How to write a BAND 6 essay?

[rsingh]

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Now from the title of this thread, most of you must be saying to yourself, "WOW, WHAT AN IDIOT?"

Well, I've never been TOO great at writing essays, however I'm not a complete illiterate either.
I do ADVANCED English and my essays are just OK - JUST.

Can you guys please give me advice on how to write BAND 6 essays?

This would be greatly appreciated, not only by me, but by all Advanced English students.

Thanks in advance.

[~*HSC 4 life*~]

- answer the question..is a biggie

be succint, use heaps of quotes/techniques...and make sure you fulfil the module outcomes (they are printed at the top of the page in the exmas)

[kimmeh]

try working on getting a band 5 first

I find what helps me the most is that i take 5 mins to plan my essay (on top of what emily said above). 5 minutes of planning will save you alot of time when you are writing because it means that your ideas will flow in a logical order and that you dont waste time in trying to figure out what to say next or cross out mass sentences

[Wilmo]

One word... Technique

A really good thing to do is to write a really long essay with everything you know about the subject... Then refine it down to something you can write in 40 minutes. The more you do that, the more techniques you will know, and the more you will be able to ANSWER THE QUESTION no matter what it is.

In your essay use three colours:

Character Technique Effect (you can pick whatever colours you want)

That way you can see how effective your sentences are. If you only have character, then thats not really a good sentence. If you have character and technique, its better, but still not the best. If you have all 3 things, go awesome sentences that make the marker think "wow, you know whos involved, how the author shows whats happening, and the effect that has on the audience!"

[Lorie]

whats your problem with the essay?

[Sarah168]

In addition to being formulaic with technique and a answering the question, a big factor is demonstrating personal engagement with the texts AND concepts. There is no step by step formula to do this. It requires you to think. That's all I have to say really.

[senso]

Originally Posted by ~*HSC 4 life*~

be succint, use heaps of quotes/techniques...and make sure you fulfil the module outcomes (they are printed at the top of the page in the exmas)

how much quoting has to go on? Like one a point or??
How many would you end up with per page?

[Wilmo]

When you say: "The composer uses hindsight to convey to the audience a significant journey has taken place, and they have moved from one place to another" then you should back that up with a quote from the text.

it shows your understanding of characters, techniques, and shows you have actually read/seen the text

[urban-angel]

JUST REMEMBER:

S=state your point,
E=example with a quotation from text,
X=x'plain, refer back to question, justify its inclusion..

-____________-; My friend told me that haha

[Sophie777]

Don't write like its prepared.

They want you to use 'flair' in language. So be creative, you won't get top band 6 just by being really structured. You have to stand out aswell. Think of things other people wont.

[senso]

what if you dont have 'flair'?

[mishka]

- - underline the key words in the question/statement and make sure you know what the question is asking.

- - make sure you are also including info on context and techniques. context and techniques are ALWAYS required in responses, sometimes they aren't specifically asked for, but it is essential in any response.

- - if the question/statement asks for "at least one related" do no less than two. the related material should demonstrate your ability to find a wide range of textual forms and link them logically.

- - think SHORT and SWEET. do not ramble on one point because you have studied it better than another. demonstrate a thorough knowledge by incorporating a range of examples, techniques and analysis.

- - REMEMBER - this is your last chance to show the markers what you have learnt!!! make the most of it, THEN and ONLY THEN may you celebrate the end of English as we know it!!

Hope that helps, just a bit of rambling i've remembered being lectured about this year!! Good luck everyone!!

[Sarah168]

Originally Posted by senso

what if you dont have 'flair'?

Flair is not a golden key to find. It just means that you need to THINK.

[matt_a]

Integration is the key. You wont get band 6 unless you integrate. You can't go for example . .

This text bla bla bla
(Para)
This text bla bla bla
(Para)
Then this text bla bla bla

What I usually do, I write a huge essay say for Journeys with all my notes available to me. I usually summarise it into notes, so now I know exactly what and how to write it about each text. Then I just adapt it to the question, use some different quotes, but I know how each text relates and how I can integrate all the points together. Cause if you think about it there are only so many questions they can ask about Journeys/Transformations/Telling the Truth Topics, because there is really only one aim in each of them.
If you think about it English essays are easy, as long as you have things from each text prepared. I've prepared 6 scenes from Lear (in detail), 6 parts of Emma with the corresponding parts in Cluless, 4 Colderidge poems + 3 related + 2 BOS, and I havent really prepared any for Frontline cause it's just so easy to think of examples anyway.

Preparation is the key

(I know I just contradicted myself, there cannot be 2 keys. But you know what I mean!)

[withoutaface]

Be able to write fast helps, and that is the department in which I am lacking. It is very hard to answer the question in 800 words.