English (Precis and Composition)

[mahmood]

I know a lot of people might say otherwise. i know each mark matters in this paper. and i might be the only one in this regard, or maybe i am one of the few, in pointing out that you should leave out the idioms portions of the paper,and simply concentrate on the rest of the 95% of the paper. there are several reasons for this/it, but i am going to write a few.

first, its too time consuming. most of the students i know rote learn the idioms instead of enriching their vocabulary through constant reading. they end up rote learning a lot of idioms. at the end maybe a couple of those idioms make it into the paper. sometimes that does not happen either. i know a person who had memorized all the idioms from that famous book ( cant recall the name now). and when the paper came, none of what he had rote learnt did come in the paper. so it was rather a waste of time for him.

second, you cant learn all the idioms. there are probably thousands of thousands of idioms that you dont know about. every language has a rich vocabulary of idioms and phrases. and English vocabulary is quite rich. so no matter, even if you guarantee your 24/hrs a day to it, you will never learn them to the full.

third, in the recent papers how many times have you seen the idioms coming from those books that you study? honestly many of them are slangs and they will never make it in to those books, simply because they are not really part of the language yet.

so what should you do? i think the time you save by not looking at the idioms could be used in other places. for example, if you use one hour daily for idioms, then you can use that one hour for reading some good general material. the magazine economist is one suitable subsitute. ofcourse there are other options like good books.

I have taken the exam three times, and i have passed this paper in all three attempts. and never have i ever given any time to idioms. i would get a couple of them right, because i read a lot and those idioms are used in there. and if you read a lot, you get to know them. on the average, i dont think people get 3 right. still if 3 is the average ( and i am probably over estimating), you can compensate for those three marks somewhere in the other areas of the papers. e.g one mark each in the precis, in composition and in the note writing can give you three marks. and you can achieve those by practicing more. and you can practice that more in the time that you wont use for the idioms.

i hope i will see much better output from other people here too in this regard.

[Phoenix]

I agree with Mahmood. There is so much in this language regarding idioms that you just.. cant.. comprehend all of it. And Mahmood you are right in this as well that most of these idioms are slang. Personally speaking, my passion for English Movies helped me a lot in this and there was only one idiom on this paper which I could not answer. I knew all the rest. So, if you watch movies (hollywood) you might not feel that much trouble in that.

[Dr. Farrukh Malik]

Very well put Mehmood. I do agree with you and I did the same when I was preparing and I passed the exam.

[Thomas Anderson]

Mr Mahmood, great post!

most of the students i know rote learn the ...

And thanks for using the word rote in your post.
It is a new word for me.

[Imperturbable]

Completely in agreement with MeHmood.These days idioms are coming from international magazines like Times and Newsweek,atleast in 2007,i can assure you for 3 idioms,so while reading those articles you can note it down, who knows you might encounter those in precis & composition paper..

[deja.vu]

yes i agree with Mahmood Bhai too..
you should concentrate on th rest of the paper...the first three questions alone carry 65 marks...
so you should practice precis and comprehensiona and expension...

and it's also true that a lot of idioms come form international famous magazines and in our part, regular reading of Dawn is also helpful for idioms, vocabulary and everything..

so don't waste your time memorizing 1000 idioms and 3000 words for vocabulary..who knows, aap ke word list and choice of idioms me se ek bhi na aye papaer me,..it will be a nightmare, but its a fact!
So, get real, all the rote learners,
practice first three questions...

All th Best!
tee cee

[salman]

same in here.

[mahmood]

the book i was referring to in the first post was "exploring the world of English", but is commonly called "exploring" by the students.

[khan]

salam to all.
u are very much right mahmood and  all others too that memorizing idioms is a waste of time and nothing else.  deja and phoenix (There is so much in this language regarding idioms that you just.. cant.. comprehend all of it.....phoenix) are  very much correct in saying that we can learn much more words and idioms by reading dawn, Newsweek and time magazines articles.
best of luck for all

[shafia]

thanks Mr Mehmood for a good suggestion
regards