Secondary 3-4 English Enrichment
With many of our students coming from top schools, our curriculum must go beyond books. Designed to ensure our students gain a wider perspective and clear logic flows, it all but guarantees an “A” for their O-Level English.
PAPER 1
Composition
- Content lecture for persuasive essays – expository, discursive, argumentative
- Discussion on expansive topics for better writing (social media, society, environment, science and technology, transport, values, teenagehood, media)
PAPER 2
Comprehension
- Advanced visual text comprehension techniques (purpose, audience, context)
- Complete mastery of visual analysis questions
- Full familiarization of new question types (language use, ‘explain’, ‘In your own words’)
- Summary drilling
- In-depth study of ten-year series to understand ‘O’ level trends
PAPER 4
Oral Assessment
- Question spotting for spoken interaction
- Formulating mature and witty responses to each question
- Case study of scripts used by students compiled from previous years
- Individual recording of responses for case study and analysis
Secondary 1-4 Schedule
GCE O-Level Curriculum
Essay Content and Question Spotting
Compiling essay openings for common topics (social media, society, environment, science & tech, values, lifestyle, teenagehood, media).
Paper 2 Mastery
Drilled on all question types (explain, language use, language for impact, in your own words, literal, inferential).
Ten Year Series Analysis
In depth study of the ten-year series to understand ‘O’ level requirements and trends.
Oral Mastery
Learning the formula for a stellar response for the spoken interaction assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I improve my child’s O-level English marks?
- Know the answering requirements for comprehension questions
Know which questions require copying, rewording, or offering a guess. Many students lose precious marks because they approach the questions wrongly. They copy when they should not, and they offer their own answer when they should have copied.
Do download our past year guides to have a better idea of what this is about.
- Improve their general knowledge
The O-level English paper 1 differs from primary school in that it primarily expects students to write a persuasive and not narrative text. Students can no longer spin tales purely from their imagination, but are rather expected to construct cohesive arguments based in reality for or against a given statement.
Eg. Learning from our mistakes will help us to be successful. What is your opinion?
To formulate a high scoring response to these questions the student needs to show maturity and knowledge of the world around them. A simple way to work on this is to read the newspaper daily and try to formulate counter-arguments to the opinions stated in the newspaper with logic, reasoning and if possible numbers to back it up.
What does the O-Level English exam test?
Paper 1: Editing, Situational Writing, Continuous Writing
Section A: Editing (10m) → Students are given a passage of 10 sentences. 8 of the sentences have errors in them which the student must spot and correct, while also correctly identifying and marking out the 2 error-free sentences.
Section B: Situational Writing (30m) → Students are given a visual prompt and are expected to write a response of 250 – 350 words in a specific style. This usually takes the form of a letter, email or speech although other formats occasionally make an appearance.
Section C: Continuous Writing (30m) → Students are required to choose one of four topics and write a 350 – 500 word response. 500 – 750 words are suggested.
Paper 2: Open Ended Questions
Section A: Visual Text (5m) → Students answer questions related to a given visual prompt.
Section B: Narrative Text (20m) → Students read and answer questions related to a narrative style text.
Section C: Non-narrative Text and Summary (25m) → Students read and answer questions related to a narrative style text. They are then required to write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words.
Paper 3: Listening comprehension
Section A (24m) : Students listen to a variety of audio tracks twice and answer questions based on them.
Section B (6m): Students are required to take down notes for a text that they will hear only once.
Paper 4: Oral
Reading aloud (10m): Students read a short text and are assessed on fluency, articulation clarity and awareness of the purpose, audience and context of the text.
Spoken Interaction (20m): Students engage in a discussion with the examiners based on a given visual stimulus.
How long are O-Level English essays?
The stated minimum requirement is 350 words. However it is incredibly unlikely that a student will score well writing that little. We recommend anywhere from 550-750 words. (For a sample writing by our students, feel free to contact us.) This ensures the topic chosen is adequately explored, and the student can show a variety of vocabulary usage and sentence structure in order to hit Band 1 of the O-level marking scheme.
Can you guarantee my child will improve his English before the O-Level exams?
It depends on how long a period we have with the child before O-levels and which areas they are weak in. A student weak in paper 2 generally sees improvement faster than a student who is weak in paper 1. Given a period of at least 6 months, 99% of our students are able to improve by at least 1 grade. B3→ A2, C5→ B4 etc.
How early should I send my child to you if I want to score A1 for O-Level English?
If your child is fluctuating at the B4, B3 range, we recommend term 2 of secondary two or early secondary 3. If they are hovering at C5 and C6, we recommend sec 1. Languages are unlike Maths and Science. There is no magic formula or sudden mastery that guarantees a tremendous leap in marks within a short time. Languages are learnt over the course of years through immersion and daily use. We often see secondary school students who skated by in Primary school scoring low As or Bs (AL 4 – 6) struggling because they lack the mastery of fundamental concepts in writing. This severely impacts their performance in Paper 1 for O-levels and they need to spend extra time practicing / re-learning concepts they should have mastered years ago in primary school. To that end we suggest daily revision and regular checks by parents starting from primary school to ensure that all concepts taught are being adequately understood and mastered.