ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE English & EAL => Topic started by: Yitzi_K on August 19, 2010, 09:59:59 pm
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I'm pretty good at writing essays, b"H I'm consistently getting high marks on all the ones I've done for homework. However, these essays usually take me far too long to write. A text response can easily take me two hours or more. I know in the exam you only get roughly one hour per essay, so obviously I need to speed up my essay writing considerably.
Does anyone have any tips on how to do this? Obviously the more I practice the quicker I should get, but I was wondering if there are any other methods.
Just to clarify, my problem is not the actual writing. I can churn out 1000+ words of text in an hour relatively easily. My problem is with the formulating of the essay in my head, this just takes me too long.
Also, what length should A+ essays be? I've heard they should all be at least 1000 words, but I know someone who got 44 in English who said he only had about 700 words per essay.
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Given topic/prompt, use the following methodology as a means for comprehensive planning (pre-write up):
1.
INTRO
PARA1
PARA2
PARA3
CONCL
2.
INTRO broken down into primary contention and augmentative rhetorical priors (1 or 2)
PARA1-3 ... topic sentence and wrap up availed for each therefore depicting 3 unique propositions along a single, central line of thought and argument.
CONCL is an enlightenment opportunity to summarize PARA1-3 in a manner which connotes with the INTRO and without admitting new literary elements.
3.
Write up 2 sentences for each of the 5 paragraphs (INTRO, 1-3, CONCL).
Determine whether they're suitable as a start or wrap up for the paragraph and assess for grammatical correctness.
Start filling in the gaps based upon your starter feed, ie. those 2 seed sentences per paragraph
EG Topic: The cat sat on the mat. Discuss.
INTRO:
There are 2 identifiable entities of concern - a cat and the mat.
We wish to analyze the relationship between our object (mat) and the subject (cat) the likes of which are connected via some act of trangression (sat).
PARA1:
The objectivity of our topic cannot be refuted. The cat indeed sat on that mat. Conversely, "the mat was sat on by the cat" also renders consistency.
A reasonable assertion would be extended along the lines of structural punctuality backwards and forwards given the prompt.
PARA2:
There is insufficient context to determine veritable cause and effect. The authenticity of the purported incident cannot be reconciled in the absence of further disclosure.
We can only derive from the facts provided that it was the cat which sat on the mat and not the other way around. Any other statement tendered would risk becoming unreliable.
PARA3:
Order and precedence is of priority concern. We have 2 discernible entities and one instance of positive action, the conduct of which had bought to bear the relationship between those aforementioned entities.
The mat came before the cat as it would be inextricably improbable for a sitting cat to, without cause, all of a sudden have a mat appearing beneath it.
CONCL:
It may be ascertained with reliable assurance that the relationship commenced at that initial point of inception whence said mat became the object of buttressing support for said cat.
The cat was the instigator whose evocative imposition had bought forth substance on the matter of an identifiable relationship in existence between itself and the matter upon which it decidedly sat.
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All the 3 essay sections follow a formula. At the end of the day, you're simply writing a variation of what you've written a hundred times, but making minor adjustments for the topic/prompt/contention.
Have the structure in your head, and the rest is just fill in the blanks.
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LOL @ the cat sat on the mat thing :D
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All the 3 essay sections follow a formula. At the end of the day, you're simply writing a variation of what you've written a hundred times, but making minor adjustments for the topic/prompt/contention.
Have the structure in your head, and the rest is just fill in the blanks.
agree totally with this. i find writing new essays can take me 2hours+ too although im not that worried about it because in the exam you will basically just churn out what you've already written with minor altercations to suit the prompt
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Just keep in mind that you will write faster as well under the time pressure and also the slight adrenaline rush you get as a result. I sometimes took 5-6 hours to write a single essay, but once you start mentally writing faster by repeating what you've already written, together with the benefit of physically writing faster as well, then you should be fine.
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I'm with Yitzi, i can't write essays in an hour! But, when I was in year 10 I used to be able to. It's weird and frustrating. I've got the same problem in that I just take ages to think of the next sentence or make it relevant...usually I find my sentences all sound the same structure wise so i need to pause and think of how to repharse things and make it relevant to the topic. I think my biggest problem is dealing with the topic in enough detail, I simply can't think of what content to write.. not to mention vocab issues.
Do you guys just suggest we learn how to write to time first then perfect content of the essay? at this rate I'm not going to get anything up in the exam.
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I'm with Yitzi, i can't write essays in an hour! But, when I was in year 10 I used to be able to. It's weird and frustrating. I've got the same problem in that I just take ages to think of the next sentence or make it relevant...usually I find my sentences all sound the same structure wise so i need to pause and think of how to repharse things and make it relevant to the topic. I think my biggest problem is dealing with the topic in enough detail, I simply can't think of what content to write.. not to mention vocab issues.
