How do you do well in college English courses

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The same as anything else, practice. Most English classes (imo) are easy as long as you keep up with the course load.

What seems to be giving you the most problems?
 
Vocabulary. There are thousands of words I don't know in a poem or in a short story on the test. And dictionary is not allowed. How can I know what he is talking about ?

For example, I didn't know the word "Sculpture" and "cork" and "Ivory" in a poem line. I didn't understand what the poem is about.

Then the question asks me to analysis the poem, how can it happen without letting me grasping the image of the object ?
 
What do you mean no dictionary allowed?! lol
 
Well, we are not allowed to use dictionary during the test.
 
tennisball80 said:
Vocabulary. There are thousands of words I don't know in a poem or in a short story on the test. And dictionary is not allowed. How can I know what he is talking about ?

For example, I didn't know the word "Sculpture" and "cork" and "Ivory" in a poem line. I didn't understand what the poem is about.
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No offense, but those words aren't very exotic. What grade level english class is this?

Outside of reading more (I recommend short stories), I think you would benefit from picking up a vocab studying book. It'll definitely be good preparation for the SAT/ACT's.
 
Terpskins99 said:
No offense, but those words aren't very exotic. What grade level english class is this?

Outside of reading more (I recommend short stories), I think you would benefit from picking up a vocab studying book. It'll definitely be good preparation for the SAT/ACT's.
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Grade 12 English. Senior 4.
 
Terpskins99 said:
No offense, but those words aren't very exotic. What grade level english class is this?

Outside of reading more (I recommend short stories), I think you would benefit from picking up a vocab studying book. It'll definitely be good preparation for the SAT/ACT's.
Click to expand...

I agree plus if the dictionary is available before the test use it. That's the best way to broaden your vocabulary.
 
A lot of the early college English classes will involve reading books and writing a couple of essays.

As long as you keep up with the reading and are prepared to discuss it in class you should be ok on that front. For the essays, a lot of schools have writing labs. This might be helpful for proofreading. You can nail down your thematic ideas, proofread it yourself and then submit it to the language lab for review, they'll give you feedback before you submit it for a grade. This should help you avoid losing points on grammar/spelling errors.
 
Sorry tennis, but the only thing that has helped me is to read and look up words that I don't know 🙁 This has helped me out in writing 121 and AP English somewhat, but it's just like A&P, there is no shortcut other then familiarizing yourself by reading upper level books
 
I suggest reading, and lots and lots of it. It'll really help improve your vocab and also your understanding of english grammar. Plus it'll give you better reading comprehension and you'll become more familiar with our colloquialisms.
 
English is a lot different in college. Most of it is just reading and writing papers. It will take you longer, but you should do fine. Just keep a dictionary handy when you read and write your papers. Most professors will let you come to their office to submit drafts as well.
 
There is a distinct difference in college between "English" courses and "Writing" courses, at least at my school there is.

Writing courses involve reading, and then writing several papers based upon feedback to what you've read. You'll get feedback from your professor about your writing technique and how to improve it. Key to doing well in this type of class is to revise. See the professor ahead of the due date, get your paper looked at, and then go revise it with the corrections that he/she offer.

English courses are somewhat different. More reading, less writing. For example, the english course I'm in now only requires one five page (double spaced) paper throughout the course of the entire semester. The only other writing we have to do is on quizzes (Which are basic and only test whether or not you've actually been reading the assignments) or exams. This type of class involves a lot more discussion about the books and is in my opinion a lot more interesting than a straight writing course. Plus the graduate student who is teaching my class right now is cute as hell, which always helps. Key to doing well in this class is to participate in class. Get involved in the discussions, and obviously keep up with the readings.

Again thats just my experience with these types of classes at my school.

Good luck.
 
engineeredout said:
There is a distinct difference in college between "English" courses and "Writing" courses, at least at my school there is.

Writing courses involve reading, and then writing several papers based upon feedback to what you've read. You'll get feedback from your professor about your writing technique and how to improve it. Key to doing well in this type of class is to revise. See the professor ahead of the due date, get your paper looked at, and then go revise it with the corrections that he/she offer.

English courses are somewhat different. More reading, less writing. For example, the english course I'm in now only requires one five page (double spaced) paper throughout the course of the entire semester. The only other writing we have to do is on quizzes (Which are basic and only test whether or not you've actually been reading the assignments) or exams. This type of class involves a lot more discussion about the books and is in my opinion a lot more interesting than a straight writing course. Plus the graduate student who is teaching my class right now is cute as hell, which always helps. Key to doing well in this class is to participate in class. Get involved in the discussions, and obviously keep up with the readings.

Again thats just my experience with these types of classes at my school.

Good luck.
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Thank you guys for your comments. 🙂

When the class title says, "Freshamn composition", it means writing course not English course right ?
 
Yes, composition is mainly writing.
 
CScull said:
Yes, composition is mainly writing.
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yay.jpg
 
tennisball80 said:
Hope this case will happen to me too. 😀
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Haha, someone must have put something in you guys' drinking water... this is the third thread I've seen this week that's been side tracked into girl talk.
 
Tennis, are you an ASL student? I'm having trouble understanding the difficulty that you had in understanding those three words, but would make more sense if English wasn't your 1st language.
 
If you score 550+ on the Critical Reading SATs you should be fine. Vocab should not be a problem for you..considering your a senior and should have or be studying SAT vocabulary. However most likely what will happen is, you will take a placement test for english, and if anything they will place you in a very low level english class. The most important thing to be aware of is plagiarism, highschool doesnt scare kids into thinking its the worst thing, whereas most english college professors will scare the hell out of you with the way they talk about plagiarism.

However...i doubt freshman english in college will give you tests on books...or poems...i think its more discussions and writing papers. atleast mine is.
 
TheMagicCookie said:
Tennis, are you an ASL student? I'm having trouble understanding the difficulty that you had in understanding those three words, but would make more sense if English wasn't your 1st language.
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Yes, English is my second language.

What's ASL student ?
 
CScull said:
Haha, someone must have put something in you guys' drinking water
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Yeah, we are the victims. My innocent mind is being messed up 🙁

Do you know who is the one who did it ?
 
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