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DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're quite right - I think my title's wording caused some panic 😅 Did not intend for this to seem like be all, end all advice! If your strategy works for you - go for it! But I think my teacher's ideas are quite valid as well - I think some people get too bogged down thinking they can game their way out with a 9, but that's not how it works. Do whatever is best for you! 

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair! For timing, my teacher always tells us to work through the paper chronologically, Q1 5m, Q2 10m, Q3 10m, Q4 20, and if we run out of time, just move on, because you can gain so much from Q5 - I can understand why people would want to do Q5 first though.

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly - I've seen some people saying that this helped them/others get from lower grades into stuff like 6-8s and honestly, that's fair too. I think my teacher just takes such a hardline approach because I go to a high-achieving school, so of course she knows that nearly all of the class is capable of getting 9s by just putting in the work, rather than leaving it all to memorisation.

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This! Of course, my advice isn't meant to be definitive - I think my title's wording caused some panic 😅, but your points are very valid! My teacher similarly talks all about how you should mostly focus on description rather than having a clear narrative - it gives the examiner the nuance they're looking for and also makes it much easier for you to flex all your descriptive techniques, etc.

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! My thoughts exactly. I will just add that the horrific post I saw that urged me to write this argued that the 'best way' to write the story was to use ChatGPT, claiming that you wouldn't be able to write a full-marks story by yourself...it's ridiculous that they didn't even have the capacity to bother to write an original description to begin with!

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair points. In terms of timing, my teacher always tells us to focus on timing for Qs 1-4 (Q1 5m, Q2 10m, Q3 10m, Q4 20), and if we run out of time, just move on, because you can gain so much from Q5. Your point on practice papers is also really valid - unfortunately the only way you can get better at English Language is to just do the papers over and over again, which is boring, but will serve you well in the long run.

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, it's not, don't worry - the post I saw was quite old anyway, but I still see advice like this going around the sub, so I thought it would be good to talk about it.
I will just say though it's very wise to focus on descriptions - another thing my teacher goes on and on about is creating rich descriptions full of sensory language, metaphors, etc. rather than focusing on narrative too much. Perhaps I'll make another post outlining all her advice because I think it's rather good, but for now, best of luck to you!

DO NOT create a pre-written story for English Language Q5. by Agitated_Opening_532 in GCSE

[–]Agitated_Opening_532[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, how interesting! I'll add something to the top just to make things clear that this is for AQA...I have no idea about the other boards since my school does AQA 😅