Speed vs Legibility

[Bparker]

Hi AN community!
I seem to be in a constant struggle between writing essays quickly, yet legibly. In the past I have had feedback regarding my hand writing and the need to improve, however, I can't seem to get more than an 800 word essay out in 40 minutes when I focus on writing neatly!
So to all you graduates (and my fellow speedy year 12's), how do you get out a 1000 word essay in 40 minutes without sacrificing legibility?
Additionally, are 1000 word essays necessary in order to access those higher marks, or would a fairly concise 800 word essay also do the trick?
P.S I already tried to find a thread on this topic but can't seem to find one, so please direct me if there is one!

[brenden]

Hi, thanks for your awesome question!!

My first piece of advice is the sacrifice your legibility IMMEDIATELY as soon as you start writing your essay.

A problem I used to have is... I would start my introduction with the fanciest muh'fkn writing you've ever seen. Curves here, joins there, some flamboyant ticks all over the damn place like I was tryna draft the next Declaration of Independence.

I'd really want to do a good job of my handwriting. Inevitably that sacrifices speed.

I think a lot of students do this.

THEN, 15 minutes to go, you realise you've only done 40% of your essay, and all of a sudden you're in a world of hurt. Then, BANG. You wrote too quickly, get the dreaded "can't read it, can't mark it" zero on your paper, then spend the rest of your days pacing Central Station decrying BOSTES and asking random passers by for spare change or an easily grippable pen.

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Instead... Just go HAM from the get go, but not "5 minutes to go" HAM. Just, "fuck my handwriting, I'm gonna do this quick" HAM.

In a paradoxical way, it actually takes pressure off, and it will make your admittedly low level of handwriting have a higher 'base' point. It's low, but it's consistently low from start to finish, and low to a point that you can still read it. If it gets lower than that point, as it might towards the end of your essay, that's when you're in trouble.

So I think that's one really good piece of advice. In the first minute, when you aren't under pressure... Write like you're under pressure, and you give yourself a whole world of extra time compared to your relaxed-but-shit-10-minutes-to-go-now-I'm-not-relaxedohgodwhatdoIdo friends.

So - focus on writing your essay, not on writing neatly. But make sure it's legibile. Find that point where it's legibile but you aren't trying to make it pretty. There's a big difference. 

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Also, a high-level 800 words can achieve a lot. A skilled writer can get a lot out of 800 words. It's not really about the words, but about *how well you can hit the criteria*... And you can hit the criteria in 800, or you can hit it in 1000.

Obviously, the longer your essay is, the more chance you have of adequately hitting the criteria (some might thing), but really, if you're hitting the criteria extremely well in 800 words... You will get the high marks. (But an excellent 1000 words can certainly be better than an excellent 800 haha)

[RuiAce]

Quality, not quantity.

Don't have the mindset that it's all about the word count. If your essay reads more like an essay then that overrides getting a lot of content onto the paper.

My 4 page Mod C essay ended up getting a higher mark than my both 6-paged Mod A and B essays in the final exam because I forced myself to figure out how Mod C even worked.


That being said, don't make it look like the neatest thing ever. It should be neat enough to be read.

(I wrote in cursive, so my handwriting wasn't a problem provided I wrote each letter to look decently like how it should look like (in cursive). But that has to deal with how I've been using cursive all my life.)

[Bparker]

A problem I used to have is... I would start my introduction with the fanciest muh'fkn writing you've ever seen. Curves here, joins there, some flamboyant ticks all over the damn place like I was tryna draft the next Declaration of Independence.

Hahaha this made me laugh so much because it's 100% true! Looking over my past exams you can see a gradual decline from my beautiful introductions to my last minute attempts at sentences.
Really great advice and I think I'll definitely start writing quickly from the get go!
Thankyou so much brenden

[Bparker]

My 4 page Mod C essay ended up getting a higher mark than my both 6-paged Mod A and B essays in the final exam because I forced myself to figure out how Mod C even worked.

Hi RuiAce, thanks for the awesome reply!
Did you go into those modules memorising essays? Or as you said, just understanding what the module was all about and how it worked so you could easily formulate an argument?

[RuiAce]

Hi RuiAce, thanks for the awesome reply!
Did you go into those modules memorising essays? Or as you said, just understanding what the module was all about and how it worked so you could easily formulate an argument?

Memorising essays would've killed me.

