Year 11 exam advice?

[hannahroseillia]

I am a Year 11 student currently studying general math, literature, English, history, sociology and art. I was wondering if you have any advice on studying and what I should keep in mind.
My Year 11 exams have been designed to mirror what is on the Year 12 exam so I don't really know what I should expect.
I especially wish to do well in my English based subjects and history.
Any advice you can give me would be phenomenal, I've already made a heap of study cards and they are a great help.
Thanks in advance!

[walkec]

As a student who has studied both English and Literature, biggest piece of advice is to write a shit load of practice essays and get them marked.

Saying that though, don't go overboard because it's only year 11. I don't know whether you have to do a language analysis this year for your English exam, but try and work out which structure works best for you because this will save you a lot of time next year 

I also found making colour coded power points into giant flashcards to learn quotes for English really helpful. And making popular songs into quote songs was great for shorter quotes.

With general math, doing a lot of practice questions (even re doing chapter reviews) should suffice. Just out of interest, is your Literature exam a passage analysis?

[hannahroseillia]

As a student who has studied both English and Literature, biggest piece of advice is to write a shit load of practice essays and get them marked.

Saying that though, don't go overboard because it's only year 11. I don't know whether you have to do a language analysis this year for your English exam, but try and work out which structure works best for you because this will save you a lot of time next year 

I also found making colour coded power points into giant flashcards to learn quotes for English really helpful. And making popular songs into quote songs was great for shorter quotes.

With general math, doing a lot of practice questions (even re doing chapter reviews) should suffice. Just out of interest, is your Literature exam a passage analysis?

My English exam has two components; the first being a language analysis and the second being a text response essay to "The Book Thief". My literature exam is also a text response.

I know it's only Year 11, unfortunately I seem to be a perfectionist and like to get really good grades. Haha.

[walkec]

My English exam has two components; the first being a language analysis and the second being a text response essay to "The Book Thief". My literature exam is also a text response.

I know it's only Year 11, unfortunately I seem to be a perfectionist and like to get really good grades. Haha.

Oh okay, if it's the case I'd definitely recommend working on developing/refining a good structure for L.A that suits you as a writer. That being said, don't feel confined by this structure either. The more L.A you write, the more freely you'll be able to adapt your structure to suit the piece 

I also remembered I made a table last year for English for themes, quotes and notes for my text response texts. Maybe this would help too 

[hannahroseillia]

Oh okay, if it's the case I'd definitely recommend working on developing/refining a good structure for L.A that suits you as a writer. That being said, don't feel confined by this structure either. The more L.A you write, the more freely you'll be able to adapt your structure to suit the piece 

I also remembered I made a table last year for English for themes, quotes and notes for my text response texts. Maybe this would help too 

Thank you, this will be a big help and I'll get started on it as soon as possible.

[Einstein]

any tips on how i can prepare for the unit 1 english exam. For the first time i dont get the prompt before hand, how do i handle this?

[Cort]

Then I think it's best if you practice how to handle yourself under pressure; that is, how to control yourself under the 'stressful' situations examinations normally place on you. For me personally, that's through emulations of the time constraints exams have. So if you have about '45 minutes' to write something - then you start practising at 60 minute time frame, and slowly work your way down.

However, don't place too much stress on yourself at first. If the exam is three hours, at home you're definitely not going to stay put for three hours. Fail at some bits so you can learn how to tackle it better next time. You're basically learning how to learn. Furthermore, I also suggest to break up sections into parts; and work on them consistently. Consistency is key to pretty much everything.

[Einstein]

Then I think it's best if you practice how to handle yourself under pressure; that is, how to control yourself under the 'stressful' situations examinations normally place on you. For me personally, that's through emulations of the time constraints exams have. So if you have about '45 minutes' to write something - then you start practising at 60 minute time frame, and slowly work your way down.

However, don't place too much stress on yourself at first. If the exam is three hours, at home you're definitely not going to stay put for three hours. Fail at some bits so you can learn how to tackle it better next time. You're basically learning how to learn. Furthermore, I also suggest to break up sections into parts; and work on them consistently. Consistency is key to pretty much everything.

Thanks for that Cort.

With language analysis our school suggests the formula BAACT(intro) ALEEEE(body para). Is this something you suggest or how do you go about your intro and body paragraphs

[Cort]

Thanks for that Cort.

With language analysis our school suggests the formula BAACT(intro) ALEEEE(body para). Is this something you suggest or how do you go about your intro and body paragraphs

To be honest, I've always despised English because of the forced formulas they lob on you - majority of the time, you (or I, personally), had no idea why we were even doing x in the first place. Even if you ask, my teachers always gave me a textbook answer. Furthermore, because of my own laziness and the lack of writing - my english hasn't improved much since year 10.

However, the suggestions offered by your school seems to be reasoning. I normally include all those things -- but in this case I think it's how you write it and analyse it that makes you stand out in the crowd.

For me, introductions normally work like this:
Start off with a contextualising sentence regarding the issue. Then you drag it in and write about the obvious (date, where it was posted, author), highlighting its contention, tone, and the target audience. From what I've read and attempted, you can either introduce your tone in the introduction if that's the overriding, predominant feeling it gives off - or you can be more pedantic with it in the following paragraphs; since tone shifts throughout the article.

Body Paragraphs: A simple statement of the 'big idea'/overriding idea/ 'main suggestion' / main 'argument'; then I elaborate on it with the variety of techniques the author used to make such a statement. Techniques can range from the obvious - but I like to challenge myself and get into the mentality of: what ideas is being suggested by the text? How does the author make it so? Why does author use such adjective to reinforce this? Is there a bigger picture towards all of this?. After all, just like in other type of texts you write, your writing always suggests an idea or proposes one. While text response and context requires you to write about ideas, language analysis is all about working backwards - you're finding the ideas of others. In this case, you're finding the ideas about the article from the author.

[Einstein]

thank you very much, been looking for a reply like that for ages.