Surviving High School - Paper 2 Question 1 (9.1)
How to Survive Your First Week of High School
Time Management
As repetitive as “Manage your time wisely!” is, it is essential when it comes to your next four years. The first tip to surviving your first week is to arrive at class on time. If you are late, you risk missing important information that your teacher may cover at the beginning of class. Also, tardiness leaves a bad impression on your teachers. Avoid starting off on the wrong foot!
Branching Out
High school can be lonely if you do not branch out. Try to befriend as many people as possible as this comes in handy through clubs and group work. Try to join clubs that suit your interest but do not be afraid to push yourself out of your typical comfort zone. Expanding your boundaries will help you grow and build your adaptability. Being flexible is a necessary skill that you will need for the rest of your life. Furthermore, playing sports can also be a remarkable and enjoyable way to exercise and meet new people! Make sure you involve yourself around the school; don’t be someone who just sits in the corner.
Stay Organized
As the school year progresses, you will be collecting stacks worth of paper. Stay organized from the beginning because you will need to know where certain documents are when it comes time to review! Organizing based on chapter or topic is most common, but find which is easiest for you!
Procrastination
Do not push off your schoolwork! It will eventually catch up to you and swallow you whole. Keeping on top of your work is the best strategy so you aren’t over-pushing yourself.
Balance
High school gets busier over time so it is crucial that you find your perfect balance. Do not overwhelm yourself with multiple extracurriculars. Remember: you are a student first, athlete second. Balancing out school and your personal life reduces the amount of stress you are enduring, giving you time to take a breath and care for yourself. Moreover, taking fun electives gives you a break throughout the school day from draining core classes; try taking an art or music class!
Questions
Everybody is trying to get through school just like you are so do not be afraid to ask questions. Someone in your class may have the same question as you but has not yet built up the courage to ask.
Commentary:
My aim was to give advice to new students prior to their first day of high school. When conveying various ideas, keeping the information organized is important and it makes the work easier to read and comprehend. This writing has an overarching title and a handful of subheadings separating the thoughts up. The form of a leaflet is broken up into several smaller sections as opposed to long paragraphs. This allows multiple different ideas to be discussed in a quicker fashion. As a new idea is continuously being brought up, the pace of this piece is faster and keeps the readers’ attention.
Since the writing is aimed towards incoming high school students, the language will be more casual, but still sophisticated. I wrote about “surviving your first week” as a way to relate to students. Most students are not big fans of school and this makes them feel understood and they can trust the advice they are being given. Throughout the piece, I wrote using imperative sentence types. I told the reader to “avoid starting off on the wrong foot, “ to “stay organized,” and to “try taking an art or music class.” By using these, I make commands for the reader to follow and execute.
Furthermore, I wrote in the second-person point of view. The second-person point of view talks directly to the reader by using words like “you” and “your.” This makes the writing more conversation-like.
Hi Sommar, I really enjoyed your blog.
ReplyDeleteAO2: For the AO2 score I gave you 11/15 marks. You did a really good job at providing advice, and not just the basic information or layout of the school. Because you gave advice rather than basic information about the school, it proved that you were on task and answered the prompt effectively. Your form was good and very effective.
AO3: For the AO3 score I gave you 5/10 marks. Your analysis was very clear when it came to talking about the form, structure and language. But I definitely think you could have gone more in depth when talking about why you chose to write about specific things.
AO2
ReplyDeleteI gave you 12 marks. You showed sophisticated expression with a wide range of language, but still kept it at an appropriate level for your ideal audience. There was also a significant lack of repetition which was very refreshing for readers. The text was logically and effectively organized with headings and subheadings, and you took a unique approach on the your main topics for the leaflet. All of the content was fully relevant, and the task was successfully fulfilled as this was all content necessary for a new student. However, instead of going into the specifics of the school, you went more towards what would be necessary for a new high school student, no matter where they went. Because of this I can only say the task was achieved well. The audience was kept fully engaged.
AO3
Your commentary was one of the best ones I’ve read, you went fully into depth on structure and provided proper reasoning for every heading, subheading, and form. Unlike others you described why and how you changed the mood and pace of this piece. You also went into depth on your stylistic choices, and provided evidence throughout to back yourself up. I gave this 8 marks.
Hey Sommar,
ReplyDeleteFor AO2 I would give you 11 marks. Throughout your leaflet you provide great advice for any incoming freshman. You give detailed advice rather than just list the basic information that they already know. The text is logically organized and each paragraph is on task.
A03
For AO3 I would give you 7 marks. You go into great detail about the different stylistic choices you made. Although you go into detail about your form, structure, and language, I think you could have gone into a bit more detail. Overall you did a really great job!