1. Do a thorough reading of the passages for comprehension
To prepare for this, you will need a good set of vocabulary skills. Ensure that you have done vocabulary exercises and that you have practised using complex phrases in your writing.
IGCSE comprehension passages are narrative-based which means that you will have to grasp the meanings of figures of speeches, hidden meanings and read between the lines. Preparation for narrative comprehension passages should be done at least 6 months to 1 year before the exams.
The IGCSE questions tend to ask you about the expected outcomes as well so you will need to project into the future time.
Eg. What the protagonist was thinking of doing next.
In the text, the protagonist may have been only gazing at something but had not started to do anything yet.
Vocabulary skills will help you to pick up tiny clues like the way the protagonist’s eyes were shifting and what he was more intently looking at from time to time.
This will give you a good idea about expected outcomes which are not stated clearly in the text. Vocabulary skills are essential to doing well in comprehension passages.
2. Make sure that you have practised doing summary questions
Summary answers have to be precise and conform to the word limit. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for students will be the paraphrasing portion.
Most IGCSE students will find the easy way out and minimise the words used. This is not really a good idea as many points pertaining to the summary question will be eliminated as well.
The trick is to include ALL the points and shorten them to include only the main thread content. A bit of sleight-of-hand dexterity with words is necessary to ensure that you really shorten without leaving anything out.
The Summary technique which is most needed is ‘editing’. Students will need to paraphrase and reduce which is essentially editing.
Practice with old IGCSE exam papers or practice papers will help the students to reach their goal in having a well-written summary answer.
3. Learn to understand the different demands of Comprehension questions
There are 3 main types of IGCSE Comprehension questions. Analytical/ Language-based questions, Vocabulary questions and Inference-based questions.
Knowing what the question is really asking you to do is very important. If the question says ‘suggests’, it means that the answer is not in the text. It is asking you to infer or guess what the outcome is. In some cases you will have to read between the lines and try to piece the information together.
If it is a language based or analytical question, it means the answer is in the text. You may have to either copy and paste it or select only the needed portions and answer the question. This is the easiest type of question.
Vocabulary questions are rather tricky as they may ask you to infer what could be from a certain phrase. You will have to both infer and know the meaning of that phrase perfectly well. This is a hybrid question.
Other vocabulary questions will ask you which phrase is connected to a flow of thought or situation outcome. You will have to select the correct one. Or you may have to explain a given phrase in detail with elaboration to support your answer.
At Wizpals Education, students get lots of practice in doing different types of questions. This will ensure that the students are prepared for the IGCSE exams.
4. Give yourself lots of practice for Composition questions
Writing a 300 to 400-word composition is not the easiest of tasks. Many errors could occur. For example, writing out of point, which is most common. Or not organising properly.
Narrative compositions are a main part of this paper. Practising them for at least a year will mean that you will be in good stead for the IGCSE exams. Try to use subjective thinking where you will need to place yourself in the protagonist’s shoes. Imagine what it will be like from another person’s perspective. Ensure that you will have a good template planned out.
Make sure that you organise your work before you actually start writing. Write a mind map where you write in point form for each paragraph in your essay.
5. Read a lot. I mean it
Start your reading practice early and not too close to the IGCSE exams. If you are going to be sitting for your IGCSE make sure that you give yourself more than a year head-start. Read extensively.
There are 2 types of reading preparation:
- Read novels, short stories, autobiographies.
- Read newspapers and media related articles.
The second can be done with a few minutes of reading every day. This will give you the background for writing on argumentative and expository essays.
The first one will give you a more thorough background in a deeper understanding of different kinds of subjective views.
This will help you in writing subjectively for narrative or even argumentative essays where you will have to write your own point of view for a subject.
6. Use general knowledge
Wizpals teaches students how to use general knowledge news in writing. World news, local news, speeches of Presidents, Prime Ministers, bulletins on Covid for example are all explained to students on a weekly basis.
EVEN IF students do not keep up with the media, they are given a sound background in it during the IGCSE composition lessons at Wizpals.
7. Time management
The very essence of your exam depends on this. Students need to learn Time Management. Every student must remember to pace out their writing according to the time given. Doing timed essays or learning to finish the summary questions within the time is essential to passing well.
At Wizpals, students are given timed questions to do. All students complete their work on time and have enough time left for a thorough check of the paper. This is the final preparation which must be done to make sure that your paper meets all the requirements of the IGCSE exam.
Good Luck!
If you like this article also see our other article English Compositions: Writing Guide for O-Level.