How You Can Get Excellence in the NCEA Unfamiliar Text Exam with Tovah's Tutoring

tovahstutoringcomp
Jul 4
2 min read

Many students have felt the NCEA Unfamiliar Text Exam is one of the hardest NCEA English exams to take. You are presented with a piece of text you've never encountered, hence "unfamiliar" and then you have to analyse it. This is one of the reasons why I have created tutorials specifically for the NCEA Unfamiliar Text exam. My tutorials turn anxiety into confidence through my effective strategies.

Trust me, I will prepare you for this exam!

I make sure all my students are prepared and ready to tackle the Unfamiliar Text exam.

Understanding the Exam Structure for the Unfamiliar Text exam

To succeed, it’s essential to know what you have to do for the NCEA Unfamiliar Text exam. The exam usually contains about three to five texts, which could include anything from poetry to short stories. You need to analyse the text(s) in the exam, which I think helps if you annotate it, and then discuss things like themes, tone, and language features.

If you'd like effective support with this, our expert English tutors at Tovah’s Tutoring will prepare you. We explore various text types and make you more confident with language features.

Eye-level view of a student studying with books on a desk — Student studying for the NCEA exam

Unfamiliar Text exam - Practice Makes Perfect

One of the best things you could do for yourself is to practice the process of analysing and discussing a piece of short text. It's important to remember that there is a time limit for the exam, so practising the process will make this skill flow more fluidly for you. For instance, I set aside specific hours each week to simulate exam conditions, which you can do with one of our expert tutors.

After completing around 20 timed practice papers, your speed and comprehension should significantly improve.

Close-up view of a person annotating a text with a pen — Annotating text for better understanding

Annotating Texts for Clarity for the Unfamiliar Text exam

During our Unfamiliar text exam prep tutorials, we will explore the advantages of annotating texts. I usually look at the text as a whole and then slowly look at specific areas that bring out the purpose and writing intention. This active approach will help you engage more deeply with the texts and be prepared to do it in your actual exam.

High angle view of an organized desk with study materials — Organized study space for exam prep

Crafting Comprehensive Responses for the Unfamiliar Text exam

After mastering analysis techniques, I guide make sure you know how to structure paragraphs, properly and effectively. You will learn to structure your paragraphs so that you reinforce the writer's intention and I teach you have to write sophisticatedly and with purpose.

Creating a detailed outline before writing really helps with consistency and structure. For example, I would start with teaching introductions, conclusions and structured paragraphs. Each paragraph should tackle a different aspect of your analysis to stop tangents and inconsistencies. It also builds persuasive writing and confident analysis and points of view.

Building Unfamiliar Text Exam-Day Confidence

I take pride in how I build confidence in students. It's something I very much love about teaching. It is important that they see how to do the exam properly through a very clear step-by-step process. Along with praise, it is a wonderful remedy for self-doubt and anxiety!

My students will always go into the exam feeling more confident than they did before.

Book in your Unfamiliar Text exam tutorials with my today

info@tovahstutoring.co.nz

Tovah

Tovah's Tutoring