anti
aww.. baby raccoon ^^
Area of Study
my brother is now in year 12 and he was just asking me how on earth to remember all this stuff for Ive decided instead of just telling him I should post my own advice so others can benefit as well. I should mention that Lazarus had a hand to play in the guide too! I just padded it out
So, here it goes:
Every lesson, make sure that you have your book open, pen in hand. Even in a lesson where your teacher is just discussing the text or talking about what seems like nonsense, they will come up with valuable info on the spot and may not remember it next time.
You need to be ready to write down anything that is useful to you. Teachers often talk about a text off the top of their heads and cant give you notes on what they said as they did write it down, so you have to.
When going through a song or poem, if you have the words in front of you, annotate it. It becomes a lot easier to study than reading through a whole page of notes or a pre-prepared response that your teacher made up. Using these annotations, you can easily create you own response that will have all the valuable information you need.
Just highlight the techniques and write next it what the technique is and what effect it has on the reader.
Always ask questions. I can hear many of you saying ‘duh’, but some people find it embarrassing to ask questions, thinking that others will laugh of think they are stupid. I used to think like that, until I realised that if I don’t know something and I don’t ask about it, I will be jeopardising my education.
Just ask away, anything you need.
On asking questions, if you don’t know the meaning of a word, ask. Your teacher will be able to explain it better than a dictionary and they will be able to put it into perspective for you.
Now, teachers..
If I see people on here winging about how bad their teachers are I will scream! If you cant cope with you teacher, think they are bad at teaching, do something about it!
Ask your principal if you can move classes, and if there is only one class, then get extra help, the money you pay for a tutor will be worth it once you get that good mark and can get into uni.
if you cant afford a tutor, there are plenty of people on here that can help you. I love english and am willing to help anyone. Ive just helped two 2006ers with related material and im happy for people to PM or email me as im sure many other 2005ers are. Or you can get a moderator to help you, or there are teachers who roam this site, will to help!
Don’t just sit there winging about how horrible your teacher is, do something about it!
Ok, now onto essays.
Ive had quite a few people ask me how to memorise an essay. Well, firstly, if you are going to take this approach, make sure your teacher approves of the essay first.
Then, make sure that this essay can be tweaked to answer the question, there is no point in writing a brilliant essay that has nothing to do with what is asked!
If this is all good, here is what I did:
Grab your essay, read through it and write down the main points and quotes. Read through it and make sure that you will be able to link these points in an exam, relating them to the question.
After this, write down the key words that will help you remember the key points. For my essay I whittled these key words down to 10, which I remembered in order and used in the HSC, relating what I was saying to the question.
Some people may not find this way easy, there are many other techniques, you just have to find one that suits you. You may find it easier to re read all your noted over and over, in your head or out loud. You can always tape your essay onto a tap recorder and play it everywhere you go.
Another technique I used was to grab 2 A2 pieces of paper and write down all the key points and quotes and stick them on my wall. I would read these whenever I was bored, waiting for a page to load or when the ads were on TV. Did I remember these points? Yes I did!
And short answer responces, those little questions such as, 'how does the composer convey blah blah blah?'
This is a nice way to remember what do include:
Use TEE to remember to always write:
1. The technique used.
2. an example of this technique.
3. The effect it has on the viewer.
you wont get full marks if you dont have all of these!
So, what ever you do, make sure it suits you,
I hope you guys have found it useful in some way.
Good luck and god bless!
Gummy_bear
Last minute guide to Paper 1 - Area of Study!
* Reading Time
Read the paper thoroughly TWICE. Then focus on the section that you are going to do first and think carefully about what you're going to say and how you're going to say it.
If you don't understand a question: if you can't answer the question very simply in your head ("how does the composer do this?" "he does it by doing that..") then I would leave it and come back to it when you have a bit more time to think about it. The reading time isn't there to stress you out!
Oh, and another thing: read the rubrics (dot points) - they will tell you exactly what you will be marked on.
* Section 1 - Comprehension
Be aware of the various techniques used by composers to convey meaning:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=10375
Answer the question - always read your answer a second time and ASK YOURSELF, "Does this answer the question?"
There are rarely trick questions in this section - in fact I don't think I have ever seen a trick question.
