Provincial 12 Exam Breakdown:

1. Provincial 12 Exam Breakdown: Approximately 82 marks. It’s considered a 2-hour exam. But, everyone gets an additional 3rdhour. Most people need 2 ½ hours to complete the exam and do well.

2. Provincial Breakdown:  Suggested Time Stand-Alone Text: 25-35 minutes Synthesis Text 1 & 2: 55-65 minutes Composition: 50-60 minutes  

3. Part A: Stand-Alone Text • This section requires you to read a poem or article, answer 7 or 8 multiple choices questions and write a literary paragraph. • Read the question before the poem or article. • Pay attention to the title of the poem, as it will often give you insight into the poem’s meaning, speaker, tone, etc. • As you read, make notes or highlight to help you answer the question. • Read the poem more than once. • Your written response is a literary paragraph. DO NOT USE “I,” DO NOT USE “YOU.” • Use QUOTATIONSto support your answer. INTEGRATE QUOTATIONS in your sentence. • Have a clear topic sentence. This sentence should contain the author’s name and the title. • Make sure your paragraph is as error free as possible. Little errors that add up to a lower mark.

4. Part B: Synthesis Text 1 & 2 Synthesis Text 1 • You are expected to read a non-fiction passage or a poem and answer 7-8 multiple-choice questions, which will be based on the content of the passage, terms, techniques, understanding the passage, or vocabulary. KNOW YOUR TERMS. • The multiple-choice should be relatively easy marks. Don’t give them away by not reading the questions properly or making silly mistakes. 

5. Synthesis Text 2 • You are required to read a short story, answer 7-10 multiple choicequestions. These will be on content and terms. Stories are usually about 2 pages in length. • Next, write a synthesis essayon both texts from Part B.  

6. Synthesis Essay • Read the essay question first before the reading selections. • This is a SYNTHESIS question – make sure you incorporate BOTH pieces of literature and answer the question. It is most effective to use the point-by-point (slice) method when writing this essay • It is very easy to score a 4 in this section but often hard to score a higher mark. Stay focused, prove your clear arguments and use strong, appropriate quotes to prove your thesis. Vivid, proper vocabulary will also help as well complex sentence structures that vary through the paragraphs. • This is a literary essay. DO NOT USE “I” OR “YOU.” Write in third person. • Your essay needs to be at least 3 paragraphs long – if it less than that, you will lose one point from your mark and will likely not score higher than a 3 because you haven’t developed your ideas. • Be sure to use quotes to support your answer. INTEGRATE YOUR QUOTES WELL. • You need to have a clear thesis sentence. This sentence should connect both texts that you are synthesizing. It should clearly state a point and offer an answer to the question. • Synthesis Questions may ask you to: assess, describe, discuss, evaluate, explain, explain to what extent, compare, contrast etc.

7. Part D: Composition • This section is worth 24 marks and requires you write an original composition. Suggested time: 35 minutes – use at least 45 minutes. • The instructions for this section are as follows: “Using standard English, write a coherent, unified, multi- paragraph composition of approximately 300 words on the topic below. In your composition, you may apply any effective and appropriate method of development which includes any combination of exposition, persuasion, description and narration.” • Your composition needs to be multi paragraph (3+ paragraphs) or you will lose marks. • You are given a topic to write about, but how you choose to approach the topic is up to you. Typically, narrative essays do better than expository simply because they tend to be more creative. However, many expository and persuasive essays have received 6’s. Write the way you write best.