English Advanced Question Thread

[elysepopplewell]

Okay I know this is absolutely terrible and I regret it so much but I never finished reading 1984 (one of my Mod A texts). I am now one week out from the exam and stressing because I got so caught up in other things I just didn't read it all. I tried to finish it but it's just so time consuming. Basically would there be a large benefit from finishing it? Or would I be better off just learning specific quotes and continuing preparing practice my thesis statements? Is there any good websites to find summaries? I am just so overwhelmed and angry at myself 

Okay, take a breather! So you stuffed up a little? No biggie. Now is not the time to finish reading the text. Instead, you should do exactly what you suggested and focus on quotes that are universal, working on a thesis statement, and work through past papers simply by looking at them and thinking "can I answer that?" if the answer is no, you go back and do a quick plan of how you could approach it with your notes by your side. If you think, "yeah, I can answer that!" then you should just make a quick dot pointed plan of what you would do. This is effective because it help you to move through various past papers at a quick rate, but will also highlight to you what you don't know and where you need to study a little more.

By the next assessment, you will definitely have to read the text and I'm sure you've learned your lesson  But, for now, google around for some great summaries. Schmoop has a lot of good ones that include quotes. So have a look there, do what you can, you'll be surprised how much better you function when you don't panic! So think clearly, you've just got to do the best you can in the situation you have

[cj98]

Okay, take a breather! So you stuffed up a little? No biggie. Now is not the time to finish reading the text. Instead, you should do exactly what you suggested and focus on quotes that are universal, working on a thesis statement, and work through past papers simply by looking at them and thinking "can I answer that?" if the answer is no, you go back and do a quick plan of how you could approach it with your notes by your side. If you think, "yeah, I can answer that!" then you should just make a quick dot pointed plan of what you would do. This is effective because it help you to move through various past papers at a quick rate, but will also highlight to you what you don't know and where you need to study a little more.

By the next assessment, you will definitely have to read the text and I'm sure you've learned your lesson  But, for now, google around for some great summaries. Schmoop has a lot of good ones that include quotes. So have a look there, do what you can, you'll be surprised how much better you function when you don't panic! So think clearly, you've just got to do the best you can in the situation you have

Thank you! I'm glad that what i've been doing all day is the right thing to do! And I will definitely have hamlet read for next term!   

[elysepopplewell]

Thank you! I'm glad that what i've been doing all day is the right thing to do! And I will definitely have hamlet read for next term!   

Yes! That's the spirit
PS. Also read 1984 by the time you have your trials!

[imtrying]

Any tips on good ways to memorize essays when you have a question with notice?
(also sorry if this has already been posted, i did search it and couldn't find it)

[elysepopplewell]

Any tips on good ways to memorize essays when you have a question with notice?
(also sorry if this has already been posted, i did search it and couldn't find it)

I don't think it has been asked yet, maybe it has, but that doesn't matter. Happy to answer!

What I advise here is totally from my own personal experience. I cannot guarantee that it works for anyone else, but it's worth a shot!

For an English essay, I made sure that I had my introduction memorised pretty well word-for-word. I made sure I had the thesis statement to each paragraph memorised and as much of the conclusion committed to memory as possible. I didn't memorise what was in the body paragraph, instead I would memories the techniques. So, in a paragraph, let's pretend I wanted to talk about metaphors, alliteration, symbolism and imagery, in that order. I would remember it using mnemonics (try google for some awesome mnemonics generators). So, I have M, A, S and I. "Mary ate sandwiches inconveniently." Then, I would be prompted by my little silly sentence to remember exactly what happens in this paragraph. My memory worked in a way that when I heard the technique, I would remember the corresponding quote and analysis of that.

So, I would memorise:
Intro
First sentence for each paragraph
Mnemonic for each paragraph

Then I would KNOW but not MEMORISE (as in, understand, be ready to pull out that knowledge when prompted, but not necessarily know word by word):
-The gaps in the body paragraphs prompted by the mnemonics
-The conclusion

I hope this makes sense?