Part i) usually asks you WHAT the composer is telling you; part ii) will ask you HOW. Don't mix up the two.
If it asks you to explain ONE thing, ONLY explain one thing.
Allocate your writing time according to the mark distribution. For a question worth one mark, it's not worth writing a page and a half.
The very last question: 'Compare and contrast' means exactly that - compare the texts you have studied in both meaning and technique. What are the similarities, and what are the differences? Which is the most EFFECTIVE text (perhaps for a particular audience) and why?
For this question you DO NOT need an essay structure; you DO NOT need an introduction or conclusion. You should not retell the meaning of the plot or explain how the techniques create meaning; you have just done this in the previous questions. Jump straight into comparing the similarities and differences if that's what they're asking you to do.
* Section 2 - Creative Writing
Our English moderator (anti) has developed a comprehensive guide to creative writing:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=44069
Don't be too complex: a simple idea can be very effective.
Make sure your piece answers the question or the stimulus text, although this can be done subtly.
* Section 3 - Extended Response
* If you do this section last make sure you have at LEAST 40 minutes in which to write it.
* Read the question. Make sure you understand: audience, purpose and context of the question.
* Plan your response before you write it (you can write all over the question booklet if you like) - or maybe on the last page of your answer booklet (but cross it out afterwards so they don't mark it!)
* Refer to the correct number of texts
* Make sure you are answering the correct question - you will be talking about the specific type of journey you have studied this year (Inner, Imaginative, Physical).
Standards Packages - Actual responses written by past students when they sat their HSC exams, exemplar responses scored full marks (100%) and band 5/6 responses scored 90%. They're available in the resources section on the main website.
Definitions of the types of journeys:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=25472
Questions from the old AOS on "Change" are available here; you may be
able to adapt them to "Journeys":
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=9660
How to contruct an AOS Essay (from ETA):
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=44354
Lists of supplementary texts in each subforum:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/forumdisplay.php?f=44
* Overall
Spend a maximum of 40 minutes on each section. You should find yourself finishing section 1 with plenty of time to spare, so don't waste this time - start immediately on one of the other sections, and readjust your timing of the other two sections.
Spend some time planning your response before writing it. Messy writing or crossed out sections / arrows reduce the quality of your response (you won't be marked down, but it's harder to read - imagine you're a marker at 9pm who's just read fifty other responses!)
Always always make sure you answer the question. I can't stress this enough. Leave some time to check your answers, and make sure they answer the question. Ask yourself 'is this relevant?'.
GOOD LUCK!
my brother is now in year 12 and he was just asking me how on earth to remember all this stuff for Ive decided instead of just telling him I should post my own advice so others can benefit as well. I should mention that Lazarus had a hand to play in the guide too! I just padded it out
So, here it goes:
Firstly, listen to your teacher in every lesson. It seems so obvious, but really, many people prefer to talk or doodle in their notebooks and they miss out on a lot of key information. Your teacher may be old or mean, but they know what they are talking about, a lot more so than anyone else you could ask.
Every lesson, make sure that you have your book open, pen in hand. Even in a lesson where your teacher is just discussing the text or talking about what seems like nonsense, they will come up with valuable info on the spot and may not remember it next time.
You need to be ready to write down anything that is useful to you. Teachers often talk about a text off the top of their heads and cant give you notes on what they said as they did write it down, so you have to.
When going through a song or poem, if you have the words in front of you, annotate it. It becomes a lot easier to study than reading through a whole page of notes or a pre-prepared response that your teacher made up. Using these annotations, you can easily create you own response that will have all the valuable information you need.
Just highlight the techniques and write next it what the technique is and what effect it has on the reader.
Always ask questions. I can hear many of you saying ‘duh’, but some people find it embarrassing to ask questions, thinking that others will laugh of think they are stupid. I used to think like that, until I realised that if I don’t know something and I don’t ask about it, I will be jeopardising my education.
Just ask away, anything you need.
On asking questions, if you don’t know the meaning of a word, ask. Your teacher will be able to explain it better than a dictionary and they will be able to put it into perspective for you.
Now, teachers..
If I see people on here winging about how bad their teachers are I will scream! If you cant cope with you teacher, think they are bad at teaching, do something about it!
