It is important that you know the Structure of your Examination and adequately prepare yourselves.

The Structure of your Exam refers to the layout of the exam paper For CXC (CSEC) English Language the format takes two parts the long paper 2hrs and 40 mins and the Multiple Choice 1hr 30 mins.

Section A: Summary Writing Section B: Reading Comprehension Section C: Short Story Section D: Persuasive/argumentative writing

This part of the examination covers a wide range of topics and is the most important part of your paper. This weighs your expression through writing. Your goal is to be Flawless in your writing so as to avoid grammatical errors. Paper two is made up of 8 questions in four sections.

This section is made up of one compulsory question. In this section, you have to write a summary of a given passage or report. (There is no choice here, you have to answer the only question in this section.) You will be given a passage or report and asked to write a summary of it. The paper 2 directions state that in this section you must write in "continuous prose", that is, you must write using paragraphs. You MUST NOT write using note form. Also, after the allotted number of words, anything you write will not be assessed.

Section B: Reading comprehension This section consists of two compulsory short answer reading comprehension questions. (Again there is no choice here, you have to answer both of the questions in this section).

Each question is made up of a reading passage and 7-8 questions on the passage. You must answer all the questions on each reading passage.

Section C: Short story writing/Descriptive writing This section is made up of three questions. They include two short story essays - one with a picture and one without - and a descriptive essay.(You must choose one question to answer). The paper 2 exam states that your answer in this section should be approximately 400-450 words in length and you must write in standard english, although you may use dialect in conversations.

Section D: Persuasive writing This section is made up of two persuasive essay questions. Your answer is usually required to be in the form of either an informal letter to a friend, a formal letter to an official, a speech, presentation or an essay. (You must choose onequestion to answer).

The paper 2 exam states that your answer in this section should be approximately 250-300 words in length and youmust write in standard english.

This paper covers a wide range of topics in the syllabus which is important to express ones self fluently and flawlessly.

CXC English A exam paper 1 contains sixty (60) compulsory multiple choice questions organized into two (2) sections.(Compulsory means that you have no choice, you have to do ALL the questions on this Paper.)

Section 1 Section one (1) is made up of twenty (20) separate multiple choice questions. In this section, you will be tested on the following skills: Section 1 skills Comprehension Grammar Punctuation Paragraphing

Section 2 Section two (2) is made up of forty (40) multiple choice reading comprehension questions based on your understanding of five (5) passages. The passages will consist of, 1) One poem 2) One narrative extract 3) One expository extract 4) one persuasive abstract ( e.g. an advertisement, speech or letter to the editor) 5) one visual abstract (e.g. a table, diagram, map, chart, cartoon or advertisement) In this section, you will be tested on the following skills:

Section 2 Skills Comprehension inference Analysis Evaluation Each question on this paper is worth one (1) mark. You should attempt to answerALL 60 multiple choice questions on this paper. (If you don't know an answerthen guess!)

You cannot do well on an English A examination without a guide as to where you are going. Good luck and aim for grade 1 with distinction.