writing essay plans (1 Viewer)

[Shona_]

Hey! Hope everyone is going ok after the first few English exam...i was just wondering do you guys ask for a separate booklet to write your essay plan (if u write one) or do you write it before your essay or on the back of the writing lines?

 

[Shona_]

Thanks...good tip...i wrote it yesterday before my essay in case i ran out of time and they could see what i planned to write but yeah i think i will do what you said. Good luck 2!

 

[erin88]

i always just write it on the question booklet why waste more paper eh? you take it with you in the end anyway good luck

 

[joopeth]

Thanks...good tip...i wrote it yesterday before my essay in case i ran out of time and they could see what i planned to write but yeah i think i will do what you said. Good luck 2!

This is exactly what i did. However, i think it was time wasted in hind sight, as i didn't get enough time for other sections. In paper one 2005, i used 5-10mins for planning and 60 mins for writing the essay... way too much indeed.

 

[Rafy]

ideally, planning time should be 0.

I myself never have done a plan during an exam. Its a waste of precious time! 5-10 mins? You could write at least 2 BOS pages in that time

 

[jdrockefeller]

I spent 5-10 minutes yesterday working out a plan for Section III. Wrote it on the inside cover. Definately worth it as it made my essay much more coherent, and I could keep checking it, to make sure I didn't leave anything out. I tend to waffle without an essay plan...

 

[seremify007]

I usually don't plan- I just use my prepared essay structure and adapt it.

 

[goan_crazy]

definitely worth writing a plan
that way if you don't finish, at least it will show the markers what you were gonna write about.

 

[Rafy]

definitely worth writing a plan
that way if you don't finish, at least it will show the markers what you were gonna write about.

Actually, it reveals to the marker that you in fact DIDNT finish. If you run out of time, just wack a conclusion on the end, they wont be able to tell the difference. As long as you got 3/4 of your essay there it wont be noticable.... And after about 3/4 of your planned essay, yourve got most of your marks anyway. No reason to then tell them that you in fact didnt finish it

 

[Kwayera]

People actually have time to write a plan?

 

[seremify007]

I heard that markers don't look at the plan...

 

[Rafy]

I heard that markers don't look at the plan...

they dont.

 

[Shar]

Yeah I did a plan yesterday and it really helped cause I wrote the quotes I knew I would forget down... but I seemed to run heaps out of time because I was thinkign and not writing. Is everyone memorising for thurs or having an outline?

 

[Rafy]

I have the outline memorised so i dont have to write it down.

 

[aurora_05]

I do an essay as it generally helps with direction. And then if you don't finish, as long as you haven't crossed it out the markers will look at it and see the direction you were going. I mean, it might only get you one extra mark, but that could be the difference between a pass and a fail...IMO anyways.

 

[mishka]

if you set aside 5 mins at the start of an essay (it can be less than that if you know your stuff!) you can make a decent plan.

I went to a study seminar last year before my HSC - the BOS paper is one sided so you can write notes on the blank sides of the page. The blank pages are not marked.

However, I also heard that if you write a plan on the lined side of the page, the examiner can give you marks, if, as goan_crazy pointed out, you run out of time. If you plan properly, you can have a sound structure of knowledge and the examiner can see what you intended to write.

I never planned my responses and was always told I had good content but it didn't "flow" as well as it could have. As soon as I started planning my responses, my marks improved because my essays were much smoother.

Even short answer questions can be planned - underline the important concepts and terms (and the instructional term!!) and do a couple of dot points before your hand starts working faster than your brain

 

[seremify007]

I've seen some people highlight in exams before... not sure if that's a great idea or not- I tried it once and my marks didn't seem to change much.

 

[mishka]

some people like to highlight the key concepts and things like you said..

others go to the extreme length and highlight important points in their essay (like a key words) to emphasise to the marker that they know what they're on about.

 

[goan_crazy]

if you set aside 5 mins at the start of an essay (it can be less than that if you know your stuff!) you can make a decent plan.

I went to a study seminar last year before my HSC - the BOS paper is one sided so you can write notes on the blank sides of the page. The blank pages are not marked.

However, I also heard that if you write a plan on the lined side of the page, the examiner can give you marks, if, as goan_crazy pointed out, you run out of time. If you plan properly, you can have a sound structure of knowledge and the examiner can see what you intended to write.

I never planned my responses and was always told I had good content but it didn't "flow" as well as it could have. As soon as I started planning my responses, my marks improved because my essays were much smoother.

Even short answer questions can be planned - underline the important concepts and terms (and the instructional term!!) and do a couple of dot points before your hand starts working faster than your brain

Yep its true... A BoSer I know that finished last year who I will leave nameless coz they'll kill me if I said, didn't finish nearly a whole essay but did a detailed plan for that essay and they managed to still get high 80s for english advanced
so yes, plans help

I definitely am going to do a plan tomorrow especially for King Lear!