Ask your principal if you can move classes, and if there is only one class, then get extra help, the money you pay for a tutor will be worth it once you get that good mark and can get into uni.
if you cant afford a tutor, there are plenty of people on here that can help you. I love english and am willing to help anyone. Ive just helped two 2006ers with related material and im happy for people to PM or email me as im sure many other 2005ers are. Or you can get a moderator to help you, or there are teachers who roam this site, will to help!
Don’t just sit there winging about how horrible your teacher is, do something about it!
Ok, now onto essays.
Ive had quite a few people ask me how to memorise an essay. Well, firstly, if you are going to take this approach, make sure your teacher approves of the essay first.
Then, make sure that this essay can be tweaked to answer the question, there is no point in writing a brilliant essay that has nothing to do with what is asked!
If this is all good, here is what I did:
Grab your essay, read through it and write down the main points and quotes. Read through it and make sure that you will be able to link these points in an exam, relating them to the question.
After this, write down the key words that will help you remember the key points. For my essay I whittled these key words down to 10, which I remembered in order and used in the HSC, relating what I was saying to the question.
Some people may not find this way easy, there are many other techniques, you just have to find one that suits you. You may find it easier to re read all your noted over and over, in your head or out loud. You can always tape your essay onto a tap recorder and play it everywhere you go.
Another technique I used was to grab 2 A2 pieces of paper and write down all the key points and quotes and stick them on my wall. I would read these whenever I was bored, waiting for a page to load or when the ads were on TV. Did I remember these points? Yes I did!
And short answer responces, those little questions such as, 'how does the composer convey blah blah blah?'
This is a nice way to remember what do include:
Use TEE to remember to always write:
1. The technique used.
2. an example of this technique.
3. The effect it has on the viewer.
you wont get full marks if you dont have all of these!
So, what ever you do, make sure it suits you,
I hope you guys have found it useful in some way.
Good luck and god bless!
Gummy_bear
Last minute guide to Paper 1 - Area of Study!
* Reading Time
Read the paper thoroughly TWICE. Then focus on the section that you are going to do first and think carefully about what you're going to say and how you're going to say it.
If you don't understand a question: if you can't answer the question very simply in your head ("how does the composer do this?" "he does it by doing that..") then I would leave it and come back to it when you have a bit more time to think about it. The reading time isn't there to stress you out!
Oh, and another thing: read the rubrics (dot points) - they will tell you exactly what you will be marked on.
* Section 1 - Comprehension
Be aware of the various techniques used by composers to convey meaning:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=10375
Answer the question - always read your answer a second time and ASK YOURSELF, "Does this answer the question?"
There are rarely trick questions in this section - in fact I don't think I have ever seen a trick question.
Part i) usually asks you WHAT the composer is telling you; part ii) will ask you HOW. Don't mix up the two.
If it asks you to explain ONE thing, ONLY explain one thing.
Allocate your writing time according to the mark distribution. For a question worth one mark, it's not worth writing a page and a half.
The very last question: 'Compare and contrast' means exactly that - compare the texts you have studied in both meaning and technique. What are the similarities, and what are the differences? Which is the most EFFECTIVE text (perhaps for a particular audience) and why?
For this question you DO NOT need an essay structure; you DO NOT need an introduction or conclusion. You should not retell the meaning of the plot or explain how the techniques create meaning; you have just done this in the previous questions. Jump straight into comparing the similarities and differences if that's what they're asking you to do.
* Section 2 - Creative Writing
Our English moderator (anti) has developed a comprehensive guide to creative writing:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=44069
Don't be too complex: a simple idea can be very effective.
Make sure your piece answers the question or the stimulus text, although this can be done subtly.
* Section 3 - Extended Response
* If you do this section last make sure you have at LEAST 40 minutes in which to write it.
* Read the question. Make sure you understand: audience, purpose and context of the question.
* Plan your response before you write it (you can write all over the question booklet if you like) - or maybe on the last page of your answer booklet (but cross it out afterwards so they don't mark it!)
* Refer to the correct number of texts
* Make sure you are answering the correct question - you will be talking about the specific type of journey you have studied this year (Inner, Imaginative, Physical).
