Odd question I know English specific exceptional reader year 11:kindly knowing answers only please...

My love of books also meant I had a fab Saturday job in a library while I did my post grad degree -was excellent for book chat with colleagues and discovering new books

Agree with Errol, I think this is the point I am trying to make too. I loved (and still love) reading widely.

But I have never felt it was a waste that I didn't do English lit a level.

I am sure I gained a wider vocabulary and knowledge from reading which stood me in good stead for my A levels, degree/post grad and career.

I also learnt, and still learn, so much from books.

But most of all I just enjoy them. I feel lucky to have a hobby I love that is essentially free. Earlier this year I was bed bound for months and escaping into books was just the most fabulous gift.

Quite separately I also really enjoyed and loved my A levels and subsequent career.

Yeh agree with @Piggywaspushed - my working role includes checking English and yet my MN posts (and on other SM) are probably "littered" with errors. Ooopsie! Actually no it's fine bc this is an internet chat, not the front page of The Guardian, or even worse, the poster advert outside Costa

Unfortunately she hates it and doesn't want to pursue it at a level but what a waste!

What's a waste? If she's getting 9s in other subjects and prefers them, she should do those. I was an avid reader (yes, I'd read W&P for the first time before 15) but 'only' got a B at o-level and wouldn't have dreamed of doing English A level because science and maths were way more interesting. Books were for leisure not for studying!

I agree with Piggy.

I have to be incredibly accurate when writing at work.

When lying on the sofa recuperating from flu and wafting around on the internet on my phone I tend to only vaguely pay attention. Combine that with autocorrect and fat fingers and of course there will be errors.

Typing and teaching English are not the same thing. That said, I can't find that 'littering' to which you refer.

I've got a degree in English and German literature and everything. I know,right? Just hand them out like smarties.

@Piggywaspushed I find it hard to believe you're an English teacher when your post is littered with errors.

I agree, I too am of the generation before smartphones (or even mobiles) where we only had books to keep us warm. My DD certainly reads a lot less than I did at her age. But she still reads, in between all the social media and Netflix.

i was a precocious and avid reader, ploughing through at least a couple of books a week from an early age (I also have crap eyesight from all that reading under the covers). But I hated English Lit and didn’t get a good grade, certainly not the equivalent of a 7. My DD got a better grade than me, despite reading a lot fewer books. If we use that piece of anecdata then it does tend to suggest that extensive reading does not automatically qualify you for a top grade but understanding the system does.

Interesting @Piggywaspushed and very valid as you teach English! I imagine that those of us with the “I read the Brontes at 15” (me!) are actually ollllld and now taking on such classics at 15 is more unusual. It’s not unique tho. Dd read Les Mis at that age and she’s only 22 now.

I was trying to say, as others, that while it’s great she loves reading, it doesn’t in itself lead to a great Eng lit grade. Tho 7 is a great grade anyway.

That's fine, but it doesn't mean they are necessarily going to tell you.

I've asked! I discuss what I read, and what they read...

I don't believe I ever mentioned to my English teachers what I was reading at home. So you can't possibly know that for certain.

I never felt unusual among my family and friends,.we all chatted about books and reading.

i wasn’t really aware there was such a thing as an ‘exceptional reader’ at 15. By 15 you’d expect all children to be proficient at reading. Some enjoy it as a hobby and read more. I was the same- I was constantly reading and some of it was more complex text. I wasn’t exceptional- my peers could have read the same books. I just enjoyed them more because reading was my hobby.

enjoying reading and reading more complex books does not mean you should get the highest grade in English- as others have said, there’s lots more to an English exam than reading. She sounds like she’s doing really well though and you are rightly very proud of her. Please dont stress about her having one slightly lower grade when her grades are all really good.

I'm not sure why all the competive reading on here. I am an English teacher and have never taught a 15 year old who has read War and Peace. Ulysses ,once. Reading is a vanishing hobby, sadly, and what this girl is reading is streets ahead . I read War and Peace five years ago.

The ability to gain the very highest grades, at aged 15, is a separate issue.

Yep.

then some of us went on to do Russian A level and even encountered Tolstoy in original language e mere year later…

I have a degree and a further degree in English and I have never managed to get more than a quarter of the way through War and Peace. As Alice said "No pictures and no conversations."

Also, my DS got two sevens in English and hasn't read a book voluntarily in his life. Hates reading anything- I couldn't even interest him in football magazines or books during his GCSEs. As others have said, it doesn't necessarily equal good grades in English.

I think lots of us on here have also read War and Peace and are familiar with its plotlines, themes and length.

We're trying to explain it's not exceptional to be reading it at 15 if you are an avid reader.

In fact I expect it's a pretty obvious choice for a teen who loves reading the classics.

I was reading Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath), Dickens, Austen etc at 12 ( I definitely read Grapes of Wrath in year 7/8- middle school - as my English teacher hadn't heard of it ) and Tolstoy, Flaubert, Voltaire etc by 15/16... Once you've worked through the English classics it's a logic step...

Yes it's a sign she's bright and loves reading but I think it would be sensible to just celebrate that she has such an excellent hobby rather than thinking it will translate into any particular grade in English Lit.

She's 15 not 5. Surely most teens of that age who love reading and are good at English can cope with complex texts? I don't think reading capability really advances much beyond the age of 15/16, probably only knowledge of the world and emotional maturity.

what I am trying to explain, is that it isn't. It is something you do if you want to, as a hobby, it takes no more tenacity and ability to remember than Harry Potter, or Minecraft. Maybe fewer people want to do this particular, but there is nothing exceptional in spending time on an easy hobby that you enjoy. What I am trying to explain to you is that this is not a demonstration of ability in English. Its just a fun thing for her that she likes. If she has friends reading it, then it is social, if she is spending daylight hours on a hobby that is totally isolating, maybe an indication of something else going on, but in itself not an indication of exceptional abilities.

I read war and peace and all the hardcore classics at that age! I was a prolific and intense reader. I got a B in my English. Unexceptional but did fine for an above average learner. I’m not saying this to knock your Dd- it’s an unusual choice for a teen these days. No disputing that at all. And reading will set her in good stead. It’s just about accessing the marking scheme and getting switched into that.

Past papers and exam technique is the way to get those high level marks.

Is it the language or lit area or city that’s a 7?

No I agree OP, you didn't ask for a debate. And I also agree War and Peace is not the same book as Jude the Obscure. But you did lead on it as tho reading War and Peace were so very unusual and amazing that a) your child was the only one and b) they thus deserved a grade 9.

Neither is true, that's all. I am sure your DD could achieve a grade 9 if she wanted to put in the work, but reading War and Peace is neither necessary (luckily!) not especially helpful.

As many have pointed out, she needs to follow the mark scheme to see where she is losing marks, and talk to her teacher about how she can improve. Also agree with Mr Salles suggestion and careful attention to AOs.

It's easy to be confused about exams, especially English IMO (and you do seem to be a bit confused). I have had students show me, baffled, three pages of writing for which they got very few marks - the answers in the exam need to be targeted at what will gain the marks. The information is out there tho!

Best of luck to your DD.

My DS2 is in year 10 and is complaining about his English teacher, I suspect because she's marking very hard - apparently she's also an examiner. I think tough marking with detail on where you got the marks or didn't, that you can compared with exam scheme info, is better at your DD's stage than gushing over an essay. The question is not, why isn't she getting a 9 now, but suggestions.

And as others have said, you can study other subjects and enjoy reading 19th century literature (and other books). But voracious reading doesn't necessarily equal top grades, and reluctant readers can do really well too.