Is it still possible to get a 50 in a subject if you lose 5 marks or more SACs?

[Blakhitman]

luken93, you should probably suck up to EvangelionZeta too, if he offers any classes, you'd want to be his friend.

[stonecold]

Isn't it a little subjective in a sense that there are certain things which if you leave out, then you will lose marks. Kind of like a hidden criteria?

i.e. text response - failing to mention a quote given in the essay question or failing to explore the symbolism and stage directions in a novel/film/play as well as the themes and characters?

language analysis - failing to analyse a part of an article that vcaa have deemed necessary to be mentioned in your peice.  and i'm not talking about the picture/graphic, i know you must analyse that.

also, what kind of marks are needed on an english exam (out of 30) to get a 40 and a 45?

[shinny]

Isn't it a little subjective in a sense that there are certain things which if you leave out, then you will lose marks. Kind of like a hidden criteria?

i.e. text response - failing to mention a quote given in the essay question or failing to explore the symbolism and stage directions in a novel/film/play as well as the themes and characters?

language analysis - failing to analyse a part of an article that vcaa have deemed necessary to be mentioned in your peice.  and i'm not talking about the picture/graphic, i know you must analyse that.

also, what kind of marks are needed on an english exam (out of 30) to get a 40 and a 45?

Isn't that objective then? If there's things that MUST be there, that is an objective criteria. Subjective would be if some examiners think you must have it, and others don't. I don't think the examples you gave happen as often as you might think, but when they do, it will end up relating to the fact that that piece of content was just so vital that a deep exploration of the topic cannot possibly be complete without it. In such a case, it is your ideas or evidence that is flawed.

As for your question, 3 8/10s is apparently around a 40 SS.

[stonecold]

Okay, thanks shinny.  Makes sense i guess.  
It must thin out really quick then, because I read somewhere on here that a student got a 50 with 27/30.
Was kinda hoping a 40 would be a bit lower.  I reckon I can get 22-26/30. 

Also, does word limit have any bearing on your mark?  Do you have a better chance at a higher mark if you write ~1000 words per piece, provided of course that it is quality and you aren't going around in circles?

[shinny]

Well it depends. Generally, writing more words means you're getting more content in. It's pretty difficult to get the amount of depth required in a 10/10 text response without going to at least 1000 words, if not more. I wouldn't say that a long word count is a requirement of a 10/10 essay, but rather more of a common consequence. However, it's still possible to score well without it if you happen to be really concise.

Looking at it from the other side, I actually believe that a 10/10 on language analysis is definitely achievable, and perhaps even more achievable with a low word count, perhaps 700-800 words. Excessive content in a language analysis often leads to the analysis of worse examples, which leads to worse analysis. The point of a language analysis is just to indicate that you have the skill to analyse. I don't believe that analysing a dozen techniques achieves this purpose any better than if you analysed a lower number, and as I said before, may even be counterproductive. I know that many people disagree with what I've said here as shown by what played out on the English forum some time ago, but it's what I've seen from my experience.

[EvangelionZeta]

Well it depends. Generally, writing more words means you're getting more content in. It's pretty difficult to get the amount of depth required in a 10/10 text response without going to at least 1000 words, if not more. I wouldn't say that a long word count is a requirement of a 10/10 essay, but rather more of a common consequence. However, it's still possible to score well without it if you happen to be really concise.

Looking at it from the other side, I actually believe that a 10/10 on language analysis is definitely achievable, and perhaps even more achievable with a low word count, perhaps 700-800 words. Excessive content in a language analysis often leads to the analysis of worse examples, which leads to worse analysis. The point of a language analysis is just to indicate that you have the skill to analyse. I don't believe that analysing a dozen techniques achieves this purpose any better than if you analysed a lower number, and as I said before, may even be counterproductive. I know that many people disagree with what I've said here as shown by what played out on the English forum some time ago, but it's what I've seen from my experience.

Agreed again.  Whilst I can't say for all, in my experience high achieving students who tend to go 1000-1200 words only get to around 800-900 for LA.

[kyzoo]

luken93, you should probably suck up to EvangelionZeta too, if he offers any classes, you'd want to be his friend.

0.o

[Blakhitman]

luken93, you should probably suck up to EvangelionZeta too, if he offers any classes, you'd want to be his friend.

0.o

From what I've read from him, he's quite good at English, is there something wrong with what I've said?

[kyzoo]

No, lol that was just my instinctive response to that statement.

[lynt.br]

While I generally agree that language analysis does not require the same amount of writing as the other two section, sometimes the difference between a 9 and 10 will come down to how much content was included.
 
On one of my practice pieces, my tutor (who was an English examiner) said that while it pretty much satisfied the marking criteria perfectly I would still be lucky to get higher than a 9 because there will be other pieces that are equally well written but just include more. I had written around 800 words and focussed on what I perceived as the most salient elements of the article in my analysis. My tutor then showed me what a 10 scoring LA would look like. Fundamentally both our pieces were the same except that this student had written a whopping 6 page encyclopedia encompassing every conceivable aspect of the article.

IIRC the marking criteria is the exact same for 9 and 10 scores. I've been told by examiners that differentiating between 9's and 10's essentially comes down to a ranking system. It is quite possible for a 9 essay to be 'perfect' in content, it's just there are other essays which contain more perfect content which prevents them from being ranked at the same level.

While the usual hazards of attempting to write too much at the expense of quality are still present, quantity is something you should keep in mind if you are aiming for the top end of scoring board. In a system where essays have to be ranked as 'better' than others, quantity can very well be the differentiating factor.

Yes, very true, it's extremely easy to be careless, particularly when the paper is relatively easy

On one of my exams I failed to calculate 1 + 2 x 2. This was for my highest study score subject too.

[luken93]

hey dont worry, ill book in with whoever can teach me what shinny just said,

see you over the holidays evangelion and shinny

[iffets12345]

if its 3 8/10s, im screwed....
Nobody in our class has received a nine for an essay yet, I've been ranging from 6-8s... kind of disappointing as in year 11 they were so lenient with the marking. Now I wish they hadn't because reality is really hitting the class and its extremely discouraging to EVERYONE. But oh well.
It's also really strange how, a story I liked scored less than a story I believed was not as eloquent.

[Ilovemathsmeth]

I got 9/10, 9/10 and 7.5/10 for English to get 43. Mind you, I had kinda avergage Eng SACs...

[tram]

^wow, i'm gonna have to put a hell of a lot of work into english now:S damn and it's so important too

[Blakhitman]

I got 9/10, 9/10 and 7.5/10 for English to get 43. Mind you, I had kinda avergage Eng SACs...

Wow, that sucks...and I suck at English