HOW to study for English (1 Viewer)

[gentleconjurer]

Hi everyone how do you guys study for english? It seems that unlike many other subjects, amount of effort is not really proportional to marks. I really want to improve on English more for the last bit of my HSC, so for essays how do you prepare?
I've tried memorising a base essay however while answering the question in the exam, I found myself to be compelled to just write my memorised one and totally forget about the question! And how do you answer the question? When it seems I have written a stable thesis and answered the question, feedback is always that I indeed have not.
However when I did not memorise essays, time was a big issue for me due to the fact that I didn't have words already in my head, but that could have also been because of the fact that I did not really practice essays beforehand.

Ultimately, is there a routine that one must do to prepare properly?

 

[rayansmith]

Hey! It sounds like you're really dedicated to improving your English skills, which is great. Here are a few tips that might help you out:

Understand the Question: Before you start writing, take a moment to analyze what the question is asking. Break it down to ensure you're addressing all aspects of it.

Flexible Outlines: Instead of memorizing an entire essay, consider creating flexible outlines. This way, you can adapt your ideas to fit the specific question while still having a structure to follow.

Practice Writing Under Timed Conditions: Set a timer and practice writing essays based on prompts. This will help you get used to the pressure and improve your time management.

Feedback and Revision: After writing, seek feedback from teachers or peers. Use their insights to revise your essays, focusing on strengthening your thesis and ensuring you directly answer the question.

Daily Reading: Read a variety of texts (articles, novels, essays) to enhance your vocabulary and comprehension. This will help you articulate your thoughts better during exams.

Routine: Establish a study routine that includes reading, writing practice, and reviewing feedback. Consistency is key!

Remember, improvement takes time, so be patient with yourself. Good luck with your HSC!

 

[Masaken]

Hi everyone how do you guys study for english? It seems that unlike many other subjects, amount of effort is not really proportional to marks. I really want to improve on English more for the last bit of my HSC, so for essays how do you prepare?
I've tried memorising a base essay however while answering the question in the exam, I found myself to be compelled to just write my memorised one and totally forget about the question! And how do you answer the question? When it seems I have written a stable thesis and answered the question, feedback is always that I indeed have not.
However when I did not memorise essays, time was a big issue for me due to the fact that I didn't have words already in my head, but that could have also been because of the fact that I did not really practice essays beforehand.

Ultimately, is there a routine that one must do to prepare properly?

i think one issue i've found with a lot of people who memorise base essays that are actually very good and end up not doing as well as they hoped was that they forget the second aspect to memorising an essay is the skill to adapt your essay to fit any question on the spot. to some people it comes naturally, to others (like me) it did not and required a little practice before the actual exam by going through some past paper questions. i understand that in an exam, the urge to just blurt out everything you've memorised and worked hard to write is pretty tempting but ultimately as with all subjects and exam questions, if you're not answering the question you're not getting the marks.

so my main tip is: pick out any trial / hsc past paper. look at the question. break down the question into keywords in your head - a lot of the time the question just has random waffle that are just buzzwords for terms in the rubric / themes in your text. then, look at your thesis - just your thesis, don't get overwhelmed with the rest of the ideas of your essay just yet. is there anything that you aligns? is there anything in the thesis statement that fits or could fit? is there anything that doesn't? (in the latter case if you can't bs a link between an aspect of your thesis and the question you'll probably need to drop it - there's no need to convolute your thesis when the idea isn't relevant.)
start off with easier, generalised questions (eg. hsc 2023) -> theme and text-specific questions (most trial papers) -> excerpt / extract questions (these ones look hard but if you practise enough it becomes a lot easier) (eg. 2020-21 hscs)

from there, since you have an adapted thesis and your topic sentences stem from the thesis, you can adapt your topic sentences so that they fit the question too since you have an established foundation to work from. you don't even need to work on adapting your whole essay - just the intro + the topic sentences of your body paragraphs should work

if you know your essay like the back of your hand (you wrote and memorised it), then practising doesn't take too long, you just need to put yourself in a situation where you need to just think on your feet, and practising even only 2-3 times with adapting makes a difference.

 

[bellysmelly]

Hey! It sounds like you're really dedicated to improving your English skills, which is great. Here are a few tips that might help you out:

Understand the Question: Before you start writing, take a moment to analyze what the question is asking. Break it down to ensure you're addressing all aspects of it.

Flexible Outlines: Instead of memorizing an entire essay, consider creating flexible outlines. This way, you can adapt your ideas to fit the specific question while still having a structure to follow.

Practice Writing Under Timed Conditions: Set a timer and practice writing essays based on prompts. This will help you get used to the pressure and improve your time management.

Feedback and Revision: After writing, seek feedback from teachers or peers. Use their insights to revise your essays, focusing on strengthening your thesis and ensuring you directly answer the question.

Daily Reading: Read a variety of texts (articles, novels, essays) to enhance your vocabulary and comprehension. This will help you articulate your thoughts better during exams.

