length of essays (1 Viewer)

[orly?]

how long should a normal essay be?
i wrote 1 a4 page today, couldn't really think of anything..
:mad1:

 

[Forbidden.]

You will definitely lose a LOT of marks for writing a 1 A4 page essay, even if the quality is exceptional you won't earn high marks.

I wrote an A4 sized essay and speech in 3.5 pages and I took over 40 minutes for each. I write an essay worth 3 A4 pages and I'm relatively on time. My handwriting is a messy 16 point font equivalent.

 

[Forbidden.]

What about if you've typed the essay? I prefer Times New Roman in size 9 but I've noticed that a lot of people seem to choose size '11' or '12', thereby making their essays seem longer. :/

Refer to the notes from the marking centre for the English Standard/Advanced Paper for 2006 ... Prepared responses are unlikely to earn full marks. You are supposed to attack the question head on.

And the typed essays (usually small font of 9-12) I see others flaunt before exams are of course ridiculously long as you say, you can't fit it in 40-45 minutes.

You hand-write essays in the external HSC, you don't type. That's why every time I hand an essay in to my English teacher to check, it is always hand written.

 

[Forbidden.]

You should be writing 4 pages in 40 minutes [1 A4 page every 10 minutes]

The more practise you do with your essay writing, the faster you will write.

I'm alliterate so I don't generate ideas straightaway due to the nature of questions, hence this delays my time to implement my ideas in words.

 

[Forbidden.]

You should always have a prepared essay memorised before an exam or assessment. there is ALWAYS a way to manipulate what you have into the question. and whatever you need to change can be done during the 10 minutes reading time/5 minutes planning time you're given. That way, you wont have to waste 10 minutes thinking about what to write.

I do use prepared essays, but ever since I had my first HSC Half-Yearly, I tend to attack the question head-on and use ideas and quotes that've been floating in my head that isn't in my prepared essay, and it takes time to think about these ideas and quotes but at least I have a good understanding of my prescribed texts ... but yeah I don't like English very much.

 

[bloodyfriday89]

how long should a normal essay be?
i wrote 1 a4 page today, couldn't really think of anything..
:mad1:

o rly?

 

[orly?]

i did inclass test essay but i wrote it in small letters about size 9 or 10....

 

[Beege]

I wrote an essay today for my assessment task - 3 & 1/3 pages but still quality > quantity

 

[Loza33]

You should always have a prepared essay memorised before an exam or assessment. there is ALWAYS a way to manipulate what you have into the question. and whatever you need to change can be done during the 10 minutes reading time/5 minutes planning time you're given. That way, you wont have to waste 10 minutes thinking about what to write.

I disagree... i have seen a lot of people do this and lose marks because their essay doesnt fit at all into the question but by trying to manipulate it their essay falls apart and they lose heaps of marks....

I'm not saying dont have good ideas and quotes... but you should know your texts inside out, including good quotes and when you get into the exam it should be easy to answer the question..

Also i say aim for 5-6 page essays.... i dont know... i can manage a minimum 5 page essay or creative piece.... practise, practise, practise... by the end of an english exam, after about 15 pages my hand is killing and my writing is barely legible, but jsut keep at it!

 

[Trebla]

A bare minimum should be 2 pages A4 (32 x 8mm lines). Make sure the material does answer the question effectively and you are as succinct as possible. Some teachers may tell you that you must write 4 pages A4 minimum for each to get a good mark, but that is nothing but a load of crap. Quality is the key. Take it from me, a former HSC student who was in your position.

I managed to write band 5/6 level essays in Paper 1 and especially in Paper 2 for the HSC (not to mention about 5-10 minutes to spare in Paper 2). I only wrote about 4-5 HSC answer booklet pages of relatively large handwriting (4-5 words per line) per question (which only equates to about 2-3 A4 written pages each). Compare that to people who got band 4 writing 8 pages of HSC answer booklets and beyond per question.....once again quality rules over quantity.

Now obviously, unless you're some language genius or have microscopic writing, it is extremely difficult to write a good quality essay within the confinement of a single A4 page. So it appears that you lack the quality of critical thinking and depth. Depending on the text that you're stuyding, you have to analyse SPECIFIC parts of the text to support your thesis. You can't provide a generalisation relating to the thesis unless you support it with specific examples. Therefore you must explain and critically analyse MANY specific parts (about 4-5 parts would be a good guide) of each text throughout the body of the essay. Using many specific examples will strengthen your argument and make you appear more convincing. The more examples the better, but of course you are restricted with time, so use about 4 to 5 examples as an average.

