Crobat's Guide To HSC English Advanced. (7 Viewers)

[nishi4000]

 

[strawberrye]

Another bump for such a well-thought out and well-written guide

 

[Crobat]

Welp, HSC season is nigh.

Giving this a bump for those of you needed a bit of a boost.

 

[el_manu]

THIS IS AMAZiNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[el_manu]

WIll definitely USE TO HELP ME IN 2015

 

[teridax]

Excellent guide Crobat! Just wanted to drop by and provide my input regarding some sections you discussed.

First and foremost - I feel like you made the assertion that you feel more secure with memorising essays as opposed to remembering your quotes + techniques for examinations, then I strongly disagree with that. At the end of the day, it's about what works for you, so some do work better with writing on the spot to their advantage. Something that may surprise a lot of people here is that in my opinion, you're putting even more stress of yourself if you try to pound 4 essays + 1 creative (memorising this is okay) in your head, because the brain cannot contain that much information; so I reckon it's feasible to know your text extremely well through understanding the core themes, rather than placing heaps of pressure on yourself. But of course, study how you feel will get the marks.

And this leads to my next point, about Module B. If I recall correctly Crobat, you had a post where you argued that should prepare a generic essay for, let's say Hamlet. In my opinion, this isn't the smartest idea as to how to revise for this play. The fact that Shakespeare's greatest production of all time is so enormously complex, and that the BoS can specify a theme, character, scene, or even textual form - reveals that having a memorised essay can really constrain your flexibility if it's only based on 3 themes in particular, hence you will have trouble adapting. I reckon it's more plausible to just remember key points (or even paragraphs if you're dedicated) to ensure you won't get flustered on the exam day.

In terms of seeking the feedback of your cohort, do you mean like everyone, or just those students who actually can provide genuine feedback? For me, I believe the latter is more appropriate. Seriously, would you rather ask someone who isn't as well-versed in English to give input on your potential band 6 script or ask someone who is a top student that is on the same level as you, thus making it clearer as to what you should change? To be honest, it's probably better to seek feedback from your friends who know their shit, ensuring what they articulate makes sense.

That's all I have to say. Other than that, great job!

 

[Crobat]

Excellent guide Crobat! Just wanted to drop by and provide my input regarding some sections you discussed.

First and foremost - I feel like you made the assertion that you feel more secure with memorising essays as opposed to remembering your quotes + techniques for examinations, then I strongly disagree with that. At the end of the day, it's about what works for you, so some do work better with writing on the spot to their advantage. Something that may surprise a lot of people here is that in my opinion, you're putting even more stress of yourself if you try to pound 4 essays + 1 creative (memorising this is okay) in your head, because the brain cannot contain that much information; so I reckon it's feasible to know your text extremely well through understanding the core themes, rather than placing heaps of pressure on yourself. But of course, study how you feel will get the marks.

And this leads to my next point, about Module B. If I recall correctly Crobat, you had a post where you argued that should prepare a generic essay for, let's say Hamlet. In my opinion, this isn't the smartest idea as to how to revise for this play. The fact that Shakespeare's greatest production of all time is so enormously complex, and that the BoS can specify a theme, character, scene, or even textual form - reveals that having a memorised essay can really constrain your flexibility if it's only based on 3 themes in particular, hence you will have trouble adapting. I reckon it's more plausible to just remember key points (or even paragraphs if you're dedicated) to ensure you won't get flustered on the exam day.

In terms of seeking the feedback of your cohort, do you mean like everyone, or just those students who actually can provide genuine feedback? For me, I believe the latter is more appropriate. Seriously, would you rather ask someone who isn't as well-versed in English to give input on your potential band 6 script or ask someone who is a top student that is on the same level as you, thus making it clearer as to what you should change? To be honest, it's probably better to seek feedback from your friends who know their shit, ensuring what they articulate makes sense.

That's all I have to say. Other than that, great job!

I'm going to try and answer this with as much respect as possible, so please don't take any offence for any bluntness I exhibit.

1. Yes, a student's preparation style is to each their own. The reasons I posit that preparing generics is a good way of doing it is quite extensively explained in the initial post, so I won't go over it again, but with respect to the specific notion of understanding the core themes, I did suggest that throughout the constant editing process of devising a proper generic essay you will develop a solid understanding of the core themes. A large majority of the time I was writing not word for word my essays, but my understanding after having re-written and thought out the core themes in extensive detail. It was just an easier and evidently more efficient way I found to do what you are suggesting, and the other top rankers in my cohort did the same. However, if the prospect of memorising 4 essays + 1 creative is genuinely too stressful for you than loosely scaffolded ideas and understanding, then I respect that and that's your personal preference.

2. You have seemed to ignored the massive part on having the leniency of arguing against the question, which is where the majority of flexibility comes from in Module B, particularly for Hamlet. Module B being a critical study is by nature the most difficult module, but if you have studied it critically and developed your own genuine opinion on the text, then adapting by arguing against the question should be relatively easy.

