How can anyone finish the English 2 paper!? (1 Viewer)

[thaoroxy2001]

Seriously! how can anyone manage to finish the 2nd English paper? There was sooo much to write!

Our school did Ros&Guil/Hamlet, Cloudstreet and Frontline. I wrote 5 pages for the Hamlet one and 7 pages for cloudsteet and 3 pages(unfinished) for Frontline and I still didn't finish. I ended up getting 84%

If anyone is doing Cloudstreet, can you give me any advice on how I can cut down on the size of my essay? What do you think is necessary?

 

[Misturi]

You have to time yourself.

I always try and stick with the allocated time given.

I also practice at home to try and write as much as you can within the time limit.

 

[Sarah168]

7 pages for cloudstreet isnt unreasonable. I wrote about 7-8 lecture pages (more if you are using BoS booklets) for each of my essays and I have regular handwriting (cursive though). Yes, it kills you in the process but by practicing, you should get your speed up rather than cutting down essays lengths.

 

[Gavvvvvin]

I dont understand how you people can even write like 15 pages . . . it just isnt physically possible!

 

[townie]

i'm lucky, i write quickly, but messily, very, very, messily

 

[silvermoon]

I dont understand how you people can even write like 15 pages . . . it just isnt physically possible!

well, of course its physically possible...you just, you know, keep moving your hand!!!
i agree with sarah - just do lots of practice rather than cutting back your essays.
if your a slow writer, thats unfortunate, but you have to practice writing to a time limit - dont go over 40 minutes per piece - remember all three modules are equally weighted, so there's no point in spending 10 extra minutes on one text to gain 1 more mark if its going to cost you 5 marks from another paper. believe me, i have a problem with time management too - really sux. lotsa practice is the only answer.

 

[Sarah168]

Key Idea: No thinking in english exams (Except, of course, the question and some other obvious things). Everything must be known back to front and in a variety of orders for manipulation. Keep the pen moving in time with your brain. Once you get that down pat, off you go!

I have said this before, but not a second should be wasted twiddling a pen and looking around.

 

[:: ck ::]

i have learnt my lesson to time myself properly

i had 20 mins left and a whole frontline essay to do XD

boy did i write fkn fast!! hahah

i finished... wrote like 6 pages =]

overall did quite well in paper 2... wudda done better if i had timed myself

 

[the xc3ption]

you wrote 6 pages in wat 20mins???
was that BoS pages? and like big or small spaced out writing?

i managed to write 5 pages of medium sizedwriting of free leaf sheets for the AoS Section III Q (practice) - but that was a prepared answer too!- and i think our teacher gave us 50- minutes

Trials Paper II- hmm... i finished but only managed to write 5 pages for each response. Overall i didn't do as well as i had hoped for: 50/60 (just paper II) in the end...

 

[silvermoon]

hmmm, yes 6 oages in 20 minutes does sound like an awful lot - oh, unless it was hsc booklet pages? thats possible.
heh, was it illegible?

 

[dark`secrets]

in one of my comments
the teacher told me to write bigger and complained i have messy hand writing

but yes time management is a major factor in completing all exams

 

[Suvat]

Unless you're one of the gifted few, the only way to stand a chance of finishing the paper with band 6 quality writing (or close to it) is to memorise your paragraphs *word for word*. 40 minutes goes by far too quick and basically, you barely have any time to think in the exam and such time should be used to mould your introduction, conclusion and topic sentences to fit the question, not about how you should word and structure your paragraphs.

 

[silvermoon]

in one of my comments
the teacher told me to write bigger and complained i have messy hand writing

but yes time management is a major factor in completing all exams

they dont worry too much bout your handwriting - if its really messy than its recommended that u write on every second line instead of every line - makes it easier to read.

 

[Kimmi_R]

by paper 2 do you mean moduals? we are doing antony and cleopatra, brave new world and bladerunner and speeches. i get about 4-5 pages for each modual bout 45 mins for each. journeys is pretty easy if you know the techniques in the texts. we are doing imaginative. what are you guys doing? howd it go in the trials?

 

[silvermoon]

Unless you're one of the gifted few, the only way to stand a chance of finishing the paper with band 6 quality writing (or close to it) is to memorise your paragraphs *word for word*. 40 minutes goes by far too quick and basically, you barely have any time to think in the exam and such time should be used to mould your introduction, conclusion and topic sentences to fit the question, not about how you should word and structure your paragraphs.

not true! the key is just knowing your material well - if you memorise word for word you are almost guarenteed NOT to get in band 6.

 

[imsooverskool]

not true! the key is just knowing your material well - if you memorise word for word you are almost guarenteed NOT to get in band 6.

i have 2 dissagree with you! i wrote all of my eng essays and memorised them before the exam and had every paragraph memorised, all i had to do was mould the intro, topic sentences anc conclusion to the question and bingo i got myself a band 6. U cannot go into a 2hr eng exam and create the indepth essay that is required if u do not have a pre prepared answer that you know off by heart. The key to writing heaps is knowing what you need to write and just splashing the info from ur brain onto the paper WITHOUT STOPPING to think

 

[silvermoon]

yes, i agree that you need to be able to keep writing solid for the exam without stopping to think - which you can do if you know your material well. the problem with memorising your paragraphs is that quite often you spend just as much, if not more, time thinking 'how can i change that to fit in with the question they've asked' than you would if you were writing from what you know.
also, it is fairly easy to tell when a person has rote learned paragraphs - i know many ppl dont really accept this, but you can tell the difference.

everyone's different though. maybe you're very good at manipulating what you memorised (in which case it would have been just as easy to just know your stuff!) but the vast majority of students aren't.

nothing beats thoroughly knowing the material.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

by paper 2 do you mean moduals? we are doing antony and cleopatra, brave new world and bladerunner and speeches. i get about 4-5 pages for each modual bout 45 mins for each. journeys is pretty easy if you know the techniques in the texts. we are doing imaginative. what are you guys doing? howd it go in the trials?

Heh.
I'm doing the exact same combo of modules as you, starting next term
I didn't think many people would do the same three electives.

 

[Kimmi_R]

yeah neither did i! ah well good luck with, i am really not doing great at journeys and speeches at the moment, there are too many speeches to remember techniques and meanigs of all of them!! goodluck with your exams!

 

[*rinney*]

i reckon the best way to tackle Paper Two is to definitely stick to the 40 minute time slot for each section...as soon as that forty minutes is up - MOVE ON! They're all worth the same remember so you gotta give them all an equal chance. I recommend finishing the essay about 37 mins so then you have a coupla minutes to plan the next essay and switch your mind over...

And remember, it's quality, not quantity - you might be able to write 20 pages, but it would probably be a load of farkin bullshit. I managed to get 20 outta 20 for my Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Trial Exam and i only did 4 and a half normal A4 pages. Just get straight to the point and watch the time is my advice! And keep your cool...if you have a mental blank, then don't sit on that question for ages...move on and come back to it!