reading the texts (1 Viewer)

[hasterz]

i have discovered that many people can get away from not reading the texts for eng adv and can get band 6s anyway. Is this the same story for ext1 english? Books like possession are 500+ pages. Think of the opportunity cost involved. These books take 12 hours + to read an equivalent of writing 15 essays, which i think is time better spent. I feel summaries + analysis + essay memorisation can work. What do you guys think.

 

[rific]

lol, not that I condone non-reading of set texts, but yes, during my school years (did ext 1 and 2) and so far during my uni course I have been known to perhaps not quite 'finish' a book and get reasonable marks. So long as you sound intelligent, make it seem as though you have read the text, and include a few quotes you picked up while flipping through the chapters, you can get marks. Reading summaries/essays/reports on the text can always get you out of a bind.

 

[hasterz]

lol and all this from a soon to be teacher =p

woot

 

[rific]

Ooops, probably should have turned the signature off on that one huh? lol.

 

[hasterz]

ahah yeh.... but i mean opportunity cost is so damn important and you need to maximise your time..... i also do 4 u maths which is extremely time consuming, so if i can get my e4 in english with the least time & effort then it'll be good for my other subjects as well.

 

[glitterfairy]

Personally, I'm sure that enough hard work and memorisation of essays could get you into the second-top band, and perhaps even the top band if you're really good. But we had this discussion last year - if you want to do REALLY well, you HAVE to understand the module and have a sophisticated response with flair which a) you can't really memorise) and b), a memorised, generic response can always be picked up on...

If you really want the top band, you're going to have to work for it, in other words.

I admit that I never finished Shipping News, although I only glossed over the last few chapters. I would think that completely not reading the book at all hardly stands you in good stead for a Band 4...

EDIT: "least time and effort" - spoken like a true maths-minded person. English doesn't work that way sweetheart. It's about understanding the module and your texts... and no-one knows how long that will take nor how well you will do with it.

 

[tennille]

You're better off reading the texts. Reading them twice is even better.

It does suck but you are better off reading them..

But, I have heard people who received good marks without reading the texts and stuff. But you'd be taking a risk.

Don't fully memorise essays. The BoS markers are not stupid. They can identify if essays have been memorised because people lack the skill to adapt a memorised essay to the question. Look at a variety of essays, pick out the points which are important and stuff.

The best way to know what you are going to write about in an exam is to do practice questions over and over again and try to get the same points down in each essay, regardless of the question, but ensuring that you are referring to the question. Then get it marked by your teacher. It'll teach you how to adapt similar points to different questions.

 

[rific]

Uh, all that stuff works too.

If you take the time to do the work and do the prep essays you will always come out on top. And Tennille, you are absolutely right, never ever ever memorise an essay, you need to be able to take your understanding of a text/paradigm and adapt that knowledge to any new question, which is something that is next to impossible to do with a pre preped essay.

So, does that sound better from the soon to be english teacher? I can go back to that whole "you can get by with out working" scheme if you like. Not that I would... ever, well.. you know... do that sort of. Bother, I knew I shouldn't have wandered into this forum.

 

[glitterfairy]

Well, let's look at pros and cons.

NOT READING
*Less effort and time involved
*"prepared" essays

READING
*More time and effort involved
*Understanding of module and with practice, ability to pop out sophisticated responses that show independant thought

Sure, the easy way *might* work but there are far too many risks. The entire point of EE1 is to make smart english cookies think, because they can. If you're planning on doing a regular advanced english "state point...give example...give technique...ok I'm done" thing, then what's the point of doing EE1? Most EE1 people work at it because a) they're taking the opportunity offered to them to develop their english analytical skills and b) they want to do well in EE1. And you're really not going to do all that well if you don't do the work.

Tennille is right. The Board of Studies really isn't stupid and they can tell when an essay is generic (eg the person hasn't read the text or hasn't bothered analysing it on their own). Heck, even I can tell when an essay is generic!

