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Guide to Getting HD's (2 Viewers)

stazi

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Added: 1/11/05
This guide will hopefully help future students obtain those elusive HD's.
The cutoff for an HD is usually 85. Whilst in HSC terms this may not seem so difficult to attain, when you get to uni you will realise exactly how hard this is. In some subjects, even with 200+ people doing them, 0-2 students will achieve this high grade.
This guide is more for social science, business, humanities, arts etc related subjects and not for maths. It more details essays as a main assessment tool and will not provide extensive examination success strategies (as these are relatively common sense).
I will also provide attachments and excerpts from my own submissions to show the standard that is required in various facades.
I will not complete the whole guide yet, but will rather progressively add in parts when I have the time.
I will also brag about any high marks that I obtain making you feel as a homosexual at a wood-cutters convention. Actually, I take that back. Gay people love to cut wood. By wood i mean penis. And by penis I mean erection.

I will primarily refer to my FOundations of human resource management essay for this guide. Please also note that I didn't receive an HD for it (got 25/30 = 83.33%). I made one vital mistake which cheated me of that elusive mark, however the way I approached it is exactly what was needed to be done.

Step 1: Analyse the question
Ok, so you get a sheet with the essay questions that you can choose from (or a prescriptive essay depending on the assessment mode). Make sure you look at EXACTLY what the essay question says.
For example, in the HRM essay:
'Australia has to date not legislated for paid maternity leave, unlike most other countries. Assess who should take responsibility for paid maternity leave.
Explain the reasons for your response.'
So what is this question asking? It is already telling you that Australia has not legislated for paid maternity leave (PML). Thus, you do not need a historical background to the PML issue.
It's simply asking who should take responsibility for PML and to explain the reasons for this. How do you assess who should take responsibility? You do this by looking at different sources (which you will find in databases, which will be explained to you when you start uni) that assess who should ideally be responsible (Not who is currently responsible). So you document these approaches and will also obviously need to take a certain stanse for the essay (it's not good enough to say that writer A says govt should be responsible, B says employers should be responsible etc).

More to come...
 
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fush

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don't u have anything better to do, seriously
 

stazi

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fush said:
don't u have anything better to do, seriously
what's wrong with what I'm doing?
I wish someone had a guide like this up when I started uni.
 

Generator

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Ah, the only way to get HDs is to be somewhat bright and to structure your studyand response patterns so that they are both effective and subject specific. Taking a keen interest in the topic at hand helps, too.

Sorry, but I really don't see what a guide such as this will achieve. It should all be common sense, to tell the truth, and if you need it explained then quite frankly I believe that you aren't deserving of an HD.
 

stazi

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It may seem to be common sense, but often people just need a push in the right direction. It took me 1 or 2 assessments to figure out the formula to get the upper marks.
Generator, do you take arts/humanities type subjects?
I'm also going to talk about subverting questions in the guide, which can ultimately land really high marks.
 

MiuMiu

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1. You're a first year
2. There is no such thing as a formula to getting a HD
3. Uni is not like the HSC with common standards between subjects and courses
 

Generator

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For the record, I'm a Science/Social Science student, with most my marks being in the low D range (apart from that single HD... I miss first year). I'm not HD material, but I am well aware of what one must do to attain such a grade, and I just believe that if you cannot work out what to do for yourself (as you did, but in first year, mind), then perhaps you shouldn't be aiming so high.
 

ND

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Since when was business essay writing? Business/Commerce/Finance is a science.
 

stazi

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i dont group commerce and business together (although they are similar)
I more define commerce as the monetary side: finance, accounting
and business as stuff like marketing
social sciences: economics, political economy
 

Sarah168

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economics is not really taught as a social science

that's why we have "economics as a social science" as a political economy course stas :p
 

stazi

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yes i realise that, however it still has social science elemetns no matter how much frank stilwell disagrees with it. it analyses people's behaviours too.
 

Not-That-Bright

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Ah, the only way to get HDs is to be somewhat bright and to structure your studyand response patterns so that they are both effective and subject specific.
I got a hd for an assignment I spent 10 hours on, that I started on the day it was due. Structure / making it look professional I believe has ALOT to do with the marks people recieve. If you cannot structure an essay, and make it look like it's worth a hd, then you will not get a HD.

I'm tempted to post up some of the custom-made word templates I use but i'm too shy :(
 

stazi

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structure is very important. also, how it looks aesthetically - bind it, sexy borders, sexy headings etc.
and u should post a template :) ill sex u for it
 

stazi

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whoa. i just found a site that writes essays for you. $15 a page. fully referenced. professionally done. fucking crazy.

oh and chad, are subheadings acceptable in essays? i never use them.
 

Not-That-Bright

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Whenever it says essay I write in subheadings, unless the teacher has specified they don't like it. Really it follows essay format, it's just more structured and organised.
 

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