Standards Packages - Actual responses written by past students when they sat their HSC exams, exemplar responses scored full marks (100%) and band 5/6 responses scored 90%. They're available in the resources section on the main website.
Definitions of the types of journeys:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=25472
Questions from the old AOS on "Change" are available here; you may be
able to adapt them to "Journeys":
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=9660
How to contruct an AOS Essay (from ETA):
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=44354
Lists of supplementary texts in each subforum:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/forumdisplay.php?f=44
* Overall
Spend a maximum of 40 minutes on each section. You should find yourself finishing section 1 with plenty of time to spare, so don't waste this time - start immediately on one of the other sections, and readjust your timing of the other two sections.
Spend some time planning your response before writing it. Messy writing or crossed out sections / arrows reduce the quality of your response (you won't be marked down, but it's harder to read - imagine you're a marker at 9pm who's just read fifty other responses!)
Always always make sure you answer the question. I can't stress this enough. Leave some time to check your answers, and make sure they answer the question. Ask yourself 'is this relevant?'.
GOOD LUCK!
Here are some questions that i have complied. Feel free to add on some questions. Take a random text and pick a random question listed. This should help you practice analysing and writing responses for it
Paper I, Section I
+Identify ONE technique that is used in this text to communicate the notion of "Journeys" (1 mark)
+How has the composer used techniques to to illustrate the journey presented? (3 marks)
+Evaluate the effects of TWO techniques used in the text to convey the concept of a journey (2 marks)
+Explain how the graphics enhance the idea of the journey (2marks)
+How does the text relate to metaphor of the road journey and the concept of life? (3 marks)
+Which TWO texts best convey the concept of the metaphor of the road journey? (5 marks)
+Explain how the composer of the text conveys his/her mesage about lifes journey (2 marks)
+Explain the message that the composer uses is giving the responder in this text (2 marks)
+What type of journey is the persona undertaking in the text? (1 mark)
+Explain THREE texhniques the composer uses to explore this journey (3 marks)
+Which one of the these texts presents the idea of a road journey most effectively? In your answer, make references to TWO texts (6 marks)
+How do all three texts demonstrate a different intepretation of "life as a journey"? (6 Marks)
+Explain how the concept of the journey is represented in the text (3 marks)
+How do all three texts demonstrate connections between life and journeys? Refer to all THREE texts in your answer (6 marks)
+Each text explaores several points of view about the journey. Choose TOW of the texts and compare how these points of view are represented in them (5marks)
+Explain the journey in the text (2 marks)
+In what way does the text relate to the idea of journeys? (2 marks)
Paper I, Section II
+"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware"
Compose a piece of writing that explores a journey that has been overlooked.
+"We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own"
Compose a pice of writing that explores a journey of discovery.
+"Journeys are an extension of personal boundaries"
Write a letter to your relative about a recent journey you have encountered, discussing the above quote
+"Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves"
You are a contributor for the magazine "Inspirational journeys", which is based on personal stories that people send in for publishing. Compose a piece that relates to "Instpirational journeys". You may write from any point of view you like.
+"I have seen men hazard their fortunes, go on long journeys halfway around the world, forge friendships, even lie, cheat and steal, all for the gain of a book"
You are writing as a contributor to the Sunday newspaper which publishes under the heading "Everyone has a story to tell" each week. Using the quote above, compose a story that includes the quote with the notion of the journey.
+You are invited into a radio station as an expert on Geographical landmarks of the world. Write a transcript relating to the quote "Journeys broaden the mind to allow the understanding of the world"
Paper I, Section III
+"Imaginative journeys take us into worlds of inspiration, speculation and imagination". Discuss this statement with reference to your prescribed text, ONE text from the stimulus booklet and TWO texts of your own choosing.
+Write a letter to the editor convincing them that your focus journey should or should not be kept for next years area of study. Explain your with reference to your prescribed text, ONE text from the stimulus booklet and texts of your own choosing.
+"Continual improvement is an unending journey." Discuss this statement in regards to the journey of personal growth and development with reference to your prescribed text, ONE text from the stimulus booklet and texts of your own choosing.
+"You must remain focused on your journey to greatness." Write a radio transcript interviewing an expert in journeys that are conveyed in different texts. Refer to your prescribed text, ONE text from the stimulus booklet and texts of your own choosing.
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