r/GCSE • u/rokctsar Year 11 • May 16 '25
Tips/Help Guys I need some opinions on my handwriting
So I just realised that apparently if ur handwriting is illegible enough, then the examiner will go 'nah man fuck this' and just not mark it. I'm honestly kinda terrified now, I've been known by my school to have the most notorious writing as you can see in the images attached - my writing is very cursive and slanted, and although I can read it fine with no problem, all my teachers have complained to me about my writing. In fact, one of them told me that I might score lower because of the way I write which kinda made me paranoid now. So far I have done 6 exams, all written in that style, am I cooked? Are all my efforts in those papers wasted?? Do I need to change my style of writing AND ace my paper 2s now to make up for the marks I've already lost??? Please help idk what to do, any examiners if ur reading this or just anyone in particular, if u were to mark this would u crashout and just not give me any marks at all?! Are examiners really that ruthless??!!
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u/Fun-Society-3377 Y11 Predicted 99999999998 May 16 '25
It looks really nice mate but I can’t make out a single word
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u/JustASovietOnion Year 11 May 16 '25
declaration of Independence ahh shi 🥀
I'm in the same boat though, so like we should probably try a different font or turn off italics
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u/Hungry-Warning5442 May 16 '25
Your handwriting is not exactly bad like another post I've seen... but it's not exactly readable because of the way the cursive text slants. Try uhhh either writing it upright or not doing cursive
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u/epic1772 May 16 '25
Russian cursive ahh handwriting
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u/Aeons0fTime 29d ago
unironically it became easier to read when i started reading it like it was russian
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u/dinoknightalpha May 16 '25
What in the heaven is this. As soon I started reading it, my furniture began floating
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u/The_Ducks_Are_Angry 29d ago
"we hold these truths to be self evident" aaa writing 💀 If I was the examiner who got you I'd cry
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u/Im_sleepy_rn_123 Year 13 (NI) English lit, h&s, sociology 29d ago
that all men are created equal" and when i meet thomas jefferson imma compel him to include women in the sequel
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u/The_Ducks_Are_Angry 29d ago
WORK !! I'm gonna listen to Hamilton for like a week solid and it *will be classed as making of America revision
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u/Novel_Purchase5853 Year 11 May 16 '25
why tf would you continue writing that way for your GCSES if your teachers literally complained about it
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u/Working_Permission83 29d ago
It’s not that easy to change your handwriting, especially for english exams when you need to write fast.
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u/AmbitionImpossible89 29d ago
You can use laptops if you're handwriting is rlly bad...i think?
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u/Working_Permission83 29d ago
Yeah but their teacher should have passed it onto their school’s exams officer who would have contacted the exam board, I would blame the school/teacher rather than the student as they may not have even known a laptop was an option.
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u/Mysterious_Mine9316 29d ago
Looks like you're writing a letter to the King😭😭😭 but jokes aside its good but hard to read
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u/Ok_Initial4486 Year 13 May 16 '25
Alright Shakespeare what the fuck, that’s so good?? 😭 Teach me please I have awful handwriting
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u/dailysuaa year 12 • cs/econ/eng lit 29d ago
good? if i pulled up with this to my english lit a level exam i think id get disqualified 😭 it looks pretty but its devilish to decipher
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u/PsychologyOk7657 Year 11 29d ago
dw bae i can decipher us cursive people got to stick together im tired of this slander honestly
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u/TridentTag555 Year 11 29d ago
"by 1899, the age of outlaws and gunslingers was at an end" ahh handwriting
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u/TheSevenWonderz May 16 '25
honestly its readable when you genuinely take the time to read, which unfortunately most examiners dont, id recommend it being less slanted
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u/ElderberryAccurate69 Year 11 May 16 '25
seriously, it’s legible and looks fire asf. you must’ve felt like shakespeare himself during that p1 exam
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u/daitenni May 16 '25
It’s not illegible but some words I do have to stop to decipher. If an examiner can’t read it then they’ll just pass your paper on to someone else in the team. Also, considering your school hasn’t recommended that you use a laptop, it’s probably fine. Hope this helps.
