Exceptional English with Ellen

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Exceptional English with Ellen Highly successful English tutor, teacher and accredited examiner with 20 years of experience. Preparing students for GCSE and IGCSE worldwide.

Enhanced DBS certified.

Stop overcomplicating your quotes! ✍️Students often find themselves drowning in a sea of flashcards as mock exams approa...
18/10/2026

Stop overcomplicating your quotes! ✍️

Students often find themselves drowning in a sea of flashcards as mock exams approach and overlook analysis on a word level in favour of memorising lengthy quotes.

In Literature, sometimes less truly is more.

See below for a detailed analysis of Macbeth's character arc using just four words! 👏🏻

Save or share with someone who will find this beneficial for their Macbeth revision. ✨

17/10/2026

My tutees know. 😆 Not on my watch, or Claudia’s.

They’ve been taught English since primary school and at each key stage, their class teachers have never indicated there ...
16/10/2026

They’ve been taught English since primary school and at each key stage, their class teachers have never indicated there is a problem. They work incredibly hard and in every other subject, they are getting the results they need. Results that appear to reflect their efforts.

You, and they, thought that GCSE English Language would be a breeze.

So why has their mock exam just come back as a 3? Why are they suddenly in jeopardy of not securing at least a standard pass with less than a year to go?

GCSE English Language is not a memory test: it’s an approach.

And if the approach doesn’t change, neither will the grade.

In the run up to mock exams, I will be writing a series of posts that will give your child strategies to tackle these tricky questions.

Please see my most recent about the AQA structure question and keep an eye out for my next - ‘Lost with Language?’ 👀

With the right approach, you will finally see their confusion become confidence. 😊

Below are some helpful figurative phrases for creating an effective description of an ancient forest. 🌲Encourage your ch...
12/10/2026

Below are some helpful figurative phrases for creating an effective description of an ancient forest. 🌲

Encourage your child to save this image to their phones for easy creative writing revision on the go. 🏃

With Year 11 mock exams on the horizon or already in progress, here are my top tips when preparing for exams:1. Practise...
11/10/2026

With Year 11 mock exams on the horizon or already in progress, here are my top tips when preparing for exams:

1. Practise writing in timed conditions: When it comes to your English exam revision, how often do you actually write? Remember that reading notes is passive and you absolutely CAN revise for English Language! Find a past paper (these can be found online) and do a trial mock.

2. Know your timings: Make sure that you are spending the right amount of time and enough time on each question. Do you know what each question is worth in the exam? Are you splitting your time accordingly? If you are spending the same amount of time on a ten marker as you are on a twenty marker, you need to make yourself familiar with the suggested timing for each question in the exam.

3. Read mark schemes and examiners reports: When I did my GCSEs, mark schemes seemed like magical documents that we didn’t have access to! Now, students have them readily available online and some will even be able to access examiner reports. Examiner reports are issued after each exam series and are incredibly useful. They outline the strengths and weaknesses of responses to each question, and they help you learn what to avoid! The more you understand the workings of the exam, the more prepared you will be for the real thing!

Good luck to all students sitting mocks in the coming weeks!

Ellen.💫

10/10/2026

Recommendation 4 of 9:

This latest recommendation is an edge-of-your seat YA thriller! One for fans of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner.

Sixteen-year-old Emerson is caught at the scene of a robbery where a fire is also started and consequently, she faces arson and manslaughter charges. She’s offered a spot on a reality game show promising fame and freedom to the winner among fifty competitors —and life in solitary confinement for everyone else. The game show, Retribution Island, rests not just on challenges but on social media popularity; Emerson’s only hope is competing well enough to avoid public votes.

Fans of the book are desperate for a sequel but, so far, it appears this will be a standalone novel. However, for those who do enjoy the book, author Ben Oliver has written The Loop trilogy series which is set in the same fictional universe.

A captivating and thought-provoking read that has important things to say about the dangers of reality television, social media culture and social inequality.

Ending the week on a high with this lovely feedback. Watching a student’s confidence grow is one of the most rewarding p...
09/10/2026

Ending the week on a high with this lovely feedback. Watching a student’s confidence grow is one of the most rewarding parts of tutoring. Happy Friday, everyone. 😊

Struggling with structure?The AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 Question 3 structure task is one that students find diff...
07/10/2026

Struggling with structure?

The AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 Question 3 structure task is one that students find difficult. Many adopt a beginning/middle and end approach without really considering why. 🤔

Here are two questions I want you to think about next time you attempt one of these questions:

Why that?
Why there?

The structure question is asking you to consider the order in which a writer has chosen to give you certain information and therefore you should ask yourself throughout, "why am I finding this out now?"
The writer has organised the information deliberately to tell the story in a certain order. If you cut the extract up and put it in a different order, would the information have the same impact on you?

For example, revealing that a character might in fact be a ghost midway through an extract is a deliberate choice, and will have a different impact on you as a reader than if you had known this from the beginning.

As you track through the extract, think about what is being revealed to you bit by bit, but also what information has been held back and why?

So next time you do a structure question, remember to ask yourself the two questions that will help you write a successful response:

Why that?
Why there?

Really glad this has come into effect today. Sadly, I’ve had others share my original content as their own in the past, ...
06/10/2026

Really glad this has come into effect today. Sadly, I’ve had others share my original content as their own in the past, and it’s disappointing to say the least! This page is a labour of love, and I put a lot of time and effort into it so it’s heartening to see that my words and my work can’t just be copied and pasted in future. 😊

It’s World Teachers’ Day! 🍎Lighting little fires everywhere since time began! 💛If you get the opportunity today, please ...
05/10/2026

It’s World Teachers’ Day! 🍎

Lighting little fires everywhere since time began! 💛

If you get the opportunity today, please thank a teacher.

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