Marks vs Pages (1 Viewer)

[rumour]

This is a question for anyone who did the economics hsc paper last year:


How did your hsc mark compare to number of pages in wrote in your essays?


I thought I was going to do bad as I only did 4 & 5 page essays, when someone else posted that they wrote a total of 43 pages!! So they wrote 23 & 20 page essays.


Well I did a total of 9 pages & my mark hsc mark was 86, so I was wondering whether the general rule was true: if you did more pages in your essays you would get more marks?

 

[Craig]

Ah this will be interesting to see.
Well I got an exam mark of 79 and for each essay I think I did 6 pages each.

 

[Lainee]

I did about 14 pages for one essay and 17 pages for the other. I've forgotten my exam mark, but my HSC mark was 93. I -think- my exam mark was marginally higher than that.

 

[emi ye]

Obviously quality is more important than quantity. But if someone writes 8 pages of dense, relevent information vs someone who wrote 20 pages of the same quality stuff, then the 20 page person will still get more. Mind you, if the stuff is really really good, the 8 page person can still get full marks.

I did about a booklet each and my mark was 93.

 

[rumour]

Obviously quality is more important than quantity. But if someone writes 8 pages of dense, relevent information vs someone who wrote 20 pages of the same quality stuff, then the 20 page person will still get more. Mind you, if the stuff is really really good, the 8 page person can still get full marks.

I did about a booklet each and my mark was 93.

A booklet?
So is that 8 pages each?

 

[rainonmay]

i think i wrote about 10 pages each.. i got an exam mark of 93

 

[nesstar]

I remember being freaked after the exam when I heard how much people had written...cos I got realli good trial marks for my essays (19 and 20) and they were 5pgs each...so in the HSC I had written about 6-8 pages each i think....and I ended up with HSC mark 91 (exam mark was 89 or 90). I think that while quality is more important than quantity, some markers may be fooled by lengthiness also...I still think the best bet is to write a reasonable amount of quality stuff....not go overboard in length....

And from this thread and from talking to ppl I have observed that people who worte vastly different amounts in essays can still get similar marks and some people who wrote the same amount can get vastly difefrent marks. On that basis I would suggest that quality is much more important.

 

[Conspirocy]

well 1st im going to say that i wrote about 12 pages for each essay and my HSC exam mark for eco was 93...BUT what you are forgetting is that people can still get in the 90s with two average essays if they go well in the multiple choice, and short answers. I'd say just write what you can in the time you have to write and you've done your best. Anyways the people who write massive ammounts may have gone through multi choice and short answer in 30 mins leaving them 2 and a half hours for 2 essays so think about it...

 

[schmackers]

I wrote about a booklet for each... my exam mark was 95.

 

[rnb_master]

i got 94 for my exam - i wrote 9 and 7 pgs

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

I wrote about a booklet for each... my exam mark was 95.

Hmm...not bad.
Although how many words do you write to a line? For me, a booklet is about 1100 words.

 

[mushroom_head]

i wrote 7 pages for each of them and got an hsc mark of 90

 

[schmackers]

Hmm...not bad.
Although how many words do you write to a line? For me, a booklet is about 1100 words.

I think i have average sized handwriting... so i guess around 7 words per line.

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

I think i have average sized handwriting... so i guess around 7 words per line.

That sounds fair enough.
I think your mark proves that it's quality over quantity. I always believed that ~1000+ words would be sufficient, but some people have come out with essays of ~2000 words, which imo is over the top.

I'm just wondering whether I should write larger in the exam to have a psychological effect on the marker, coz my handwriting is generally quite small (I can fit around 11 words per line on A4), although in the exam I usually write bigger for some reason

 

[rumour]

That sounds fair enough.
I think your mark proves that it's quality over quantity. I always believed that ~1000+ words would be sufficient, but some people have come out with essays of ~2000 words, which imo is over the top.

I'm just wondering whether I should write larger in the exam to have a psychological effect on the marker, coz my handwriting is generally quite small (I can fit around 11 words per line on A4), although in the exam I usually write bigger for some reason

Because you are in a rush?


That happens to me also in exams!!!!!!!!!!

 

[~ ReNcH ~]

Because you are in a rush?


That happens to me also in exams!!!!!!!!!!

That'd be my guess too...except that sometimes when I rush I also "stretch" my words and write smaller. Maybe it depends on the exam

 

[sladehk]

good old quantity over quality
as long as its not too poor quality, if you got enough quantity, you'll get good marks

 

[prinze__martin]

i see it that the more words u use, it shows ur kinda noobish cause u gotta use more words to get your point across, but then again too short means u know nothin cancellin out both... i say write in average lenght, dunno how long that is but i guess if u can get your point across wifout repeatin it n keepin sentences short and too the point u'll do fine. ive alwasy kept my essay short n abrupt, gotten way good marks, the dudes in my scool spew ova that they wrote 15 pages n got 17/20 where i wrote onli 8 pages n got 18/20 ... =-)