Martin_SSEDU
Active Member
How should you prepare for the English Advanced/Standard HSC?
What have you done since the Trial HSC for English? Still waiting until after graduation before you start? Well, in all honesty, a lot of students post Trial HSC don’t even start working on their English until about 3 weeks out from the HSC examination as it’s really hard to decide what exactly you need to do.
If this speaks to you then don’t worry, there is still time.
Coming from my experiences as a 2013 HSC graduate (98.85, Band 6 English Advanced) I have prepared this article for English Advanced or Standard students to better prepare themselves to get a Band 6 result for the HSC. Also, coming from my experiences as a tutor, I have seen this checklist work time and time again for my students in achieving a band 6 or significantly improving.
I felt personally that this forum would benefit from this as I've been answering questions that are all about improving in English Advanced or Standard for the HSC. For the sake of the wall of text, I've split my article up into separate comments. Enjoy!
Step 1 – Understand your Trial Results
The first and most important way to get a band 6 result and start working on English preparation is to interpret your results from previous examinations and most importantly your Trial HSC.
The easiest way to do this is to look at the comments that are provided throughout your essay, marking criteria sheet or a Comments from the Marker on that specific task. You probably glanced at this when you got your results back and didn’t pay much attention to the specific details.
A comment that is often provided by markers is “your essay is lacking analysis” and/or “you haven’t answered the question”.
To address any lacking analysis, look at each of your quotes and your explanations for them and ask yourself whether you are story-telling or breaking it down for the sake of your arguments. In order to do this, you should take less time providing the context of your quote and try your best to add this into the analysis, such that the story actually plays a role in reinforcing your argument. Often, you’ll find that your paragraphs were meant to explore a certain theme or idea but you ended up just explaining the story.
To address the issue of not answering the question, you have to look back at each of your arguments. Each of your arguments must target terms of the question, presenting themes and ideas that that convey your viewpoint. A well-written viewpoint is one that combines the rubric of your module and your own understanding of its significance. You must demonstrate that you are able to provide a thoughtful perspective on the question through your arguments. If you struggle to find this out on your own, do this with a friend who is achieving great results in English or the teacher/marker who gave you those comments specifically
Simply, as you’re re-reading these comments, go through your essay with a red pen and try find out yourself which sections of your essay you believe the comments are talking about. This will give you a set of tasks you need to work on to improve your essay immediately.
Step 2 – Editing your Essay
The editing process is indefinite and can even continue into the exam room as it’s all about what you believe your essay should be.
Although, what should be an obvious step in terms of English preparation it is often neglected. When reading your own work, you will find that it is hard to think you’ve done anything wrong and this is definitely dangerous as you are preventing yourself from improving.
Some important things to look out for when your editing your essay can be achieved by asking the following questions:
• Am I talking about this point for too long? Can I shorten it down to fewer sentences?
• Does my point make sense at all?
• Does my technique work for this quote?
• Does this even make sense?
• Am I answering the question here?
Based on the answer you have on each of the above questions you’ll find that you can scrutinise every sentence of your essay. Sometimes you’ll find that deleting whole paragraphs and analysis points are necessary to making a refined essay in 800-950 words.
Editing should be something you do yourself, but if you’re still finding it hard to get anything done don’t feel afraid to ask the help of others to get you started. Tutors, teachers and your friends may be willing to lend a helping hand.
What have you done since the Trial HSC for English? Still waiting until after graduation before you start? Well, in all honesty, a lot of students post Trial HSC don’t even start working on their English until about 3 weeks out from the HSC examination as it’s really hard to decide what exactly you need to do.
If this speaks to you then don’t worry, there is still time.
Coming from my experiences as a 2013 HSC graduate (98.85, Band 6 English Advanced) I have prepared this article for English Advanced or Standard students to better prepare themselves to get a Band 6 result for the HSC. Also, coming from my experiences as a tutor, I have seen this checklist work time and time again for my students in achieving a band 6 or significantly improving.
I felt personally that this forum would benefit from this as I've been answering questions that are all about improving in English Advanced or Standard for the HSC. For the sake of the wall of text, I've split my article up into separate comments. Enjoy!
Step 1 – Understand your Trial Results
The first and most important way to get a band 6 result and start working on English preparation is to interpret your results from previous examinations and most importantly your Trial HSC.
The easiest way to do this is to look at the comments that are provided throughout your essay, marking criteria sheet or a Comments from the Marker on that specific task. You probably glanced at this when you got your results back and didn’t pay much attention to the specific details.
A comment that is often provided by markers is “your essay is lacking analysis” and/or “you haven’t answered the question”.
To address any lacking analysis, look at each of your quotes and your explanations for them and ask yourself whether you are story-telling or breaking it down for the sake of your arguments. In order to do this, you should take less time providing the context of your quote and try your best to add this into the analysis, such that the story actually plays a role in reinforcing your argument. Often, you’ll find that your paragraphs were meant to explore a certain theme or idea but you ended up just explaining the story.
To address the issue of not answering the question, you have to look back at each of your arguments. Each of your arguments must target terms of the question, presenting themes and ideas that that convey your viewpoint. A well-written viewpoint is one that combines the rubric of your module and your own understanding of its significance. You must demonstrate that you are able to provide a thoughtful perspective on the question through your arguments. If you struggle to find this out on your own, do this with a friend who is achieving great results in English or the teacher/marker who gave you those comments specifically
Simply, as you’re re-reading these comments, go through your essay with a red pen and try find out yourself which sections of your essay you believe the comments are talking about. This will give you a set of tasks you need to work on to improve your essay immediately.
Step 2 – Editing your Essay
The editing process is indefinite and can even continue into the exam room as it’s all about what you believe your essay should be.
Although, what should be an obvious step in terms of English preparation it is often neglected. When reading your own work, you will find that it is hard to think you’ve done anything wrong and this is definitely dangerous as you are preventing yourself from improving.
Some important things to look out for when your editing your essay can be achieved by asking the following questions:
• Am I talking about this point for too long? Can I shorten it down to fewer sentences?
• Does my point make sense at all?
• Does my technique work for this quote?
• Does this even make sense?
• Am I answering the question here?
Based on the answer you have on each of the above questions you’ll find that you can scrutinise every sentence of your essay. Sometimes you’ll find that deleting whole paragraphs and analysis points are necessary to making a refined essay in 800-950 words.
Editing should be something you do yourself, but if you’re still finding it hard to get anything done don’t feel afraid to ask the help of others to get you started. Tutors, teachers and your friends may be willing to lend a helping hand.
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