The English Exam

The English exam is, undoubtedly, one of the easiest exams to prepare for. Everyone's in a happy mood after an English exam, but once the marks come, no one crosses 90%.

I need to improve my doodling abilities.

This is not something to worry about, either. The highest possible mark one can get is around 86. A question arises, though-- where do people lose this many marks?
Interesting question.
Let's analyse the paper.
The paper has 4 sections- Reading, Writing, Grammar and Literature. Let's go through them one by one.

Section A- Reading

This section is the easiest and shortest of all, and can save you a lot of time if done right. Here are some tips to finish it off perfectly:

• Time yourself. Allot some time (25 minutes is more than enough) and try to finish it within that time. 
• Don't waste time reading the whole comprehension first. Instead, read the questions, and then go to the comprehensions. If you find an answer, make a small mark in the QP. That way, you won't need to read it a second time, searching for answers.
• Read the poems carefully. Questions about poems are a bit vague-- try to to understand the poem. And never copy an answer from the poem.
• Keep your answers short and simple. For a 1 mark answer, 1 line is enough. Don't drag your answers. You're not gonna get extra marks. You'll only lose time.

Section B- Writing

I can guarantee you'll lose at least 4 or 5 marks in this section. Heck, even a Cambridge-educated English scholar can't get a perfect mark. I once asked a teacher why, and she said that even though she would think my writing was perfect, other teachers might not, and hence, they would deduct a minimum of 2 marks for a 10 mark question. I really can't make sense of this logic. Why not award perfect marks to everyone, in that case? 

You can't argue with an English teacher, so let's just concentrate on maxing out our marks. Here are a few tips.

• Make notes. I'm not joking. Take a couple of minutes to think about the points you'll write about in your 10 mark question. Write them down, strike them out later. This will prevent you from straying from your topic, and your article/letter will be crisp.
• Don't time yourself. Do try to finish within an hour, but don't time yourself. If you rush through the writing section, you're gonna end up writing something boring and stupid.
• Prepare for it. One of the 10-mark questions is a letter of complaint/order, and if you already know the format, you can save a lot of time. The other 10-mark question will be an article/letter about a topic you're probably already familiar with, like Corruption or Pollution or Obesity and stuff. Be creative!
• A good vocab helps! Fancy words can take work like magic. Trust me.
• Do what I'm doing right now. You know what I'm talking about.

Section C- Grammar

Grammar is an easy-but-tricky section. If you usually score high on this section, don't worry about this.  If your grammar is poor, you can't improve in minutes. Read some novels, and watch English news channels. That can improve your intuition. Here are a some tips for everyone:

• Time yourself. 30 minutes is perfect. Don't waste too much time if you're stuck in a half-mark question, and save it for later.
• Be careful. Think about your answer before writing it. Avoid silly mistakes.
• If you have time at the end, check. Check your grammar section. Sometimes, you'll find obvious mistakes.

Section D-Literature

Literature is just another version of writing. The only difference is that here, your points matter more than your creativity. 

• Prepare well. Read the chapters carefully. If you know the answer to a question, you don't need to waste time thinking.
• Be concise. I repeat, the points matter more than creativity. Write 4-5 lines for a 2 mark question, half a page for a 4 mark question, and 1-1.5 pages for the huge question. No more, no less.
• If possible, give an extract from the story/poem. This makes your answer look good, and the teacher correcting your paper will be impressed. Memorize important lines beforehand.

That's my 2 cents, guys. Best of luck. See ya soon.