Page 3 | Help! Doing really badly in AQA English Language GCSE

filchards · 2023-04-15T13:56:55+00:00

7 weeks to put things right. Son is doing badly and is overwhelmed / discouraged / bewildered. Repeatedly failed by school. We now have a private tutor which I hope can make a difference but need to look at other ways for him to learn and practice skills. Paper 2 is particularly difficult - he's never learned how to do Question 5. He can't do any of it within the time limits. He has ADHD and has trouble focussing. The more stressed he is, the worse his focus. (He gets 25% extra time but it's not enough) I have some official AQA books but could do with some short exercises to practice the necessary skills, so that he can do daily short bursts alongside the longer exercises. I feel this is the only way he can build up the skills he's missing.

MrsHamlet · 16/05/2023 12:59

Start with the image. Put yourself in it looking out or outside looking in
jot down what you see
what you can hear
smell
touch
taste

use the best vocab you know
try to use a variety of sentences

That's where I always start with my students.
Only writing nothing will get zero

Itstoday · 16/05/2023 12:58

Also abstract thinking sounds really hard for him. My son will just look at a long answer question and say "how do I know what they want me to write about?" he hates the lack of information or the need to infer something.
He gets really angry about it, like he is being tricked somehow.

His teachers say just write something, but he literally doesn't know what to write. Then we will look at the mark scheme and he'll get it as it is not abstract anymore but concrete.

Honestly I'd be thinking of getting some concrete things he can write. At the moment, he's not writing anything. So maybe if he had something he could write and then (hopefully) tweak in the exam.
Would that work do you think?

He's not going to suddenly get English between now and the exam, but he can memorise some sentences that he could maybe put in.

Also my son finds AI really helpful in helping him understand what to do and give him a structure. He can ask a direct question and it gives him a direct answer and if the answer isn't quite right he can change his prompt. None if these annoying humans who give him an answer they want rather than what he's actually asked.

My son is the same by the way. All he wants to do is code. There's a right and wrong answer, none of this wishy washy opinion, analysis and evaluation!

Itstoday · 16/05/2023 12:09

He’s diagnosed adhd isn’t he? Which means his brain runs on what is interesting and not what is important. So calculus interesting but not really important right now.
English not interesting but really quite important.
this is why adhd is so debilitating. It’s impossible to focus on what is important.
it helps me with my son to try and remember he can’t. He’s not choosing not to - he can’t.

believe me I feel your pain. My son’s brain still only lets him focus on what is interesting. Medication helps but he hates it so will only take in when it’s absolutely necessary.

Original poster

filchards · 16/05/2023 10:14

@theresnolimits - yes - that's the kind of thing I think he needs. Any idea how I go about sorting that out without completely confusing and frustrating him?

He's had so many teachers now: moved classes in English after he told his teacher to off (got suspended - I'm not excusing it - but sign of his immense frustration); has had interventions from a teaching assistant (lovely woman, very patient but not a teacher and she ran out of ideas - and sometimes patience - with him); online tutor organised by school (haphazard, sometimes didn't show up); ME throwing all sorts of revision books at him; and since Easter holidays a very good tutor (but only so much she can do, and I'm not sure she fully gets the paralysis thing - I'll talk to her before his lesson tomorrow). I think he's probably overwhelmed as I'm sure every teacher / book has a slightly different approach.

OP posts:

Original poster

filchards · 16/05/2023 10:09

@BobBobBobbing - what is it with them, do you think? My son has ADHD and says he zones out (which his English teaching assistant verifies). And, with things he likes (computer coding, extra Maths) he is hyper-focussed. Everyone gets frustrated with him and it's clearly not entirely his fault. It's so frustrating because he is articulate and his scientific writing is fine (eg for Physics, which he wants to do at A level). Has no imagination at all therefore cannot write.

@Itstoday - yes - I'm now thinking his tutor needs to just give him some emergency sentence starters. She hasn't known him for long and he's brilliant in the lessons as she can coax him. She doesn't fully understand how bad it can be when he's on his own.

What annoys me with him, though, is that he avoids doing the extra work. I've bought loads of resources and I think just sitting down every day and writing ANYTHING about ANYTHING would surely give him some way out of the mental block. But he prefers to sit there doing Calculus which he won't need until university (although he won't get there without GCSE English). Arrggghh!