3. I found that giving the weaker students copies of my work helped me develop a clearer writing style that everyone could understand. The last thing you would want is to have your essay uninterpretable so I found their input helpful in that regard.

But thank you!

 

[teridax]

1. Thank you, that makes a lot more sense now.

2. But if you're taking the time on how to argue against the question in a situation like that, wouldn't you write a lot more for the Module B essay which in turn eats time away for the other modules you have to address?

3. Did you do this before or after trials?

 

[MzRobinHood97]

Hey! I have half yearlys coming up and I have AOS exam with the Tempest as the main text for Discovery. It's the summer holidays and I want to prepare it from now by preparing a generic essays but I don't know how to do it without knowing the question. What do you suggest I do?Any advice would be very appreciated

Thanks

 

[strawberrye]

Hey! I have half yearlys coming up and I have AOS exam with the Tempest as the main text for Discovery. It's the summer holidays and I want to prepare it from now by preparing a generic essays but I don't know how to do it without knowing the question. What do you suggest I do?Any advice would be very appreciated

Thanks

I personally wouldn't prepare a generic essay for the area of study because it is very broad and your generic essay will end up to be extremely long. Have you worked well with generic essays in the past?

 

[MzRobinHood97]

I personally wouldn't prepare a generic essay for the area of study because it is very broad and your generic essay will end up to be extremely long. Have you worked well with generic essays in the past?

No actually, this is the first time I'm attempting it. Is it a good idea? I dont know how to prepare

 

[matchalolz]

I'm thinking of memorising the discovery rubric so that I will be able to formulate theses more clearly in exam conditions.
I don't memorise essays but I remember some ideas I think are deep/useful, however I want to prepare myself to make things up on the spot in case I get a curveball question. Thoughts on this?

 

[strawberrye]

I'm thinking of memorising the discovery rubric so that I will be able to formulate theses more clearly in exam conditions.
I don't memorise essays but I remember some ideas I think are deep/useful, however I want to prepare myself to make things up on the spot in case I get a curveball question. Thoughts on this?

You won't really get a curveball question, there really isn't curveball questions as such in English, it is all a matter of deconstructing the question and thinking calmly and deeply about how your textual analysis relates to the question.

 

[turntaker]

Nice thread



but



englis is gey lel

 

[Crobat]

1. Thank you, that makes a lot more sense now.

2. But if you're taking the time on how to argue against the question in a situation like that, wouldn't you write a lot more for the Module B essay which in turn eats time away for the other modules you have to address?

3. Did you do this before or after trials?

2. It absolutely did, but i approached it last because Mods A and C were pretty clear cut easy questions and so my adaptation of my generic fit in quite well and easily (which saved me about 20 minutes extra to spend on the Mod B essay).

3. Before the trials (before most of the assessments tbh)

Hey! I have half yearlys coming up and I have AOS exam with the Tempest as the main text for Discovery. It's the summer holidays and I want to prepare it from now by preparing a generic essays but I don't know how to do it without knowing the question. What do you suggest I do?Any advice would be very appreciated

Thanks

Start by deconstructing the rubric and having a close look at the syllabus just to get an idea of what you are going to be asked to study in detail. I believe strawberrye has already done that for you here: Discovery Guide (kudos to strawberrye)

From here I'd essentially just have a go at writing paragraphs for the key themes/concpets within Discovery. It won't be anywhere near perfect right now, but it'll give you a bit of a headstart before school resumes. I strongly recommend you wait until you study it in detail with your class before you attempt to have any full-length generic essay written out.

I know you said you didn't read your texts but how did you find good quotes then? Did you search up key quotes to analyse them yourself or something?

Online resources my friend - Schmoop, Sparknotes, HSC Online, BoS Resources and notes from our teacher in class.

I'm thinking of memorising the discovery rubric so that I will be able to formulate theses more clearly in exam conditions.
I don't memorise essays but I remember some ideas I think are deep/useful, however I want to prepare myself to make things up on the spot in case I get a curveball question. Thoughts on this?

It's a sensible way to go about English in general. Like strawberrye said though, there's no such thing as a "curveball" question since the question is quite literally staring at you in the face everytime you read the module's syllabus. Essentially, if you have prepared properly using your planned method you shouldn't come across any question you can't answer and would therefore consider to be a "curveball".

 

[Crobat]

I think I get you, so you went on the internet to find quotes with analysis but then went away to use those quotes but make your own analysis?

Oops sorry, haven't had stable access to the net lately.

But yes, that's actually 100% what I did (and I also skipped to random pages to scan for good quotes but that was less fruitful for obvious reasons )

 

[RaayRayy]

Thanks Crobat!!! Hopefully this will help me destroy Discovery the old fashioned way

 

[mreditor16]

Bump!

 

[mreditor16]

Bump

 

[sadpwner]

Does anyone have a compilation of all the resources in rar? Mediafire doesn't allow for folder download anymore.