A guide that I used in the HSC for every paragraph was:
Statement - write a small link (I tend to use the compare or contrast approach as the link) from previous paragraph and then introduce the text and/or idea by contextualising it (i.e. providing a background)
Textual support - identify specific literary devices in specific examples of your text(s)
Analysis - analyse the techniques by describing their effects on the reader or audience with relation to the module rubric. Repeat the analysis several times with each example.
Relate - identify the relationship between the techniques and composer's (or composers') message/purpose/context, then relate that message/purpose to your thesis and hence the question (NOTE that this part is where your generalisations appear)

If you follow that guide for each text or each idea (i.e. depending on which style you use), then you should be able to write more than just a page of quality material. You obviously need to have adequate preparation to write very specifically and critically. Therefore, a top quality pre-prepared essay to a very broad question is often a good idea for preparation especially one with several specific examples. Don't memorise it all though, just remember all the main ideas and specific examples you used. Once you encounter the question, select the most appropriate ideas and specific examples from your memory bank and synthesise them into a response.

Hope that helps.....

 

[hopeles5ly]

I disagree... i have seen a lot of people do this and lose marks because their essay doesnt fit at all into the question but by trying to manipulate it their essay falls apart and they lose heaps of marks....

I'm not saying dont have good ideas and quotes... but you should know your texts inside out, including good quotes and when you get into the exam it should be easy to answer the question..

Also i say aim for 5-6 page essays.... i dont know... i can manage a minimum 5 page essay or creative piece.... practise, practise, practise... by the end of an english exam, after about 15 pages my hand is killing and my writing is barely legible, but jsut keep at it!

It's year 12 English. It's nothing more then a rote-learning fest.

 

[Forbidden.]

A bare minimum should be 2 pages A4 (32 x 8mm lines). Make sure the material does answer the question effectively and you are as succinct as possible. Some teachers may tell you that you must write 4 pages A4 minimum for each to get a good mark, but that is nothing but a load of crap. Quality is the key. Take it from me, a former HSC student who was in your position.

I managed to write band 5/6 level essays in Paper 1 and especially in Paper 2 for the HSC (not to mention about 5-10 minutes to spare in Paper 2). I only wrote about 4-5 HSC answer booklet pages of relatively large handwriting (4-5 words per line) per question (which only equates to about 2-3 A4 written pages each). Compare that to people who got band 4 writing 8 pages of HSC answer booklets and beyond per question.....once again quality rules over quantity.

Now obviously, unless you're some language genius or have microscopic writing, it is extremely difficult to write a good quality essay within the confinement of a single A4 page. So it appears that you lack the quality of critical thinking and depth. Depending on the text that you're stuyding, you have to analyse SPECIFIC parts of the text to support your thesis. You can't provide a generalisation relating to the thesis unless you support it with specific examples. Therefore you must explain and critically analyse MANY specific parts (about 4-5 parts would be a good guide) of each text throughout the body of the essay. Using many specific examples will strengthen your argument and make you appear more convincing. The more examples the better, but of course you are restricted with time, so use about 4 to 5 examples as an average.

A guide that I used in the HSC for every paragraph was:
Statement - write a small link (I tend to use the compare or contrast approach as the link) from previous paragraph and then introduce the text and/or idea by contextualising it (i.e. providing a background)
Textual support - identify specific literary devices in specific examples of your text(s)
Analysis - analyse the techniques by describing their effects on the reader or audience with relation to the module rubric. Repeat the analysis several times with each example.
Relate - identify the relationship between the techniques and composer's (or composers') message/purpose/context, then relate that message/purpose to your thesis and hence the question (NOTE that this part is where your generalisations appear)

If you follow that guide for each text or each idea (i.e. depending on which style you use), then you should be able to write more than just a page of quality material. You obviously need to have adequate preparation to write very specifically and critically. Therefore, a top quality pre-prepared essay to a very broad question is often a good idea for preparation especially one with several specific examples. Don't memorise it all though, just remember all the main ideas and specific examples you used. Once you encounter the question, select the most appropriate ideas and specific examples from your memory bank and synthesise them into a response.

Hope that helps.....

Not to mention you must know your text well so you easily remember quotes and use the correct one to support your answer and deal with the question. and one of the outcomes of the English syllabus is the appreciation of the English language ... :mad1:

 

[hopeles5ly]

Not to mention you must know your text well so you easily remember quotes and use the correct one to support your answer and deal with the question. and one of the outcomes of the English syllabus is the appreciation of the English language ... :mad1:

Or you could just write a perfect generic essay and memorize it, as stated before.

 

[watatank]

o rly?

yarly

 

[beautifuljen]

Hey

I have been told that u should write 4 paragraphs on prescribed text, 2 paragraphs on stimulus booklet and then 2 on each of ur related material

thats a pretty long essay maybe 3-4 pages

 

[Trebla]

That depends on what length you define each of your paragraphs if you are writing per text. For the Area of Study, half to three quarters of a page should be enough per text if you can be successfully succinct in your language. That should roughly equate to two A4 pages (which I had noted as a bare minimum) including introduction and conclusion. Otherwise, if you can't be succinct, most people take at least one page per text. For Modules A and C, you should be spending more detail on each text so about one A4 page per text would be appropriate if you are succinct. Otherwise, most people take about 1.5-2 pages per text.

For any module, you should treat each text equally, so do not let your related texts be overshadowed by your prescribed texts.

In the end, it's all about quality. Just make sure you get all the relevent information in. I got away with writing about 2.5 A4 pages for each extended response, so can you....