Preparing for Leaving Certificate English, 2023

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The clock is ticking and the weeks are whizzing by on the way to the Leaving Certificate English exams on June 7th and 8th.

So, remarks addressed to candidates heading into those exams right now. These are specific to English, though all the usual (and true) advice about how to prepare is important (resting, exercising, planning, not cramming). Here are some things in 15-20 minute ‘bites’ (rather than full hour-long practice essays). All of them are designed to generate thinking, not to learn by ‘rote’. Don’t reread your notes, a notoriously poor and ineffective use of your time which gives you a false sense of security (simple tweak: instead hand your notes to a study partner for testing you - that’s useful).

Of course you should read - if you’re a regular book-reader, then you’ll know how enjoyable and relaxing it is, but it will also keep you pleasurably swimming in language at just the right time, and often prompt fruitful thoughts, especially for the compositions. But even if not, seek out articles online and in magazines/newspapers. Keep stretching your reading muscles.

Use your phone, since it’s now part of your extended body. Then you can have immediate access at any time to useful material and resources for those in-between moments, like the 20-minute bus ride, waiting for a friend… BUT when you’re studying at a desk for extended periods, turn it off and put it in another room (good luck).

  • Download Quizlet, and try these Macbeth quotation exercises.

  • Download the BBC Sounds app, and use it to listen to the David Tennant version of Macbeth: listening to a scene or two at a time is a very good way to revisit the play, notice new things, and think afresh. If there are audiobooks of your comparative texts, use them too.

  • Put the whole text of Macbeth on the phone and re-read a scene every now and then.

  • Type into a Notes app the texts of the poems you’d like to write on, so you can look at them easily. How about learning at least one poem by each poet off by heart? Then you’re totally on top of all its details.

  • Transfer ideas on the main composition onto the Notes app, revisiting them regularly.


And also …

  • Main composition: keep your brain alive. You should have notes and mindmaps on a range topics you would really like to write on: revisit them every now and then for 10-15 minutes and add to them. If a topic is a general public one (say, climate change), look for interesting and current articles online.

  • ‘Brain dump’ all your thoughts on a topic onto a large piece of paper without looking at any notes: this is also effective for the literary texts (say, one of the comparative modes in two or three texts)(=. Then afterwards use your material to fill in the gaps (what did you forget?).

Some Macbeth resources:

Poetry: