Towards the end of 5th year our English teacher gave us a handout of sample A2/A1 Macbeth essays. Apparently these were actual essays written during the LC, under the same pressure and time constraints that we’ll all be under next week. I started using them as a study guide over the past few days and honestly they’re making me quite panicky, here are these wonderfully crafted, eloquent critical essays, scoring around the 57/58/59 mark. Unless these were learned off right before the exam they were clearly written by excellent students who could think on the spot and express their views articulately within the space of an hour. The more of these fantastic essays I read (believe me, they were giving A.C Bradley a run for his(her?- I always assume it’s a man) money) the more hopeless I felt. I’m mentally clinging onto Poetry and Comparative as my lifejackets, as at least I’ll have those essays learned beforehand. I’m hoping that if I write them down as fast as possible (hopefully I wont have to plan too much as I can twist my prepared essays to fit the title) then I can spend a little more time on Macbeth.
At this stage I feel like I’ve done all I can do for English. Macbeth has been read and reread, notes have been made of the major themes, characters and imagery used. Bishop, Longley and Walcott essays have been learned off*, as have Theme and Issue and Cultural Context. I’ve practised answering comprehensions in 35-40 minutes and can *just* about do it, albeit with smoke coming off the page. I suppose hard work only gets you so far, the rest comes down to the paper on the day, the mood the corrector’s in, and of course raw skill, which I unfortunately don’t have but will try my best to fake.
I’m in the same mood about Irish. I’ve read my notes, memorised new phrases and learned off big chunks of text for the diospóireacht (which isn’t too bad, as the díospoireacht’s supposed to follow a certain structure anyway). I’d be happy if I got a paper like the mock, just maybe not so much if I got an examiner like the mock. Like English, what’ll make my grade will be the paper and whether the examiner likes what I’ve written or not. I really hope the Oral went in my favour, it only seems like yesterday I was sitting outside the room, clutching a mug of Lemsip and feeling sorry for myself.
The biggest drawback of all of this is that I’ll be counting either English or Irish (or both!) for the points, when both could go so badly wrong. At the very least the HPAT results come out soon enough so I can quell whatever little hope I have left about doing medicine.
*Some people tend to go a bit crazy when you say you’re learning off an essay, before I get a torrent of abusive comments I’d just like to say that I only learn off the essays I’ve written myself so that I can write them faster in the exam. No plagiarism here!
Do you learn off your essays word for word?
Personally, as a narcissitic twat, I have an eidetic memory when it comes to the stuff I’ve written. But even then reciting it verbatim is a bit hard.
I don’t understand how people can do it for irish or other languages where they barely even know what they’re saying…
I’m one of those people that makes crap up on the spot. It’s really a bit hit or miss, though, so I’m trying to prepare a little better. But I never really write essays out. Just the key points (e.g. Bishop has a dead da, crazy ma, dead girlfriend and generally shitty life which reflects in her shitty poetry), which I trust myself to wield on the day.
I just hope I don’t do it in a funny mood like I did in the mocks. I basically did a piss-take for half the thing.
Although, I still think it would be brilliant to write a letter to the editor of the national soviet socialist newspaper in the exam (they never say which national newspaper in the question. I wonder would I get away with that…)
I sorta learn them in sections, like for Bishop and Longley I made out essay plans after the essay with the main points I make and the quotes I use, and also learn off any phrases that I think work well. I end up reading the essays so often that I know them basically by heart, but not completely verbatim.
I suppose if I was relying on remembering the essay by heart and not thinking about it I’d find it hard to make it fit a title.
Fair play to you tbh, sounds like you’re REALLY quite prepared. A lot more than myself in any case.
Jaysus I hate Macbeth. Jaysus.
And the comparative. I forgot about the comparative. It’s like “An Triail”- just an afterthought, easily left out. Very easily.
I always forget an Triail too, it’s so easy to completely forget about until the night before!
All of Irish Paper II is an afterthought in my books tbh. Irritates me too much to study or practice for it.