How To Succeed With The New Controlled Assessments In Gcse English !!

Last September every English GCSE teacher in the UK breathed a huge sigh of relief and started a brand new syllabus as the dreaded coursework was finally deleted forever (hopefully) and the new controlled assessments were put in place. For the students,however, there was no relief. How on earth were they supposed to learn enough quotes and write a decent essay - of upto 1,000 words, on the spot, with no one to help them, in a mere two hours?

Fear not: the controlled assessments are much better for students and teachers alike. For teachers the days of marking redraft after redraft, allowing extentions on deadlines and relentlessly trying to prod the students into handing in their work are finally just a horrible memory, while for students there is no more worrying about handing in a perfect piece of coursework. The fact is, when students have to do coursework, and can do it at home, it is very unfair. Some students will have very good tutors, while others will have a bad one or none at all. When you can type the coursework at home, with the benefit of spell-check, grammar-check and thesaurus, the standard required is ridiculously high and unachievable for all but a handful of students every year. No wonder so many students ended up by plagiarising - which is the main reason coursework as an assessment tool has finally been abandoned in English GCSE.

So how to succeed? Well, first of all make sure you get your teacher to tell you the controlled assessment title as soon as possible, so that you know what you are working towards. Some teachers break the lessons up into bite size chunks which can leave students feeling very confused, so don`t let this happen. The teachers know the coursework titles and so should you.

Show up to all your lessons and if you have to miss any, make sure you get any notes and handouts from the teacher. Ask your friends to lend you copy their notes from classes you missed. Be proactive! Teachers always like students who appear to be interested in the teacher`s own subject, so talk to your teacher: ask for help and advice.

Make sure you know the texts you are studying inside out. This means (of course) that you can not just rely on whatever reading happens in the classroom.Read the text several times until you know the content and can discuss it without having to keep checking.

Annotate the text with as many details as possible and begin to think of how you will structure your essay. Do more research if possible, so if the title is to do with Talent TV or School Meals, make sure you know the names and presenters of various talent tv programmes - even if you never watch them - and do a bit of research on how much money schools get to subsidise school meals.The examiners are not just interested in whether you know how to use an apostrophe! They are genuinely happy to see your own opinions and interpretations of text.

And finally, if you are thinking of getting a tutor, make sure they know not just the exam board you are studying but that they have taught it before, that they are familiar with the assessment objectives and criteria, and that they understand that one A4 sheet of bullet point notes is all you are allowed to bring with you into the exam room. If you find you have to explain anything to the tutor, don`t waste your precious time and money - get another tutor asap.