Exam advice on paper 1

[BlackFrost]

Hi, 
Could someone please give advice on how I should allocate my time for the 5 short-response questions, and also how many examples/techniques I should have for in each of my responses. Thanks.

[angewina_naguen]

Hi, 
Could someone please give advice on how I should allocate my time for the 5 short-response questions, and also how many examples/techniques I should have for in each of my responses. Thanks.

Hey BlackFrost!

Hope this isn't too delayed of a response! Firstly, there won't necessarily always be five short response questions for Section I. That's usually the number but NESA does like to shake things up here and there. I don't really like getting micro-managey with time allocations for each question because the texts you receive and the nature of the questions themselves can affect how quickly/slowly you respond to them. I generally instead focused more on knowing how many examples I would use for each response and let that guide how I approached the questions. I worked with one less the number of marks for the examples (2 examples for 3 marks, 3 examples for 4 marks etc.) and when I reached 6+ markers that asked for a comparison between texts, I would work with the number of marks divided by two (3 examples per text for a 6 or 7 marker which gives you 6 examples in total, 4 examples per text for an 8 or 9 marker etc.) which ensures you have sufficient textual evidence to analyse. All of this is very arbitrary though and it really depends on what you're comfortable with. Every example, like with everything else you've done in English, should be analysed in relation to a technique. If you find it too difficult to find multiple examples for a text, you could also try and discuss two techniques within the same example and that should also be okay 

Back to the question though you raised on how you should allocate your time, it really depends on your own ability. I would recommend practising short response as much as you can. You only get faster at thinking on the spot and answering them if you are exposed to them. I made some original practice questions which you can have a look at in this thread! You can also make your own questions by using the Texts and Human Experiences rubric and sample questions/past papers provided by NESA. I analysed advertisements, posters, my favourite TV show episodes and many other short texts as practice and I found this very helpful  Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions!

Angelina