2003ers- Memorized Essays vs Adaptive Knowledge of Text (1 Viewer)

[braindrainedAsh]

I know there is already a thread on here for marks but due to the recent SMH article (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/20/1071868698254.html) I thought it would be interesting to see the marks of those who memorized essays compared to the marks of those who learnt about the texts and had an adaptiove knowledge.

So, post your advanced english mark, say if you memorized essays, and also say if you think you would have done better or worse if you had chosen not to do what you did. Also say if your teahcer encouraged/recommended memorizing essays.


I got 90 for advanced english. I didn't memorize essays. I don't think I would have gone as well if I had. I think I could have done better but it was more a preparation thing, I wouldn't go back and memorize essays if I could do it again. My teacher did not recommend it.

 

[Toodulu]

i memorized AOS and mod A and C
worked for the first 2, stuffed up modC.. but only because the bits from the text i studied didn't apply to the question, and i didn't learn backup quotes from other scenes of the play.

i wouldn't say memorizing essays is bad.. i wrote them, and i practised essays and other forms. naturally i would know it very well. also, thinking about how you want to phrase something takes time, and you only have 40 minutes to write down what you spent a term studying.

 

[Ragerunner]

I memorised it for sure.

I haven't even read Cloudstreet. Up to page 40, awful book.

I ripped the trials because I just memorised....

 

[Newbie]

lol that article is funny

it says "One of the most popular websites - jokingly called boredofstudies.org - has been pulled down"

?

and its quotes david yang hehehe he is one of the king crammers at our school

yeah
i crammed like a bitch
92 eng

 

[nerdd]

Originally posted by Ragerunner
I memorised it for sure.

I haven't even read Cloudstreet. Up to page 40, awful book.

I ripped the trials because I just memorised....

haha well i got a tad further than you, but i just bought the excel study guide for cloudstreet and went by their plot summaries and yeah.. memorised themes and "nice sophisticated combinations of words"

 

[Ragerunner]

I know David Yang as well.

He certainly doesn't seem like he is a crammer.

He like knew the HSC maths course already in year 10 or something -_-

 

[Skywalker]

Memorised essays for everything.

Wrote out ~3700 words in 2 hours for paper 2.

English mark = 96

English Advanced is fucked.

 

[mic]

i memorised the ideas from essays and i got 92 in the exam and 91 for my final mark. For me it did work, but I did that partly because I saw ppl who weren't English buffs getting good marks because of that.

I do agree they need to work on changing the exam so it's not like they ask the same q every year.

 

[Newbie]

Originally posted by Ragerunner


He certainly doesn't seem like he is a crammer.

yeah he is heaps good at maths but
you should see him in economics

i think sun herald got the wrong guy
i think they were suppose to get jim yang , who got 97 in eng instead =/

 

[rukawasan]

skywalkers rite... eng adv syllabus is a load of bs... the theme is lame... the questions are repetitive...
i prepared my essays... wrote out a huge essay bt 2000 words for each that covered everything... then just went in2 the exam... wrote it out exactly omitting the irrelevant paragraphs... hehe....
got 95...
i rekon for eng.adv.... dotn blieve in creativity or originality... n dont blieve in subtlety... hit the examiner in the face with the key words... perspective... textual integrity... context... n u'll b fine...

 

[Constip8edSkunk]

memorize definitely, i improved assessment marks by 9 in the HSC exams just by starting to memorise essays....

 

[ND]

I memorised Mod A and Mod B, and had a rough idea of AOS and Mod C. Exam mark was only 90 but i'm not good at english anyway.

 

[babydoll_]

Didn't memorise. I read my texts inside out. I knew that a lot of people from my school went to boredoftudies, and I knew it'd be a bit suss for Module B cos we did an unpopular text

 

[juggernaut]

how do u go about memorising essays? like, how do u shape it accordingly to match the question? i dont understand how it would work..

 

[scarecrow_of_oz]

i sort of memorised my essays though the ones i wrote were broad enough to really be called notes... got 83 in the exam. teachers recommended writing many practice essays tho not memorising any one to coast the exam as the article suggests

 

[scarecrow_of_oz]

Originally posted by juggernaut
how do u go about memorising essays? like, how do u shape it accordingly to match the question? i dont understand how it would work..

i just took a bunch of past questions and possible questions and shaped my essay to cover all of them in a way that it could be adapted to most possible questions that they could ask. i basically wrote notes in essay form

 

[Butterfly_Wings]

I memorised essays for the trials and the HSC, but not for the earlier assessment tasks in year 12. I went much better when I did memorise essays, because I always ran out of time otherwise. Time was my biggest enemy in english, and memorising was the only way i could be reasonably confident I could finish on time and still answer everything I had to. So I am glad I memorised. However-if we had longer to write essays, I would probably wouldn't have memorised.

 

[SmokedSalmon]

Originally posted by Butterfly_Wings
I memorised essays for the trials and the HSC, but not for the earlier assessment tasks in year 12. I went much better when I did memorise essays, because I always ran out of time otherwise. Time was my biggest enemy in english, and memorising was the only way i could be reasonably confident I could finish on time and still answer everything I had to. So I am glad I memorised. However-if we had longer to write essays, I would probably wouldn't have memorised.

Exactly like me.

 

[Newbie]

if you are the gambling sorts of people
guess the questions as well
i guessed 2/3 of the module questions and the AOS essay as well

i take no liability if you decide to do this

 

[samantha m]

i got 83 and was happy. i basically didn't memorise anything but quotes....many many quotes...
for AOS i pretty much knew what i wanted to say for each of my texts, and poems, and just turned it into a speech for the question.easy done. as far as advice goes, if u memorise an essay and it doesn't fit the question, you have limited yourself a fair bit in the themes, ideas and quotes etc that u know for each text...so dont do it.
as for creative writing in AOS, no matter how many times ur teacher tells u to get a seed story together, u dont have to...i didn't and blitztd that question.

im a maniac when it comes to study notes, and i had notes for every section of each topic, eg, for every reading of Lear i knew i had notes on themes, character, language, setting, differences to the original text and costuming...a bit nuts i know.

i knew about 40 quotes for every text and knew i could use each one for many q's

just memorise your study notes i say...then u have more flexibility.

good luck 2004 HSC...u need it