Do you guys just suggest we learn how to write to time first then perfect content of the essay? at this rate I'm not going to get anything up in the exam.
It'll actually be better the other way round, that is, perfect the content of the essay, then write fast. There's no point writing fast if it's full of crap. So once you get your head around your ideas etc, you can then try and speed up your writing.
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but...what if on the day on the ewxam i end up with three incomplete essays? =/. Better to have average and complete than above average but incomplete?
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I would think the intro and body paras account for the majority of the marks and the conclusion the least, so if you think you're not gonna finish maybe skip the conclusion and go on to the next essay and if you have time go back to the conclusions. Although this might not help that much because you're ideas might be lost and then you might have to skim your essay b4 writing those conclusions consuming 1-2 minutes of your time
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I did a practice English exam today, the full 3.15 hours.
I did manage to get all three essays complete, however they were all about two pages long, which I'm sure is not enough. Having said that, the context piece was a content issue, I had the time to write another half-page but I had nothing left to say.
My biggest problem really is sentence structure and vocab choice, I spend way too long agonising over individual words and sentences.
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but...what if on the day on the ewxam i end up with three incomplete essays? =/. Better to have average and complete than above average but incomplete?
It's difficult to say. I didn't end up writing the conclusion for two of my essays (Context, Text Response) but I still did okay and managed to pull out an A for the English Exam. My context essay was really short too ~400-500words but my text response was slightly longer ~900 words.
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Yeah conclusions don't have the bulk (if any) of you're intentions or points so it's better to have 3 incomplete essays (with no conclusions) as opposed to 2 complete essays and 1 without a conclusion and body para
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Really? my friend told me intros are the worthless mechanical bits and conclusions are the bits where u can prove yourself...
thanks for your input though. I tend to take ages thinking of my intro and first para, and then after that it flows normal, so i think the problem is the starting bit.
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but my history teacher said that teachers look at your intro and conclusion first, and then if they think your writing is good enough, then theyll be bothered reading the rest (body paragraphs)
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Sorry that was just my assumption, I thought they would read the intro first then periodically through the body so it correlates to what you write in the intro
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i heard only lazy-in-it-for-the-money examiners read intro and conclusion first. The others give the whole thing a proper chance. I think all this speculation is just worsening the nerves.
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4 dollars an exam paper, you better read the whole thing
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i heard only lazy-in-it-for-the-money examiners read intro and conclusion first. The others give the whole thing a proper chance. I think all this speculation is just worsening the nerves.
There is no money in correcting VCAA exams. All VCAA employees are overworked and underpaid- perhaps something that should be factored when sitting exams (i.e. do not enclose love letters, bribes or write your exam in blood, because they're highly unstable and may snap after persistent abuse)
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There is, I heard they get paid.
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But very little given the workload (according to some of the VCAA examiners that teach at my school)
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yea, they usually do it for experience and to get an understanding of what examiners are looking for. My math teachers never do it LOL but the english ones do it. I think it's important for language teachers to do it.
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i heard only lazy-in-it-for-the-money examiners read intro and conclusion first. The others give the whole thing a proper chance. I think all this speculation is just worsening the nerves.
There is no money in correcting VCAA exams. All VCAA employees are overworked and underpaid- perhaps something that should be factored when sitting exams (i.e. do not enclose love letters, bribes or write your exam in blood, because they're highly unstable and may snap after persistent abuse)
Uh they do get paid, can't remember how much though per hundred exams :\ My teacher told me and then I forgot!
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i think my teacher got paid 2k to mark 300 BM exams, but yeah it's mostly for experience for their students in the next years to come
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lol, hence the maths teachers usually cbb, since after a while the marking scheme is always the same.
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There's very little real money in marking essays, most of them are there because they're either teachers looking for experience or retirees looking for extra money
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There's very little real money in marking essays, most of them are there because they're either teachers looking for experience or retirees looking for extra money
Would you know much are we expected to write per essay in the exam in order to do well?
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"enough"
Word count is secondary to expressing your ideas and arguments appropriately
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sometimes I get 9s with only 3 body paras.
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sometimes I get 9s with only 3 body paras.
I'm pretty sure I only ever wrote 3 content paragraphs in year 12 and I did fine.
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oh, thats good to know :). Out of curiosity, what did u get? you can just say like, >40, >35 if u want.
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can't remember exactly, it was ~43 or 44 though
damn language analysis let me down :P
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That's awesome and now extremely comforting lol. Bad luck about lang analysis.
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protip: analyse the visual source properly :P
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protip: analyse the visual source properly :P
Or don't analyse it at all
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Automatic < 6
protip: analyse the visual source properly :P
Or don't analyse it at all
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Not what my teacher said, she said you don't HAVE to analyse every text and still can get 10
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Is your teacher an examiner?
I am fairly confident you will HAVE to include the visual somewhere if you are wanting 9 or 10.
