Study Guides

[PGBP]

Nah study guides are for hacks, just come up with your own original ideas.

[#J.Procrastinator]

I totally agree, but I mean it wouldn't hurt to get my hands on some.

[MnB]

I'm going to have to disagree with atarbrah and PGBP, I used both TSFX and Neap study guides and they were my primary resource for the whole year. I found that the ideas in the guides were pretty complex and gave you a lot to work with. I think that you will be well rewarded come exams if you go to the effort of getting ideas from the commercial study guides

[#J.Procrastinator]

haha what do you mean by 'some' ??!?!?! totally agree though, definitely wanna get my hands (on/in) 'some'

STUDY GUIDES -.-

I'm going to have to disagree with atarbrah and PGBP, I used both TSFX and Neap study guides and they were my primary resource for the whole year. I found that the ideas in the guides were pretty complex and gave you a lot to work with. I think that you will be well rewarded come exams if you go to the effort of getting ideas from the commercial study guides

Thank you! I've used the Insight ones this year for the texts I studied, and I found them quite helpful in that it gave me ideas/ themes to work with and expand on.

[MnB]

haha what a massive hack (and a hack enabler as well). examiners will realize he has no capacity for original thought, destined for a 35. save your $$, spend them on a nice new pair of TNs or something instead of crappy books

I'm not 100% sure what 'hack enabler' is supposed to mean, but just because you go to Xavier and get the best teachers doesn't mean you have to be arrogant and criticise those of us who try to get by alone!!!!

#J.Procrastinator, I'm glad you think study guides are good. There is a reason they have those ideas in there - they are the best ones possible!

[pi]

haha what a massive hack (and a hack enabler as well). examiners will realize he has no capacity for original thought, destined for a 35. save your $$, spend them on a nice new pair of TNs or something instead of crappy books

I'm going to have to agree with the gist of this, the study guides aren't great if you want 40+. They can help in better understanding the text to being with but you should really not be using them much / at all when writing yourself.

[MnB]

I did English this year, and my teacher assured me I was looking at around 45. But, the problem is, I pretty much only used study guides! Do you think I still have a chance at 45? My ATAR is kind of dependent on nailing ENglish.!!!

EDIT: sorry for seeming so desperate etc, i just really don't want to screw up English, and all this talk has got me nervous!

[charmanderp]

I did English this year, and my teacher assured me I was looking at around 45. But, the problem is, I pretty much only used study guides! Do you think I still have a chance at 45? My ATAR is kind of dependent on nailing ENglish.!!!

When you say 'pretty much only used study guides' what do you mean? I think they can be great for inspiring ideas and your reading of the text. Ultimately your success in English then comes down to your writing ability and ability to articulate those ideas and shape them into arguments, which is again something a study guide can give you a methodology to do.

This being said, they should only be 5%-10% of your 'English work', and right at the start, just to give you the foundations. They're not going to automatically get you to a high standard.

[MnB]

Hmmmm.Well this doesn't bode well! I'm looking forward to December 16 with a bit of dread now!

Study guides were the source for probably 50-60% of my knowledge, if not more. I wish that I had have known this at the start of the year :////

[Limista]

Hmmmm.Well this doesn't bode well! I'm looking forward to December 16 with a bit of dread now!

Study guides were the source for probably 50-60% of my knowledge, if not more. I wish that I had have known this at the start of the year :////

don't worry. as long as you made the ideas your own, and sculpted them so you were expressing it in your own individual way, you should be okay. 

the good thing about doing the War Poems as a text was, that there were no study guides (I don't think). Therefore, I was forced to come up with all the ideas my self. So whatever I wrote was original anyway. What text did you do, out of curiosity?

[MnB]

Thanks for the reassurance! (that goes to everybody, you have all been really helpful and calmed me down a lot - admittedly, it was AN that got me stressed at first haha) 

I did A Christmas Carol, and safe to say there was a lot of resources, which I had thought was a good thing haha.  Not worth worrying about though. I guess all will be known in the dark backward and abysm of time!

[charmanderp]

Hmmmm.Well this doesn't bode well! I'm looking forward to December 16 with a bit of dread now!

Study guides were the source for probably 50-60% of my knowledge, if not more. I wish that I had have known this at the start of the year :////

It's a meaningless relationship. 100% of your knowledge could have come from study guides and you could still have aced all of your essays. I'm just saying it's unlikely and very obvious that with English someone who doesn't actually know how to critically evaluate a text independently probably isn't going to do well. That being said, I do know people that have just regurgitated material from study guides and what's been said by their teachers and still managed to score perfectly. It's not as though the examiners know. I'm really not sure where you're going with this, as I think just common sense would give you the answer to this question.

[MnB]

It's a meaningless relationship. 100% of your knowledge could have come from study guides and you could still have aced all of your essays. I'm just saying it's unlikely and very obvious that with English someone who doesn't actually know how to critically evaluate a text independently probably isn't going to do well. That being said, I do know people that have just regurgitated material from study guides and what's been said by their teachers and still managed to score perfectly. It's not as though the examiners know. I'm really not sure where you're going with this, as I think just common sense would give you the answer to this question.

Yes, I think I understand you now. I'm a bit of a stresshead is all, and I really wanted to nail English, so I was just getting a tad freaked out. All good now thanks to AN <3 <3