Routine: Establish a study routine that includes reading, writing practice, and reviewing feedback. Consistency is key!

Remember, improvement takes time, so be patient with yourself. Good luck with your HSC!

legend

 

[gentleconjurer]

Hey! It sounds like you're really dedicated to improving your English skills, which is great. Here are a few tips that might help you out:

Understand the Question: Before you start writing, take a moment to analyze what the question is asking. Break it down to ensure you're addressing all aspects of it.

Flexible Outlines: Instead of memorizing an entire essay, consider creating flexible outlines. This way, you can adapt your ideas to fit the specific question while still having a structure to follow.

Practice Writing Under Timed Conditions: Set a timer and practice writing essays based on prompts. This will help you get used to the pressure and improve your time management.

Feedback and Revision: After writing, seek feedback from teachers or peers. Use their insights to revise your essays, focusing on strengthening your thesis and ensuring you directly answer the question.

Daily Reading: Read a variety of texts (articles, novels, essays) to enhance your vocabulary and comprehension. This will help you articulate your thoughts better during exams.

Routine: Establish a study routine that includes reading, writing practice, and reviewing feedback. Consistency is key!

Remember, improvement takes time, so be patient with yourself. Good luck with your HSC!

thank you for your advice! i'll take that into account for my trials

 

[gentleconjurer]

i think one issue i've found with a lot of people who memorise base essays that are actually very good and end up not doing as well as they hoped was that they forget the second aspect to memorising an essay is the skill to adapt your essay to fit any question on the spot. to some people it comes naturally, to others (like me) it did not and required a little practice before the actual exam by going through some past paper questions. i understand that in an exam, the urge to just blurt out everything you've memorised and worked hard to write is pretty tempting but ultimately as with all subjects and exam questions, if you're not answering the question you're not getting the marks.

so my main tip is: pick out any trial / hsc past paper. look at the question. break down the question into keywords in your head - a lot of the time the question just has random waffle that are just buzzwords for terms in the rubric / themes in your text. then, look at your thesis - just your thesis, don't get overwhelmed with the rest of the ideas of your essay just yet. is there anything that you aligns? is there anything in the thesis statement that fits or could fit? is there anything that doesn't? (in the latter case if you can't bs a link between an aspect of your thesis and the question you'll probably need to drop it - there's no need to convolute your thesis when the idea isn't relevant.)
start off with easier, generalised questions (eg. hsc 2023) -> theme and text-specific questions (most trial papers) -> excerpt / extract questions (these ones look hard but if you practise enough it becomes a lot easier) (eg. 2020-21 hscs)

from there, since you have an adapted thesis and your topic sentences stem from the thesis, you can adapt your topic sentences so that they fit the question too since you have an established foundation to work from. you don't even need to work on adapting your whole essay - just the intro + the topic sentences of your body paragraphs should work

if you know your essay like the back of your hand (you wrote and memorised it), then practising doesn't take too long, you just need to put yourself in a situation where you need to just think on your feet, and practising even only 2-3 times with adapting makes a difference.

thank you so much i hope i can integrate this thinking into my trials

 

[kkk579]

I also have this problem too and desperately need to improve in english before I enter y12 in term 4. How do people come up with such good ideas and be able to execute them so elegantly? My writing skills are so poor compared to others and i have no clue on how to fix this.

Ive also changed tutors but i feel like no amount of tutor will do anything because most tutors have already finished establishing good writing skills overtime in their students from y7 to 11 and now theyre just working on refining those skills further so now im completely stuck and genuinely dont know what to do

 

[gentleconjurer]

I also have this problem too and desperately need to improve in english before I enter y12 in term 4. How do people come up with such good ideas and be able to execute them so elegantly? My writing skills are so poor compared to others and i have no clue on how to fix this.

Ive also changed tutors but i feel like no amount of tutor will do anything because most tutors have already finished establishing good writing skills overtime in their students from y7 to 11 and now theyre just working on refining those skills further so now im completely stuck and genuinely dont know what to do

one thing I tried that has helped me a little bit is really use your resources and seek help, as well as look for what you're weak on, read your past essays and consider what you would change from that. If you see improvements you would make, you're already on the path to improvement.
also if you have writer's block search up essays that people have done in the past and start from there, get inspiration on how they structure and explain their stances and points.

 

[bellysmelly]

I also have this problem too and desperately need to improve in english before I enter y12 in term 4. How do people come up with such good ideas and be able to execute them so elegantly? My writing skills are so poor compared to others and i have no clue on how to fix this.