As for how to remember? Sometimes I would write out the same sentence over and over again (a full page plus more) until I could confidently do it without at all having to rely on checking to make sure it was correct.

The more catchy a mnemonic is, the more likely you are to remember it. Sometimes the funniest ones are the best. Make them about someone in your class, your friend, maybe even your teacher? Trust me, mnemonics can be your friend!

If all else fails: you can memorise the old school way. Take a paragraph at time, and repeat it out loud over and over again as you walk around (this gets the blood flowing and you're less likely to get tired and sick of it).

Hopefully this gives you a few avenues to try!

[Annie98]

Hi Elyse!

This is a bit of a silly question but i'm going to ask anyways :p. Could you please help me understand the directive term analyse and what it is asking me to do in an essay? The essay statement  I was puzzling over wanted me to 'analyse how discoveries can be unpredicted' and inconveniently my brain decided it didn't want anything to do with it! I did look it up on the BOS websites but it didn't help

Thank you! 😃

[elysepopplewell]

Hi Elyse!

This is a bit of a silly question but i'm going to ask anyways :p. Could you please help me understand the directive term analyse and what it is asking me to do in an essay? The essay statement  I was puzzling over wanted me to 'analyse how discoveries can be unpredicted' and inconveniently my brain decided it didn't want anything to do with it! I did look it up on the BOS websites but it didn't help

Thank you! 😃

Annie this is absolutely not a silly question!
Understanding the verbs at the beginning of an essay question is so so important. So, to analyse is to "identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications." So basically, you want to take the wholistic thing that is being analysed. You want to take that thing and break it down into pieces, and you want to make the connections between those pieces and how they work together to create the whole as the end product.

So, "Analyse how discoveries can be unpredicted."

Discovery is the wholistic thing you have to break down. You need to specifically talk about the unpredicted side of things. So this is where we take off our English hats and put on our methodical hats and break down discovery.

Now, without adding your own spin on this, it is difficult. This is why I always recommend that people have a thesis that they intend to take into the exam to ADD to the question. Unpredicted discoveries is too narrow for an entire essay, so you need to bring in your own ideas about discovery to apply to the essay.

For example, we take your essay question and then we add on that discoveries are intensely meaningful.

So,
by analysing we pull apart the idea that discoveries are unexpected and intensely meaningful.

-What is the original state that gives rise to discovery? Does it have to be a banal environment that gives rise to such? (this is where you apply this to your texts)
-Are the unexpected discoveries experienced because of curiosity? Or is it a matter of fate? (Again, apply your texts)
-How have the discoveries transformed the individuals. Is the level of intensity controlled by whether or not the discovery was unexpected or planned?

By doing this, you've got a broken down essay that is structured in a way that analyses the stages involved in a discovery.


Alternatively, you could agree but disagree with the question by saying that discoveries can be both unexpected or planned, but the intensity of the discovery will be controlled by the willingness to be receptive, not the level of planning involved.

You've got to pick a thesis that makes sure you can have rich discussion between your two texts, whilst also doing justice to the original question.

You don't have to do this the way I've suggested, everyone has their own style. But this is how I would approach it

[tess.giltrap]

Hello,
I find creative writing - short stories-quite challenging, and despite lots of work and attempts at them, i haven't improved. I enjoy writing essay's and do better in them as well. Do you have an ideas or examples of HSC discovery creative pieces or the forms i can use instead of short stories?
Thanks!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hello,
I find creative writing - short stories-quite challenging, and despite lots of work and attempts at them, i haven't improved. I enjoy writing essay's and do better in them as well. Do you have an ideas or examples of HSC discovery creative pieces or the forms i can use instead of short stories?
Thanks!

