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Title

Course Resource - Provincial Exam Prep: English 12

Content

Exam Overview

The Engilsh 12 provincial exam contains 23 multiple choice quesitons and 3 written compositions. Students will be asked to read a variety of texts (poems, articles, essays, short stories, advertisements, etc.) and answer reading comprehension and literary analysis quesitons regarding their reading. Two of the written compositions will be based on prompts related to the texts read, requiring students to discuss and analyze what they read in writing. The final written compotision, worth 30% of the mark for the exam, will ask students to complete an essay (either expository, presusuasive, descriptive or narrative) based on a general statement, such as "differing points of view make life interesting."

Students will have 2 hours to complete the exam, though an extra hour will be given if needed. There is the option to take either a paper or electronic exam. Electronic exams are more readily available and offered at more times. Students will be required to type written essays in an electronic exam. If you desire a paper exam it must be requested ahead of time so please alert your teacher well in advance.

Test Taking Strategies

It is important to manage your time effectively on a provincial exam. Ideally you want to leave the test having answered EVERY question to the best of your ability. The best way to accomplish this is to work through the test answering all the questions you are familiar with first. Skip the others. Then once you have reached the end of the test go back and look at the more difficult problems. This is a fairly straightforward process on paper exams but is a bit more tricky on the electronic exams. In the exam preparation assignments below you will be directed to try this strategy in a practice electronic exam.

You also need to gage the time you spend on written questions to be sure to give yourself enough time to complete them all. The last essay is worth 30% of your mark for example so you want to leave at least 30% of your time to this quesiton. Here is a break down of the exam with suggested time limits for each portion.

Section	% of mark	Contents	TIme
Part A	23	Read one text answer 7 multiple choice questions complete 1 written response (150 + words)	30min
Part B	17	read two texts answer 14 multiple choice questions	20min
Part C	30	answer 2 multiple choice questions complete 1 written response (300 + words)	35min
Part D	30	complete 1 written composition (300 + words)	35min

Problem Solving Tip

In multiple choice tests, remember that one of the answers listed is the correct one. On difficult problems you can often eliminate obviously wrong answers and then choose the best one from those that remain. If you are really stuck on a problem you can work backwards, checking each supposed solution till you find the correct one. It is best to use these strategies at the end of an exam on any problems you find really difficult. Also note that some questions may seem silly or confusing. Do your best to pick the most logical answer. Remember you want to leave the test having answered every question. You won't be marked down for wrong answers. Every answered problem, even guesses, is a possible point in your favor.

Preparation Assignments

Give yourself 2-4 weeks to complete these preparation assignments after you have completed the course work for this course. Example, if you aim to take an exam on June 20th, plan to finish working through your English resources by mid to late May.

Essays will be scored using the rubrics found in the Practice Provincial Exam key. Read through this rubric to familiarize yourself with the marking expectations for exam writing.

Score

Introductory Assignments

Pracitce Exams

First access a practice provincial exam. Print "Release 2010/11" test and key.

Take this test as a "pre-exam". Complete the multiple choice questions on paper and mark. Use these to complete the analysis assignment below. Complete the three written responses and submit to your teacher for feedback.

1.4

Analyze and identify the types of questions asked in the multiple-choice section. (comprehension, vocabularly, application, literary technique...) Make a chart (or use the chart below) to presents the types of questions found in the multiple choice portion, whether your response was correct or incorrect on each, and if you made an error, what mistake caused you to make that error.

Example:

question #	Correct	Incorrect	Analysis
comprehension
1	x
2	x
3		x	I didn't read the choices carefully and chose an option that was partially incorrect.
literary technique
5		x	I didn't know what stream of consciousness meant

Next go the practice exam site and try out an eExam. Logging into the exam requires a PEN number and session number. Do not be confused. Simply click on one of the blue options for an exam and the computer will enter these fields for you. Then click submit.

Once the e-Exam loads explore the format and the content. Play around till you are able to:

Read the instruction page
Answer questions
Review questions answered
Skip questions and return to them (by clicking on the box next to the question you will flag it in the review/index tab, or if you just skip to the next question a question mark will remain by that number in the review/index tab.)

Vocabulary Study

After you have taken one or two practice exams and analyzed your results, identify areas you need to review. Use the resources you explored this term and your SNAP or KEY study guides to review material.

In addition review the vocabulary list for English 12.

Use the school glossary and your English books to review terms.

Compile a list of terms you are not familiar with. Send your compiled list along with a paragraph explaining your strategy for learning these terms to your teacher.

Writing

In order to write well on the exam it is important to know what the writing prompt is asking. Review these key words used in the exam questions and their explainations.

Now that you have learned what the writing prompts are asking take some time to review some sample student responses for the three written quesitons on the exam.

Synthesis Practice:

Practice comparing/contrasting two passages of text. In the exam you will be asked to do this for two of the passages you will read in the exam. Sometimes the task given will seem obvious, or perhaps irrelevant. Learn to focus on the task rather than your opinion or feelings for the task. Go to the website practice exam website and look at as many practice exams as you can. Find the second essay in the exam, the one where they ask you to write a 300 word essay that refers to both passages. Complete the following steps for each of these essays.

Restate the task. What are they asking you to do?
Next decide how you are going to accomplish that task. This is essentially the Thesis statement of your essay.
Next pull relevant passages from both texts to use to support that statement.
Finally make an outline of the essay you would write, listing the relevant passages you would use. (Introduction – Thesis – Body Paragraphs (with supporting passages) – Conclusion)
You can continue this process with other practice exam essays until you feel comforitable coming up with an quick outline to write this essay.

In reading over your outlines be sure that you discuss refer to both passeges of text. This is essential for succes on this question. See the exam marking key above.

For further practice take one or two of your outlines and turn them into a completed essay.

Final Composition Practice:

Prepare for the final essay of the exam. For the English 12 exam the easiest way to produce a high scoring piece of writing is to write a narrative for the prompt they give as the final essay of the exam. We are going to prepare a narrative (story) ahead of time that you can change to fit different prompts. You will need to choose one of the following prompts to write a story about (at least 300 words in length). If you have a personal experience that relates that would be a great choice to base your story on.

Four recent exam prompts

A person’s view of the world may change over time.
Happiness can be found in unlikely circumstances.
Differing points of view can make life interesting.
With independence comes increased responsibility.

As you write your story use and try to incorporate the following ideas.

Use personal voice
Try to let your personality be evident in the story
Your own personal connection to the content should be apparent. The writing should not be detached or wooden.
Use symbolism – adding a symbolic element is a great way to achieve a higher score. Throw in an object that speaks to the point you are addressing, the moral of the story, that the main character treasures, uses or finds. This can be something that is concrete but is a symbol of the abstract message you are furthering.

Chose a prompt above. Write your story according to the above guidelines. Refine it as best you can. Read it to your family, and get their feedback. Continue this process till you are satisfied with your story. Then look at the other prompts listed above, the three you did not choose. Think about your story and think about details you could alter and characters or events you could add to your story to have your story address those other prompts. Hopefully you will see that your story could be adapted to apply to any of these broad ideas. You will then have this story firmly in minde and can adjust it to address the task given.

Once you have reviewed try a practice exam again and note your improvement. If you are not satisfied with your mark discuss strategies with your teacher for further review.

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