Solving English Essay Questions: Complete Guide to Mastering and Passing

If you can take your time as a teacher or a student to understand the complete guide to mastering, solving, and passing English essay questions in WASSCE & BECE, you will be excited you did. Making good grades in your English essay is a must if you want to pass the English language paper.

The BECE and WASSCE for both private and school candidates require candidates to write essays or compositions of different kinds.

Solving English Essay Questions can be fun and easy if students are helped to build their confidence and that is what this approach does.

While working as an English and Social Studies teacher, between 2004 and 2015, I deployed strategies for teaching English compositions that helped students to excel in both subjects. In this article, I will share some of the tips and tricks that helped students.

These strategies I call a “Complete Guide to Mastering and Passing English Essay Questions” in WASSCE & BECE are even more relevant today for students who are preparing for their examination and their teachers.

The four subheadings under which English Compositions are marked

Whether you are writing BECE or WASSCE, keep in mind that every essay or composition you write will be marked under four sections I prefer to call COME.

WASSCE GRADINGS – COME stands for

1. C: Content (10 marks)
2. O: Organization (10 marks)
3. MA: Mechanical Accuracy (10 marks)
4. E: Expression (20 marks)

 

BECE GRADINGS – COME stands for

1. C: Content (10 marks)
2. O: Organization (5 marks)
3. MA: Mechanical Accuracy (5 marks)
4. E: Expression (10 marks)

Teachers and learners must master how to earn the highest mark possible under each of these sections in one essay but to do that, it needs practice, practice, and practice.

I will use a question under the informal letters to explain the guidelines for mastering and passing essay-type questions. Do well to apply the same learning and teaching strategy for the other essay types such as Formal Letters, Debate Writing, and Article writing.

The Guide to Mastering and Passing English Essay Questions in WASSCE & BECE

Question: Write a letter to your friend explaining three reasons why you want to pass your English Language paper in your final examination. 

If you are a teacher, you need to explain clearly what makes a letter an informal one, the persons that it is written to, and the kind of language expected (informal or conversational). An informal letter is the type of letter you would write to someone you know, for example,  a friend or family member. They’re written in a style that is more friendly and familiar in comparison to a formal letter which follows strict rules about layout and style.

You may want to check this out: 5 Likely 2022 BECE English Language Essay Questions and Answers

TIP ONE: Teach the Skeleton of the essay alone.

The skeleton of an informal letter or any other letter or an article for instance is the Organization (O) of the essay. Depending on the type of examination, a good skeleton earns 5 or 10 full marks per essay. This format or organization of the essay must be practiced and mastered to be able to earn a good mark from it. Students should practice this and know the format very well.

After mastering the above, move a step further by teaching address and Date writing. Teach students how the salutation and the subscriptions are written. Now introduce this into the Organization for the informal letter as shown below and practice a few times with different questions of the same kind.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU:

How to write formal letters and articles to editors: BECE, WASSCE & GTLE

How to write informal letters or friendly letters – BECE, WASSCE and GTLE

 

 

Teach or master how to write introductions and conclusions (Your first and last paragraphs. Practice and try writing different introductions and concluding paragraphs for different questions to develop the skills needed to produce very creative and well-thought-of introductions. Now, introduce your introduction and conclusion into the format above and get to produce something like the one below.

 

Teach and practice paragraph development and brainstorm for points to discuss in each of the paragraphs that make up the main body of the essay.

When writing each paragraph, consider the following

1. Make the first sentence of your topic sentence. This is the sentence you use to introduce the main issue or reason for why you want to pass the English Language paper.
2. Provide support via the middle sentences. This explains the point and if possible site examples to match the point.
3. Make your last sentence a conclusion or transition point.

You may want to check this out: 5 Likely 2022 BECE English Language Essay Questions and Answers

Do your best to use transition words or conjunctions such as also, In addition, Furthermore, Equally important, Another good reason is… each of these should be followed by a comma. This should help you explain the three reasons why you want to pass the English Language.

 

Now let us look at some suggested reasons why you may want to pass the English Language paper.

#1. It is a Core Subject that must be passed to gain admission to SHS or the tertiary institution.

#2. I intend to study General Arts and English Literature at the SHS or University.

#3 I want to become an English Language teacher / A journalist etc.

 

Using the knowledge shared, write the main body of the essay and develop the points clearly. By the time you complete a lesson using this approach, you would have also touched on the Content, Mechanical Accuracy, and Expression parts of the marking scheme for English Composition.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU:

How to write formal letters and articles to editors: BECE, WASSCE & GTLE

How to write informal letters or friendly letters – BECE, WASSCE and GTLE

We have some of the best English teachers in our schools and I believe they, as well as students, will find these suggestions useful. This approach produces results and teachers can apply it in teaching all other essay types so that we move away from always using the old method of teaching from Address to subscription. Students should work on their spelling, grammar, and sentence construction as well.

Good luck as you try out this complete guide to mastering, solving, and passing English Essay Questions in WASSCE & BECE.

READ: TVET and ways to teach, learn and pass BDT at the BECE

Get interactive, ask questions and leave a comment.

 

Source: Ghanaeducation.org | Wisdom Hammond