Hey Tess! Welcome to the forums  totally know what you mean, I was always better at essays as well! Though I never did this, there are many things you can try, one of which would be a speech! It is a little more similar to the type of writing you would employ in the essay sections, we have an exemplar available for download here! It could be worth having a go at this, or even a Feature Article, to employ the more academic writing style which it sounds like you prefer 

[brontem]

Okay so this is going to sound like a pretty stupid question, but my Mod A practice question includes the phrase "how has (texts etc) developed YOUR understanding of..." (or the other way around), I'm just wondering if using "I" in the response is a bad idea? My teacher has told us that its fine but it seems a bit ? to me? would you recommend it or? Thanks

[jamonwindeyer]

Okay so this is going to sound like a pretty stupid question, but my Mod A practice question includes the phrase "how has (texts etc) developed YOUR understanding of..." (or the other way around), I'm just wondering if using "I" in the response is a bad idea? My teacher has told us that its fine but it seems a bit ? to me? would you recommend it or? Thanks

Hey Brontem! No stupid question has ever been asked, except the question, "Are there stupid questions?" 

I would agree with your interpretation, that seems a little iffy to me. My teacher always told me that you portray YOUR understanding of texts naturally, after all, it is your response. Using "I" in your response, in my opinion, takes away from the academic tone and lowers the standard of your analysis.

So my advice would be to avoid it. I never used "I" in an essay throughout my HSC, it was always instilled into me as being poor style. That suited me fine, and never cost me marks, so if you are uneasy about it, don't do it! 

[elysepopplewell]

Okay so this is going to sound like a pretty stupid question, but my Mod A practice question includes the phrase "how has (texts etc) developed YOUR understanding of..." (or the other way around), I'm just wondering if using "I" in the response is a bad idea? My teacher has told us that its fine but it seems a bit ? to me? would you recommend it or? Thanks

Hey Brontem! I'm just adding onto what Jamon has suggested here. I completely agree! Just something I want to add, but I realise it's hard to organise into words (I'll give it a go!):

Your teacher will say that it is fine to use the first person, and there's not a lot to say that's wrong. But I always found that you could talk about your own opinion without ever saying "I" because you make yourself take on the perspective of everything you embody: a student in the 21st Century, for example. So take your "understanding" to be that of someone in this Century. So often, in Module A, you need to use your second text as a key to the first text (this depends on the elective, but it is usually). So take on your ideas as being fact.

"Pacino enriches a modern understanding of Shakespeare's historical drama through the use of..."

I replaced "my understanding" for "a modern understanding." This way, you avoid the first person, sound academic, but still answer the question

[brontem]

Woah thanks so much you guys! This definitely helps so much, I was so confused about this essay hahah That gives me so much more direction, and I'll probably throw my essay up sometime soon on the essay marking threads Thank you guys!!

[dandan-07]

Hello, I'm currently doing an assessment in reference to the didactic purpose of Pride and Prejudice, and Letters to Alice. How would suggest going about that or do you have an knowledge of those texts that could be helpful. The hardest challenge of mine is the didactic purpose and applying it to the individual Texas whilst comparing them. Thanks

[jamonwindeyer]

Hello, I'm currently doing an assessment in reference to the didactic purpose of Pride and Prejudice, and Letters to Alice. How would suggest going about that or do you have an knowledge of those texts that could be helpful. The hardest challenge of mine is the didactic purpose and applying it to the individual Texas whilst comparing them. Thanks

Hey dandan, welcome to the forums! 

I unfortunately don't have a useful insight into those texts, but I can help you with understanding the idea of the didactic purpose!

So, the definition of didactic is having a manner of teaching or moral instruction. A didactic text, therefore, is a text which exists so as to teach a lesson/impart some moral understanding to the responder. The author creates the text as a way to show the reader something, to teach them something about themselves. My teacher always described them as a warning, which is why the term "didacticism" is often associated with science fiction.

So, what you need to do is this. What lesson are the composers of your text trying to convey? There may even be several, linked through some common theme or purpose. Your focus will be on what techniques they use to convey this lesson, how those techniques are similar/different between the texts, and how effective they are on the responder (that's you).

In a sentence, what are the composers trying to show us, and how do they do it?

You must focus on specifically the didactic nature, meaning, focus on the lessons or moral understandings the author is portraying, and that we receive as an audience.

I hope this helps!!