Tips for yr11 English exam

[blacksanta62]

Didn't know where to post this 
When doing an English SAC or exam is it a must to remember the page number or have the quote exact? I'm in year 11 and have a exam tomorrow so I can ask my teacher before then but it would be nice to have tips from you guys too.

[pi]

Exact quotes? Yes. If the quote is long or some parts are irrelevant to the point you're making you can use "...". If you're changing words in a quote use [...] (eg. if original quote was "David likes cheese" you could say "[he] likes cheese" if that fit your sentence structure better).

Page numbers? Nope, books are often published multiple times, who knows which version you're quoting.

[blacksanta62]

Cheers pi <3
Yeah I was literally confused about if I had to remember the exact pg number cause that would  NOT BE OKAY! lol <('-')> >('-')< fail

[YellowTongue]

Didn't know where to post this 
When doing an English SAC or exam is it a must to remember the page number or have the quote exact? I'm in year 11 and have a exam tomorrow so I can ask my teacher before then but it would be nice to have tips from you guys too.

Never quote a text incorrectly. The examiners will gladly take marks off for it. You wouldn't be doing yourself any favours.

Also, never include big long quotes. You are the one writing the essay, not the author of the text. Instead, carefully embed small snippets of relevant text into your response. My literature teacher always used to say that a quote should never include more than five words.

Embedding short quotes is nice, as it makes it fairly easy to remember things to quote.

[blacksanta62]

Never quote a text incorrectly. The examiners will gladly take marks off for it.

Also, never include big long quotes. You are the one writing the essay, not the author of the text. Instead, carefully embed small snippets of relevant text into your response. My literature teacher always used to say that a quote should never include more than five words.

My English teacher specified the 5 word rule too. Thanks for the other tips and they would "gladly" take marks off wouldn't they 

[Muchos Help]

Just use single word quotes where possible.

[pi]

I agree with small quotes being preferential, they should ideally flow with your sentences. If you find yourself quoting lines then you're not doing it right.

Examiners do not "gladly" take marks off for incorrect quoting, examiners are always supposed to look to award marks, not take marks of. Minor mistakes are not /huge/ deals, but obviously being accurate is the goal.

[blacksanta62]

I wasn't referring to quoting mistakes i.e. wrong quote altogether resulting in marks taken up because you guys made that clear enough, rather not sticking to the prompt and stuff like that but thanks all. And yeah I embed my quotes into sentences (in the paragraph in the essay in the sac, lol) to make it flow smoothly

[blacksanta62]

I don't know how to change the name of this thread but I don't want to infest the forums with more threads from Santa, might save those for the 25th. In all seriousness what should I do after reading my novel. Should I read it a second time? I'm thinking of going to important sections of the book with help from a themes search and highlighting quotes, how the author uses the character etc. Anyone have tips?

 I know this is a very broad question (that's probably been asked plenty of times but I can't find it anywhere) but I've tried to make it more specific  i.e. what should I do after reading the novel to ensure that my text response is on point and I show a good understanding of the novel. It's Brooklyn by the way

[Darth_Pepe]

I don't know how to change the name of this thread but I don't want to infest the forums with more threads from Santa, might save those for the 25th. In all seriousness what should I do after reading my novel. Should I read it a second time? I'm thinking of going to important sections of the book with help from a themes search and highlighting quotes, how the author uses the character etc. Anyone have tips?

 I know this is a very broad question (that's probably been asked plenty of times but I can't find it anywhere) but I've tried to make it more specific  i.e. what should I do after reading the novel to ensure that my text response is on point and I show a good understanding of the novel. It's Brooklyn by the way

You should re-read a novel many times in my opinion. I read my novels about 4-5 times each. You pick up alot in your readings. What you are asking for help with: Read once and just go through the main sections, for me this was too mainstream. I read the book 4 times over and then looked at things that nobody else picked up on.

If you really want to develop a good understanding is read the novel lots of times, and research the analysis or reviews others have done over the internet, and read past essays others have done.

My literature teacher taught at a top end private school in London, and he commented (while its another education system, i think its still applicable) that there will be kids who read the books 4-6 times and have a much better understanding than the whole majority. I personally read the books only, did no practice essays and pulled off a good score in the text response section of the exam.

[blacksanta62]

4-6 times. While I like reading in general this book is a snooze for the first 100-150 pages. But maybe in my second read I'll be picking up things the author does which will keep it interesting.

Any other suggestions for the text response?

[Alter]

In my honest opinion 4-6 times is just superfluous and you're almost wasting your time. You're better off doing other things at that point unless it takes that many times for you to understand the text.

Re-reading your text(s) is definitely helpful, but there's only so much you can get out of doing this task and you should have these goals in mind. Specifically, you'll want to be focussing on more minor details or nuanced points that you didn't notice in the first reading. For example, you could begin looking at the way the text is structured. Does it have a bookending feel to it, where it starts and finishes with the same character?

If you don't know how to spend your time on text response preparation, here are some tips:
1. Practice planning. I'd argue this is almost BETTER than doing practice essays because it's just so much more efficient. Try to grab a list of tons of possible prompts for your text. If you don't know where to look, check the VCAA website for past exams or even ask your teacher. Do a plan of all the prompts you can--especially those you feel uncomfortable with. You can then use these to figure out the themes or characters of a text that you're struggling with. Try to get a topic sentence for each of your three to four body paragraphs and select evidence that you'd use from the text.

2. Use a quote bank. They're awesome. Unfortunately, rote learning quotes is a must for text response. You may as well begin this as early as possible so that you can progressively learn them over time. Longevity is key here.

3. Make your own prompts. This method can be effective if you don't have many prompts to begin with and give you more room to work with. It's also a good way to refresh your knowledge of different aspects of a text. Try making prompts of all different natures.

Some different types include:
- a single character or the way characters relate
- a specific theme or multiple themes and how they're explored
- the views and values of the author
- "do you agree?" questions (closed)

4. Look online for resources about your text. If your text is more popular, you might be able to find an in-depth analysis or critical essay. These help broaden your understanding of what's going on. Similarly, look up the history of the author or director and try to understand what was going through their mind in creating the text.

[blacksanta62]

Glad to see I'm not the only one (considering this book took a while to read and a lot of the book is already in my mind, 3 time tops for me).

With point 1 why do you think planning is better? Is it because you open yourself to different kinds of questions that could be potentially asked?

I'm only asking this to look at my strategy from another point of view? I could grind out 10 practice essays if I needed to but that's not a very good approach. As time goes on enjoyment in the activity would decrease and quality of work would too.

[Alter]

With point 1 why do you think planning is better? Is it because you open yourself to different kinds of questions that could be potentially asked?

Yeah, exactly. Exposure is a big part of it. Writing out essays can be pretty boring even though it's necessary. I preferred planning because it's quicker!

I'm only asking this to look at my strategy from another point of view? I could grind out 10 practice essays if I needed to but that's not a very good approach. As time goes on enjoyment in the activity would decrease and quality of work would too.

That's a fair mindset. I can fully see where you're coming from.

Best of luck.

[blacksanta62]

Hey Alter (or anyone else who reads this) do you have any tips for a hybrid piece? We went through it in a tutorial today and if anyone could link some examples below (Atarnotes is lagging for me right now, can't search forums) so I can read them.

I believe I've been writing hybrid pieces (or something very similar, I'm missing the creative component) without even realising it , it was a shocker how close my ordinary expository essays were to the hybrid essays.

Thank you

P.S. thanks for the answers guys