Hey there, NCEA students! If you're gearing up for your NCEA English exams and feeling a bit anxious about the 'Unfamiliar Text' assessment, you're not alone. The exam can seem tricky, but with the right approach, you can aim for that Excellence grade.
I have good news! I have some tips to share to make sure you are prepared for the NCEA English Unfamiliar Text exam. These tips come straight from a qualified English teacher who has had lots of experience teaching NCEA.
Read on and if you'd like to book in an NCEA English tutorial with me, I am just an email away: info@tovahstutoring.co.nz

Understanding 'Unfamiliar Text'
What exactly is the 'Unfamiliar Text' assessment?
The NCEA exam is all about making sure you analyse and understand texts that you haven't seen before.
You'll be given a variety of passages, such as prose, poetry, or non-fiction, and you'll need to identify language features, themes, and ideas. It's all about showing your analytical skills and your ability to think critically.

Key Strategies for Excellence for the Unfamiliar Text exam
Here are some strategies to help you get excellence for the NCEA English exam known as 'Unfamiliar Text':
Familiarize Yourself with Language Features ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
To do well in this assessment, you need to have a good grip on language features like metaphors, similes, personification, and alliteration. Make a list of these features and their effects. Practice identifying them in different texts and think about how they contribute to the overall meaning. You will need to look at these language features from the eyes of a critic. In other words, pretend you are a professional writer. Think about deliberate language choices that are effective or not so effective to communicate what the writer is expressing. I cover various language features within our NCEA English tutorial sessions, and we practice identifying and discussing them from various poems and other text types.
Practice with Past Papers ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
Past exam papers are your best friend! They give you a taste of what to expect and help you get comfortable with the types of questions you'll face. Try timing yourself to simulate exam conditions and review the marking schedules to understand what markers are looking for. You can find these on the official NZQA website. In our NCEA English tutorial sessions we look at these and I make sure you become comfortable with learning study techniques such as these so that you are able to study effectively on your own.
Annotate as You Read ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
When you first read the text in the exam, make quick annotations. Highlight or underline key phrases that stand out, jot down initial thoughts, and look for any patterns or repetitions. This will help you organise your ideas and make it easier to construct your answers. In our NCEA English tutorials, I show you how to do this and we use the annotations and comments to develop effective excellent-level answers.
4. Focus on Themes and Ideas ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
Think about the bigger picture. What is the text trying to convey? What themes or ideas are present? Practice linking language features to these themes. For example, how does a metaphor enhance the theme of isolation or growth? I mentioned before that you need to view the text from the standpoint of a critic or professional writer. It's important to be able to understand what a writer is communicating and how they have done this purposefully. I will show you how to do this in our effective NCEA English tutorial sessions.
Practice Writing Clear Responses ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
Your answers should clearly show your understanding of the text. Practice writing concise paragraphs that include an introduction, a point about a language feature, an example from the text, and an explanation of its effect. This will help you structure your thoughts and convey them effectively. I use the acronym S.E.E.D when I teach my students how to write effective excellent-level answers. S.E.E.D includes statements, examples, evidence and discussions which are well structure paragraphs that include critical responses. Once you have this mastered, by learning how during our NCEA English tutorial sessions, you can tackle this NCEA English exam with confidence.
Stay Calm and Manage Your Time ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
During the exam, it's important to stay calm and manage your time wisely. Allocate time to read, plan, and write your responses. Don’t spend too long on one question and risk running out of time for others. Especially within NCEA Level 2 English and NCEA Level 3 English, you are expected to proofread your work in your internal assessments, so it would also be beneficial to allocate time to proofread your answers within the NCEA English external exams as well. Making sure your answers make sense and cover all you need to say means you will purposefully develop clear, structured and effective responses. If you don't proofread your work, you risk submitting work that includes syntax errors and/or work that doesn't make sense. I show you how to proofread your work properly in our NCEA English tutorial sessions. After every paragraph, we take a look at it and I get you to read over it (sentence by sentence) to ensure you know how to make sure your work is well structured, is purposeful, and answers the questions properly.
Boost Your Confidence ready for the Unfamiliar Text exam
Remember, practice makes perfect! The more you practice, the more confident you'll become in your abilities. And don't forget to take care of yourself during this time. Get enough sleep, eat well, and take breaks when studying. If you are worried you are unsure what to do, our NCEA English tutorial sessions allow you to understand what to do but also you get to see you are capable of doing it. My NCEA English students walk away feeling more confident about sitting their exams because I show them what to do in a clear and productive way. We go through things together and we work towards a confidence goal of being able to get you to a place where you can do things on your own.
I'm a sucker for compliments and I absolutely love giving them to my students. I love being able to tell them where their strengths lie and how proud I am to see them take risks and aim for excellence!
With these tips and a positive mindset and NCEA English tutoring sessions with me, we will work towards getting you to achieve Excellence in your Unfamiliar Text assessment.
Good luck and remember—I'm just an email away if you'd like to book an appointment.
All the best,
Tovah
Tovah's Tutoring Company Ltd ®
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