Self-ReflectionWhen I first entered English II, I was extremely unsure of what would become of myself and my progress into the next level of the subject. I had left English last year achieving an “A-” after laboriously climbing the “grade scale” from a “C-”. I knew that English was a shaky subject for me, and the more challenging obstacles of English II didn't fail to seem quite intimidating. The obstacles I faced were not only academic, but also social. Don't think that I'm the type of person who clings to people or depends on needing to be with specific people to be successful. However, it was quite difficult not having friends while persevering with a challenging subject, at least in my case. I can say that I felt isolated during English II, whereas in English I had many friends who I had already met or gotten to know very well. I now realized that not having friends in my English class was not harmful, but actually beneficial, since I was provided with fewer or no distractions. Despite occasionally skipping homework, for which I apologize, I felt I was able to focus more on learning how to be more successful in English, particularly essay writing. Who would have known that in English I, my best score on a test was a “60”; while in English II my best score was a “93”? I made a lot of mistakes in English II. I wish I hadn't, but I knew from the moment I got an "89" on my first critical analysis paper my sophomore year that I was actually doing something right. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Talking about my first analysis paper, “Discrimination: Intolerance towards Tolerance” was ultimately the first milestone in my progress in English class: I had never considered everything I wrote in English I believe it has some importance. I knew that all my knowledge of past mistakes and the basics that Mrs. Mastrobattisto had taught me in the first two weeks would guide me in succeeding with the first of the grueling English II assignments. The main things I learned to make this article a success were two things: relevant quotes and drafts. Relevant quotes were a must in this article, as there were many relevant ones in To Kill a Mockingbird, but only a handful of relevant quotes that could be used to support my ideas. The other big concept was drafts. I wrote many drafts in a week, I think at least three. Each time my card was molded into an even better shape than the last. I had never done this in English I. This article meant a lot to me as it was the first sign of improvement since learning English I and gave me hope for the rest of the year. My first analysis paper was written with my best understanding of essay structure, but the raw knowledge of how to write could not be better displayed than in my first written piece of the year, the First Common Assessment on Summer Reading. This piece shows the extent of my writing skills based on what I learned from English I. And let me tell you, I was shocked to see anything above a “C”. I felt extremely anxious about writing this piece at the time; probably due to the fact that I had to trace information from a book I read five weeks earlier or that I was timed. One of my main weaknesses was writing timed pieces, as I was always trying toshowcase my ideas with “sophisticated word choice and smooth transitions” and other material that would impress my teacher. But as it turns out, it took too long to elaborate and overcomplicate the ideas, which resulted in rushed endings and inadequate analysis. I certainly succeeded with “exceptional awareness of purpose and voice,” but I paid the price with adequate support/intuition and errors in usage/grammar. After writing this article, I have learned not to overcompensate my ideas with imaginative writing and to write down key ideas and analyzes for timed essays, and to leave the really nice writing at home, where I can write as long as I want. I want. This experience helped me later when I came across test essays. When you think about critical analysis articles, you usually recall a sense of difficulty and stress. I thought critical analysis papers were "long-term assignments given with generous time frames to complete and easily accomplished with resources on hand." However, if there was anything more difficult to write than such an article, it was a test essay. Test essays were the stones on the road to academic success that you can stumble and fall over. The test essays served as miniature analysis papers with no available resources, simply whatever I had studied the night before. For example, my test essay on To Kill a Mockingbird was a blast. Not only had I made worse mistakes than on the First Common Assessment, but I hadn't finished completing the last two paragraphs, including the conclusion. At that moment I was unable to fully analyze and gather my thoughts into a clearly written essay. As I said before, timed pieces are my weakness. However, practice with these types of pieces would further strengthen my ability to write such pieces later. The most important thing to stress as a sophomore is passing the CAPT. It seemed very stressful. And practicing made it seem even more intense. I have never understood the limitations of writing for an essay, in which case how much is too little or too much. Writing too little can cost you points for inadequate analysis, while writing too much means losing points for information that may seem irrelevant or incorrect. For me, I felt that when I practiced the CAPT questions, I felt like I never wrote enough. The conundrum is that the questions are the most basic, but require deeply thoughtful and organized ideas/answers. Timing didn't matter to me on this occasion, but the spaces given were quite deceptive. You want to use as much space as possible, but condense the ideas to fit and add whatever you need. I never felt confident in my answers because I could never balance things, either filling space or filling in details with little space. I hope to be able to work on it in the future. Most of what I wrote was mostly negative. This is because it took me a full year to mature in my writing, and I wasn't ashamed of that. I was quite happy with how everything I had learned from Ms. Mastrobattisto's lesson, my mistakes corrected, and newfound confidence had collided with a tangible energy I was able to possess to write my most recent essay, my Nightly Memory . My organization of ideas, word structure, and descriptions led to the pinnacle of my progress in English lessons. This was quite a feat, as it was my first article to break the “90” rating barrier. From this successful piece I realized that I had created better pieces thanks to the.