| Don't get caught with your trousers down! |
If this is the year of your exams,
then your written coursework must be marked and handed in to your examining board by around
Easter time. Exactly when
will depend on your board.
Some boards require written coursework
to be marked and handed in shortly before
the Easter holidays. Other boards
require written coursework to be marked and handed in shortly after
the Easter holidays.
This means that, although most schools set several earlier deadlines
for students' written coursework, many will permit you to work on your assignments until just
a few weeks before this (Easter) time.
Nonetheless, you should always check and meet your school-set deadlines so you don't get caught with your
trousers down; if you fail to hand in a written
assignment, you may score zero for that assignment.
You will have to hand
in about
half-a-dozen pieces, each of about
500 words (or 3,000 words in total).
Our advice is that these should be on A4 paper and
in your own handwriting.
We specify the exact written coursework requirements in our
no-nonsense syllabuses.
|
| It isn't over 'til it's over!
|
Practically anything you have
written during the past twelve months
could be submitted as part of your coursework, so never
consider that your written work is finished;
consider instead that it is
yet to be finished.
If you have to hand in
work significantly earlier than Easter, ask to have it
back so you can work on it some more; the exam boards discourage schools from marking written
coursework unduly early. |
|
Use your time between now and
Easter to work in the following way: |
 Keep looking at your past written assignments and
improve them gradually over time.
Every time you look at them, try to improve them slightly.
Gradually add to them, re-phrase them, correct them and so on.
Don't worry if your written work begins to look a mess - what with notes written everywhere
and bits of paper stapled on, etc - it isn't
finished yet!
Tell your teacher that you're working in this way
and ask for advice about which topics
you should concentrate on. Show your teacher
what you've been doing.
Keep all your notes and rough copies. You should
include these with your finished assignments.
But
don't bother to write out your
finished work neatly until your written coursework
has to be in.
If you work on your written coursework in this way, you'll save yourself both time
and stress and be pleasantly surprised
by the standards you can reach. (Almost
all professional writers write in this way,
including the writer who's written
this!)
|
English Howlers