VCE Stuff > VCE Literature
word length
StringFever:
--- Quote from: EvangelionZeta on October 31, 2009, 11:36:04 am ---Longer AND less-relevant is another issue. However, to have the complexity and depth required for top scoring responses, you really do need at least 1000+ words (as the TC said, "you need sufficient quantity to have good quality). The top ranking schools all push students towards 1000+ words (some even 1300+ words...) whilst urging students to maintain quality; against that, 600-700 words won't cut it for examiners in regards to being high(est) scoring responses.
If your writing is short but quality, yes it will be better than a crappy long essay. Still, if you want to increase your score, maintain your quality and start pushing for longer essays whilst you're at it.
--- End quote ---
That is a fair point; however, it really depends on the passages. For example, one of the reasons why I didn't want to do Tobias Wolff's "This Boy's Life" was because the passages, although engaging, didn't provide enough for me to write in depth. Whilst what I wrote scored decently, it was really dependent on the passages I got. So I guess we must also consider the text in question; because some are full of features to write on (like poems or Hamlet, for example), whereas others provide the challenge of finding features to write about in significant depth...
spontaneouscombustion:
So you would aim for 4-5 paragraphs?
What if you only wrote 3, but they were long paragraphs?
StringFever:
--- Quote from: spontaneouscombustion on October 31, 2009, 12:40:10 pm ---So you would aim for 4-5 paragraphs?
What if you only wrote 3, but they were long paragraphs?
--- End quote ---
I know you want definite advice, so please forgive me for this.
But one of the best pieces of advice I've heard all year for Literature is stop paragraph and word counting. Focus on your passage and write as much as you feel is relevant to reveal your understanding of the text. Unlike English, number of paragraphs and words don't count that much.
However, if you want a rough guide, maybe one or two good paragraphs (they do NOT need to be of equal length) on each provided passage.
I myself like to focus on one passage in particular, and then making less detailed references (but sustained by quotes etc) to the other two paragraphs provided.
EvangelionZeta:
I'll agree with the passages bit in regards to length - still, you should really milk the passage as much as you can, and I don't think 600 words would quite cover everything.
And yeah, in Lit your structure really isn't that important. I've seen 50-scoring people who wrote 10 paragraphs, and I've seen 50-scoring people who wrote 4. Anything goes.
simpak:
One of the examiners told our class that you should have more than about 800 words.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version