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

[StrangeBrewlook]

Dd is an exceptional reader.. She always has been since reading clicked.

This is very outing hence name change for this: age 15 she's read war and peace peace, balzac, Anna kareina, tess etc.

Her other subject grades are hitting 9 and yet for English she's 7.

I've looked at some point recent essays and she's got one point ao3... One ao2 and one ao1.

Leaving her 2 marks off an 8.

Yes of course I will speak to her teacher but I'm also wondering if i should contact anyone else within the school to alert them to this what I would say is exceptional reading..

Something with the gcse English is not clicking. Her vocabs and spelling is always spot on.

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

What should I do.

@DrinkingMyWaterMindingMyBiz that's very helpful thank you. 🙏

1. Speak to her teacher.
2. Let her decide if she wants to improve her grade
3. if she does, let her speak to her teacher and
4. get a tutor - depending on where you live, this could cost up to £50 an hour.

As others have said speak to the teacher. GCSEs are largel about meeting the mark scheme requirements and i would suggest she is maybe not interested in doing that or hasn't yet honed the skills.

I was similar to your DD and my DD really fluctuates with English Lit and Lang at GCSE despite being a good writer and being able to discuss books well.

The breadth of reading is almost irrelevant and I am going to say something a bit iffy - but i have many friends who are academics in Eng Lit and they read considerably less than me and less widely and were like this even at school. What they did/do have is particular ways of writing and thinking about literature and languages that addresses the disciplinary requirements and is an entirely different skill set. Obv not all are like this.

Tuition which is basically about writing to the exam may help, but school should be able to direct her. Guessing you have all the appropriate exam guides and Colins/York notes?

I'm not convinced about tuition especially as she is already at level 7. After school time should ideally be for developing social practical skills ( through eg guides sports drama) which may be more useful in the future job market anyway.

@Halfemptyhalfling I agree. Tuition can be great for students on the 3-4, 4-5 or 6-7 borders to push them through to the next threshold, but generally speaking for 7+ it’s more about practise, specific feedback and, most importantly, following up on said feedback.

@FloraClover Yes. For internal candidates. For those joining for 6th form it’s 64.

She's said she does both but for some reason reason she hasn't been graded for it

She said its combiner

@StrangeBrewlook It is a tick box exercise. One of the best things as a parent to look at to understand how this all works is to look at the mark scheme on a past paper. AQA is the most popular board and will list AOs (assessment objectives) and the different levels.

AO1 Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: • maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response • use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.
AO2 Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate. AO3 Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.

There are different levels in this so level 6 is the top level and will say AO1 • Critical, exploratory, conceptualised response to task and whole text. • Judicious use of precise references to support interpretation(s).

It basically means quote a lot to back up your point. Not whole quotes but embedded quotes, the mark scheme lists these out under the questions for each book/poetry so you can see what they want.

The write a lot about a little or the one word thing is (from memory of my sons doing it) in A Christmas Carol Scrooge says "I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry" so we focus on the word "merry" because it has more than one meaning. We say Merry Christmas, which would mean happy, but merry also means having consumed alcohol, so is Scrooge meaning both? Students explore this and reference his attitude toward the poor in other parts of the book. He refers in that quote to the poor as idle and yet has Bob working for him, if he were idle he would have sacked him. They have to acknowledge that this is all fiction, we are the reader etc. As I said the mark scheme lays it all out and past papers are a great revision resource.

There is not a combined GCSE English. English Language and literature are two separate subjects, each with two papers. There are higher or foundation options. A 5 is the maximum for the foundation papers. English Literature isn’t compulsory.

Gcse English in England does not have tiers

kindly, she isn't an "exceptional" reader she is an adult who is an adult reader.

@StrangeBrewlook there isn’t a combined English. They’re two separate GCSEs and different AOs for each one. It’s really important that she knows which GCSE exam and paper she is writing and revising for so she knows which AOs she needs to tick off.

GCSE English literature will include the AOs that @SudenAlia has listed. This will be where she writes about the texts she has already studied; the Shakespeare, the poetry (including unseen), the 19th Century text and a modern prose or drama.