OP posts:

theresnolimits · 15/05/2023 16:52

That Venn diagram has some useful points but I imagine is overwhelming when a candidate is at your stage.

Paper 1 is fiction (write a piece of descriptive writing) and Paper 2 is non fiction ( write an argument).

I think planning helps but if even that’s beyond him how about coming up with a set opening sentence eg for Paper I ‘It was a day I will never forget.’ Paper 2 ‘I can’t agree with this statement’

That’s got pen to paper. Now try to continue that thought …

Itstoday · 15/05/2023 16:30

oh god I feel for you. This was my sons problem with English Language (and is still a problem at college) just now knowing where to start and becoming completely paralysed with the possibilities.
at this point we had sentence starters just to try and get him going.

BobBobBobbing · 15/05/2023 12:48

No help I'm afraid, just a ton of sympathy from someone in the same boat. DS1 did a practice question for Eng Lit and wrote the sum total of 3 lines. He gets total blank page paralysis. I have also done the begging just to put something down on the page, even some bullet points or a random quote but it's like his mind gets stuck.

He's more than capable of doing it- both tutor and teacher say so but none of us can find the way to unlock that capability.

Original poster

filchards · 14/05/2023 21:59

Nearly a month since my first post. I thought things were getting better. Tutor had given him some confidence (school still utterly awful - they've just given up). Now on exam leave. Luckily it's 3 weeks still to go before the English Lang paper 1 (and a week after that for the paper 2).

Awful couple of days though. He sat down to do a Q5 today (I think it was paper 1 this time) as homework for his tutor. Sat there for the required 45 minutes and wrote not a single word.

Said he was having a bad day and just can't focus. WTaF.

We had a row because I said he just has to push through it and write something. Which is probably stupid and unfair of me but he's so convinced that he can't do anything about it because of his ADHD. He's so defeatist.

So, my question is: is there some kind of emergency measure he could take in such a situation to just get something down on paper. I think often he is so overloaded with all the advice about structure and do this / do that / don't do the other that - on a bad day - he's completely paralysed. If such a thing happens on the day, he should - I think - not give a damn about structure and style and just write down some goddam sentences. I think he generally finds the other questions more doable so I'd hope that he could make up the marks on the shorter questions.

I attach

photo of the question he was doing
a prompt sheet from his tutor which obviously he won't have in his exam but she advised him to use it for the homework. It looks unnecessarily complicated to me though. That would stress me out.

(be kind in replies please. I'm at the end of my tether, as is he)

Help! Doing really badly in AQA English Language GCSE

OP posts:

theresnolimits · 19/04/2023 12:12

ittakes2 · 17/04/2023 19:29

Its pretty standard with ADHD to get a break - have they given him a rest break? I did the GCSE english as a mature student for fun - I also have ADHD and would use my rest break to work out question 5 in my head - I would do a draft of the structure and then write the copy on my head during my break (as I walked around) - I would actually say it out loud so the exam person following me to check I was not cheating used to get a bit stressed out. But it did give me some extra time and helped me gather my thoughts.

Do you know what I recommend? Instead of writing - get him to describe photos to you using his 5 senses. Get him to forget about writing and getting his writing right and get him to focus on developing his imagination and the writing will come. What does he see, hear, smell, taste and touch. If the photo is scenery I create personification where the natural elements become people - for example a scene of a storm the wind and the sea started competing as if in battle - the wind roared - the sea reared up to touch the sky as if angered etc etc. Make this question fun for him - but do it verbally and tease ideas out of him and then he can practise writing the best one's down.

Encourage him to be creative as possible - the photo is to spark imagination it does not matter what that imagination is. Tell him to write about the first thing that enters his head - a photo of an elderly man? Write about his relationship and feelings for an elderly relative. A photo of a field? Write a story about a lovely time he had in a field.

Also, pick a couple of english techniques and get him to use them regularly in these pieces...there lots of techniques but just get him to focus on 5 to start.