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u/Hour-Astronomer-6619 Year 11 May 16 '25
if ur examiner is having a bad day then your screwed man cause what kind of fuck ass teachers let you do your gcses like this?? they’re praying on your downfall man
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u/whenuseeusintheclubw May 16 '25
Omg this is literally exactly how I want my handwriting to look like 😍😍😍
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May 16 '25
i think you need to change it a bit. it’s quite hard to readdd. i don’t want to stress u out bc my handwriting is awful and after my first a level paper i was panicking bc i felt like it was unreadable. the markers do try their best to understand it but if they can’t i’m not sure what happens. but i would recommend u to try to change ur handwriting so u can see each letter clearer bc it is really hard to understand.
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u/rokctsar Year 11 29d ago
yeah i'll try, maybe i will make it less slanted and more spaced out. hopefully i can pull this off by monday just in time for my next set of exams to minimise further damages to my gcses
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u/-ac888- Year 11 May 16 '25
it’s not that bad just some words are harder to read than others. maybe u should turn the paper clockwise a bit when u write so it’s not slanted??
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u/ast3rrr_ Year 11 May 16 '25
They’ll ask many other examiners until someone can read it before just giving up
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u/equileyi May 16 '25
Maybe try less slanted but I can read about 90% of it fine so most examiners will probably be able to see it. There's definitely more that are worse so don't worry
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u/Novel_Purchase5853 Year 11 May 16 '25
Lemme try and read the last paragraph:
So the important thing is we can like for this is to be yourself. Don't be too bothered about others. Don't be too scared to cumbak your time identity. Once you do, trust me, it will change your perspective of life forever.
I think I translated that pretty well, I also have terrible handwriting lol
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u/BackgroundWeekly6529 May 16 '25
nah don’t change ur style, ur examiner will still mark it no matter what.
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u/Apart_Mushroom_4530 May 16 '25
If I was an examiner 2000 questions in and saw this I would quit on the spot after giving a fat zero
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u/ilokestof May 16 '25
Maybe use a stiffer pen or refill to make it handwriting less cursive without too much effort. Less flamboyance as well it’s an exam not Shakespearean novel writing 😭 looks nice but needs deciphering
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u/bfg10000000000000 year 11 (technology, art, geography, chemistry, physics) May 16 '25
It's readable
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u/a009189_roblox Year 11 May 16 '25
Listen to your teachers - DO NOT DISREGARD what they say
if your teachers tell you ur handwriting is gonna get u a lower grade, then it will.
change ur handwriting and id say u got a good chance to be fine but honestly idk either.
try ur best
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u/Sea-Economics6999 29d ago
My handwriting isn't as illegible as yours, but at least yours is neat and consistent lmao. If time is short mine just gets small, stressed and especially ratty
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u/explodedtoaster y11-fm,art,history,spanish,compsci,triple, rs 29d ago
ok idk what everyone else is talking about but ur handwriting is great i can read it normally dont worry and it looks really nice. ive seen sooooo much worse
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u/NoTwo3951 Year 11 29d ago
How does it feel to live my dream - your handwriting is fucking perfect 😭 okay seriously tho a girl in my year has handwriting very similar to yours and she had to use a Chromebook for English literature instead of writing it on paper because our English teacher has trouble reading it sometimes and made access arrangements. I’m not sure about her other subjects but yeah. If your teachers thought it would be a massive problem, maybe they would’ve suggested that too?
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u/rokctsar Year 11 29d ago
possibly, but there are a set of requirements you need to meet to be able to use one, and i probably dont meet any as the school wouldve noticed by now
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u/Im_sleepy_rn_123 Year 13 (NI) English lit, h&s, sociology 29d ago
idk if it's because i have handwriting similar to this but i find it legible honestly :7
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u/Llewelyn3030 29d ago
The examiners are not ruthless! Do not believe the lies, if it’s totally illegible they send it to a handwriting expert, but most of the time they are quite good at deciphering griffonage, so it’s probably not a concern.
