General Thoughts: English Extension 1 (1 Viewer)

Focus is Key

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I thought it was not too bad. The creative was cool and interesting (think I adapted well) but I didn't like the essay and didn't write enough for it. I do crime :)
 
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Amaranth_

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I thought it was a good exam. I really liked the the essay question how it said "at least two or more texts of you own choosing" I think that would have been challenging to a few people

I personally went with 2 prescribed and 2 related, busted out 4 full booklets in about 1hr and 10 mins and spent 50 mins on the creative.
I made up 45% of my creative on the spot, as I thought the question was really good in sorting those out who memorized their story.

Overall I thought it was a really good exam, definitely more challenging than the years gone by

expecting a good 22/25 for Section I
Probably 19-21 for section II
 

jl312

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I really liked the creative too, I even predicted it (somewhat), I already had the 'connection but never met' in mind for my story, but I never thought that would be the stimulus! So I answered the question well but I don't think it was written that well :/

I didn't particularly like the essay either. I do crime by the way :)
 

Lina3

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Loved the creative (did Crime Writing btw)...it fit my prepared story like hand in glove all I had to do was pretty much rewrite it the way it was, although I altered it to include a familial bond to make the connection more 'significant'.
The essay was alright, was pretty rigorous but better than the questions in previous years. I know it said "at least two related" and although I knew three I still went for two...maybe should have done more since the question said 'at least'.
 

Amaranth_

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Loved the creative (did Crime Writing btw)...it fit my prepared story like hand in glove all I had to do was pretty much rewrite it the way it was, although I altered it to include a familial bond to make the connection more 'significant'.
The essay was alright, was pretty rigorous but better than previous questions. I know it said "at least two related" and although I knew three I still went for two...maybe should have done more since the question said 'at least'.
I was also seriously contemplating this during reading time but I knew if I went for three I would sacrifice a detailed analysis, and plus, my handwriting would have been atrocious in trying to keep up with the time.
 

JT145

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ATB question was great. It freaked me out for the first 10 seconds, then realised that power was a recurring motif in all my texts and characters... well they're in all texts.
 

Amaranth_

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ATB question was great. It freaked me out for the first 10 seconds, then realised that power was a recurring motif in all my texts and characters... well they're in all texts.
Same, I do After the Bomb as well. I felt I answered the question really well tbh. Just not sure whether the markers will judge on for only using two related texts.
 

Lina3

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I was also seriously contemplating this during reading time but I knew if I went for three I would sacrifice a detailed analysis, and plus, my handwriting would have been atrocious in trying to keep up with the time.
True, but then it took me like 45 mins to do my creative and I started to regret not doing three since my essay took 1 hr to write, giving me and extra 15 mins I could have used to churn out one more paragraph.
 

SophxMusic

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Loved this exam..
It would have sorted out so many people who went in with completely pre prepared essays and creatives, plus I think the 'responsibility' aspect of the crime question had a few interesting interpretations and the focus on character would have really screwed some people over. I think the questions were fairly challenging, hopefully Crime aligns well :)
12 pages for each section.


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SWilko21

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I thought I did really well. I did 6 booklets for my essay and 4 for my creative. The crime writing questions were quite easy to comprehend and I was able to shape them into the work that I had prepared.
Overall I think I went alright, hopefully I can steal a band 6.
 

Amaranth_

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True, but then it took me like 45 mins to do my creative and I started to regret not doing three since my essay took 1 hr to write, giving me and extra 15 mins I could have used to churn out one more paragraph.
In hindsight, I believe my essay is definitely strong enough to receive a mark in the A box tbh... I'm just not sure whether it would've been a high A box had I done three related texts.
 

JT145

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Same, I do After the Bomb as well. I felt I answered the question really well tbh. Just not sure whether the markers will judge on for only using two related texts.
Doubt it, I reckon most of the state would have done two
 

Lina3

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In hindsight, I believe my essay is definitely strong enough to receive a mark in the A box tbh... I'm just not sure whether it would've been a high A box had I done three related texts.
Hmm now that I think about it...maybe it was better off writing a solid band 6 essay rather than risking quality for quanitity. Personally, I get a bit superstitious when trying to predict my marks XD
 

Amaranth_

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Hmm now that I think about it...maybe it was better off writing a solid band 6 essay rather than risking quality for quanitity. Personally, I get a bit superstitious when trying to predict my marks XD
I agree but I'm definitely confident with mine being at least decent lol :p
 

JBee

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I did crime...
Creative question fit perfectly with my story so got 11 pages for that done in 50 minutes :)
At first glance, I totally freaked with the essay but once I started writing I realised it was actually pretty good

What was everyone's take on 'responsibility?'
I discussed it by saying it is the composer's responsibility to construct effective characters that maintain genre integrity whilst resonating with the concerns of a particular era. Hope that was ok haha
 

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The creative writing was extremely similar what my prepared question was (parallel stories). I just hope the two characters sharing the same disillusionment and being in similar circumstances counts as a significant connection.

I used 9 booklets total.
 

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Really liked the essay question (Crime), I'd already been focusing on the detective so that worked out really well.

I didn't like the creative question, it didn't really trigger any good ideas for me and I ended up writing a series of letters. Not sure I got enough quality in there, although I did manage to cover conventions pretty well.
 

tutorhunt

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both the essay and creative questions were exactly the same as my prepared work, changed a bit in my creative but overall feeling happy. If the cutt off for e4 is 39, I think maybe a 18/25 for the essay, 19/25 for creative. we'll see though haha, very hard to predict english marks... :x
 

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