Time management is an important consideration

Cramped fingers usually mark the end of the first day of the exams when students have answered two English papers. Worries about the English exam often centre on time management as students can write and write and never get to that last vital question.

Of course, the old refrain is still true - if you don't attempt a question, you simply can't get any of those marks no matter how well you have answered the other questions.

The chairperson of the Association of Teachers of English, Kate Bateman, will join me in The Irish Times, on May 8th, to answer some of your pressing queries and questions and to give some advice on study and exam techniques. (See panel for details on where to post or e-mail your queries.) There's still plenty of time to consider your approach and make the most of your strengths. There's also lots of time to revise and make your final peace with Emma and Hamlet.

Tune in to The Irish Times website www.ireland.com/education/el/ from 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. on May 8th is the Tuesday for a question and answer session which be available in both audio and text formats.

Kate, who teaches in Stratford College, Rathgar, Dublin, says students should spend some time thinking about their exam style. Do you find it difficult to get started? Is your first question your best or do you improve as you get further into the exam? Are you just approaching your prime as time is running out or are you left sucking your pen and wondering if a few doodles would improve the page?

You've heard of morning people or night people - now is the time to think about what type of exam answerer you are and to capitalise on your strengths and minimise your weaknesses. If you find yourself simply unable to stop writing when it comes to a subject such as irony in Emma, then try and save that question until last when the end of the exam will be the only constraint.

If finding the opening paragraph to your essay causes you heartbreak every time but you know it will come to you eventually, then you shouldn't waste time waiting for the muse to speak. Instead, make a positive decision to leave it blank for a while, tell the story, and return to the opening later.

Whatever type of exam candidate you are, you should always consult the marking scheme when it comes to time allocation. This is particularly important for ordinary-level students, says Bateman, as questions on paper two are broken up into a number of parts.

This is the last time the current English syllabus will be examined. The Chief Examiners in the Department of Education carried out a series of reports on various Leaving Cert subjects, assessing how the papers were answered. The most recent report on English (1997) makes a number of obvious but relevant points.

At higher level, when it comes to the essay you should remember that a response that is too remote or obtuse may make a weaker impact. Strained or unnecessarily florid language should be avoided. You are "making contact with a stranger, one who is not already familiar with the habitual turn of your mind or phraseology". On unprescribed prose, the examiners advise candidates to avoid unnecessary length in their answers. "Analysis of language should involve more than merely identifying features of style, it must show the effect which has been achieved as a result of the feature employed."

On paper two, the examiners remind students to "recognise the vital importance of relevance in answering. When confronted with an examination question the candidate should identify the central issues which require to be discussed and confine the answer to those issues."

At ordinary level, students are asked to be clear what the question is asking you to do. "It is important to note words such as describe, discuss, explain, compare, contrast etc. These words are there to point you towards the kind of answer the question is demanding from you."

Common causes of failure or reasons for a candidate getting a grade lower than he or she might have expected included lack of care in reading all the instructions relating to the answering of a section of the paper or relating to a specific question within a section.

Irrelevancy in the writing of essays and repetition of ideas also caused problems, as did an inability to interpret questions properly and a tendency to provide unnecessary background information in answering questions on drama, poetry and fiction.

This may all seem terribly obvious but it would be very disappointing to have studied the course thoroughly and to end up with a low mark because of problems with the exam paper which could easily be avoided with a little thought.

These are available on www.ireland.com/education/el/