Post from ages ago that I wrote:
* Essays, essays, essays- are often where people fall short. Practice ALL YEAR! By that I mean, know how to write an essay before your end of year exam. I'd average 1 every 2 weeks between Feb-July. From August-sept 1 a week. From Oct-Nov= 2/3 a week. AND GET THE TEACHER TO CORRECT THEM- and ideally give you a mark. Around October- know the sorts of Essay topics you like for instance i liked technology or ethnolect/ culture in our language.
* Wider reading. For instance, about swearing (like from celebrities which was considered 'inappropriate' or other dysphemistic language)- see tony abbott. Ethnolect things- for instance singlish is often a popular choice, or if you have an ethnic background that would also be useful. I'd practice 4 essay topics you are best at.
* Use EVIDENCE, including the above. By this I mean quotes quotes quotes, david crystal, kate burridge are great! So just search some quotes from them on google, or use past papers evidence for instance i used a quote from a past paper. However, in the exam they do expect you to use one piece of evidence listed in the essay topic, you will know more about this later if you don't know now.
* Don't aim to give a load of paragraphs- I mean by realistic. Ideally 2 is good, mine were a page long each- but i do have big handwriting. It doesn't have any limitation on how much you write, but 650+ is the best bet. And count your words at the end of the exam if you are able to
* Use examples in the AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT as well for instance, the aboriginal dialect, I talked about 'unna', perhaps made famous by the novel 'deadly, unna?' (this is good to, it shows australians themselves may be familiar with what you are talking about'. Or if your topic is standard english, talk about australian standard english in a few points
* Define key concepts, for example- i defined ethnolect when it talked about culture in the 2011 exam- it was relevant, and showed what I knew. But only define 1 or 2 things max
* Use sophistimicated language- no abbreviations, unless they are examples, reductions, unless they are examples, no contractions- e.g. can't= can not in an essay
* Don't start an essay with but- just don't
* Keep the essay simple, I read past examiner reports of essays, and honestly the highest scoring responses I thought were retarded, but they have a fairly good structure.
* Fight for an essay mark/ sac mark if you believed you got the answer right, e.g. it's from a textbook or something- it's allowed (of course if it's in an appropriate context)
* Use examples/ linguistic jargon that makes you stand out of the crowd, use a scrapbook to gather these during the year e.g. newspaper articles etc.
* Discuss the positives of things, this contributes to your persuasive function of the essay if that is what is required. In addition, you may make a rebuttal about one of these points, for example you could say 'so-called bad language, which is often reflective of a lower socio economic state or education level according to some prescriptivists, is the best form of language to use as it best helps to promote self-expression'
* Use that prescriptivist/ descriptivist idea if you can, for instance- in standard english topics. And make your point about which one you are- don't explicitly say it but just say this in a better way- grammar is the most important thing, so standard english is the best variety. You would be a prescriptivist. They are not as open to ideas as descriptivists which will say yes standard english is important, we are exposed to it on a daily basis e.g news shows- media in general, and has an important function of say conveying informaiton in the best possible way as listeners are able to comprehend something easier than if this was to be said in a non-standard variety, but it is often considered to have the most prestige with its functions of promoting self expression- that may be, showing your age e.g. teen speak, promoting group membership, reflecting cultural heritage etc.
* Descriptivist approach is probably easier for that reason
* Check your terminology when writing essays- it shows that you know what you are talking about
* You can't use a dictionary/ thesaurus in an exam- so you need to be familiar with what language you are using.
* USE OF THE australian IPA- that will ENHANCE your essay, not many people can be bothered with that kind of thing, so you will stand out in a crowd. And compare it for instance 'yes' may be phonologically pronounced as '(ipa)' in australian standard english, however is often heard to be '(ipa)' in this non-standard variety
* Make sure your essay isn't messy- I didn't plan my essay, some people do, but it wasted my time so I just wrote along but had an erasable pen i could use. I used this a lot, invest in one. note; you can't use white out in the exam, any exam for that matter.
* Engage in trial exams- apart from vcaa the more exams the better, think insight, vate etc. Exam guide books are great if you use them- such as insight. Also, gather past vcaa exam papers from your local school library which are not stated on the vcaa library
* Be organised with your exam papers- for instance, some topics are not relevant in the study design outside your current one, but many are so highlight these in these past exams. You will immediately know which topics are relevant to study.
* Do these papers by hand- including essays at the appropriate time. I'm a typer so i always emailed my teacher essays, but i wrote a couple i corrected myself bound to the time limit as is in the exam. CHeck your handwriting too! I wrote horrible so I had to clean that up, when I corrected my essay
* Leave 5-10 mins to correct your essay. And please, do not leave the exam room until they say so, because you may realise you haven't finished it or needed to check something which will stress you out. Well, now i'm providing some tips that may assist you mentally but oh well.
* you need to explicitly state which example you are using in the prompts for the exam, it sounds stupid, but it makes it clear to the people who check your exam.
* If you don't have an erasable pen- write on every second line, so that you can add in things if need be. BUT BRING THE ERASABLE PEN
Apparently they don't mark ON the paper once they check it, but on another piece, but it is to your benefit, it does no harm.
* Use the maxims in your essay if you can- if relevant, and you will know more about this later in your year.
* Be aware that your course in 2012 will be different from that of 2011, as mentioned previously some topics in past exam reports will be relevant, others not, highlight the relevant ones. Past exams are on average 90% relevant, so please do them.
* Create a facebook group with your classmates to share examples
* And most of all enjoy the subject, I loved every bit of it, some topics were challenging e.g. written language- the topic which you need to work for, because it moves so quick, and spoken language was my favourite.
* Check which topics are relevant in your study design BEFORE you begin yr 12.
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