Dealing with simple prompts

[nisha]

First off, don't laugh.

I have started English for year 12 and me and my tutor have pretty much ripped up each novel to pieces and analysed everything regarding. I have also done pretty hard essay's regarding THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST and GROWING UP ASIAN IN AUSTRALIA. My tutor is a past VCAA exam assessor for English and she prepares me for worst case scenario for the sacs and exams. Unfortunately I have done so many of her hard (uni and beyond standard)essays, that when she gave me a standard yr 11-12 essay prompt i started getting 6-7/10 instead of my almost perfect scores. I find those prompts so difficult, because they are so simple, there is not much to delve into , and when I do, I end up putting in too much. What should i do?

Signed
-Confused

[LOLs99]

You don't go into too much details for yr12 essays(like those uni essays), maybe you just treat it as an easy level for your standard.

[nisha]

Not so easy. I overthink things. Put in too much stuff, or too less, and then dont back up my opinion. GAH.its so frustrating.

[LOLs99]

Maybe you should brainwash and start with basic essays. Based on your ability, you can still catch up with that

Serious: you might wanna put aside your current level for uni standard and just start on working on those essays with TEEL, it's quite an easy structure to follow up  and don't elaborate too much. Btw I thought if you are up to uni standard for essay writing, then why do you get such low mark 6-7? Shouldn't you get around 9-10 marks..

[nisha]

I delve in it too much, and then forget to back myself in some cases...i forget about the quotes part. When I do the uni essays, we generally do it on a culture of the character and how that influences his actions...beliefs...

Dw, I always do the TEEL structure.

Brainwash and start basic? How exactly? My mind is thinking too deep

[Mariammm]

That's a really common problem with good students ... They tend to have to much knowledge and want to say it all but the prompt limits them ... I used to have this problem until the end of last year when my English teacher told me 'control the knowledge, don't let the knowledge control you' ... In other words you have to spend a couple of minutes tearing the topic apart and figuring out exactly what the assessor is looking for ... Go for a 'yes, but no, but' approach instead of a simple I agree or disagree answer and believe me, that will have you exploring the novel from all kinds of angles and it will not be a shallow piece

[burbs]

Put up an essay so we can give proper feedback?

[werdna]

A couple of things:

- I've got no idea why your tutor is making you write university and beyond standard essays. In order to well in VCE English, you have to stick to the study design to a tee and ensure that you meet all of the marking criteria. That means showing an understanding of the themes, characters, ideas, views and values, structure, symbols/motifs, language/filmic features, and presenting your own interpretations when writing a text response essay, supporting your paragraphs with embedded quotes. Believe it or not, most if not all high-scoring text response essays will utilise all these types of examples in their essays - you should learn to incorporate different modes of examples in your essay.

- The essay topics that seem easy and simple are usually the ones that are the most difficult to tackle, because there is no clear-cut direction for you to follow and discuss. There is also so much you can talk about when you've got an open-ended topic, so the trick to handling these kinds of topics is to be extremely selective in choosing your ideas and examples. You should also focus on writing either thematic-based or character-based paragraphs (depending on the type of topic) as this will reduce your risk of 'story-telling'. With a seemingly simplistic topic, you run the risk of retelling the story and writing plot-based paragraphs - be selective and careful and you will end up with a well-substantiated response.

- It's probably a good thing that your tutor often gives you 'worst case scenario' tasks to do - BUT you should be completing these essays accordingly to the VCE criteria, not some random university standard essays that you don't need to know how to write just yet. Writing on the obscure and complex topics is a good way to practise your skills and broaden your knowledge, but you need to have a really good understanding of the text first and you need to know how to write a good and solid essay for the more straightforward topics first. Throwing yourself in the deep end right now will not do much for your confidence - build yourself up the ranks.

I did Growing Up Asian In Australia last year, so if you want you can send me one of your essays on it and I can read over it.

[EvangelionZeta]

Can I just point out that uni-standard English essays actually aren't all that different to VCE text responses for the most part, and that if you can do well with uni-level writing, then you should be more than prepared for VCE level writing.  I agree with burbs; post some essays and let us point out what the problems are.

Also, how much writing is overboard for you?  Consider just learning to write really quickly - my text responses were probably about 1500 words, and I got full marks for them on the exam and in SACs.

[pi]

(uni and beyond standard)

Post a beyond uni essay too!