I like to use these:

personification - using words for objects that would normally be used for humans to make that object seem like a person.
creating a semantic field of something - which is making sure he uses 3-4 words that represent the same thing - for example if he wants his piece to sound scary he would use 3-4 words that could imply a semantic field of 'scary' ie the sky 'blackened', he was 'frightened', he could hear a 'shrill scream'.
Zooming in - there is a technique in writing where the writer zooms in on something and describes it in detail. In a photo, he can pretend he sees something - for me when writing about a stormy sea I 'pretended' to see a stick bobbing about. I was able to describe in detail the stick and imagine where it came from. It gives you a chance to use his 5 senses to describe something.
And another easy and powerful technique to use is called a circular structure - whatever scene he sets in his first paragraph he repeats in his final paragraph with some changes - this allows the reader to compare how things were in the beginning to how they were in the end and example would be in the first para the husband and wife walked happily down the path hand in hand...and then in the last para the husband and wife walked solemnly down the path deep in their own thoughts.
Sentence structure - tell him if he wants to create pace in a story use short sentence structure, if he wants a story to be leisurely use long sentences. It helps to imagine the sounds he wants his sentences to be like - think of a machine gun spitting out bullets - short sentences sound like this.
I also like to use alliteration where you use two words which start with the same sound. Can be easy to do and the effect is it highlights these two words and draws attention to them to give the story a focus which gives it more interesting. The 'wind whistled' through the trees. The 'clouds cowered' in fear. that sort of thing.

Some great ideas here for Paper I which is fiction, but Paper 2 ( which I think is the one OP is asking about) is non fiction. So a different set of skills - making an argument in a factual way, linking connected ideas and using examples. Story writing is something done in primary school but this Paper tests something different. And is tougher for struggling students I think (as a teacher and marker).

ittakes2 · 17/04/2023 19:29

Its pretty standard with ADHD to get a break - have they given him a rest break? I did the GCSE english as a mature student for fun - I also have ADHD and would use my rest break to work out question 5 in my head - I would do a draft of the structure and then write the copy on my head during my break (as I walked around) - I would actually say it out loud so the exam person following me to check I was not cheating used to get a bit stressed out. But it did give me some extra time and helped me gather my thoughts.

Do you know what I recommend? Instead of writing - get him to describe photos to you using his 5 senses. Get him to forget about writing and getting his writing right and get him to focus on developing his imagination and the writing will come. What does he see, hear, smell, taste and touch. If the photo is scenery I create personification where the natural elements become people - for example a scene of a storm the wind and the sea started competing as if in battle - the wind roared - the sea reared up to touch the sky as if angered etc etc. Make this question fun for him - but do it verbally and tease ideas out of him and then he can practise writing the best one's down.

Encourage him to be creative as possible - the photo is to spark imagination it does not matter what that imagination is. Tell him to write about the first thing that enters his head - a photo of an elderly man? Write about his relationship and feelings for an elderly relative. A photo of a field? Write a story about a lovely time he had in a field.

Also, pick a couple of english techniques and get him to use them regularly in these pieces...there lots of techniques but just get him to focus on 5 to start.

I like to use these:

personification - using words for objects that would normally be used for humans to make that object seem like a person.
creating a semantic field of something - which is making sure he uses 3-4 words that represent the same thing - for example if he wants his piece to sound scary he would use 3-4 words that could imply a semantic field of 'scary' ie the sky 'blackened', he was 'frightened', he could hear a 'shrill scream'.
Zooming in - there is a technique in writing where the writer zooms in on something and describes it in detail. In a photo, he can pretend he sees something - for me when writing about a stormy sea I 'pretended' to see a stick bobbing about. I was able to describe in detail the stick and imagine where it came from. It gives you a chance to use his 5 senses to describe something.
And another easy and powerful technique to use is called a circular structure - whatever scene he sets in his first paragraph he repeats in his final paragraph with some changes - this allows the reader to compare how things were in the beginning to how they were in the end and example would be in the first para the husband and wife walked happily down the path hand in hand...and then in the last para the husband and wife walked solemnly down the path deep in their own thoughts.
Sentence structure - tell him if he wants to create pace in a story use short sentence structure, if he wants a story to be leisurely use long sentences. It helps to imagine the sounds he wants his sentences to be like - think of a machine gun spitting out bullets - short sentences sound like this.
I also like to use alliteration where you use two words which start with the same sound. Can be easy to do and the effect is it highlights these two words and draws attention to them to give the story a focus which gives it more interesting. The 'wind whistled' through the trees. The 'clouds cowered' in fear. that sort of thing.

