O level English Comprehension :a critical discussion

syncopation_music SG

As a tutor myself , I felt obliged to help forummers taking O level English Exams this year

Based on my many months of teaching , I have some pointer to offer to the student who are taking English this year

Passage of High Literacy Value gaining Prominence

It is no sheer coincidence that more and more of such passage of literature land themselves in O level Comprehension in recent years .

Student who wish to prepare for this ,should be encouraged to read up 4 or 5 books on book of such values

Books like Shawshank redemption , to kill a mockingbird , Schindler's list , A river runs through it ,and short stories of William Somerset Maugham and John London stories of Alaska

Such books provide the insight to understanding the situation of the subject matter [Comprehension Passage]

Vocabulary wise, student are encouraged to buy a A4 book to write the meaning , the form of the word [adjective, adverb, present,past tense,noun] and the sentence example

A good guide will be learning 20 words per day ,reaching the goal of 500 wordsand beyond before English O level Paper .

When a question express in your own words, it is greatly encourage to extract the answer from the passage in pencil and changing the word to a suitable vocabulary so to achieve the question requirement

Note : do not overdo this in the form of words like "of , the , and all articles

If there is any question raised in this thread , i will be willing to answer as this thread continues

regards

Collin

syncopation_music SG

Talking about dictionary , most student will be contented with the use of Student edition paperback for it lightweight .

In my observation , Once i possessed the Collin Cobuild Dictionary of English Language and Usage Database which is the most comprehensive which gives you the sentence structure and even the thesaurus for it .It makes your English learning an enriching experience

I strongly encouraged student to go for that dictionary as it is beneficial in the long term

Darkness_hacker99 SG

English! =D It's a very nice subject.

but my field of studies, is dealing with biology, medicine, and chemistry( science).

All my reports are done in a very technical way :( little room for me to exercise my creativity in writing.

syncopation_music SG

The 3 main kind of question that commonly appeared in Comprehension Papers

Direct Question

Student are expected to answer what the question wants

Inference question

Student are expected to gauge the writer feeling or even one of the character feeling when a thought is expressed there

Vocabulary Question

Student are expected to quote from a phrase of a specific word given by the setter

or a certain word that matches the setter intention

yiha093 SG

got Own Words too. For summary, if one is unsure , do not rephrase the points lol.

syncopation_music SG

Summary can be a science if one knows the art of extracting the relevant points

In the next few post , i will show from Cambridge paper ,what are the common skills involved extracting points for summary

To be an excellent summary writer, please answer all the question first before attempting the summary question

This gives the candidate a "feel " of the point needed in the exam

I cant say how much difference when Oxford takes over , but i believe the initial phase is still remain the same , unless Oxford takes on a scientific approach on the type of Comprehension Passage

The English Syllabus have changed significantly throughout the years , to excel , please do the tedious task for researching and appreciate English Writing.

When you do not cane yourself , the cane [GCE O level result] will still dawn upon you

regards

Collin

yiha093 SG

Summary can be a science if one knows the art of extracting the relevant points

Yes,i have to agree, but why i say to not rephrase one's points if one is unsure as a student might be good at extracting relevant . YET, when he writes it down and rephrases it, it loses its MEANING. Hence make the originally relevant point irrelevant !

Forbiddensinner SG

Syncopation is talking about the main questions in the Comprehension. As he said, he will include summary in later as another part.

I have no idea how you manage to grab a line out of nowhere, throw it to him, and started arguing with him.

As he said, he is here to share some ideas on doing well for English, so let him finish his stuff 1st before you throw lines out of nowhere and start rebuking him.

yiha093 SG

Syncopation is talking about the main questions in the Comprehension. As he said, he will include summary in later as another part.

I have no idea how you manage to grab a line out of nowhere, throw it to him, and started arguing with him.

As he said, he is here to share some ideas on doing well for English, so let him finish his stuff 1st before you throw lines out of nowhere and start rebuking him.

oh my god. what i meant was wanted to say was just that summary if not sure better dun rephrase ur points........ no trying to start anything ._. my bad.....

