To Plan Or Not To Plan (1 Viewer)

[monsta4lyfe]

Just a simple thread for the use of rough plans for essays during exam conditions.

Yes or no? In some situations? And maybe just some simple reasons why.

For instance, I believe essay plans are a good thing to include for things such as the belonging essay and creative writing (technically not an essay, but you get what I mean). It allows the marker to get what you're trying to say before they read it, that way the only thing they look out for in your response when they read is mainly your expression of your ideas.

At the same time, the clock is ticking and five minutes for an can mean the difference between an insightful analysis and a good analysis, which is why I'd never plan for any of the module essays (15 minutes gone just from planning). If you have a memorised essay I guess its much more fulfilling just to get straight into it.

So in my case, it depends on the essay at hand.

 

[Spiritual Being]

DONT plan an essay


esp. if you're memorising one

It wastes too much time, just mentally plan it in the reading time

 

[titaniumwithin]

I never plan. I feel as though I am wasting time but some people find it helpful. I'd say just to go with whatever you have been doing for the past 2 years.

 

[monsta4lyfe]

I'm curious... do markers react differently to an essay that has a plan and one without a plan? E.g. Do they think... "Oh, I see what that student's trying to do... Good ideas, but terrible expression" as opposed to one without saying "I'm not quite sure what this person is trying to say... they clearly lacked a plan."

I'm curious because its not about what I think looks good, its about knowing what the marker thinks looks good.

 

[SuperMike96]

I'm curious... do markers react differently to an essay that has a plan and one without a plan? E.g. Do they think... "Oh, I see what that student's trying to do... Good ideas, but terrible expression" as opposed to one without saying "I'm not quite sure what this person is trying to say... they clearly lacked a plan."

I'm curious because its not about what I think looks good, its about knowing what the marker thinks looks good.

Either way the markers can only mark you on the actual essay.
Personally, I take 1-2 minutes to plan inside my head.

 

[Spiritual Being]

nek min

omeds whole essay is a plan

 

[iBibah]

If you think a plan makes it look good, write one after you write your easy if you have time. I've done it for certain teachers who like plans but not sure how much it'll help in the hsc.


Of course this only works if you don't need a plan but want one for the looks.

 

[iBibah]

nek min

omeds whole essay is a plan

A kid at our school wrote dot points for some essays in the trial :/

 

[rumbleroar]

I usually plan my essays extremely quickly, so like 1 minute to jot my thesis and ideas down. Then that usually goes in my intros and I write like crazy.

I think plans are good because if you ever get lost you have something to refer to. You also need to know your texts extremely well to make your essay plan effective (AOS essays at least)

I wouldn't necessarily memorise an essay because you don't know what the question is but it's good to practise with a range of questions and know your texts extremely well.

I used this method for my prelim relationships essay and got full marks so I think it works haha


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[LoveHateSchool]

Just a simple thread for the use of rough plans for essays during exam conditions.

Yes or no? In some situations? And maybe just some simple reasons why.

For instance, I believe essay plans are a good thing to include for things such as the belonging essay and creative writing (technically not an essay, but you get what I mean). It allows the marker to get what you're trying to say before they read it, that way the only thing they look out for in your response when they read is mainly your expression of your ideas.

At the same time, the clock is ticking and five minutes for an can mean the difference between an insightful analysis and a good analysis, which is why I'd never plan for any of the module essays (15 minutes gone just from planning). If you have a memorised essay I guess its much more fulfilling just to get straight into it.

So in my case, it depends on the essay at hand.

Iirc time was tight in Adv Eng so I didn't really plan belong a very short thought.

For EE1 and Modern History, where the time is less tight, I believe I jotted down a quick plan. I found planning the most useful, English I pretty much knew how to answer questions off the bat , but I found a brief planning in modern really key tbh.

(Also the long response in bio, a quick idea to make sure you address all criteria)

 

[panda15]

If they wanted us to plan an essay, they would give us more than 40 minutes to write one.

 

[leesh95]

I like to plan for economics but not for english

 

[titaniumwithin]

Do markers actually read your plans? Because they will probably move on to the rest of the 328957230539208 essays they have to read.

 

[Arys]

Yeh, I plan, for like two minutes. I don't really memorise essays, I've memorised certain paragraphs that revolve around ideas, and thesis statements. Generally in my plan, I'll start by jotting down the points I'll talk about, and since I've studied my quotes, I know which quotes to use, and since I've studied planned ideas, I know how to express them. Then I think about my thesis, which usually takes like 5 seconds at this point. Planning saves me time, because I don't stop by the third para and say "Shit I've rambled off the topic and have nothing left to say"

 

[Drifting95]

Either way the markers can only mark you on the actual essay.
Personally, I take 1-2 minutes to plan inside my head.

Not sure where you heard this.

One of my teachers is a senior hsc marker (current) and said anything written on the plan is also taken into consideration. This isn't english btw

 

[Nooblet94]

Tbh you shouldn't need to plan - you've had a whole year to memorise your essays.

 

[Spiritual Being]

Tbh you shouldn't need to plan - you've had a whole year to memorise your essays.

Some people started their essays this morning bro.

 

[Nooblet94]

Some people started their essays this morning bro.

What have they even been doing all year?

Analysing the text and actually getting something out of the course? There's no time to do that when you have to study for 4u, phys and chem.

 

[Spiritual Being]

What have they even been doing all year?

Analysing the text and actually getting something out of the course? There's no time to do that when you have to study for 4u, phys and chem.

getting ready for the emotional torture of writing the essay the night before

guess they're only going to get a 98 atar man

don't look down on them, you were once that guy with a 98 ATAR so you can sympathise

 

[twinklegal19]

If they wanted us to plan an essay, they would give us more than 40 minutes to write one.

Haha this.