GCSE English language will be assessed on the AOs that I listed earlier. She will sit two papers, both split into reading (section A) and writing (section B) skills. One paper will be an unseen fiction text, and the other will be unseen non fiction texts. Both papers will require a writing task in section B linked to the texts focused on in section A.

Your DD loves reading, that’s great.

It sounds like you are pushing her to take A level English. She’s clearly bright, allow her to make her own choices.

English lang and lit are 2 very different exams and it's actually lang that's the one you 'need'. It's concerning that she doesn't seem to know what's what with the two of them or how she's doing in lang. That's what I'd be asking about.

In lang she'll be doing things like writing a descriptive/story piece, comparing writers styles and writing an opinion piece. For this one I'd really recommend Mr Salles on youtube and particularly his books on writing an opinion piece and story writing. The opinion piece book gives a lot of examples of high grade work, good layout and lots of ideas.

For the story/description piece get your daughter to write a few very descriptive stories that could be adapted to fit the sort of very general titles that might come up. For example mine wrote a descriptive piece on waiting in a hospital for results that could be adapted to fit in with a 'write a story about a happy/sad/surprising/difficult/unexpected occurrence' type title and also a description of a mythical beast that could hopefully be used in any about fantasy/magic. In his actual exam he adapted the hospital one, got an opinion piece that was similar to one Mr Salles had written so based it on that and got a 9.

Lit is very different - again I'd recommend Mr Salles but I don't think it's as useful as for lang. The CPG books are useful for laying out everything in an easy to digest way and covering the themes but aren't as good as for other subjects IMO - too simplified for 9's but still useful for info. I'd say reading the books over and over and knowing them inside out is important. Being able to pluck out quotes and the words they use and understanding all the different possible interpretations. Definitely read past papers and see how they have been marked, that can give a good insight.

To be honest her reading material isn't that exceptional for a 15 year old. Also she sounds like she enjoys reading but perhaps just doesn't understand it very well. You seem very fixated on her taking it for A level especially when she has indicated she doesn't want to.

They are her A levels and should be her choice. If she is getting 9s in other subjects why are you trying to force her down a route where she is getting a lower grade for a subject she doesn't want to study?

If you can afford it I’d get a tutor OP. Just a few sessions might make things click.

My daughter was also very well read and got a disappointing mark in English literature due to poor exam technique. She didn’t choose it at A level. But has done very well and went to a good university.

good luck!

Maybe she loves reading but doesn’t enjoy dissecting texts?

Hi OP,

As others have said it's about exam technique. My daughter has barely read a book in her life but got very high marks in Lang and Lit, the highest end of grade 9 in Lit and a distinction in Lang.

She was forensic in understanding how to hit the higher marks and very thorough in her revision. Your DDs teacher is your first port of call for exam technique. After GCSEs last year quite a few Eng Lit / Lang students who got high marks explained on their accounts how they did it, so broke down how to analyse a quote etc - it may be helpful? Mr Salles on YouTube was a must for revision and he also taught my daughter a number of things she hadn't covered in class.

Sorry, in reference to when I said 'accounts' above I meant TikTok accounts.

imho English (both Lang and Lit) seemed to be the most unpredictable in terms of results. DD did GCSEs in the summer and has gone on to do A level lit. It seemed to be all about exam technique and as PP have said the teacher is your best bet. DD had a fabulous teacher and really helped her understand that to achieve higher grades in Lit meant comprehensive analysis. Sadly very little to do with a love of reading.

I wouldn't say she was an exceptional reader, at age 15/16 . At age 5/6 then yes.

@RedHelenB

Of course course getting through war and peace age 15 is exceptional!

Can I ask what information you are bringing to my query?

@TheFTrain and others again extremely useful tips thank you. Especially this Mr sallies man

@itsmyp4rty again thank you for that detailed information.

I don't know, I read it around then and quite a lot of my peer group at university had also read it at about that age. Uncommon perhaps, but not exceptional

I think your focus on what she is reading is, as many have tried to point out, somewhat of a red herring in terms of exam success.

I think you should just celebrate her reading voraciously and realise that success at English literature GCSE is a different skill set from the skills in enjoying reading literature .