1st in Advanced English 2016 - Ask Me Anything!

[olivia.brennan]

Hi, do you have any tips for the reading task like, three paragraphs for 3mk questions?
How many creatives did you write? if so did you prepare them to genre such as dystopia.
How did you practise for the creative?

[siennamatterson]

Hi! How you going?
I was wondering if you had any story plot ideas for my advanced English creative writing piece that has the stimulus of "everyone desires power. How a person uses it reveals their true character".
Cheers I would really appreciate your feedback

[bowiemily]

Hi Emily!  Congrats on all your achievements they're amazing!  I think you were the person selling lecture books in the holidays too when i kept coming back after trying and failing to find the ATM machine 
I have a couple of questions in regards to a couple of different subjects so here it goes:
1) how do you memorise a text for english so thoroughly that you remember everything that needs to be remembered plus whatever might be handy for the question that pops up?  is there a certain technique to use for different forms of text?  also if I don't like a text or don't understand it at all, what do you advise doing to encourage me to actually do the work I'm supposed to do?
2) What techniques do you advise when reading a novel or play to gain an understanding of it?  do you advise sticky notes, pencil marks, tee tables?
3) How on earth do you come up with ideas for creative writing that are interesting and actually grab the reader/marker?  I've been told mine are too lengthy and get boring after a while.
4) What study methods do you recommend for earth and environmental science?  Were diagrams and charts helpful or should i just stick to dot points with some tables and colours splashed throughout?  Also do past papers for earth really help?
5)  Also just wondering if there are any study tips that you'd advise on for english and earth and environmental science?
6) Also with english and related texts, how do you know if you have a good related text for the text you have?  For instance i have the 'tempest' as my main shakespeare and chose 'As I Grew Older' by Langston Hughes, is this an ideal choice for a shakespearean?  should i have picked a different form of text?
Thanks Emily for everything (sorry for the tonnes of questions) 

1.I only remembered 15 - 20 quotes per text, so in no way did I know my texts off by heart. However, I made sure these quotes could be adapted to a multitude of themes and questions. The way I did this would be by linking them up with the rubric. After all, they can only ask questions that are based on the rubric.

2. I got into the habit of jotting down all my quotes in a google doc as I was reading the text. I would then align the best ones with the rubric and cull all of the rest.

3. Because I was an extension student, I used my creative for Romanticism in discovery. I came up with the idea because I was extremely intrigued by German romanticism, so I did some background reading on Wagner and wrote my first character based on him. My creative changed sooooo many times, and I adapted it so my own voice and experience was clear. So my advice is explore something you're interested in through your creative!

4+5 (as they are similar): I based most of my Earth study on diagrams, and even used them in English too! For both a completed past papers religiously, especially for Earth, as questions tend to repeat themselves alot

6. The best way to tell is by handing in practice essays including your related text, for your teacher to mark. This means you have to be organised so you can get feedback on your work before the assessment period!

[bowiemily]

Hey I'm Teresa and I just had a number of questions I would like to ask:
1. How do I keep a flow while writing essays whilst not repeating the same exact things multiple times as I tend to do so under pressure?
2. How do I cope under pressure in exam time periods?
3. Do you recommend to cram all of our studies everyday?
4. How did you prepare all your notes before the hsc?
5. Do u recommend to study by reading or writing?
6. And in general any tips or advice for doing well in Advanced English?

thank you

Hi Teresa,

The best way to gain control over your essay writing in an exam is to write practice essays at home, under the 40 min time constraint. Then, read them back to yourself. What sentences are too long? Where have you repeated yourself? Are your ideas clear? Once you identify these problem areas, write the sentence/section of your essay out again without the pressure of time. Next time you write a practice essay, you will tend to make less of these mistakes.

Make sure you're getting eight hours of sleep and still exercising. After many of my exams, I would head straight to the gym or go for a long walk to make sure I would sleep easily that night. There's nothing worse than stressing about the exam you just did all night when you have another one coming up the next day. 

I only did 3 hrs per night, and anywhere between 4 -10 hrs over the weekend.

[bowiemily]

Hi congrats on your atar. What would you say would be the best way to maximise your marks and what were your methods to receive such a high mark
Thank you so much

Be opinionated. Be confident in your argument. Building this confidence, through lots of practice and study, earnt me the marks

[bowiemily]

Hey emily!! I loved your lecture at UTS! I thought it was very insightful!!

1. I am struggling to find a good related text for my AOS. We are doing the motorcycle diaries by che guevara and our teacher recommended a text that shows strong political discovery?

2. How did you study for english? Did you do multiple creatives and then perfect them throughout the year? I have my midcourse exams coming up in a few weeks and it entails a reading paper, essay on motorcycle diaries and creative. Any tips on how to ace it?

Hi!

Yes, this would be a good idea. That way, you can also use it for Module C if you're doing People and Politics.