SBS261P SG

to do a good summary you have to have some form of vocabulary at hand already, to make it succinct and precise at the same time.

moreover, to craft it so that it fits the requirement (e.g. to answer it from some viewpoint or some angle), and make it sound like a smooth, flowing piece of prose rather than a 150-word regurgitation, is an art worth mastering.

syncopation_music SG

oh my god. what i meant was wanted to say was just that summary if not sure better dun rephrase ur points........ no trying to start anything ._. my bad.....

erm , actually Yihao is right in a way ,hi forbidden93 :)

different people have different ways to summarise :)

Rephrase though a makeshift method ,reduce messiness and for those who arent so strong in linking sentence without writing down

Thats why summary writing require practise and intelligent extracting

Take for example ,

the 197x San Francisco left an indelible scar on the resident of San Francisco

How do we summarise this ?

The weaker student will just copy it down first and change the phrase "indellible scar"

to a similar meaning

Its by no mean easy ,for ones without a good vocabulary bank , will find this part daunting

Nevertheless even if its tough , I still wish to share some light according to my tutoring experience

Please feel free to circle my shortcomings as I also learning from many Expert tutors out there

Forbiddensinner SG

erm , actually Yihao is right in a way ,hi forbidden93 :)

different people have different ways to summarise :)

Rephrase though a makeshift method ,reduce messiness and for those who arent so strong in linking sentence without writing down

Thats why summary writing require practise and intelligent extracting

Take for example ,

the 197x San Francisco left an indelible scar on the resident of San Francisco

How do we summarise this ?

The weaker student will just copy it down first and change the phrase "indellible scar"

to a similar meaning

Its by no mean easy ,for ones without a good vocabulary bank , will find this part daunting

Nevertheless even if its tough , I still wish to share some light according to my tutoring experience

Please feel free to circle my shortcomings as I also learning from many Expert tutors out there

Somehow you turn me and him into forbidden93. : D

I know he is right, but I guess I misunderstood him. You promised that you would post up the summary parts later :

In the next few post , i will show from Cambridge paper ,what are the common skills involved extracting points for summary

but he suddenly pop in and said this:

Hence I thought he was trying to start an argument or something.

I apologise if I ruffled a few feathers, but I will rather you put up your full summary work 1st before anyone start any scrutinising.

yiha093 SG

lol, i apologise too, what i meant is, knowing how to extract points from a summary sometimes ain't enough : D ; hence i said that it would be better not to rephrase if one is unsure...........

syncopation_music SG

Comprehension Summary Writing

One of the main area why student find it difficult to summarise is they summarising based on the whole passage in point form

If one look carefully , every paragraph have one main idea and supporting statements

some paragraph even have sub ideas and supporting statements for that \

Will be showing more in the next posting

regards

syncopation_music SG

in November 1998 Paper 2 ...the Passage about the Climb at Mount Roraima

the Author's journey is difficult and worrying

Student are to write those related to present how difficult the journey and worrying to the author

As this passage is sprinkled with alot of details on the feelings of the author ..some of the feelings may not be answering the Summary question requirement

so ,extract with great caution

syncopation_music SG

In November 2001 paper , the Lauren and Tickie hiding in the forest to spy on criminal who illegally smuggling arms by sea into Africa

Passage of this nature is by no means easy , because of the author's use of expression, figures of speech to make summary tough .

How they did to avoid capture and close to being discovered and what eventually saved them

Line 70 "We lie so still and silent that the birds came and pecked unconcerned among ferns at our feet "

What would be the best way to summarise this ?

Ans:We lie still in the forest

Recommended Examiner Answer :We lie flat ...

Tony.chang95 SG

Hi, how to I improve in my paper 1?

Pfft SG

Off Topic slightly, but why is it express in your own words? Last time I checked, we didn't own any of the words found on the dictionary nor did we "invent" any new words. Shouldn't it be rephrased?

syncopation_music SG

rephrase is good .Only if you have strong sentence structure .I tried rephrasing answer in the past ..but after several attempt i realised its put the strain on the student as it is very demanding on the overall comprehension of the passage ...

worst is, if you rephrase wrongly . you get no marks

yiha093 SG

worst is, if you rephrase wrongly . you get no marks

but sometimes exam got 1 or 2 qn must answer in ur own words. meaning rephrase.

this is what sometimes diff from a a1 to an a2