Ive also changed tutors but i feel like no amount of tutor will do anything because most tutors have already finished establishing good writing skills overtime in their students from y7 to 11 and now theyre just working on refining those skills further so now im completely stuck and genuinely dont know what to do

practice practice practice. Do heaps of practice papers and ask your teacher to mark them and integrate their feedback and you will start to subconsciously do it yourself. And reading helps so much even if its just an article or a short story

 

[WhoseAdam]

i think one issue i've found with a lot of people who memorise base essays that are actually very good and end up not doing as well as they hoped was that they forget the second aspect to memorising an essay is the skill to adapt your essay to fit any question on the spot. to some people it comes naturally, to others (like me) it did not and required a little practice before the actual exam by going through some past paper questions. i understand that in an exam, the urge to just blurt out everything you've memorised and worked hard to write is pretty tempting but ultimately as with all subjects and exam questions, if you're not answering the question you're not getting the marks.

so my main tip is: pick out any trial / hsc past paper. look at the question. break down the question into keywords in your head - a lot of the time the question just has random waffle that are just buzzwords for terms in the rubric / themes in your text. then, look at your thesis - just your thesis, don't get overwhelmed with the rest of the ideas of your essay just yet. is there anything that you aligns? is there anything in the thesis statement that fits or could fit? is there anything that doesn't? (in the latter case if you can't bs a link between an aspect of your thesis and the question you'll probably need to drop it - there's no need to convolute your thesis when the idea isn't relevant.)
start off with easier, generalised questions (eg. hsc 2023) -> theme and text-specific questions (most trial papers) -> excerpt / extract questions (these ones look hard but if you practise enough it becomes a lot easier) (eg. 2020-21 hscs)

from there, since you have an adapted thesis and your topic sentences stem from the thesis, you can adapt your topic sentences so that they fit the question too since you have an established foundation to work from. you don't even need to work on adapting your whole essay - just the intro + the topic sentences of your body paragraphs should work

if you know your essay like the back of your hand (you wrote and memorised it), then practising doesn't take too long, you just need to put yourself in a situation where you need to just think on your feet, and practising even only 2-3 times with adapting makes a difference.

do you have any advice on how to go around with answering short answer questions I feel like I dont understand the texts

 

[Masaken]

do you have any advice on how to go around with answering short answer questions I feel like I dont understand the texts

i know @vajayjay also asked this question in another thread so i'll tag them here so they see it

60% of the time i lowkey also did not understand the texts - especially the long-winded poems and the non-fiction pieces - but the best part is that you don't have to be super specific and super analytical and you can just take the text at face value. for example last year my school gave my cohort a 20/20 exemplar for paper 1 from the past trials, and the first question was something like "how does text show the significance of winter?" something along those lines. the student answered it by saying "it shows the significance of winter by showing the different things you can do in winter" and they got the mark for it just by listing the different things you could do in the winter outlined in the text with techniques etc etc

the point i'm driving at is you don't need to think up some super philosophical deep meaning to the texts, don't overthink it and have a super simple idea (in fact, many of the texts for most of the trial papers are chosen so you can derive a simple meaning from it). for example consider this question for the text below: How does the photograph convey learning as part of the human experience? You can just say "The photograph shows learning by showing the curious emotions that arise from it." it doesn't have to be anything about how it's integral to the human experience from childhood, some deep thing about connecting with nature so that you learn etc etc just something super basic and surface-level

familiarise yourself with simple techniques - simile, metaphor, personification, imagery (visual, auditory, etc etc), pronouns (personal, collective, etc), cumulative listing so you don't have to overthink your techniques either just grab the first simple one you see and says it emphasises something

ultimately, i know you probably hate hearing this again but you need to practise. familiarity is the only way you can improve with short answer as time goes on it becomes second nature to you to think on the spot and bs things as you go

 

[WhoseAdam]

i know @vajayjay also asked this question in another thread so i'll tag them here so they see it

60% of the time i lowkey also did not understand the texts - especially the long-winded poems and the non-fiction pieces - but the best part is that you don't have to be super specific and super analytical and you can just take the text at face value. for example last year my school gave my cohort a 20/20 exemplar for paper 1 from the past trials, and the first question was something like "how does text show the significance of winter?" something along those lines. the student answered it by saying "it shows the significance of winter by showing the different things you can do in winter" and they got the mark for it just by listing the different things you could do in the winter outlined in the text with techniques etc etc

the point i'm driving at is you don't need to think up some super philosophical deep meaning to the texts, don't overthink it and have a super simple idea (in fact, many of the texts for most of the trial papers are chosen so you can derive a simple meaning from it). for example consider this question for the text below: How does the photograph convey learning as part of the human experience? You can just say "The photograph shows learning by showing the curious emotions that arise from it." it doesn't have to be anything about how it's integral to the human experience from childhood, some deep thing about connecting with nature so that you learn etc etc just something super basic and surface-level

familiarise yourself with simple techniques - simile, metaphor, personification, imagery (visual, auditory, etc etc), pronouns (personal, collective, etc), cumulative listing so you don't have to overthink your techniques either just grab the first simple one you see and says it emphasises something

ultimately, i know you probably hate hearing this again but you need to practise. familiarity is the only way you can improve with short answer as time goes on it becomes second nature to you to think on the spot and bs things as you go

I apricate your response thank you so much