Best way of remembering essays? (1 Viewer)

[ccc333]

There's only two weeks to the HSC but im struggling to even comprehend how i'm going to remember my essays. I'm not a bad writer, and i'm able to adapt to the question pretty well, but actually being able to write essays without all my notes by my side is nearly impossible. When writing practice essays im basically copying most of another practice one ive written, while adapting it to the question. The finished product is a good essay that would get high marks, but it takes me around 50 minutes, and i have all my notes next to me, which obviously wont happen in the exam. What's the best way to remember my essays effectively? Memorising word by word seems like a really bad idea, because i'll end up panicking in an exam and either forgetting half of it or just copying it word for word with no respect to the question. I tried it once for the hamlet assessment essay and i got 11/20 so obviously it was a terrible approach. Remembering my quotes and techniques is obviously essential, but just remembering those wont allow you to write the whole essay, as your linking sentences are also required for a decent essay. Plus all of the intro etc...

Are there any proven, decent ways of remembering essays other than word by word? I'd like to be able to write practice essays without having to think for ages and end up taking 50-55 minutes to write an essay, and being able to write one without all my notes by my side.

 

[enoilgam]

You dont need to memorise word for word. I just tried to remember sentences and their basic structure.

 

[ccc333]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm just wondering how youd go about doing this and what exactly you'd need to do.

 

[enoilgam]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm just wondering how youd go about doing this and what exactly you'd need to do.

Well, doing it word for word is difficult and takes time. Under my strategy, if this is the line in my memorised essay "As such, the lack of acceptance and partial loss of identity experienced by the migrants have prevented them from gaining a sense of belonging" I might remember it like this "Hence, the migrants lack of acceptance and partial loss of identity have prevented them from experiencing a sense of belonging"

 

[ccc333]

Oh so essentially you are memorising most of the sentences? I mean thats only a few words difference. I was just wondering since i want to avoid panicking in the exam and forgetting or worse, not adapting to the question properly.

 

[enoilgam]

Oh so essentially you are memorising most of the sentences? I mean thats only a few words difference. I was just wondering since i want to avoid panicking in the exam and forgetting or worse, not adapting to the question properly.

Well, when memorising your essays, just remember the guts of your body paragraphs ie dont memorise an introduction, conclusion or topic/linking sentences. This will make it way easier for you to adapt your respones to the question. Forgetting isnt the worst thing that can happen, just improvise based on what you remember from your essay.

 

[ccc333]

The problem is that in the trials, i simply remembered the quotes/techniques/meaning which is basically the stuff you said, but when it came to the exam i remembered those but was unable to form a high quality essay around it, and not only did they end up being substandard, but they werent long enough. I only wrote three pages for Hamlet, and ended up getting 10/20, when my practice essay which i wrote at home would have filled nearly double that.

 

[enoilgam]

The problem is that in the trials, i simply remembered the quotes/techniques/meaning which is basically the stuff you said, but when it came to the exam i remembered those but was unable to form a high quality essay around it, and not only did they end up being substandard, but they werent long enough. I only wrote three pages for Hamlet, and ended up getting 10/20, when my practice essay which i wrote at home would have filled nearly double that.

Taking away the intro, conclusion and topic/linking sentences should leave you with 75% of an essay. The approach your thinking of removes the structure of the internal paragraphs.

 

[ccc333]

Thanks for your help. I just have one last question. What is an example of a thesis point that can be adapted to a variety of questions. Whenever i'm doing a practice essay I have to make one up on the spot as to me it feels like each of them is only suitable for that question, since the questions can vary so much for any given module.

 

[enoilgam]

Thanks for your help. I just have one last question. What is an example of a thesis point that can be adapted to a variety of questions. Whenever i'm doing a practice essay I have to make one up on the spot as to me it feels like each of them is only suitable for that question, since the questions can vary so much for any given module.

You make up the thesis point on the day - if your thesis doesnt address the question, then your response wont.

 

[yours]

Thanks for your help. I just have one last question. What is an example of a thesis point that can be adapted to a variety of questions. Whenever i'm doing a practice essay I have to make one up on the spot as to me it feels like each of them is only suitable for that question, since the questions can vary so much for any given module.

When I do them you always use the language of the question so I don't know if there is really a specific thesis you can apply to all questions, it depends on what the focus is and if it's broad enough. I think you should instead remember specific but simple ideas, and imbed them in your essay wherever they fit, that way you show some conceptual understanding e.g.
- belonging shapes ones sense of identity (or vice versa)
- gender can be a barrier to belonging/ socio-economical class can be a barrier to belonging
- belonging can be enriching
- belonging can be limiting
- belonging requires one to conform, and thus is detrimental to ones identity

These sorts of ideas end up either within your analysis or they are the topic sentences, I think, simple ideas you back-up with some quotes. I don't know think it's bad to write like this, especially when you consider the way the HSC is marked, your essay is one in countless others the marker has looked at, and if the essay is clear and concise they won't miss your points.

P.S. For hamlet, don't you always organise by themes? I don't know any other way of shaping the paragraphs. Even for theme-based questions like "the play explores love and loyalty" discuss. If you didn't do 'love' specifically, then write about another theme like revenge and make links to love whenever you can e.g. Hamlet's love of and loyalty to his father/problematise his revenge.

 

[Shadowdude]

Memorising an essay word for word. = /me facepalms

If your memorised quotes and the like don't form a big enough essay, then you analyse it more - simple. Not "OMG THIS METHOD IS SO STUPID I'M GOING TO GO AND MEMORISE MY ESSAY WORD FOR WORD"

 

[4025808]

don't memorize word for word, if you do want to memorize an essay, remember the way you can write your sentences.