Poad said:
In my English half yearly I used abbreviations for the titles of my texts (This Lime Tree Bower My Prision, The Rime of The Ancient Mariner, and A Christmas Carol.. no way am I writing those out multiple times). Of course, I wrote them out fully first then wrote the abbreviations in brackets.
Oh, and, I actually wrote 'IJ' once (imaginative journey) which I thought was maybe pushing it, but hey, I got full marks for that essay so I guess it wasn't so bad.
well.. that was school assessment, hsc exams are a little different.
i'm mearly pointing out that (well, i couldn't find a reference to it in 2006 or 2007 examiners comments but) in the 2004 examiners report they said:
Of particular concern for examiners was the increasing number of candidates who referred to the focus areas as PJ or IJ and to texts by initials throughout their response, eg TRNT by RF, FAM and RAM by STC. Whilst examiners have sympathy for the amount of material candidates are grappling with in this question and the limited time that they have to compose their response, it is essential that candidates understand the distracting nature of such abbreviations. The flow of argument is interrupted by acronyms that are difficult to identify – TOWGA and TTWTSS, for example. It is easy for examiners to forget the candidate’s ‘code’. Candidates even used this method to refer to related material, for example, LFA. After their initial full citation candidates should use ellipsis in referring to their texts, eg Frost’s ‘The Road …’ , Ballard’s ‘Empire …’, Coleridge’s ‘This Lime-Tree …’. Many titles are certainly short enough in their entirety. The poem ‘Postcard’ should be referred to in full, not as PC. Writers, poets, dramatists, directors should be referred to by their surname in full.
Some candidates avoided the necessity of repeating text titles by referring to distinctive elements of texts or the composer, eg ‘When the mariner …’ or ‘Twain engages the reader …’.
Candidates were not penalised for using acronyms but are reminded that it is not the preferable way to refer to texts, as it jars the overall flow of their response.
and again in 2005:
It was pleasing to see that many candidates heeded last year’s notes from the marking centre regarding use of acronyms. However, there are still some candidates shortening titles and authors’ names by using clumsy acronyms such as CTRS by PS and TTWTSS. Candidates can avoid the necessity of repeating text titles by referring to distinctive elements of the title, for example, 'Lime-Tree
...' or 'Immigrants
...', Frost's 'The Road
...' or referring to the author/director, as in 'Bragg’s text', 'Walker’s review' or 'Benigni’s film'. Writers, poets, dramatists and directors should be referred to by their surname in full.
