gleeek
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How many words should a modern history essay be? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter gleeek
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The recommendation is 1,000 words for each essay, which is about 8 pages.
gleeek
Member
Fanks goizz
The average essay length for 15+/25 and over is between 5 and 6 pages from my marking experience. Writing more won't guarantee a better mark however. At that length it comes down to the quality of the answer not the quantity. Some people write 6 - 8 pages of simple story telling with no analysis and so end up with the basic marks while others are able to really delve into the question in the same length of answer.
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Eduard_Khil
CASIO fx-82ES PLUS
Exactly ^ the main point is to reinforce your argument, words don't matter a great deal, but I'd say on average it'd be about 5-6 pages in 40 minutes depending on your writing speed and the size of it and especially if you have to keep writing for a few hours that way
Johnstan
Sickunt overload
u wot m8
isnt 1000 more like 4-5 max
It might be around 5-6. When I did my HSC, it was the first year when they started using the new booklets. Prior to that, the ones they used had fewer lines, so we were told that it was around 8 pages.
Back on point, it is important to remember that quality is more important than quantity, but there is a limit to this principle. Some people think that an essay for Modern constitutes like two or three pages worth or around 300 - 500 words. Generally speaking, an essay that small will probably lack the detail needed for a high mark.
Spiritual Being
hehehehehe
+1
Modern is one of my hardest subjects but I'd suffice it to say that 1000 words should be enough to attain the higher bands.
D94
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For the HSC booklets, it would be around 3 booklets, or 9 pages, give or take.
For A4 pages, it might be around 4-5 pages.
Obviously depending on the size of your handwriting.
What's infinitely more important is that you get niche and specific with every thematic point you introduce, harnessing those illuminating statistics and going beyond the textbook. I get above 23 for every Germany essay with only writing 5 A4 pages, comprising of 5 body paragraphs and super concise and to the point intros conclusions.
You dont need 1,000 words for a band 6, you could probably get one with somewhere in the region of 800 words as well. However, length shouldnt be your primary concern. You should be aiming to write a sustained and logical response, supported by evidence which adequately addresses the question.
D94
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5 A4 pages is around 1000-1200 words, so you are able to provide relevant and effective points in that amount of space. But with only 400 words, you would find it hard to convey that exact same quality response, so whilst quality is definitely the most important factor, you need quantity to express quality.
loversinjapan
Swag Queen
my most recent conflict in europe essay was 1500 words. is this a bad sign? in our most recent exam, my teacher (senior marker) recommended 1400 per section (i can generally churn out 1650 in 40 minutes)
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loversinjapan
Swag Queen
oh, i definitely wouldn't write 1650 for a single section in a modern exam, that's just gauged from other subjects which require a little more quantity. i'm just wondering if markers take (negative) note of responses that exceed the 1000-1200 mark.
my teacher (snr marker) has suggested that a high band 6 student would have the knowledge to present a sustained argument that is not only of high quality but quantity too i guess? ("girls, you should be struggling to fit in all your arguments -- they should be bursting out of the page!")
however reading some of the comments on the forums conflict with my current understanding
edit: just write a good essay, kgotit
my teacher (snr marker) has suggested that a high band 6 student would have the knowledge to present a sustained argument that is not only of high quality but quantity too i guess? ("girls, you should be struggling to fit in all your arguments -- they should be bursting out of the page!")
however reading some of the comments on the forums conflict with my current understanding
edit: just write a good essay, kgotit
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luvglee4lyfe
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1000-1200 is recommended. If your points are relevant, markers won't take a negative note about excessive writing. However, beware that 3hrs goes by EXTREMELY quickly, esp. in Modern History. One bad section is all it takes to stuff up the subject.
Seriously - that is pretty quick (I'd consider anything over 1,100 in 40 minutes to be quick). As I said earlier, the recommendation is 1,000 words, but I guess you could get away with around 750 words (I wouldn't go any lower). I remember when I was doing my HSC, I saw an official BoS document which set 1,000 words as a recommendation (maybe someone could post it if they find it). Obviously, if you can include more content and detail, then that will probably help. However, just keep in mind the old quality over quantity adage - you are better off with a concise 1,000 words than 1,500+ words of repetitive dribble.