Creatives (1 Viewer)

[Riproot]

For a creative writing piece does it matter how long it is?
If I write the best story ever in 500 words does that matter?
I ask this because I was really planning on spending most of my time writing a killer essay in the Paper 1 exam because I need to match the Advanced students and then just writing a really good, but short creative.

 

[pwettigurl]

Actually it does. The Board specifically states it must be at least 800 words.
My Teacher made one of my friends lose marks within the trial because his story was 600 words...and gave him a C grade -.-

 

[Aerath]

Actually it does. The Board specifically states it must be at least 800 words.

I've never seen, or heard of this. Is there a link somewhere you can point to?

Although, that being said, it'd be difficult to get away with writing a brilliant story (without seeming like you rushed the ending with some: 'then I woke up, and it was all a dream' bullshit) in 500 words. Although, I swear my creative was about 750 words in the HSC, and I got full marks for it, so I don't know where pwetiigurl pulled 800 from.

 

[Riproot]

Actually it does. The Board specifically states it must be at least 800 words.
My Teacher made one of my friends lose marks within the trial because his story was 600 words...and gave him a C grade -.-

Really? Where does it say this? I've written a few essays in around 700-780 words that have gotten 18-20. But I do standard. Haha. Also, my creative for trials got 13 and I did like 600ish. And the same teacher gave me 13/15 for a speech with like 600 words and another short story I did got 14/15 with around 600 words.

I've never seen, or heard of this. Is there a link somewhere you can point to?

Although, that being said, it'd be difficult to get away with writing a brilliant story (without seeming like you rushed the ending with some: 'then I woke up, and it was all a dream' bullshit) in 500 words. Although, I swear my creative was about 750 words in the HSC, and I got full marks for it, so I don't know where pwetiigurl pulled 800 from.

Nah, I don't rush them. I make sure they have a pretty basic, but interesting storyline that could tie up nicely in 200 words and then describe the shit out of everything.

 

[Aerath]

Nah, I don't rush them. I make sure they have a pretty basic, but interesting storyline that could tie up nicely in 200 words and then describe the shit out of everything.

Well, try to tease it out to 700 words. Even if you have planned to write 500 words, the marker won't know that, and instead, may think that you didn't allocate time proportionately to your creative (as a lot of students do - for some reason it always is taken 'less seriously' than the essay, although in terms of marks per word, it's worth a lot more), and may subconsciously deduct marks accordingly.

 

[pwettigurl]

I've never seen, or heard of this. Is there a link somewhere you can point to?

Although, that being said, it'd be difficult to get away with writing a brilliant story (without seeming like you rushed the ending with some: 'then I woke up, and it was all a dream' bullshit) in 500 words. Although, I swear my creative was about 750 words in the HSC, and I got full marks for it, so I don't know where pwetiigurl pulled 800 from.

Sorry don't have a specific link, BUT my teacher is a Senior HSC Marker so he must know what he is talking about. 700-1000 should be enough.
But anyhow, its about quality not quantity, and if you can pull off a great story with only 500 words...thats great and saves you loads of time=]

 

[determine]

With regards to the whole at least 800 words thing, this is for humanities subjects and the essay sections - e.g. Economics and Business Studies. You will find a notice at the top of the 2010 HSC papers for these 2 subjects which says something along the lines of "the expected length of this response is 800 words". However, there is no such notice on English papers, so word length is up to you!

 

[Aerath]

Sorry don't have a specific link, BUT my teacher is a Senior HSC Marker so he must know what he is talking about. 700-1000 should be enough.
But anyhow, its about quality not quantity, and if you can pull off a great story with only 500 words...thats great and saves you loads of time=]

No offence, but EVERYONE'S English teacher is a Senior HSC Marker. It appears there's a Senior HSC Marker in every school in the state, and it just happens that BoS students -happen- to be in the Senior HSC Marker's class.

You also said earlier than less than 800 words would be penalised...but now you're saying 700 words is ok?

do creatives have to end though? can't you leave it at a cliffhanger?

A cliffhanger is fine - there's a difference between a cliffhanger and not timing your creative well enough that you run out of time. Markers will know how to differentiate between the two.

 

[Omnipotence]

There is no word limit in English but the obvious is 800 - 1200 words.

 

[powlmao]

Actually it does. The Board specifically states it must be at least 800 words.
My Teacher made one of my friends lose marks within the trial because his story was 600 words...and gave him a C grade -.-

Actually they say it should be my English teachers said that there is no word limit but there is an expected amount

 

[slyhunter]

800 doesn't take long to write...

 

[RookieLaw]

Depends how fast you can write, lol

 

[pwettigurl]

No offence, but EVERYONE'S English teacher is a Senior HSC Marker. It appears there's a Senior HSC Marker in every school in the state, and it just happens that BoS students -happen- to be in the Senior HSC Marker's class.

You also said earlier than less than 800 words would be penalised...but now you're saying 700 words is ok?

That's just what my teacher said, he said 800 words is good, I think he just penalized my friend because his story was just too short. And besides, its not like they will count how many words you've written-- like hell they have time to do that.

~ 700 thats alright, but then again, quality not quantity. =]

 

[slyhunter]

Depends how fast you can write, lol

Well at this stage in the HSC, 800 words would kinda be expected at the very least...

 

[Riproot]

No offence, but EVERYONE'S English teacher is a Senior HSC Marker. It appears there's a Senior HSC Marker in every school in the state, and it just happens that BoS students -happen- to be in the Senior HSC Marker's class.

My teacher is definitely not a senior HSC marker. Haha. Very far from it. But we do have two English HSC markers at our school (One Adv and one std).

800 doesn't take long to write...

For me it does… if I spend 50 minutes on my section 3 essay I'll probably just scrape 1000 words. :/

What if I write like 6 pages but my writing is big? Will they care? I could make it about 650 words.
But tbqh, I won't know how much I write until the day because I'm making it up on the spot.

 

[SpreadTheWord]

Actually it does. The Board specifically states it must be at least 800 words.
My Teacher made one of my friends lose marks within the trial because his story was 600 words...and gave him a C grade -.-

Thats a load of bull. I've seen one that had written 501 words an gotten 13/14 out of 15, and my teacher marks exceptionally hard. It's about quality, not quanity. Similarly like science, succinctness over quantity.

 

[SpreadTheWord]

do creatives have to end though? can't you leave it at a cliffhanger?

I believe they do. Like for example, Im doing a fight club (correct me, im not sure on right name) movie scenario (it's not about this obviously, but it uses the same idea). You think its two people, but in reality the person im slating is myself.

 

[acehscwebsite]

What if I write like 6 pages but my writing is big? Will they care? I could make it about 650 words.
But tbqh, I won't know how much I write until the day because I'm making it up on the spot.

That is going to me a massive risk.. it's best to go in with ideas!

 

[MrBrightside]

do we need a title?

 

[Riproot]

That is going to me a massive risk.. it's best to go in with ideas!

I always make up my creatives on the spot.
That way if they ask for a specific text type that isn't narrative I won't get freaked the fuck out.