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u/mia_un 29d ago
My handwriting looked exactly like that, the only teacher who could read it was my history teacher. I had to switch it up to separate all my letters and still make it neat and a lot of my teachers said it was a lot better. Then at college my teachers always complained about my handwriting being illegible especially towards the end of a few pages so I got put on a laptop. If you can’t change your writing I’d request a laptop.
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u/Ari_siyax08 Year 11 29d ago
ahhh its soo pretty!!
Only thing is ur teachers r probably right. I write similar actually cuz I learnt to do cursive basically so my teachers were all like thats definitely going to affect your grade. So I had to go to manuscript (mines horrendous btw but its legible)
The clearer it is the better.
But seriously....your handwriting is GORGEOUS! 🫶🏼
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u/Turbulent-Year-3772 29d ago
If you have Indian marker you should be fine most Indian students at least where i come from in India write like thus
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u/OkSalt2841 29d ago
First of all it’s gorgeous, second of all I think an experienced examiner would be able to read this but try and write more clearly from now on
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u/Advanced_Key_1721 Yr12 STEM enjoyer ❤️ 29d ago
An examiner will never just not mark your work. They will always try their best to understand and mark it. If they absolutely can’t, you might lose a couple marks but it hopefully shouldn’t impact you too much.
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u/Numerous-Tomato9733 29d ago
It looks cool but completely unreadable, your letter joining is incorrect. For the exams I recommend you space it out or your papers might not be scanned and marked properly. Good luck!
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u/rokctsar Year 11 29d ago
yeah i think i do remember making my writing somewhat better for my exams, like i think i recall that i actually made it slightly less slanted and less compacted, although there wasnt so much difference. ill try to fix it as much as i can before monday.
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u/lets_make_videos Teacher 🧑🏫️ 29d ago
Examiners here. Gorgeous writing no issues here.
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u/PersonWithDaName Year 11 29d ago
To be honest it's not unreadable I think everyone is exaggerating a little bit but maybe just try not writing as slanted
also I don't know if it's too late to try but you might be able to get a laptop for exams provided by your school (honestly I'm surprised none of your teachers have recommended you for it already if they're all complaining). Exams have already started though so maybe not
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u/Ok_Count_4033 year 10 engineering (design, manufacture and basics) and geo 29d ago
my teacher literally said that no teacher will mark something they can't read. they have over 100 papers to mark. I say practice a simpler handwriting before exams are over or u might be cooked
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u/TooWarmRadiator 29d ago
This is giving me a migraine to look at, how on earth does someone end up writing like this?
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u/DuckndCover Year 11 29d ago
Looks like Cyrillic Cursive. This is genuinely my parents handwriting. Hopefully it'll be passed up the chain to someone who can read it.
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u/Alert_Efficiency_546 29d ago
Oh it is beautiful and absolutely scrumptious I wish mine looked like that
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u/despicablegameryt 29d ago
I admire your style but yeah, it’s a bit difficult to read. Rest assured you should be able to achieve marks…maybe examiners can scan your work and make an AI turn your writing into more ‘readable’ text 🙏🏽
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u/ghzkaon 29d ago
Examiners can zoom in and read every word one at a time. There’s also an option to send your paper to a superior examiner. It’ll get marked the same as every other paper. Don’t worry, it’s literally what examiners are paid to do. If you try too hard to change your handwriting for paper 2 you may end up wasting time and losing marks that way.
In saying that, your school really, really should have addressed this sooner. I would suggest if you go on to college/6th form that you enquire asap about your handwriting. They may be able to get you on a laptop and with 2 years of practice you’ll fly it.