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yea, epic laziness if u dont.
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Not what my teacher said, she said you don't HAVE to analyse every text and still can get 10
i mean the visual usually takes up half the page to make sure no one manages to miss it.
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Unless things have changed pretty dramatically, you need to analyse the visual source to get a high mark. When I say do it "properly", that's a bit tongue in cheek, I had to cram it in at the end because I'd gone over my budgeted time for the written source.
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Is your teacher an examiner?
I am fairly confident you will HAVE to include the visual somewhere if you are wanting 9 or 10.
+1
Examiners report in 2009:
Students needed to demonstrate their ability to understand how language is used to persuade. Students could select
different parts of the material to exemplify and explore language use. They were expected to acknowledge and explore
the way visual features were used in adding persuasiveness to the entire piece.
and also my tutor read this from somewhere but I don't know where from: "students who did not analyse the visual were not penalised however those that did were well rewarded."
sounds to me like its beneficial to write about the visual.
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Adding to this:
Majority of people in last year's eng class I'm PRETTY sure didn't mention the visual, the two that did got over forty, and they were the ONLY two that got over forty to top it off.
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But does it say nowhere that you CANT get good scores by not analysing EVERY text on the exam, whether it be written or visual
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ur talking about text, the visual is very important. Not analysing every text as in words in the piece sure, that would be taking up too much of your time but the visual is obvious and why risk looking like you're a moron that doesn't decipher pictures instead of trying to prove a point.
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I did a practice English exam today, the full 3.15 hours.
I did manage to get all three essays complete, however they were all about two pages long, which I'm sure is not enough. Having said that, the context piece was a content issue, I had the time to write another half-page but I had nothing left to say.
My biggest problem really is sentence structure and vocab choice, I spend way too long agonising over individual words and sentences.
i used to do this a lot too man. you can spend way too much time mulling over a single word when most people wouldn't even notice a difference in quality if you chose one word as compared to another. you just have to put it out of your head and go with it man. write what comes into your head.
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just smash it out as quick as possible. then allow 2-3 minutes to read over at the end. that way you can change those 4 sentences in a row that you begun with furthermore etc.
but if you get your ideas out on to that page, in a fluent manner your already 90% there. The examiners are going to understand, and not heavily penalize you for average word choice.
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Do any of you do the whole "add an asterisk saying -extra paragraph in the end" thing?
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Given topic/prompt, use the following methodology as a means for comprehensive planning (pre-write up):
1.
INTRO
PARA1
PARA2
PARA3
CONCL
2.
INTRO broken down into primary contention and augmentative rhetorical priors (1 or 2)
PARA1-3 ... topic sentence and wrap up availed for each therefore depicting 3 unique propositions along a single, central line of thought and argument.
CONCL is an enlightenment opportunity to summarize PARA1-3 in a manner which connotes with the INTRO and without admitting new literary elements.
3.
Write up 2 sentences for each of the 5 paragraphs (INTRO, 1-3, CONCL).
Determine whether they're suitable as a start or wrap up for the paragraph and assess for grammatical correctness.
Start filling in the gaps based upon your starter feed, ie. those 2 seed sentences per paragraph
EG Topic: The cat sat on the mat. Discuss.
INTRO:
There are 2 identifiable entities of concern - a cat and the mat.
We wish to analyze the relationship between our object (mat) and the subject (cat) the likes of which are connected via some act of trangression (sat).
PARA1:
The objectivity of our topic cannot be refuted. The cat indeed sat on that mat. Conversely, "the mat was sat on by the cat" also renders consistency.
A reasonable assertion would be extended along the lines of structural punctuality backwards and forwards given the prompt.
PARA2:
There is insufficient context to determine veritable cause and effect. The authenticity of the purported incident cannot be reconciled in the absence of further disclosure.
We can only derive from the facts provided that it was the cat which sat on the mat and not the other way around. Any other statement tendered would risk becoming unreliable.
PARA3:
Order and precedence is of priority concern. We have 2 discernible entities and one instance of positive action, the conduct of which had bought to bear the relationship between those aforementioned entities.
The mat came before the cat as it would be inextricably improbable for a sitting cat to, without cause, all of a sudden have a mat appearing beneath it.
CONCL:
It may be ascertained with reliable assurance that the relationship commenced at that initial point of inception whence said mat became the object of buttressing support for said cat.
The cat was the instigator whose evocative imposition had bought forth substance on the matter of an identifiable relationship in existence between itself and the matter upon which it decidedly sat.
LMAO!!!!
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dammnit, by re-quoting u gave him extra advertising.
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dammnit, by re-quoting u gave him extra advertising.
What's wrong with pooshwaltzer? :S
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i thought it was hilarious
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I get it now.... pooshwaltzer is a FRAUD!
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how so?
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Search for their previous posts.. :)