[Planck's constant]

There is no such thing as a simple prompt.
At any rate, even if the prompt is 'simple', it doesn't mean that your response should be simple.
Strong content/ideas work well regardless of how simple the prompt is.

[lexitu]

There is no such thing as a simple prompt.
At any rate, even if the prompt is 'simple', it doesn't mean that your response should be simple.
Strong content/ideas work well regardless of how simple the prompt is.

Nicely said. A prompt without apparent depth or definition is there for you to add depth and definition to it. It's a prompt - a springboard to expand from - not a topic.

[greenbeans]

just tell your tutor that she is there to make sure you are prepared as possible for VCE!
my english teacher for year 11 & 12 told me that despite your abilities, you need to adhere to all criteria, so cut down any 'extra' stuff and focus on what the EXAMINERS and the teachers who mark your SACs focus on
it doesn't matter to you right now in VCE whether you can write a uni standard essay, your tutor being an experienced assessor shouldn't have put you in this situation where you are having to relearn things
it is great for the future, but you shouldn't be disadvantaged now!

[86]

I take it she's trying to make you so brilliant at "uni and beyond" writing that when it comes to VCE it's a piece of cake? In order to be a top scorer to you need to know the fundamentals. TEEL is a good place to start - it's simple and effective if you can control your arguments and express them in such a way that achieves a balance of subtlety, attention-grabbing (cliche in English, I know), vocabulary and complexity in your understanding. Looking back on it now it's easier to explain, but if you're good at the high end stuff, and don't have the foundation knowledge and basics, then in between your arguments (where the juicy parts are) will most likely be where your downfall will be. For example, you need a good opener for an intro, and a good closure for your conclusion. Those are basic things that, when you know your fundamentals in English writing, you can really work some magic. It's all about the 'feel' that the assessor gets the moment they pick up your paper and read the first sentence or two. So much weight is placed on those opening words because it makes such a big difference. Would an assessor be inclined to continue reading 100% objectively if your opening is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors? Unlikely.

And likewise, your 'linking words' or fillers that you use to shift from one point to the next is absolutely crucial. Be sure to have a nice variety of words to use at your disposal. If you can achieve these, then addressing simple prompt almost because instantaneous and you can write without planning (that is, you just pick up your pen and already have a good idea what you'll talk about and where things will be placed etc. It's kind of like having a virtual image in your head - you just have to keep your train of thought to let your hand catch up while it puts your thoughts to paper)

[nisha]

I take it she's trying to make you so brilliant at "uni and beyond" writing that when it comes to VCE it's a piece of cake? In order to be a top scorer to you need to know the fundamentals. TEEL is a good place to start - it's simple and effective if you can control your arguments and express them in such a way that achieves a balance of subtlety, attention-grabbing (cliche in English, I know), vocabulary and complexity in your understanding. Looking back on it now it's easier to explain, but if you're good at the high end stuff, and don't have the foundation knowledge and basics, then in between your arguments (where the juicy parts are) will most likely be where your downfall will be. For example, you need a good opener for an intro, and a good closure for your conclusion. Those are basic things that, when you know your fundamentals in English writing, you can really work some magic. It's all about the 'feel' that the assessor gets the moment they pick up your paper and read the first sentence or two. So much weight is placed on those opening words because it makes such a big difference. Would an assessor be inclined to continue reading 100% objectively if your opening is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors? Unlikely.

And likewise, your 'linking words' or fillers that you use to shift from one point to the next is absolutely crucial. Be sure to have a nice variety of words to use at your disposal. If you can achieve these, then addressing simple prompt almost because instantaneous and you can write without planning (that is, you just pick up your pen and already have a good idea what you'll talk about and where things will be placed etc. It's kind of like having a virtual image in your head - you just have to keep your train of thought to let your hand catch up while it puts your thoughts to paper)

Don't worry I have the foundation and basics . I guess it would just be practise makes perfect. I do stick to the TEEL structure.
Uni essays are quite similiar, its just that the prompt is a bit more open, while VCE it tends to be a bit closed. I just add in stupid things when I do a VCE essay. But I've got all year to master the art of VCE.

All my essays go beyond 5-6 pages and I handwrite them, and I am a incredibly so typer, so unless I have to (no offense ) I am not in a position to type each essay out. I shall probably see how I go.

Control the knowledge, dont let the knowledge control you<- I like that. THANKS!