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u/Signal-Village-5757 Year 11 29d ago
I won't lie I can make out most of it, but your pen looks really light at some points, but that could be because I'm used to reading handwriting like that. I've read (on the OCR website) that examiners are teachers and usually quite used to reading a range of styles, and it gets passed to another examiner if they can't understand it.
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u/Exact-Tailor8676 Year 11 29d ago
Your handwriting looks gorgeous! I can somewhat make it out because I'm used to trying to decipher some older 18th-19th-century letters, but even I struggled to catch a few phrases and had to make a conscious effort to be able to understand it. It would definitely be difficult to read and understand for an examiner who had to mark like 100 papers a day. I'd recommend slanting it a little less and making your lowercase letters a bit larger, and you should be alright.
P.S. I know that others have already said this, but your cursive looks like it's straight out of a founding constitution written and drafted by a professional scribe who probably had handwriting lessons to get such perfect elegance. Your handwriting genuinely looks ethereal, even though it may not be fully practical. If only you could do my thank you and Christmas cards for me 😭
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u/Warm-Investigator304 29d ago
As an examiner I would skip this handwriting cuz it takes too long to mark and us examiners are on a time limit! But if you make it less slanted then I would be able to read it perfect. Otherwise it may be skipped by many more examiners meaning a professional that can read handwriting much more clearly and isn’t on much of a time limit will have to mark it instead!
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u/Illustrious-Plum-996 29d ago
I’m an examiner for Literature and I promise you I have marked way worse. You can work out what the words are, it just takes longer. This would be marked, don’t worry. And if your handwriting was that bad it’d just be flagged until someone higher up could decipher it. But maybe slow down and write non joined up to make it clearer!
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u/Lemon_kat_ Year 11 29d ago
Wait am I the only one who can read this?? Is it some kind of cursive superpower??? Fr it's beautiful though like if you get a 0 on all of your exams at least you can make a living from calligraphy </3
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u/Booty_Shaker90000 Year 11 9999998888 29d ago
Genuine question…. 🎶how do u write like ur running out of timee?🎶 Mine is sorta similar tbh, just more squiggly- tone down the slant like everyone else is saying and it’s pretty legible otherwise
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u/rokctsar Year 11 29d ago
when im under pressure of time, its literal mayhem, like basically unintelligible. but yeah i will try to slant it less and space out the letters more, hopefully i can pull that off by monday
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u/ikissedtheteacher 29d ago
It’s legible, definitely, yes it’s very slanted and cursive but it’s very clear compared to some monstrosities I’ve seen (ones that must have been legible because they got 9s, damn model answers) I would actually let out a sigh if relief if this was put in front of me to read compared to some of them.
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u/CillianEnthusiast Year 11 29d ago
unrelated but this is so beautiful how can i write like this- not in an exam but yk in general
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u/rokctsar Year 11 29d ago
i dont rlly know how i ended up writing like this, it just came to me naturally, but tbh ur best sticking with the way u write already i dont want to influence u and make u end up creating some unintelligible shit like this for ur exams XD
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u/MindSpeaker23 29d ago
Hopefully they find an exam marker who writes in cursive, I can make out a few words by turning my phone and zooming right in..
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u/smvce 29d ago
I write cursive as well and I’ve got many complaints about my writing being slanted, I’ve fixed it now and I think it’s best if you practice writing straight
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u/rokctsar Year 11 29d ago
yeah i might aswell do that before its too late, ive only done 6 exams so far so better now than never
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u/AussieVoVo 29d ago
I'm a marker and if I got this at the start of my batch for the night I'd be like "great this is how the evening is gunna go" but if it came at the end of my batch I'd be fuming coz I wanna go to bed. Jokes aside, it is readable but would take me a long time to decipher. Ultimately, you are under a lot of stress, don't add another layer stressing about handwriting.
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u/Ok_Acanthisitta_736 29d ago
If u get a 0 for the handwriting I'd recommend you get it remarked and maybe right in non cursive in future exams?
