Hello Everyone,
I am currently in this class as a freshman. This is an extremely hard course and I reach out to those who successfully took the course to give me advice and tips.
Thank You!!
You shouldn’t take my word as the bible, as we have a class called Cultural Foundations (I took CP, not honors), a combination of English and History, for freshman year and I got a B in it (Notoriously hard teachers).
However, as I am taking AP Lang next year as a senior (hate reading, but love to write essays, especially persuasive essays), I feel I could help you.
- Under no circumstances, always use sparknotes after reading the chapters in a book. My teachers told us sparknotes was entirely useless, so being the dumb little freshman I was, I listened to them and struggled on all of my essays. Sophomore year, I used sparknotes for the second book we did and I never looked back. I should mention that just because you are using sparknotes, it does not give an excuse to NOT read the book. People have done that and fail miserably, including Honors and AP students that I know.
- Have someone check your essays. I always had my mom check my essays, which helped my grammar and sentence structure grade a lot. In fact, I have learned so much that I no longer have her check my essays, as I know exactly what to do.
- Get into a study group. Don’t be like me freshman year, where I was a bit awkward and never studied or did work with anyone else. Even if you have to do something crazy to get noticed (that will NOT get you into trouble; Just be the funny person in your class), it will be worth it.
- Stay after school for any questions you have. Don’t be afraid to email your teachers questions, no matter how you feel. I am pretty sure I emailed my teacher everyday, which they probably found annoying, but were glad to know that I truly cared about the class.
You can do this!
@BiologyMajorHere Was your teacher a strict grader? I am trying to reach the A grade but Essays prevent me from achieving this. My teacher grades ferociously. Can you recommend any website or videos or strategies for essays and multiple choice?
My teachers were some of the strictest graders around. Nobody and I mean NOBODY ever got above a B+. There was one essay where only 2 people got above a B-, and I wasn’t one of them.
The next year, they taught Honors Cultural, which sounded a lot more fitting.
@BiologyMajorHere The toughest part of the course I believe is definitely the short answer, essays. Can you recommend any tools, tricks, websites, and videos you used to become better at writing essays?
What are they usually on? A book? A small essay? A poem?
@BiologyMajorHere Its on all of those.
How do you improve interpretation for multiple choice especially?
Please Let me Know!!
How can I read the passage better, to improve my grades on the multiple choice?
One thing to do is have a meeting with your teacher. I remember being in a english class and always getting Bs or B- on my essays. I sat with my teacher and asked what I need to do to get an A…we worked on my essay together until it was an A-.
Also google “reading comprehension multiple choice” and you will get ideas like scan the passage first, then read the questions you are supposed to answer, then go back and read the passage carefully.
Having friends you know to be good writers look over and make superficial changes to your essays can help to improve your essays. They really shouldn’t be helping you improve the actual content of your essay, but a friend who is good at writing can make your essay sound much better, even though the changes are mostly superficial. I did that for my friend once. I don’t think I changed any of his ideas, but I tried to improve the overall sound of his essay to make it better. Although, if you don’t really know anyone who’s better at writing than you are, or at least better at making things sound nice, you’re at a loss when it comes to peer assistance.
Damn rlly that was the easiest class I’ve probably taken in high school, and i took some CP classes too. Definitely don’t do honors next year cuz 9th was easy but 10th 11th and currently 12th are kinda difficult. I felt that 8th grade regular English was harder than 9th grade honors. But to be honest all the answers to.ur packets or reading or whatever u donis probably on Quizlet.com
What strategies should I use to make my writing better?
What strategies should I use for interpretation? Especially for multiple choice.
Please Let me know!
Thanks!!
@Rotex123 That’s actually the opposite at my school. Its believed to be the hardest class.
Don’t use personal pronouns like I, we,etc.
Don’t use contractions like can’t, put cannot instead
Add quotes from the novel and explain them
That’s what I do for every essay. How can I sound more intelligent to get the A grade?
Have your mom or an older sibling check your essays. My mom is the reason why I get an A or A+ on every essay to this day (learned a lot of tips).
@BiologyMajorHere That is a good idea but… my parents came from India, a country in which English subject was given little attention. The best essay writer in my family is my older brother but he’s in college in another state.
I mean…My teacher grades very VERY strictly. What some useful writing tricks to add to get better grades?