There ARE cases where people have got into the top band without putting in quite as much effort as other people have, but these people are far and few between and normally have a natural ability to gain a lot more insights from glossing over a text than "normal" people do. Even so, these are the same people who have the capacity to not only aim for a top band, but a top mark of around 50, if they wanted it - but they couldn't be bothered.

I always advise people to do their best. And if you're only doing EE1 for the scaling, isn't that what you should be working for anyway?

 

[Will_Sparky]

Look, I'll be honest here, I never read North and South for EE1 (well, i didn't read all of it) but it was fine because I didn't write on it in the exam. But I did read Dolls House (about a hundred times) and watched Pride and Prejudice (about a THOUSAND times!). You NEED to read your texts, or at least important sections which are relevant to your Module/Elective. The again, I just missed out on an E4 .

Maybe the sections your teacher points out as 'important' are ones you should have a read of and analyse. Reading your texts is ALWAYS better than not reading your texts!

 

[absolution*]

Didnt read any prescribed texts for advanced or extension (except maybe yeats if that counts) and did well. Reading texts is for sissy's. Read critical responses, essays and various other intelligentsia. And then write practise essays upon practise essays on all the questions you can find and youll eventually come up with some paragraphs which you can adapt to any question that they may ask in the exam.

With regards to what was said above... i wrote prepared essays for powerplay, journeys, yeats and in the wild as well as extension english and managed to get 94 for advanced and 49 for extension. Basically, if you integrate them properly youll be fine.

Dont read possession.
Only read chapters 13 and the last 5 from FLW.
Watch Orlando
And read all of DWM, which only takes like 1.5 hours.

 

[rific]

This is a little off topic, but eh, what can you do? Anyway, do you find the texts interesing in their own right, would you read them even if you didn't have too, or do people only read them to get the marks? Or, do you NOT read them because of time constraints or because of lack of interest in the subject matter?

 

[Will_Sparky]

This is a little off topic, but eh, what can you do? Anyway, do you find the texts interesing in their own right, would you read them even if you didn't have too, or do people only read them to get the marks? Or, do you NOT read them because of time constraints or because of lack of interest in the subject matter?

A Dolls House and Pride and Prejudice I probably would have read/watched anyway. I found North and South boring, which is why i didn't finish it. And time constraints, but I would have MADE time if i liked it enough.

 

[absolution*]

This is a little off topic, but eh, what can you do? Anyway, do you find the texts interesing in their own right, would you read them even if you didn't have too, or do people only read them to get the marks? Or, do you NOT read them because of time constraints or because of lack of interest in the subject matter?

I read Possession after the HSC and i would have liked to have read FLW during the hsc but didnt have enough time.

 

[jusdorange]

it doesn't take that long to read a book.. just read one chapter a night? or three chapters a weekend or something.

 

[ElendilPeredhil]

can't understand not reading the texts...surely you have free time at night and can read them? of course, personally i'll read any set text that i haven't already read (and if i have it depends how long ago i read it) but even if you don't enjoy reading for the sake of it...you should still read your set texts
IMO

 

[glitterfairy]

Agreed, some texts can suck. I really cannot say how much i hated Shipping News, nor how difficult I initially found Heart of Darkness as well.

Whilst it's not the sort of thing I read for pleasure, I can appreciate it from a literary perspective (technique and concept, if nothing else). It's not going to be "fun", but it'll be good, especially if you plan to do anything humanities-based in University.

 

[nwatts]

Crime fiction is good in the sense that it's easy to enjoy the reading appropriate texts. Plus, of the three prescribed texts, only one sucks - which is pretty good.

Oh, and I don't think you could write band 6 essays if you hadn't read the texts. You wouldn't have the extra detail needed to pull yourself through a very well handled response. Plus, you'd find studying such a bore considering you hadn't read the text.

 

[princessj]

hehehehe i believe u can get away with it...
for my aos related text i want to do the canturbery tales but they r soo long and soo mnay and the language gives u a headache..... so summaries+analysises+essays all the way!

 

[bJ_Bhoy 87]

ive got away without reading most of the texts this year, been getting 90+. its a tried and tested formula, im not about to stop. but i spose everyone is different and some may prefer to read them. if the texts interested me i probably would read them