there not only give you a deeper understanding of Singapore and the world but also teach you to develop your argument coherently- with style. Read articles with contrasting views and take a stand. When you've engaged enough with current affairs, you'll find reading no longer an ordeal but a way to explore life.

After a time and reading and writing, you'll discover your voice of arguing. My close friend's style was objective and scientific. She watched TED videos like crazy, took down statistics and actually learnt them. Her use of 'I' in her essays was minimal. Her examples came from research or fiction. She also had a vocabulary notebook with the most bombastic words.

My style was entirely different. I loved to show my emotions and include anecdotes in my essays, even condemning outright some behaviour. I spent the longest paragraph in my O's essay criticising people who dressed inappropriately in religious buildings with a mocking tone (while restraining myself from being too irrationally offensive). I am more concerned about how my words flow rather than how complicated they are, so you will find few high-level words in my essays.

And the two opposite styles served us well. The point is, try to find your voice. The moment you feel you are writing not just to complete 5 paragraphs but to communicate your ideas and personality, you know you'll ace the writing section. Also, remember that the examiners know that you are fifteen or sixteen- they won't expect you to argue with infallible reasoning, but to state your thesis, then your elaboration and explanation, coherently and sensibly.

One other thing: I advise against reading novels as the main means to improve English. Not that they won't help, but their language and ideas are not as useful as those found in articles, if you are writing expos. And reading a novel takes a lot of time, too. So, if you have free time and want to read novels for leisure, it's great, but to read one and assure yourself that you've spent 12 hours studying English is not.


3. ORAL:

Most of us have some particular pronunciation problems, and they take time to fix. So, unless you scored 9 or 10 last year in Reading Aloud, consult your teacher as soon as possible. Once you've identified your problems, work on them relentlessly.

I got A LOT of problems with both my pronunciation and intonation, because my 1st language isn't English. I had to train myself again almost entirely in Sec 4, using Better English Pronunciation by D.H O’Connor, practicing every vowel and consonant. (The book is quite expensive, but it’s worth the money). Once I've made sure that I read with fairly competent articulation, I worked on expression, using Voice and Speaking Skills for Dummies, borrowed from NLB.
Some of you might learn best from books, like I did. However, some might prefer videos- one of my friends watched speeches and tried to mimic the speakers. That’s helpful, too.
The picture discussion is where reading the Straits Times will save your life, really. Most topics deal with Singaporean issues, so if you read ST’s Opinions page every day and make sure you cover most aspects of current affairs, you’ll have a lot to discuss.
I also suggest you have a friend to practice Oral. From Jan to August, every morning, my partner and I would choose an article from ST to take turn to read and discuss. We gave earnest advice, always checked the dictionary/Internet/with teachers if we were unsure, and took one another’s advice seriously.
It’s important that you have the right partner. I had friends with good English but of no help. They pointed out one or two errors, and commented: ‘You have improved, but this part your intonation is quite weird- I don’t know how to fix, or perhaps it’s your voice’s problem?’ Some even gave ridiculous advice, like to not have my intonation go up and down wrongly, I should practice… not going up and down at all(!). So, all friends are equal, but when it comes to work, some are more equal than the others.


Phew, I guess that’s all. I don’t really have any advice on comprehension, except practicing, which applies to everything.

But how do you have so much time in Sec4? Well, you’ll have to consider what English grade you REALLY want and whether it is worth sacrificing other subjects (Yes, I did extra compos and compres at the expense of compulsory Math and Science homework, because I desperately wanted a distinction). Improving English means putting in tremendous hard work and time, and it can be frustrating, too. Also, please know that your score won’t improve steadily- it may even drop to some abysmal grade at some times, but hold on. Hard work will pay off, in results and in life (which no examiners can take away from you)

Hope this helps all the best for Sec 4!

wow this is a really good and informative post. I think this is going to be really inspiring for many students about to take the O Levels this year and even the next few years. And from the tips here, we can see that its really important to have a so-called partner-in-learning; in other words a good friend who we can share tips and our problems with. this really reminds me of my old student days where we have a group of 3 to 5 people and we would share notes and resources with each other.

more importantly, what a student stands to gain most from this post is not the methods or techniques, but your drive to achieve! If our kids can have this sort of work ethic towards every single thing they do, I would have no worries already. A well-deserved achievement!

[nansk]

Thank you. Your info is helpful.

