Acing Your English Diploma
- Heather Adam
- Jun 25
- 2 min read
If you are taking English 30-1 or 30-2 in summer school, or preparing for taking that course in the year to come, this is for you! In this post, I will outline some tips for writing a great Part A diploma.
Know What Topics You're Up Against
This might sound a little out of touch because, in reality, you cannot know the exact topic you'll have when you write; however, prompts from previous years do offer a lot of clues! Most prompts fall into five categories:
An individual's response to adversity or their circumstances
How an individual maintains their values or beliefs
How an individual perceives themselves versus how they're perceived by others
How an individual maintains their beliefs or ideals
How an individuals perception can be changed by the passage of time or their circumstances
It's a great idea to take a look back at previous prompts and plan out essays on these topics (or the broader ideas above) to prepare for your exam.
Choose the Texts that Work
Not all texts are built the same! Some of them are much more versatile than others. For example, I find that Othello can be quite challenging to work with for a variety of previous diploma prompts; however, a story like "On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien is a goldmine because it relates to adversity, identity, beliefs, ideals, perception, and circumstance (in essence all of the broad ideas above). Keep this in mind when choosing what texts to brush up on before you write!
Have More Than One Text Ready
As said above, sometimes a prompt just won't work well with one of the texts you were hoping to write on. This is why you need to make sure you have more than one text that you're prepared to write on. I always say putting your energy into knowing two texts really well should allow you to deal with any prompt that pops up!
Reflect on Your Own Life
This sounds super philosophical, but stay with me! For your PRT it is important to have some sort of personal connection to your writing. Look at the general topics (listed in section 1) and ask yourself what life events/experiences you could explore that relate to each idea. Having these ideas ready will make writing your PRT much easier!
Know How to Plan
Yes, planning takes time, but it can also save you a lot of time and make your writing process so much easier! It's a good idea to have your thesis, the main idea for each body paragraph, and all the evidence that you will be using written down before you dive into writing. If you are new to planning, or you have struggled with essays in the past, I highly recommend taking a look at my essay planning handbook. It walks you through the whole process of creating an essay: from planning, to organizing your content, to formatting. It features everything I have learned throughout my ten years of essay writing! Use the code TAKE5 to get the handbook for only ten dollars!
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