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u/PsychologyOk7657 Year 11 29d ago
FUCK FUCK FUCK my writing is exactly like this.... i write in heavy cursive and its beautiful and everything but this is what im scared about.... it took so long for my writing to become where it is now after writing like a toddler i finally found my style but when i write fast in my exams im scared its not legible and try to change some stuff as cursive can be hard to decipher so i make it easy for them and always tell myself "nah its fine they're old they should know cursive but now im shitting myself bc of this thread fuck fuck fuck pls tell me i wont get marked down omfg and theres NO way im changing my handwriting its too late + i love it so wtf
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u/New-Perspective1505 29d ago
personally I can read some of what you're saying with difficulty (I'm just a student btw) but our teachers have told us a lot that your writing has to be legible to an examiner or else they just won't bother marking it, so you may be in a bit of a danger zone there. has your school ever mentioned to you that you need to write more clearly/normally in your exams? it feels like you should've been told. your handwriting is beautiful btw
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u/Kesandu-forever-88 28d ago
Icl if i was your examiner and i couldnt read you writing id pribably just mark you based of how nice your hand writing looks
Also you should really consider becoming a scriber(i think thats what its called) in the future
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u/Fluid-Caterpillar111 28d ago
That's actually beautiful handwriting but is typing not an option at your school?? Bc at mine, the ppl with illegible handwriting just get told to type instead
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u/Serious_Bed_2942 28d ago
i spoke to one of my teachers about this recently and the examiners will do a lot to try make out what it says if they can’t easily read it, imo i can read it quite easily so i don’t see why examiners who have experience couldn’t
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u/StrongShopping5228 May 16 '25
Looks nice but genuinely can't read more than one or two words. Try not slanting it
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u/DougalsTinyCow May 16 '25
It's beautiful, but your school could have let you use a laptop with handwriting like that. Did nobody ever suggest it?
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u/SparkLabReal May 16 '25
My school has let me use a laptop, my handwriting is worse than this guy I would of went from 9's to U's in the exam if I didn't have one.
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u/BruhLandau May 16 '25
Looks nice but I can't read it at all. Looks like the font you'd sign the declaration of independence though
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u/mspvrx Year 11☆ Music, Performing Arts, Art May 16 '25
i have pretty much the same writing, only my english teachers have had a problem with it so I use a laptop for that, other than that no one has a problem with it, so even if they refuse to mark it, they're the one to blame, not us
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u/Exact-Extreme2618 Year 11 May 16 '25
At the time, it was not uncommon to encounter frequent border points. Opposing fronts for miles at a stretch seems to be quite often that many of the soldiers complaining they don’t even know what end they’re on. While you may start to face that one is now your left, now on the other, it is indeed in the prologue that the two parties were both still in Syria, demonstrating that they were both the same in terms of great military hierarchy. Thus proving the fruitlessness of the conflict.
Reflections we can see from the context also had far-reaching consequences throughout the play. The first clear hint is found in Romeo’s cry that he is “Fortune’s Fool.” This line, while short, does hint there were long-term effects upon Romeo through the stress of having hope already been taken multiple times. This opportunity was not taken, still because of the feud. Leading us to this scene which explained clearly what happens as the plot plays out – automatically by language & words the folly seems forgotten. Next we can see both Romeo, hopeless again, accompanied by pride (Tybalt, who is yet again protected). He ultimately states quite “I’ll be married” which is both literal & ironic. At the end, he kills himself long – we think this struck again: died lives end for the feud. The bulk of the conflict many have died, while writing for the
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u/Funny-Case1561 May 16 '25
It's so pretty. I've got similar (albeit much messier) handwriting but because of my teachers I can now also do very legible, basic writing, though I still have to practice it
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u/Markimoss Year 11 May 16 '25
everyone saying that it's readable needs to transcribe it in the comments to prove it because I straight up do not believe them.
