VCE English Question Thread

[clarke54321]

Just curious has anyone managed to write any types of essays within an hour yet? Anywhere close?

I also haven't started timing myself yet. At the moment, I'm more focused on bettering the quality of my writing material. After this, it should be easy to craft a high-scoring essay under timed conditions. I'll probably start restricting myself more and more towards the term 3 holidays

[TheCommando]

How Do i plan my oral presention
Ive researched about my issue already

[zhen]

How Do i plan my oral presention
Ive researched about my issue already

For my plans I just compile all the evidence I plan to use and dot point my arguments.

[Coffee]

Just curious has anyone managed to write any types of essays within an hour yet? Anywhere close?

I also haven't started timing myself yet. At the moment, I'm more focused on bettering the quality of my writing material. After this, it should be easy to craft a high-scoring essay under timed conditions. I'll probably start restricting myself more and more towards the term 3 holidays

+1

Focus on improving the quality of your essays. Once you know how to write a good essay, you can focus on exam technique and minimising the time it takes you to write an essay.

How Do i plan my oral presention
Ive researched about my issue already

Everyone plans differently, but what I found really useful was planning by argument. So if your overall argument is 'We should have a three day school week' and your sub-argument is 'It will give students more time to complete work outside of school', then you'll want to note down any evidence or additional points that you plan to use in your oral to support your argument. Does that kind of make sense?

If you're struggling, it can be helpful to refer to the age-old PEEL structure:
Point - What's your argument?
Evidence - What facts and statistics are you going to use to support your argument?
Explain - How does your evidence support your argument? Why should we accept your argument?
Link - Link back to your overall argument.

[Lavar Big BBB Balls]

Hi,

So I'm wondering for text response, how do I improve/find unique examples/improve my understanding of the text?

I'm doing 'Medea' so it's a short text and I've already made a pretty comprehensive quote bank but I'm not sure what else to do? It feels like I'm using the same examples over and over again, I don't think they're bad but there could be some better that I could be doing?

Thanks

[clarke54321]

Hi,

So I'm wondering for text response, how do I improve/find unique examples/improve my understanding of the text?

I'm doing 'Medea' so it's a short text and I've already made a pretty comprehensive quote bank but I'm not sure what else to do? It feels like I'm using the same examples over and over again, I don't think they're bad but there could be some better that I could be doing?

Thanks

Hey!

I definitely understand where you're coming from. I'm also studying Medea for the text response and feel as though my ideas have run out of zing.
What has helped me, however, is reading the play again. It's been about 4 months since I studied it in class, so refreshing your knowledge can help. For example, perhaps you never picked up on the significance of a quote or are now able to clarify and develop ideas to a greater extent. Have you also tried annotating the text? This may sound pointless if you've already put together important quotes, but it can sometimes reveal unusual things. Unusual in a good way! For example, a single word alone can reveal volumes about a certain character.  It just adds some further originality.

But apart from the above suggestions, it may be beneficial to read others' essays. This may provide you with a new perspective on ideas or interpretations. You can find plenty of Medea essays on AN. I'd also suggest, if you can get access, to read some scholar reports. These are fantastic ways to broaden your understanding of a text and vocabulary!

One more suggestion! If you haven't done so already, try and unpack about 10 different Medea prompts covering different themes. In this way, your forced to consider different arguments and ideas. It will also test how effective your quotes are in relating to a wide range of themes. If you find they're not that effective, look through the play again and perhaps you'll find some more specific ones.

Hopefully this helps

[Lavar Big BBB Balls]

^^^ thanks for the help 

[Ashjames]

Hey everyone!!

I was just wondering how many paragraphs are necessary in a persuasive analysis (vcaa standard)

[amigos]

Hey everyone!!

I was just wondering how many paragraphs are necessary in a persuasive analysis (vcaa standard)

There's no set number, just write enough to show your understanding of the material and task. This might take 2, the typical yet totally arbitrary 3, or 5.

Thattttt being said, advice from VCAA examiners at my school is to have 1000+ words for each essay, so enough paragraphs to write that much? 

[patriciarose]

Hey everyone!!

I was just wondering how many paragraphs are necessary in a persuasive analysis (vcaa standard)

if you mean the argument analysis (if you don't, ignore me, i'm super exhausted right now oops), i think people are getting different advice about it tbh. i'd be aiming for at least introduction, three paragraphs and conclusion (or conclude in your third paragraph) but i know a lot of people who are somehow just doing two large body paragraphs. but three or four (body) seems safest to me, otherwise you either miss out on a lot of content or compact it down a little too much and that'll simplify the standard of your analysis. if you're doing any more than four, you're either a super fast writer (and in that case damn am i jealous) or you're skimming over too much and your paragraphs will be too short. so better to aim for three or four unless there's a desperate need for more. (: but vcaa never actually sets a limit so realistically, you're fine to do whatever you're comfortable with, providing you get all the necessary parts in haha.

[Sine]

Hey everyone!!

I was just wondering how many paragraphs are necessary in a persuasive analysis (vcaa standard)

everyone is different and you won't be inherently marked down for choosing a particular number of paragraphs.

I think most people do an introduction and 3 or 4 body paragraphs (really depends how you want to tackle the persuasive piece, chronologically, by argument, etc) and no conclusion.

[TheCommando]

Is context past study design right?

[amigos]

Is context past study design right?

Yup.

[Ashjames]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how do you incorporate the history of the novel into your text response??

[patriciarose]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how do you incorporate the history of the novel into your text response??

literally anywhere tbh. i want to say it generally fits really well into the intro – ie. A Doll's House is set within the strict constraints of Victorian society – but briefly, because otherwise you're writing a historical report instead of a text response. if there's nowhere it really fits but you know your marker will be looking for it (which is honestly the worst), the introduction's the best place for it because it'll be least out of place there (: i wouldn't recommend concluding with anything like that because it's likely to sound like an afterthought (: