Context-Creative or Expository?

[mc1234]

My English teacher recently asked me to consider choosing to do a creative piece for my Context SAC for Identity and Belonging. Whilst I'd say I am a strong writer, I am not sure if I should do a creative piece, or stick with the more conventional Expository style. Just had a few questions as a result:
-Is there any benefits to doing a creative instead of an expository or vice-versa?
-How can a creative piece allow one to explore the context in the way which an expository piece can't and vice-versa?
-And do a lot of the top-scoring Context marks in Exams come from a creative piece or an expository?

Thanks in Advance! 

[heids]

Either way can equally get good or bad marks, depending on how well they explore the prompt, and if they're good pieces of writing
 - expository pros: safe, easy to directly address the prompt/explore all aspects directly and clear reference to text
 - expository cons: boring, same as everyone else, mediocre ideas look... mediocre.
 - creative pros: catches examiner's attention, more impressive, fewer ideas needed , fun to write, good if you're creative
 - creative cons: limited relevance to text and prompt, can fall really really flat, may catch an examiner who hates it, may not have inspiration

Some wisdom from people who know better than me :

Re: Persuasive & imaginative help! some hints courtesy Ned Nerb

Persuasive vs Expository vs Imaginative – some discussion on the topic

A couple of literally lauren's posts - An overview of the various benefits of different styles (READ THIS), and why do imaginative (second response @rishi97)

A brief quote from literally lauren:

The expository style is objectively safer, but a creative/hybrid twist can spice things up. Pure imaginative suits the skilled writers among us, but relevance can be a difficult criteria to fulfill with this one. I'm not sure how people can even write persuasively on such broad prompts, but if you do have strong opinions you want to argue then this can work. Some sort of hybrid is me personal recommendation, but play to your strengths, of course.

My main emphasis: 'play to your strengths', not what other people say is best.  This section of the exam is so broad, tailored for you to show off your personal skills.  If uncertain, try various styles for the first few months and ask for your teacher's feedback.  Ideally choose by halfway through the year, and stick to that for the rest of the year.

[99.90 pls]

My English teacher recently asked me to consider choosing to do a creative piece for my Context SAC for Identity and Belonging. Whilst I'd say I am a strong writer, I am not sure if I should do a creative piece, or stick with the more conventional Expository style. Just had a few questions as a result:
-Is there any benefits to doing a creative instead of an expository or vice-versa?
-How can a creative piece allow one to explore the context in the way which an expository piece can't and vice-versa?
-And do a lot of the top-scoring Context marks in Exams come from a creative piece or an expository?

Thanks in Advance! 

Whatever your heart desires bro

[literally lauren]

Thank you bangla_lok for doing the legwork for me!

In case that information wasn't enough, to answer your questions directly:
- Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages. The expository style allows for explicit communication of ideas, but can be boring or pedestrian unless you're a good writer with something interesting to say about the Context & prompt. The imaginative style is risky given the amount of subtle 'show don't tell' requirements, as well as the difficulty of balancing the writing of a believable short story/ inner monologue/ w/e, with the actual Context task criteria. However, it gives you a much bigger opportunity to show off and write a piece that's enjoyable for you and your reader.

It basically comes down to what kind of good writer you are. If fluency and sophistication are your thing, then writing an expository piece will suit you well, whereas if you gravitate towards creativity and 'flare,' then an imaginative piece can better showcase your abilities.

What I'd recommend instead of just going cold turkey to a totally different style of writing, is to try a 'hybrid' piece. This is a very generic term to describe any 'in-between' sort of writing. It could be a predominately expository discussion about an issue in the media, presented in the form of a newspaper or journal piece; it could be a short story interwoven with expository reflections, or it could be a straight up interpolation between an essay's exposition, and a creative piece (as in, one paragraph on each with common threads between them.)

So there isn't really any restriction on what either style can do because you can call your piece a hybrid and get away with whatever experimental combination works best for you.

With regards to the marks, I remember being told that the averages for expository were pretty much an exact bell curve because it's the most popular style, and there's a lot of variation in ability across the state. Contrarily, the creatives tended to be (roughly) spread between 5s/6s and 9s/10s. Obviously they try to standardise these if there's enough of a margin, but generally speaking you'll either get a creative piece totally spot on, or off by a long shot.

If your teacher is pushing you down an imaginative path, then you should definitely give that a go for the SACs, but speaking from experience, trusting an expository or hybrid piece is probably best from an exam standpoint, but that's just my opinion

[mc1234]

Thanks for the answers! Lauren, is a letter a good example of a hybrid piece that could be used?

[literally lauren]

Yes, a letter can work well provided you're able to walk the line between 'a real, believable letter' and 'a Context piece.'
The most common mistake is for people to prioritise the latter at the expense of the believability of the piece - then you end up with stuff like:

15 June, 1944

Dear Margaret,
It has been so long since I've seen you. Just the other day I was pondering the nature of identity and belonging...

Not always that clunky, but it is quite common.

A good rule of thumb (which can definitely, and in some cases should be broken) is to not use the name of your context (ie landscape, reality, conflict, identity/belonging) if you can avoid it. The best hybrid pieces will usually blend the forms, so you're not transitioning between telling a story through letters and forcing in exposition; you're showing your contention throughout the story itself.

Therefore, not letting yourself use the easy get-out card of mentioning the context, you're forced to convey ideas about conflict or w/e in other ways, which should make for a stronger final product.

That said, there are many different ways to write a good context piece, and you'll probably be at the mercy of your teacher for the SACs, so get a feel for what s/he is looking for, and tailor that to your own style.
If you need help with that process, have a chat to your teacher and maybe grab some good examples off them, and let me know if it's not making sense

[mc1234]

Hahahah I will be careful of that. Thank you for the advice, much appreciated!!

[nat_1577]

-Is there any benefits to doing a creative instead of an expository or vice-versa?

Not really. If you do creative well you can score highly, and if you do expository well you can score highly. However, I think expository is a lot easier to get a handle on in comparison to creative - only delve into creative writing if you know you can handle it, and get your main points across.

-How can a creative piece allow one to explore the context in the way which an expository piece can't and vice-versa?

Creative: I've never tried creative writing for context, but I suppose it allows you to express your ideas in a more abstract way, rather than blatantly writing them down. You can also express emotions and reactions to certain situations more effectively - for instance, if your topic was encountering conflict, you could write a piece from the point of view of a soldier during war. A creative piece would be great to connect with the reader on an emotional level, whereas it might be harder to do that with straightforward expository writing.

Expository: This is what I always focused on. I thought it was great because it left very little room for the one mistake you never want to make in context writing - failing to properly answer the prompt. While it is easy to drift away from the topic when doing a creative piece, it is far easier to answer the prompt directly in an expository essay. They also allow you to use a range of different ideas and examples to convey your main premise - you could draw from history, literature, and your text itself (therefore making it easier to draw in ideas from your text as well).

-And do a lot of the top-scoring Context marks in Exams come from a creative piece or an expository?

Really, the main thing you can do to score well is to write a good piece - it doesn't matter if it's creative or expository. If it's a strong piece, and you can wow your examiners with it, then that's all you need. It really does depend on the person, and their abilities, not the type of piece. Don't let yourself get freaked out by claims that some forms do better than others - I know I often felt worried about doing expository pieces because I thought they were too generic, but it was what I felt most comfortable with, and it didn't negatively impact me in my sacs, or in the exam. Just stick with what you feel comfortable with.