CSSA Paper One Discussion Thread!

[elysepopplewell]

You've started! The ball is rolling on the trial exams. Congratulations on making it through the first exam!

If you were doing the Catholic Secondary Schools Association paper: tell us about it!

What did you think of the unseen texts? The creative? The essay? What was most difficult, or what fell riiiiight into place for you?

If you didn't do the CSSA paper but have finished your Trial Paper One - please tell us about your paper as well!

Papers were required to be held until today (Thursday 17th) so we can now chat about the questions and the approaches we took. However, please do not share copies of the exam or anything similar!

[georgiia]

I walked in confident. I walked out in absolute shambles.

My analysis for part 1 was dodgy, I failed to appropriate the stimulus effectively for my story in part 2 and because I was so anxious and so fearful of the essay question, I took the most convoluted and insanely moronic stance for the essay in part 3, one that it seemed no one else took 

I'm so demotivated, I just don't feel like studying for the Modules tomorrow. Everyone seemed to do so well today and english advanced is my worst ranking subject and so I devoted so much time to it, sacrificing other subjects and it seems that it failed to pay off.

Adieu HSC.

What stance did you take on the essay?

[TheFreeMarketeer]

What stance did you take on the essay?

I'll PM you the thesis in light of what's noted.

[georgiia]

I'll PM you the thesis in light of what's noted.

Ok cool i'll do same

[RuiAce]

I walked in confident. I walked out in absolute shambles.

My analysis for part 1 was dodgy, I failed to appropriate the stimulus effectively for my story in part 2 and because I was so anxious and so fearful of the essay question, I took the most convoluted and insanely moronic stance for the essay in part 3, one that it seemed no one else took 

I'm so demotivated, I just don't feel like studying for the Modules tomorrow. Everyone seemed to do so well today and english advanced is my worst ranking subject and so I devoted so much time to it, sacrificing other subjects and it seems that it failed to pay off.

Adieu HSC.

Take a proper break, and do your best to forget about it.

This is normal in the HSC and isn't something to be ashamed of either. What's important is how you control these things. No point thinking about it now that it's over, but to be fair that's not a mindset that can be easily developed straight out of an exam. So take some time to relax and then forget about it until you get the paper back.

(I could not have been more disappointed with my paper 2 at the time, but I pulled through in the long run.)

[EEEEEEP]

I walked in confident. I walked out in absolute shambles.

My analysis for part 1 was dodgy, I failed to appropriate the stimulus effectively for my story in part 2 and because I was so anxious and so fearful of the essay question, I took the most convoluted and insanely moronic stance for the essay in part 3, one that it seemed no one else took 

I'm so demotivated, I just don't feel like studying for the Modules tomorrow. Everyone seemed to do so well today and english advanced is my worst ranking subject and so I devoted so much time to it, sacrificing other subjects and it seems that it failed to pay off.

Adieu HSC.

We've all been there, demotivated after an exam. YOu can't change the past, nor should you stay stuck in it.

Go for a run or kick the ball for an hour or two (alternatively, relay for a day) and then get back into it =). Exercise is great for getting into something that takes your mind off.

[JD99]

The creative worked well with my story which was really good! unfortunately my essay was seriously weak..... and I don't think I did at all well with the short answer either 

I thought the unseen texts were pretty good though, very interesting but I did struggle a bit to find techniques...maybe this was just me?

Also, the creative questions was very specific i thought, so would have been hard to adapt to for some people....?

[pikachu975]

The short answer I think the tiger tooth one was the weirdest but hopefully it wasn't that bad overall.

Creative I got lucky I had one of the hard parts of the question but not sure if I had the type of discovery they wanted.

Essay was broad and they tried to trick us with some words, forgot some of my topic sentences and analysis since I crammed it but managed to finish it all in time.

Pretty hard paper, scared for paper 2 now but I like paper 2 better.

[TheMC]

I thought that the Unseen questions were a bit harder to do, for me at least. Nothing really jumped out of the texts to answer the questions with for me
I didn't walk in with a set creative, and I feel like I did okay for it. Hopefully better than last time. But it was more specific that we usually get (idk about other schools tho) and some of my friends think that they sacrificed too much in adapting their writing to the question. I did a plan tho, shout out to Emily for being awesome on the forum last night!
The essay question I LOVED! Didn't finish writing it, but if I saw that in the HSC I would have wept for joy man. Don't feel too flash about not finishing it, but I think that I did a better job at analysing Robert Gray's poems than I did last time.

Overall I would say that it was an okay paper, but the Unseen was kinda a blow for me :/

[JD99]

I thought that the Unseen questions were a bit harder to do, for me at least.

I definitely agree with you on this!!!

particularly the third text, extract about the water etc. hardly knew what was going on, let alone trying to talk about the discovery!! eek! 

[12070]

I was literally able to write my creative almost word for word. I thought the essay question was a little obscure and my introduction wasn't great. I got to understand it a little more while I was writing but I think my poor thesis will be a detriment to my mark. I struggled to interpret text three in the unseen but other than that I'm hoping to not drop many more marks for that section. Overall, I'm fairly happy but still have a lot of work to do for paper two.

[dancing phalanges]

As I PM'ed you Elyse I thought it was a really good practice for me in terms of adapting to the question for both the creative and the essay. The essay was harder to adapt to as the question didn't match my two poems I prepared but I was really proud of the thesis I came up with... it was VERY complex but the beauty is no one would have done it in the whole form so I'll either sink or swim there. The unseen texts were alright, the last one was a bit confusing but overall the main message of each was easy enough to understand. Loved the first stimulus though, captured exactly how most students would have felt attempting the exam haha!

[fantasticbeasts3]

i have never felt so motivated to study in my life after that exam. it was probably the worst and i'm not proud AT ALL with what i wrote. the creative was weirdly specific. the whole time i was thinking that paper 2 is going to be better. going to have a bit of a break, have a nap then come back ready to study again! good luck for tomorrow everyone!

[blasonduo]

Texts 3 and 4, I found were actually quite interesting and nice for the questions. I agree, the first time I read through text 3, I was so confused. Second reading though made sense. Creative writing was 100% not for my planned story, but I just implemented a book (I hope that is fine??)

Then the essay, it completely threw me off, and due to time already running out, I honestly don't think I wrote a proper essay. I was hoping for 80%, feel like I dropped to a 60. My severe abdomen cramps didn't help either.

Oh well, I've got tomorrow to lose aswell

[Thebarman]

The unseen texts were really difficult to analyse. They were confusing (especially text 3), and I struggled to find techniques.
Upon first glance, I dreaded the creative piece, but in the end I was able to write my prepared story almost word for word. It more or less fit the question, so I just changed some smaller elements to make sure I addressed the question. 
The essay question wasn't too bad; again, I changed some elements around to adapt to the question, but it was otherwise alright. I basically used the ideas I prepared, so that was good.

Overall, the unseen was probably the worst section. I hope I was able to fit my responses to the question, at least, I think I did.