as for getting better at eng i would say you need to look back and reflect on everything you screwed up on and the have to identify what exactly is making you flop. here are some things you could do:
- identify specific problems: not "im bad at adapting essays and answering the q" but smth specific like "my theses are too convulted or too general and dont answer the question" or "i understand what the technique is but idk what it does to add to the overall value and meaning of the text"
- what did you do in the past to prepare and what are the flaws in this method?
- are you dedicating enough time to study for eng? bc if you are fine for other subjects you should spend some extra time on it if its a problematic subject for you.
to fix most problems in relation to english you have to do a bunch of practise responses in relation to the things you suck at e.g. if you suck at writing a thesis, sit down with a bunch of unseen questions, set a 10 min timer and respond to the question with a thesis as best as you can. get feedback on your work (as thorough as possible) and relfect on what went good and what went bad. eng is all about practise in that you need lots of timed practise if you want to succeed in being able to develop a strong answer under timed conditions.
also like 90% of the time i hear people getting the feedback "doesnt answer the q" i swear its because you guys are memorising and regurgitating without considering whether or not the stuff you have is relevant to the question. there is nothign wrong with memorising but blindly regurgitating is the actual problem. not sure if this is the problem you are having but here is some advice is that is what you are struggling with:
- never memorise a full essay. if you need to memorise smth so you dont blank out in an exam go ahead but just memorise the analysis part in your paragraph and not any of the introduction, conclusions or starting sentences in your paragprah bc all of that needs to be written in relation to the question. so if youre writing a general intro or topic sentence that will automatically dock you marks bc you are answering your own question not the question in the exam.
- make sure you memorise the right things. if you write analaysis abt some very specific and unadaptible topic ofc you will struggle with adapting it in an exam. if you have a mod b exam for example, all of the questions have some common central themes or ideas that all of the questions are about. for mod b i sat down and went through all of the hsc past papers and wrote down a list of all of the main topics and then narrowed down what the most recurring ideas were and wrote my analysis according to that. memorise some analysis and make sure you hit all of the points with your analysis (sometimes that means having memorised more than 1 essays worth of analysis).
also finally if you dont care abt your atar and its your fam forcing you idk what to say to you except first its your atar then its gonna be your uni degree that they want to decide for you. no matter how hard someone pushes you and no matter if it works and you do better, you have to think abt how satisfied or rewarded you are going to feel working for something that you dont care abt at all. its a quick way to crash out later in life. ive seen and met so many ppl with 99+ atars or ppl that make it into med that hate it and drop out of uni bc they dont care abt what they are doing and have reeached that that realisation that they wasted away their life for someone else.
imo your parents are not wrong, its beneficial to aim for a high atar even if you dont need it bc it will motivate you to put in your 100% instead of an 80% and provide you with the safety of havign performed well above your rquired atar instead of worrying abt "am i going to get in or not" but otherwise if you need a 90 and your parents want a 99 idk the point in pushing yourself that hard. try to talk to them abt how youre still going to try your best but it may or may not be a 99 bc of eng and also mention that you dont want the 99 and you dont need it either.