crazycrofter · 17/04/2023 17:50

@filchards rest breaks seem to be easier to get, as my dd had them (despite no diagnosis of Adhd or extra time), as did my adhd son. They were both in separate rooms and had to signal when they needed a rest break so their clock could be stopped. I think they had to go outside the room. They both used them as extra processing time really (and for ds, to move around a bit). Dd would read the next essay question then put her hand up, turn the paper over and go outside the room to think a bit. It’s now transpired that she also has adhd, although she’s not diagnosed yet. It’s definitely worth asking your school about rest breaks.

Techno56 · 17/04/2023 17:34

BobBobBobbing · 17/04/2023 16:31

All he's been offered is extra time and a laptop. I think the problem is some kind of processing issue in translating written qu in his head and then translating his thoughts onto paper. But the recommendations from the professionals never unpicked this element, just focused on slow processing and his gross motor skills which affected his handwriting- so laptop and extra time was the result. He's got no minds eye either so finds a lot of the imagery discussions hard to comprehend.

When he puts stuff on paper he can get the marks- he only wrote a few lines for each qu in his mocks and got a 3. But it's like an invisible block holding him back.

Show quote history

That is such a shame 😔

BobBobBobbing · 17/04/2023 16:31

Techno56 · 16/04/2023 21:26

Is he not entitled to a scribe in this situation??

Show quote history

All he's been offered is extra time and a laptop. I think the problem is some kind of processing issue in translating written qu in his head and then translating his thoughts onto paper. But the recommendations from the professionals never unpicked this element, just focused on slow processing and his gross motor skills which affected his handwriting- so laptop and extra time was the result. He's got no minds eye either so finds a lot of the imagery discussions hard to comprehend.

When he puts stuff on paper he can get the marks- he only wrote a few lines for each qu in his mocks and got a 3. But it's like an invisible block holding him back.

Itstoday · 17/04/2023 07:19

I think the prompt can just be decided by the school. For my son it just meant someone would indicate when it was time to move on to the next question. He has time blindness and there was no way he would be able
to know that, for example, he should move in to the next question after 20 minutes.

Original poster

filchards · 16/04/2023 22:59

PS he has an ADHD diagnosis but no ECHP

OP posts:

Original poster

filchards · 16/04/2023 22:58

Wow - thanks everyone. Will read and reply properly from a computer tomorrow. Lots to go on.

Quick q now though about special arrangements. He gets use of computer and 25% extra time and sits in a small room with a small group of other Sen students. No rest breaks though and no prompt - how do those work? How do you qualify and is it too late to organise?

OP posts:

Curioushorse · 16/04/2023 22:10

I also examine for this paper.

YouTube is your friend. There are a few really good YouTubers out there. Mr Bruff is excellent. MrEverythingEnglish was heavily criticised by the exam board last year for creating a video so clear loads of students followed his exact plan. But, it worked. It's worth a look.

I also think @keiratwiceknightly reply above was great.

Good luck.

Itstoday · 16/04/2023 21:49

Hi OP, I feel for you and your son. My son sat GCSE's last year and has ADHD and never liked English. Like your son, he would get overwhelmed and just sit paralysed.
He had extra time, a lap top and a prompter to re focus, he still never finished an exam in English Language. In the end we just had to try and get him to answer the questions worth the most and try and be strategic. He got a 4 in the end and a 5 in English Literature.

He also had a tutor and she gave him sentence openers for each question just so he could start writing.

It was really hard work and whilst he passed, he has no confidence in himself in his writing abilities which is very sad.

