Context Format

[WhoTookMyUsername]

What context format do you guys use?
(e.g. speech, feature article etc.)

I'm still trying to find the form that best allows me to explore conceptual ideas in depth with not too much effort spent on staying true to a particular form (not too different to standard essay). Ideally i also want a form that lends itself to a slightly more sophisticated vocabulary style than say a feature article in the Herald Sun. Also a form that allows relatively seamless integration of textual ideas would be ideal.

For my last SAC i did a feature article form but i felt that i spent a bit too much effort staying true to the form which moderately impacted the true quality of what i was writing.

Also, most teachers and students i've spoken too feel like the standard expository essay style response is not that satisfactory (particularly for SACs) because the whole idea of 'context' is "creating and presenting" as opposed to "reading and responding." MHS says "students are advised not to do a standard essay with a specified format" (do past MHS students know if it's still possible to get top marks without a format in SACs?). Is it better to have a form as opposed to straight essay?

Ideas? Forms? Comments?

Thanks!

[brenden]

I write short-stories. It's pretty limitless, really, if you can write a solid story to time.

[pi]

I used an interview format

http://www.atarnotes.com/?p=notes&a=feedback&id=748

On the note of SACs, I highly doubt you'll get an A+ in an MHS English SAC by writing a straight expos essay. I haven't heard of one. On guy in my class wrote one last year, I think he got a D. Feature articles tend to be the most common and the easiest form from what I've heard.

[WhoTookMyUsername]

I haven't heard of one either, but potentially that could be because just about everyone does non - straight?
I probably should have tried pure expository for the 30 mark SAC but i decided to go with an article form and play it safe. However two teacher's i've talked too both said that doing a "pure essay" won't result in me being "marked down" and my teacher hasn't hinted against doing straight essay however i'm afraid that when it comes to the crossmarking stage unless it's absolutely amazing it may be punished; may have to ask a few more teachers lol.

Would a straight essay be fine for the exam?

[brenden]

I haven't heard of one either, but potentially that could be because just about everyone does non - straight?
I probably should have tried pure expository for the 30 mark SAC but i decided to go with an article form and play it safe. However two teacher's i've talked too both said that doing a "pure essay" won't result in me being "marked down" and my teacher hasn't hinted against doing straight essay however i'm afraid that when it comes to the crossmarking stage unless it's absolutely amazing it may be punished; may have to ask a few more teachers lol.

Would a straight essay be fine for the exam?

Well, I don't go to any select-entry school, but my teacher encourages students to use an expos. essay. However, most of the people in my English cohort that are expected for 40+ generally do an imaginative piece. Last year I know of three 39s and one 37, all wrote with an expos. essay. Might be harder to impress the examiners - maybe they read a lot of them.

[WhoTookMyUsername]

lol i'm definitely doing expository, general consensus is that imaginative is far too risky, a top expository is a top expository piece whereas different examiners like different types of imaginative pieces

[brenden]

That's a fair call I s'pose. Let's hope at least one of my examiners likes my piece if the other one doesn't, then the 3rd can sort it out

[soccerboi]

Just write in the style you feel comfortable with. I'm sure a 10/10 is achievable with any format given that it's well written and meets the examiner's criteria. I have always written in expository essay format, so I'll be sticking with it, despite people saying that its harder to get 10/10 compared to doing an imaginative piece.

[MonsieurHulot]

Why is it considered risky to write an imaginative piece?

[brenden]

Why is it considered risky to write an imaginative piece?

'Cause you've got a damn good chance of fucking it up.

[MonsieurHulot]

'Cause you've got a damn good chance of fucking it up.

Why is that chance any higher than for other types?

[brenden]

The other types hit the criteria more easily. An expository essay eg, is very easy to link to the text and explore contextual ideas etc. whereas if you were to write eg, a short-story, it would be very easy to write a story irrelevant to complex or otherwise contextual ideas, to not be able to have an appropriate story within an hour (you could write an awesome beginning and be out of time before your climax). You've also got things like, character development if it swings that way etc etc. There are lots of things that can go wrong in an imaginative piece, and the things that can go wrong in other styles are more limited. Imo.

[pi]

Why is it considered risky to write an imaginative piece?

Risky, but when it yields the most rewards too.

[dilks]

There's always hybrid

[yellowsone31]

a creative/expository hybrid