I did have a different creative in my mid years. For my trials and hsc, I scrapped this one and used my extension creative instead, as I liked writing about it a lot better. Here is what I've written previously in terms of study techniques and half yearly exams:

 Practice short answers LOTS for half yearlies, then you'll never have to touch them again. I worked out how to nail them by half yearlies, so by HSC I was answering them all within 20 mins. Figure out what a question needs, and write no more than it requires. This comes down to knowing your Glossary of Terms well (http://boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/glossary_keywords.html) and handing in practice responses to your teacher. As for creative, I wrote learnt my piece so I could write it out as fast as possible.

 I wrote lots and lots of practice essays under the 40 min time constraint. I also recorded myself reading the ones that received high marks, read lots of academic papers on my texts and listened to heaps of podcasts. BBC's 'In Our Time' tends to do a really good job of discussing literature. My notes were on palm cards, lists, venn diagrams, flow charts and tables. They included the quote, technique, a short analysis and a link to the syllabus.

[Adammurad]

I need a bit of help I got a oral presentation/seminar that's due a bit later in the month. I got the quote of my choice which was "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind" by Gandhi and I need to find two texts that relate to the core idea of this quote and compare them. Any suggestions of texts?

[cashjake]

Hii!! Great to have you

How would you recommend someone who has just began Year 11 to write notes and study? I've heard some high ATAR students use loose leaf paper and individual binders per subject, what did you do?


Thanks

[bowiemily]

Hey

1. What are some tips do you have for someone who cannot write 1000 words in 40min?
- I have bad handwriting + speed

2. Do you believe in quantity over quality? Can someone get a band 6 with only 3 or 4 paragraphs? (comparative text)

thank you!
and congrats on your high mark!

I would recommend building your vocab. This way, you can still cover a lot of content analysis in a small amount of words. Aim for accuracy. However, you should still seek to improve your writing speed. I did this through writing in a journal at night, whilst also completing practice exam after practice exam.

[bowiemily]

Wow!! thank you 
- I am doing Advanced English (Looking for Richard and Richard III) and I am HIGHLY confused! What are the links? What concepts/questions will be asked? What is Looking For Richard trying to prove? How do you analyse and compare these texts? Most comparative studies in the past have been linked by themes/ conflicts that are similar between the two... these two are confusing me! I think I am probably taking too literal an approach to them, but any help or explanation would be great!!
- What is your number 1 tip about (realistic!) time management and organisation in Year 12??
- Tips on studying in general?! How do you beat 'writer's block' and just get your head in the right frame of mind to write and concentrate for example!?
- How do you balance catch-up/homework with formal assessments?
Thank you so much!... and again, congrats on your marks!

I liked to talk about power, authority and the value of language when writing for this comparative study. The foundational link is the parent text, that is, Richard III. So, when comparing it to Looking, you are essentially justifying why it has been changed. So, if power is shown one way in the original, why is it shown in another in Pacino's text? These are the types of questions you're exploring in your essays.

My tip top tip is to sleep. Staying up until 1 am every night is not going to work. I would go to bed around 10- 10:30 each night, and ensure I got 8 hrs sleep. However, I would also mark on a calendar when your main assessments are. This way, you can work steadily up until this point on your tasks/study notes. Otherwise, you'll be doing everything the night before - not good for your marks OR your mental health.

I used to make sure that I was completing my study notes when my assignments were due. So, I would spend an hour and a half on notes and an hour and a half on a given assessment. This was mainly to avoid over writing.

[bowiemily]

HEYYY!!!!
1.Did you ever memorise an essay or just know the key points of a text.
2. How often are you supposed to link back to the given question and when?

HEEYYYYY

1. No. I knew the arguments of themed paragraphs
2. Thesis, First sentence of paragraph, at least once throughout your analysis, end of the paragraph, conclusion. As I have said, the question is the be all and end all of your response

[bowiemily]

Hi! I found your lecture really informative!
How much context do you think we need for our comparative module?
What context should be used?
Any tips for 1984/Metropolis elective?

You need a really great basis for this Module. So for Metropolis, a strong knowledge of Weimar Germany and for 1984, the types of Government Orwell was writing amongst and his own experience with totalitarian regimes

[bowiemily]

Hi!
I'm not sure if this counts as a question, but would it be alright with you if you posted a sample of your notes for AOS (kind of struggling with the layout of my notes)?
Also, would you recommend including context in an AOS essay?

Hey there! An example of my notes can be found in these slides: http://atarnotes.com/note/atar-notes-english-advanced-head-start-lecture-january-2017/

Context can be included, and would strengthen your essay. Maybe mention it once in each paragraph.

[bowiemily]

Hi Emily! Congratulations on your marks!
Just wondering if you have any tips on how to study for modern history essays and how did you set out your study notes?

Hey there,

So I'm pretty sure that I wrote more modern essays than english ones. This is the main way I learnt all of the dates and stats associated with modern. As for setting out study notes, I made timelines and also organised my notes under the syllabus dot points. They were separated into stats/facts and supporting quotations.

[bananna]

Hey!
Just wondering if the style of your advanced creative was different to your extension english creative.
How would you recommend starting an extension english creative? Would there be more contextual research required...ALSO i heard of some years HSC asking ext 1 students to incorporate a character/setting of a text they have studied, how would you go about this?

thanks!