Rainbow1901 · 16/04/2023 21:37

If your son is struggling with focussing then do ask if he can have rest breaks as well as the extra time. What is his usual way of working? Does he write or does he find it easier to use a laptop or use a scribe? Whichever method he uses to 'write' is the format that he should use for his exams. Also does he find it easier to read questions printed on coloured paper as opposed to white or to use coloured film overlaid on the question paper or even just enlarged print? These are all simple things but they often make it easier for the student to 'read' and understand what is being asked of him.
Definitely get him to practise past papers but sometimes it is easier to do the required number of questions but without a time limit. So answer a paper and take the full amount of time that he needs to complete that paper be that two, three or whatever hours. Repeat the process over a few weeks with different papers, repeating them if needed - gradually he will gain confidence that he can answer the questions and with that in mind be better able to complete the question in the required time frame along with rest breaks and extra time.
Marks are lost for not completing questions so he needs to attempt to answer all the questions. So if each question is allocated 20 minutes then he needs to write the time he starts the question and after 20 minutes - stop and move onto the question even if not completed. He may well find that he has time to spare if other questions are easier for him and can go back to complete them. Better that he pick up the marks for each question than drop them because he didn't answer one which could cost him 25 marks or whatever.
I hope you can find a strategy that works for him - as a SENCO officer for exams it was finding out what worked best for each individual student that helped them the most.

theresnolimits · 16/04/2023 21:31

I’m an examiner for this paper. Plan, plan, plan. Students go wrong because they don’t develop an argument and they run out of things to say. You need 5/6 clear paragraphs, developed around Point, example, explain. Plus a short intro and conclusion.

There are marks for cohesion (use connectives), range of punctuation (commas, dashes, colons) and development ( again plan).

Look closely at the mark scheme and you’ll see what’s needed. High level vocabulary is only really important at grades 8 and 9. For the rest, it’s accuracy and making sense.

Techno56 · 16/04/2023 21:26

BobBobBobbing · 16/04/2023 20:55

Ds1 is severely dyspraxic and suspected adhd. Verbally he can give answers that would score 7, 8 or 9 (both teacher and tutor say so) but is getting 3s. We've tried multiple approaches without success. Now down to him memorising essays to repeat in exam and tweak if possible. He has excellent memory but freezes in exam situations with extended writing so needs to be able to get past the blank page paralysis.

Is he not entitled to a scribe in this situation??

Choconut · 16/04/2023 21:19

The AQA books I found to be confusing and not very helpful, I bought them for DS but he didn't use them at all, the cgp books aren't as good for Eng lang as they are for most other subjects either IMO.

I would recommend Mr Salles on youtube, he's a teacher, his vids are free (lots of Eng lit too). We got his books on persuasive writing and story writing. The persuasive writing one has lots of high grade written answers to hypothetical questions, ds found it really useful for phrases, layout, ideas etc. He used a lot from it as his question was similar to one Mr Salles had answered in the book.

The story one has lots of story ideas. In the end ds wrote a couple of very descriptive stories at home that he could tweak to fit a lot of the generic sort of titles that might come up. He did one about waiting in hospital for a diagnosis and one about seeing a sea mythical beast (for a fantasy type story title or one with a beach/sea/river theme). The diagnosis one could be tweaked to be a happy/sad/ lucky/unlucky/scary/good news/bad news story and he was able to use that one in his exam. I found this list of old titles and we talked through how he could tweak his stories to fit the different titles even if it took a bit of lateral thinking,
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3046511

DS hates English and has ASD but this worked for him.

WJEC GCSE Eng Lang Story Ideas - The Student Room

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3046511

crazycrofter · 16/04/2023 21:09

No advice, but a bit of hope from our situation - ds also has ADHD, can’t focus and never finishes exam papers even with extra time. Unfortunately his strengths and interests lie in humanities and social sciences so he needed (last year) a 6 in English Language or Lit to do the A Levels he wanted. He got a 2 in Lit in his end of year 10 (done in Sept of year 11) exams. Didn’t do a Lang mock until Dec, when he just managed a 5.

His teacher was very dubious about his chances of getting a 6 in either but in the end he got 6s in both Englishes! All I know is he used Seneca…

Does your ds have rest breaks in exams in addition to extra time? They’ve really helped my ds too.

BobBobBobbing · 16/04/2023 20:55

Ds1 is severely dyspraxic and suspected adhd. Verbally he can give answers that would score 7, 8 or 9 (both teacher and tutor say so) but is getting 3s. We've tried multiple approaches without success. Now down to him memorising essays to repeat in exam and tweak if possible. He has excellent memory but freezes in exam situations with extended writing so needs to be able to get past the blank page paralysis.