Hey bored of studies, it recently came to my attention that the syllabus and set of prescribed texts for both English courses in the 2015 HSC year changed, and so the essays from previous cohorts are no longer quite as relevant as they probably were before - but that doesn't mean that they're completely irrelevant, just that they're probably not worth paying for. For this reason instead of selling my essays I think the right thing to do is to give away all the essays I ever wrote in year 12 to you guys!
After sort of dawdling through year 11 English with a rank smack-bang in the middle, I realised that my English aptitude needed to improve in year 12 to give myself the best chance of a great ATAR. This is especially true for students who, like me, are inclined to the more pragmatic fields of mathematics and science compared to literary ones. Play around with an ATAR calculator and you'll see that each mark above 90 in English adds a significant amount to your aggregate (which directly decides your ATAR), whereas the same incremental increase to a maths subject increases it less so. Let this be a warning to those of you who blaze away with your maths while you disregard your English!
English wasn't my best subject as I'm not the most linguistically talented, nor can I think of out-of-the-box conjectures on texts that will blow the markers' minds. Instead, my way to succeed was to 'play the HSC game' as well as I could. That means answering the question as blatantly and obviously as I could. In the introduction, at least a few times in each paragraph and again in the conclusion. Every single line I wrote in my essays during my exams were making a point which was relevant to the question being asked to me. This took a lot of mental energy because it's tempting to just dump the essay you memorised, but it got me the marks. I tried not to be too verbose by using big words for no reason to sound smart. It's confusing for the marker and you want them nodding and not scratching their head - so I tried to emphasise clarity in my writing as a result. Also, I never really gave in to the 'word count' pressure that people felt, I aimed for roughly 1000 words per essay, and with my handwriting speed that was comfortable for me to do three essays in two hours. It was more important to me that I didn't have to worry about the clock so that instead I could focus on attacking the question as best as I could. Markers don't count words anyway.
Finally, I read the syllabus and rubric for the modules. Your style of essay MUST differ according to what you are being assessed against! For me, mod A was about context so I talked about the world and society that the authors and directors lived in when they were making their texts. Mod B was a critical study so I evaluated (a little bit like a film critic) what techniques and structures the speech-makers used, and whether I thought they worked or didn't work for them. Mod C was about representing events - how the playwright or director persuaded or manipulated the characters in the text and us as observers! It was about explaining what tricks the composer did to make us feel a certain way about a particular event or character. This may all be different with your new syllabus and rubric so please don't assume that the modules are still structured the same way. Just recognise that each module is quite different, and so the way you approach analysing your texts should differ accordingly!
My final mark was 95 in the 2013 HSC, and although my external was dragged down by a 9/15 creative in the HSC, that was still an awesome mark. The marks that each essay got are in the word documents attached.
Just a warning: I'm not an English teacher and there is a lot of other good advice about HSC English that you should also consult. You should treat these essays as an example of how HSC essays might be structured, and the sophistication of writing that is band 6 level. They're not perfect and you shouldn't model your essays on these, it's just a good tool for you to compare your own essays to, and potentially glean one or two structural styles from if you find them useful. I've take the time to write this because when I was at your stage of the HSC I used to wonder "what exactly does a band 6 essay look like?" and I'm in a position to provide some to you now.
Best of luck in your studies
Essays dropbox link
At the bottom of each essay I wrote what mark I received for that essay
After sort of dawdling through year 11 English with a rank smack-bang in the middle, I realised that my English aptitude needed to improve in year 12 to give myself the best chance of a great ATAR. This is especially true for students who, like me, are inclined to the more pragmatic fields of mathematics and science compared to literary ones. Play around with an ATAR calculator and you'll see that each mark above 90 in English adds a significant amount to your aggregate (which directly decides your ATAR), whereas the same incremental increase to a maths subject increases it less so. Let this be a warning to those of you who blaze away with your maths while you disregard your English!
English wasn't my best subject as I'm not the most linguistically talented, nor can I think of out-of-the-box conjectures on texts that will blow the markers' minds. Instead, my way to succeed was to 'play the HSC game' as well as I could. That means answering the question as blatantly and obviously as I could. In the introduction, at least a few times in each paragraph and again in the conclusion. Every single line I wrote in my essays during my exams were making a point which was relevant to the question being asked to me. This took a lot of mental energy because it's tempting to just dump the essay you memorised, but it got me the marks. I tried not to be too verbose by using big words for no reason to sound smart. It's confusing for the marker and you want them nodding and not scratching their head - so I tried to emphasise clarity in my writing as a result. Also, I never really gave in to the 'word count' pressure that people felt, I aimed for roughly 1000 words per essay, and with my handwriting speed that was comfortable for me to do three essays in two hours. It was more important to me that I didn't have to worry about the clock so that instead I could focus on attacking the question as best as I could. Markers don't count words anyway.
Finally, I read the syllabus and rubric for the modules. Your style of essay MUST differ according to what you are being assessed against! For me, mod A was about context so I talked about the world and society that the authors and directors lived in when they were making their texts. Mod B was a critical study so I evaluated (a little bit like a film critic) what techniques and structures the speech-makers used, and whether I thought they worked or didn't work for them. Mod C was about representing events - how the playwright or director persuaded or manipulated the characters in the text and us as observers! It was about explaining what tricks the composer did to make us feel a certain way about a particular event or character. This may all be different with your new syllabus and rubric so please don't assume that the modules are still structured the same way. Just recognise that each module is quite different, and so the way you approach analysing your texts should differ accordingly!
My final mark was 95 in the 2013 HSC, and although my external was dragged down by a 9/15 creative in the HSC, that was still an awesome mark. The marks that each essay got are in the word documents attached.
Just a warning: I'm not an English teacher and there is a lot of other good advice about HSC English that you should also consult. You should treat these essays as an example of how HSC essays might be structured, and the sophistication of writing that is band 6 level. They're not perfect and you shouldn't model your essays on these, it's just a good tool for you to compare your own essays to, and potentially glean one or two structural styles from if you find them useful. I've take the time to write this because when I was at your stage of the HSC I used to wonder "what exactly does a band 6 essay look like?" and I'm in a position to provide some to you now.
Best of luck in your studies
Essays dropbox link
At the bottom of each essay I wrote what mark I received for that essay
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