This bolded, in particular, is very important for parents to note.[quote]if your child is putting in 10 hours a week practising math & science questions, and not spending at least a quarter of that time practising his writing ability, then it is only natural that he wouldn't do as well in English.[/quote]

[nansk]

W.r.t. the Oxford comma in a list, what is the style preferred in Singapore? To use, or not to use?

e.g. the following sentence from your post uses the Oxford comma:[quote]The committee will consist of Bob, Mr. Parsons, and me.[/quote]

[Teacher Aaron]

kitty2:

kitty2:

Do you have any good recommendation for secondary oral and composition guide books?


Thanks

Looks like you don't have any good recommendation :?

Sorry for the late reply. I've been busy with teaching and baby, so I've not been able to come KSP forum often. I do have a composition guide book I would recommend. I'll try to get hold of an image of it and post it here. Oral books wise, unfortunately, there aren't any good ones I would recommend right now.

[Teacher Aaron]

A better tomorrow:

Hi , may I know Is it correct to say

I think .. ....
Or
I think that ........
?

The answer is that it depends on who you are asking. For most newspapers, you will notice that they tend to drop the \"that\" to save space. Dropping the \"that\" doesn't usually impede comprehension, so it's generally fine to drop it, but if you prefer to be very strict on grammar, then it is better to leave the \"that\" in.

[Teacher Aaron]

nansk:

W.r.t. the Oxford comma in a list, what is the style preferred in Singapore? To use, or not to use?

e.g. the following sentence from your post uses the Oxford comma:[quote]The committee will consist of Bob, Mr. Parsons, and me.

[/quote]This is a question that is difficult to answer because I can't speak on behalf of all Singaporeans. Globally, the Oxford comma is subject to raging debates between proponents and opponents with no resolution on the matter in sight.

Those who claim that the Oxford comma is incorrect are definitely people who do not know their grammar; beware any English teacher who make such claims or heaven forbid, does not even know of the existence of the Oxford comma.

As for those who claim that the Oxford comma is unnecessary, that is true to some extent. A common rule of thumb is that if a sentence is unlikely to result in misunderstanding by the omission of the Oxford comma, then it's fine to leave it out.

Here's my favourite example of why the Oxford comma matters.

\"We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin.\" -> This indicates there are three distinct parties who were invited as the Oxford comma clearly indicates a list of three nouns.

\"We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin.\" -> This indicates that there is only one party, the strippers, who were invited, and there were two strippers named JFK and Stalin who were invited. The grammatical explanation is that the lack of the Oxford comma turned the phrase \"JFK and Stalin\" into an apposition for the noun \"strippers\".

So, my advice is that it doesn't hurt to drop the Oxford comma or to use it; just be sure that you do not cause any confusion with your choice of inclusion or exclusion.

[nansk]

Teacher Aaron:

nansk:

W.r.t. the Oxford comma in a list, what is the style preferred in Singapore?

This is a question that is difficult to answer because I can't speak on behalf of all Singaporeans.

I am aware of the unsettled debate globally. I was asking what the preferred style was in academic institutions in Singapore. What is taught and what is expected of students?

[sharonkhoo]

nansk:

Teacher Aaron:

[quote=\"nansk\"]W.r.t. the Oxford comma in a list, what is the style preferred in Singapore?

This is a question that is difficult to answer because I can't speak on behalf of all Singaporeans.

I am aware of the unsettled debate globally. I was asking what the preferred style was in academic institutions in Singapore. What is taught and what is expected of students?[/quote]I believe that in general the Oxford comma is not used. This is from vague memories of my kids' lessons in Pr school! However, I don't think they are penalised when it is used to avoid misunderstandings.

[Teacher Aaron]

nansk:

Teacher Aaron:

[quote=\"nansk\"]W.r.t. the Oxford comma in a list, what is the style preferred in Singapore?

This is a question that is difficult to answer because I can't speak on behalf of all Singaporeans.

I am aware of the unsettled debate globally. I was asking what the preferred style was in academic institutions in Singapore. What is taught and what is expected of students?[/quote]The honest truth is that most teachers shun the topic. I only have a handful of students whose teachers actually tried to explain basic grammar concepts, not to mention contentious things such as the Oxford comma. As far as I know, the national syllabus doesn't say anything about the Oxford comma, and at the tertiary level, from my experience, I would say that I generally see people not using the Oxford comma and not expecting its use.

Personally, I teach my students that the Oxford comma is generally optional provided that the meaning of the sentence is clear enough to most people.

[Teacher Aaron]

kitty2:

kitty2:

Do you have any good recommendation for secondary oral and composition guide books?


Thanks

Looks like you don't have any good recommendation :?

http://teacheraaron.com/others/JustWrite.jpg\">

For self-study, I find that this book is pretty decent. There are not that many good books on composition and essay writing on the market, but I find this book quite okay.