English Language

My favourite thing about studying English Language was learning about how and why different groups of people speak differently. I really enjoyed understanding the theories behind why males and females speak in different ways and why teenagers have a “language” of their own. I enjoyed learning about this as it was very relatable to real life, therefore I was able to learn about why the people around me spoke in the ways they did.

To new Year 12s I would say: start making revision notes early. Whenever you finish a class or two, make revision notes on what you have learnt and that way, once any exams come around, you will not have to spend as much time making notes and you can instead focus this time learning from these already made notes. Making notes early will always keep you one step ahead with revision while also keeping your mind active and on topic as you will take in the content from the class and then revisit it again by making the notes soon after and then again when it comes to revision before a test/exam.

I would also say to make sure you enjoy the subjects you are taking and think about changing any you are not enjoying inside any available time windows you have to do this in (unless you need certain subjects to be able to do a certain university degree or career). This is because if you are not enjoying a subject you may find it very difficult to keep your stamina up when it comes to lessons, homework and revision.

I studied Drama and Psychology as well as English Language. Drama was very enjoyable and helped me with confidence during group work. Psychology was very interesting, and it was enjoyable learning about how the mind works and functions in different situations. However, Psychology is definitely a subject to start making notes on early. When I studied it there was a lot of content, more content than both my other subjects and everything I needed to know was very detailed and therefore harder to remember. I was very glad when it came to exam time that I had started making notes on this subject early because the amount of content would have made it a lot more difficult to revise everything if I hadn’t have made notes early.

Since Sixth Form, I have been studying the English Language and Drama joint Honours course at Huddersfield University. Therefore, studying English Language at A Level at Crompton House helped hugely as I already had a base of knowledge of the English Language side before even going to the University and starting my degree. One of the modules I took was also similar to one of the topics I did at Sixth Form and so I already had some background knowledge which I could just build on. I also took Drama at Sixth Form which aided me in this part of my degree as I already had learned the skills needed for good teamwork in Sixth Form Drama and was able build on my confidence even further in my degree.

My favourite thing about studying English Language A Level is the amount of interpretation you can include in answering essay questions. I also enjoyed looking at real-life applications of what I was learning, whether it was the language used revolving around gender, class, occupation, or if it surrounded children and how they analyse the world in order to learn.

I wish I had memorised my keywords, terms, and theories as soon as I was taught them in Year 12 as it would have made answering essay questions so much easier initially. I probably would have also organised them all in one set place where it was easier to find them all.

An organised folder will be your best friend.

My best advice for Year 12 students is do as many past papers as you possibly care to do. Every topic makes so much more sense when you’re writing about it in an essay style question. Using example answers that teachers give you as a template is also a massive help.

I studied Mathematics and Biology alongside English Language at A Level and have moved on to study Marketing with Advertising at Edge Hill University, which so far has included several essays. English Language helped greatly with how to structure my essays, how to keep a piece of written text formal. It also improved my spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I also had coursework this year on language use in marketing campaigns where the knowledge I had acquired from A Level proved useful.