English, you're right, is an entirely different ball game. But if you can structure an essay well, you can pretty much structure anything. Don't forget about the creative writing.
What you need to do is not look at English as a whole, but look at it in seperate sections so it seems like it's less~
When you finally get down to the last topic, you'll be glad.
Ways of doing categorising~
- Colour code sections of your study book / work book so you know what belongs with what ~ colours are fun and in a way they make things less boring and arduous.
- Perhaps do specific symbols to what piece of information fits where
- Draw cartoons (if you're artsy) or fold paper so you have an easier job finding things
Ways of studying~
- Put your info together darn sarnit.
- There isn't much of a way around this except practising your essays. My advice is to hand in essays early in the term because the bulk of students will be handing theirs in later in the term, that way you are able to develop your writing skills so writing in an exam should come automatically.
- Write out dot points, or mind maps~
What I like to do is use scrapbooks, because they are so versatile. I draw mindmaps and arrows everywhere, by putting one topic in the middle of the page, just to formulate ideas. Then get out your practice questions and start !
For a topic like journeys, be sure to gather all your relevant texts and put them together, that way you'll find it much easier to do comparisons and textual analysis, however boring that may sound =)
My favourite topic has been journeys, because I find it so easy to relate to everything that we do in our lives, and let's face it, the HSC IS a journey. (best you don't write about that in the creative section though) ;p
Just remember, relating things back to mankind is easy... and apparently extremely insightful.
DON'T FORGET::
- Before you study, stock up on some srs. candy / lollies / snakes (ooohyeah) so you don't feel tempted to go find food~
- Set your time limits, when things should be done by and stick to them
- Listening to calm music sometimes helps when you write creative pieces, or practice them (you need to develop your own style)
- For creative pieces: CONSTRUCT A CHARACTER. This is important as you are then able to put yourself in that person's shoes... Wait, I have a sheet for you if you would like to do this... it's attached. - By constructing a character, come exam time, you will know this person back to front, you just need to open that part of you who knows them. Make their life believable, don't make it absurd. Often using a random photo of someone you can picture helps (Google hehe), stick it on the page and make something up. This is a really fun thing to do, so don't go crazy, just make one character you really enjoy that you know - their hardships, lifestyle, age, gender, name, personality. You can always mould it to the piece you are responding to later, but it's good to have a basis. Then you avoid writing as yourself or as an angst-driven teenager.
- Just do eet.
Break down things, sort them out (mix it with your hobbies - as ellirene said, if charades works for you, why the hell not? origami? art? drawing? colours? symbols? ) , take time out for the subject (don't look at it so simply) , work through ideas, concepts and question things you don't understand.
GOOD LUCK~~!!!!