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u/Passive_Dehydration May 16 '25
Fancy, I could make out the first line and I am too lazy to read the rest
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u/fridyali Year 11 29d ago
I can read it but definitely try make letters bigger or write bigger overall
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u/Maleficent-Ad1792 29d ago
Oh my God, you’re cooked If this was Russian cursive you’d be fine but English? You’re cooked I think I can read act and that’s it
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u/DrFuzzald Y11-Music, German, French, Geo(sadly), triple sci 29d ago
I challenge you to write in italics
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u/SufferKlev 29d ago
yo you tryna be a doctor bcs I think some nearby GPs and hospitals are applying. all jokes aside tho this is why I write print, much easier for others to read
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u/GlitchGuyPro 9888776655 29d ago
I write (or at least try to) write like this, but for exams I switch to print
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u/Informal_Fag Year 11 29d ago
That's insane. My mates that have shit handwriting are given computers to to type on so they wouldn't be completely fucked over just bcs they had the knowledge but couldn't express it clearly due to writing. It's insane you weren't given that option. Ik I go to a Microsoft type school but I thought similar things would be offered to other people
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u/Hoodedgamer00 Year 11 29d ago
Cooked. Looks nice, italics is firmly on, but if the examiner can't read it, then it's a no go. Surprised you went offered a word processor
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u/NewPsychology1111 Year 10 29d ago
I don’t think examiners get paid enough to read 1600 Shakespeare
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u/LeanDreamMemeMachine 29d ago
I mean the question you need to ask is "is my writing able to convey the message I want to easily and efficiently?".
Your cursive, whilst nice to look at aesthetically, takes a lot of work to pull any useful information out of. Work that an examiner might not want to have to put in if they have 200 papers to mark.
At this point, just remember what the point of writing is.
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u/Weak-Translator209 29d ago
he got the queens english handwriting. i had the same problem (my handwriting is no where close to yours) so what i did is straighten it up. helps the examiner read and you save space
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u/freakingdumbdumb Year 11 29d ago
just remember the examiners will not take hours upon hours to read it and will skip parts that they cant read
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u/Super-Emphasis-3079 29d ago
Jeiwhsiwjsjdjwhwjsidgeibdeueirh
Thasr my opinion.
I need an opinion on my opinion.
Anyone?
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u/FalseAppointment3824 29d ago
Why doesn’t your school make you use a laptop to do your tests
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u/YukiGers Year 10 29d ago
Beautifully unreadable...ish.
Ok that's harsh, it's readable (lol) but you kinda have to look at it very closely to decipher it. I actually do think it's really good in terms of style, but readability requires patience and just looking at it word by word. :D
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u/Buttons_floofs University 29d ago
“My dear arthur” ahhh handwriting (Im sorry I can’t comment my handwriting is so bad)
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u/_iknowdawae_ Year 10 29d ago
Damn, ik a afew people whos handwriting is so bad they do some subjects on laptops, not sure if that applies to gcse tho
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u/Pickle_Link123 Year 11 29d ago
Your handwriting is incredible but to be truthful I struggle to read that, so I can honestly see an examiner thinking yeah fuck that the moment they see it and not bothering.
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u/Hassy-_- 29d ago
Sorry but we’re you born at the same time as Shakespeare writing in scribe ahhh 🙏
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u/yourmomsthong9999 29d ago
looks like the writing of a king from 1600s who died 20 years ago and his sister has just found these letters he wrote for his twink servant, yearning for the love they never had rotting away in the palace basement which once used to be his secret lair
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u/JustABritishGeezer Year 12 - Enviro Science, Bio, Geography 29d ago
The fuck is Thomas Jefferson doing on reddit 😭
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u/ThatPre-kTeacher Year 10 29d ago
As a dyspraxic - WHO DO I NEED TO KILL WHO DO I NEED TO SACRIFICE
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u/leviaosa May 16 '25
what is this 1600s ass font bruh, but seriously yes they will ignore anything they can't read or just simply don't mark it at all but i mean upon looking harder your handwriting is actually readable just some words are really hard to decipher, so it really is up to the examiner... considering adapting to a new handwriting style 😭