No hope? Realistically speaking, chances of 40+?

[archenemy]

At the start of the year, I was much more optimistic about my english study score and now after like 3/4 of the year I am feeling quite discouraged. My SAC performances haven't been great... more like really poor tbh.

So far my SACs have been. A high A+, and then two really low scores (around 65-70%)
We hve two more SACs to do...

I go to a school that performs well in VCE (but I know don't if they do well specifically in English as well) so I don't know if that has any bearing on my study score.

I was wondering what would be the range of study scores I would looking at for English. Would a 40+ still be possible??
And for those who have done english, how nuch could one realistically improve by in like 4months....

..also i'm on my phone so excuse the typos

[brenden]

40+ is definitely still possible on a technical level. You got that high A+ and the other A so you can obviously do it. Just do it again, twice.

Honestly, in four months, a good student can improve a metric shittonne. The best student I could ever conceive of contacted me last year, less than four months away from the exam. He dd everything I told him to do - worked like a dog at it, and he went from about a 6 IMO sitting on a 35 SS to achieving >40 with around 8s and 9s IMO.

Even my sister -- she didn't write any full practice essays in the revision period and the night before the exam she was fucked. We went through 20 or so prompts together, modified a piece she wrote for her context SAC and made an exam gameplan and she came out with 40 or something. That day was more a lesson of how to pull a dodgy, but the point is, you can make huge gains when you focus. (Disclaimer, my sister is naturally a decent writer. The other student wasnt though. He was a natural workhorse).

Just work at it diligently. Don't go "sweet it's stil possible I can just keep doing the same thing until it's impossible!"  If you truly want it, you can still et it. But if you just "want" it and you're going to potter around for four months, chances begin to slim.

[archenemy]

thanks for the reply I guess I'll just have to work like crazy then...
do you have any specific/general tips on improving? eg. write heaps (i.e as many as possible) of practice essays? ^.^

[brenden]

thanks for the reply I guess I'll just have to work like crazy then...
do you have any specific/general tips on improving? eg. write heaps (i.e as many as possible) of practice essays? ^.^

Practice is always my advice . Writing is a skill. So like any skill, just hone it. If you want to get football, you play football. If you want to get better at writing, you write. Obviously, a good coach will make your football better, just as good feedback will speed you up. So write frequently, get feedback frequently, but most importantly, swish that feedback around in your mind like it was a fine wine and you were a billionaire trying to impress his friends. Think about the feedback very deeply, and then think very deeply about how you can take that feedback on board with your writing. Otherwise, look at the criteria. Memorise it from looking at it so much as you write. Read your own writing out loud. Read your text. Analyse the persuasive language (all language - no one is ever without an agenda, however slight it may be) on TV, radio, your parents, etc.