I had my quotes and techniques prepared and found it much easier to argue the question on the spot.

[Bparker]

Memorising essays would've killed me.

I had my quotes and techniques prepared and found it much easier to argue the question on the spot.

I guess that would really assist in answering the actual question in your response rather than having to tailor a pre-prepared response! I'm still a bit divided on the subject of memorising, on the one hand it means I can get out a nicely worded essay without too much thinking, but on the other hand, it really seems to be pure luck if a question comes along that is relevant to the prepared essay...
 

[brenden]

Hahaha this made me laugh so much because it's 100% true! Looking over my past exams you can see a gradual decline from my beautiful introductions to my last minute attempts at sentences.
Really great advice and I think I'll definitely start writing quickly from the get go!
Thankyou so much brenden

No worries at all.. let me know if it works for you!!


As for memorising... check out these blogs. One of them advocates for it, one of them discourages. You can decide for yourself
http://atarnotes.com/memorising-essays/
http://atarnotes.com/memorising-english-essays/

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey Bparker! Be sure to get some writing practice done at home as well, that can tend to boost your speed a little! Kind of like those writing exercises you'd do in Year 7-10, 10 minutes write as much as you can? Those sorts of things definitely help, and you can use them to help remember quotes and stuff too 

I'm anti-memorising, but I'll admit that it is faster to write a memorised essay than it is to come up with one on the spot that said, memorised essays, as you say, may not target the question directly and that can leave you in a bit of trouble, so it is a trade off. I shout don't memorise from the roof tops, but plenty of students do and heaps do really well with that strategy, so over the next few months just figure out what works for you!

[studybuddy7777]

Hi AN community!
I seem to be in a constant struggle between writing essays quickly, yet legibly. In the past I have had feedback regarding my hand writing and the need to improve, however, I can't seem to get more than an 800 word essay out in 40 minutes when I focus on writing neatly!
So to all you graduates (and my fellow speedy year 12's), how do you get out a 1000 word essay in 40 minutes without sacrificing legibility?
Additionally, are 1000 word essays necessary in order to access those higher marks, or would a fairly concise 800 word essay also do the trick?
P.S I already tried to find a thread on this topic but can't seem to find one, so please direct me if there is one!

Tbh I sacrifice some legibility for speed. But a tip that is often told to me is to tie a battery or weighty object on the end of your pen while doing practice essays (or better yet dictation) and then use a light pen during the exam room. Itll look weird and sure youll probs get a comment or two, but it will benefit you so much during the exams! I can now write 1100-1200 in 40 minutes.

[jamonwindeyer]

Tbh I sacrifice some legibility for speed. But a tip that is often told to me is to tie a battery or weighty object on the end of your pen while doing practice essays (or better yet dictation) and then use a light pen during the exam room. Itll look weird and sure youll probs get a comment or two, but it will benefit you so much during the exams! I can now write 1100-1200 in 40 minutes.

My girlfriend did this in the HSC! I didn't ever get around to doing it consistently, but it worked really well for her

[Bparker]

Hey Bparker! Be sure to get some writing practice done at home as well, that can tend to boost your speed a little! Kind of like those writing exercises you'd do in Year 7-10, 10 minutes write as much as you can? Those sorts of things definitely help, and you can use them to help remember quotes and stuff too 

I think I missed out on those writing exercises Jamon! Although that does give me some good ideas - perhaps writing one or two paragraphs from my essay as fast as I can? Memorising and speed in one - oh yeah!

[Bparker]

Tbh I sacrifice some legibility for speed. But a tip that is often told to me is to tie a battery or weighty object on the end of your pen while doing practice essays (or better yet dictation) and then use a light pen during the exam room. Itll look weird and sure youll probs get a comment or two, but it will benefit you so much during the exams! I can now write 1100-1200 in 40 minutes.

Yes I just started doing this about a week before my trials! Not too sure if it completely worked, but we'll see in the long term when HSC starts and I've had a bit more practice haha

[conic curve]

Tbh I sacrifice some legibility for speed. But a tip that is often told to me is to tie a battery or weighty object on the end of your pen while doing practice essays (or better yet dictation) and then use a light pen during the exam room. Itll look weird and sure youll probs get a comment or two, but it will benefit you so much during the exams! I can now write 1100-1200 in 40 minutes.

This never worked for me lol. I write slow and I still can't change that habit

[EmileeSmith]

very interesting, I might try some of these tips myself