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2015ers Chit-Chat Thread (16 Viewers)

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Ekman

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oh god english, ugh.
we just finished Yeats' poetry. Now we are moving on to Brave New World - not enjoying it. It's so weird.
Absolutely 100% disappointed with my rank, but dont know how to improve it. :(
I did brave new world last term and I found it enjoyable, have you finished reading it?
 

rawrliongirl

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wut. but BNW is the shieeet (wish i studied it for the hsc, but it's not on my prescribed text list)

also, what is it that you're lacking in english? is it your understanding of the texts or moreso your fundamentals when it comes to essays
i believe its mainly my essay writing and the fact that i don't go into enough detail when analysing (under exam conditions. i can do it fine at home at my own pace). I rewrote my half yearly essay to give to my teacher for feedback and what i gave to him was 100x better than the rubbish from my actual exam. He said there was only a few minor structural things which i needed to fix but other than that it was really good.
i blame my poor marks on my "leave it to the day before to start memorising quotes" approach.. :/
I also think I need to do more practice essays but.. I HAS NO TIME D: D: D:
 

rawrliongirl

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Is it too late to try and push up my ranks and raise my average with only about 2 assessment tasks for each subject left before the external exams? D:
 

Flop21

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Yeah, you probably need to do practice essays to train your exam technique under timed conditions.

By doing so, you're able to draw upon your knowledge of the text, and formulate a coherent thesis at a quicker rate, because obviously, you only have 40 minutes for each essay (in terms of Paper 1 and 2).

And lol, this "I have no time" is plain silly. You can make time. Given that the average student has around 6hrs to study - though most of it is generally wasted (cause we're inherent procrastinators) - there isn't much of an excuse.

if you're a fast reader, you can get through that book in 3 hrs (srs). although it also depends on how quickly you can comprehend the plot, characters, themes, motifs, etc.

No, there is still the trials and external hsc; it's not too late. I saw your other post, and I would like to say: if the school trials were really hard, then obviously it demonstrates that either a) you had anxiety or b) you simply didn't prepare properly. Normally it's the latter case, but having the right attitude comes into play as well. So don't worry, I'm sure you'll do well in the end. :)
Hey, so I am hating English so much. I never use to, but now I do and I cannot handle it.

How are you going to study for the upcoming trials and HSC exams? Is it possible I can just write up some notes on every topic, learn everything, then apply that in the test?

I'm doing English work right now and it's so boring and stupid, it's making me want to poke my eyes out.

If you do write notes, what's the general outline of them - I would feel that studying and learning a set of notes that I know I will use in the test would be a lot more beneficial to me since I know I need it for the HSC.
 
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English is such an anchor, ugh
English would be good if we learnt reporting styles which will be used in uni and at least let us compose text types we want to. NO, they have to make us compose literary essays..
 

Ekman

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Is it too late to try and push up my ranks and raise my average with only about 2 assessment tasks for each subject left before the external exams? D:
Most schools have trials weighted 35-40% so its never too late. Ranks drastically change during trial times so be prepared for it.
 

teridax

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English is such an anchor, ugh
English would be good if we learnt reporting styles which will be used in uni and at least let us compose text types we want to. NO, they have to make us compose literary essays..
nah, literary essays are actually very relevant across all contexts when it comes to uni (fullsrs)
 
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nah, literary essays are actually very relevant across all contexts when it comes to uni (fullsrs)
Yeah I know..
like I get that when we listen to lectures, we have to note down all the language techniques the lecturer uses and how they use the form of an oral presentation to represent their perspective to us, the intended audience. It pretty much prepares us for the our future jobs. For instance if I become a food critic, there's no reason for me to taste the food. I have to analyse the dish and see salience, use of colour, etc
If I become a nurse, when someone comes in for a check up, I seriously need to give them a literacy essay to inform them about their health because life just symbolises so much

Do we even need maths anymore? Just hand in an essay about the representation of x but remember your techniques and evidence
=)
 

Crisium

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It honestly depends on the person, mate. For me, I never write notes for English, as I tend to understand the concepts we learn in class via discussion (and sometimes conduct extra research on the internet regarding critical theories). Once my grasp of the intricacies of the texts are grounded, I then start to collate textual evidence/paragraphs and write up an essay. It doesn't sound elaborate in terms of study for English, but it works for me.

In terms of preparation for trials and the final HSC exams, I'm going to memorise generic essays for all modules (even mod B) and learn how to adapt them seamlessly under timed conditions. For creative, I'll probably refine my script and skim over various stimuli and figure out how to incorporate it as an extended metaphor (works quite nicely for visuals, imo). If it's quotes - I might just slot it into my creative word-for-word because #yolo :haha:

Hmm, if you believe making notes for English would help you, then have a look at this: http://community.boredofstudies.org/4/english/329393/how-make-english-notes-analyse-text.html

Remember though, notes can only do so much (and even then, I reckon making notes for English is somewhat stupid), as exam techniques is more important and that will shine through in your marks if you make an effort to improve that aspect of English. So keep that in mind. Also, as much as you despise English, try to find a positive mindset (yeah, I know it's hard as well since English can be a bitch). It obviously counts to your ATAR, so you may as well invest the most optimal time into the sub.

Tbh, I don't spend a lot of time on English in comparison to my other subs, but what I've done has benefited me thus far in terms of ranks. But yeah, depends on the person and their study methods.
Yeah I'm planning to do a generic half-essay for Module B

I will take the most adaptable speech and write 500 ~ ish words on it

Then I'll write up some notes including quotes, techniques. etc. relevant to the other speeches

My No.1 fear is that I will be penalised for an imbalance of text :/
 

rawrliongirl

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Yeah, you probably need to do practice essays to train your exam technique under timed conditions.

By doing so, you're able to draw upon your knowledge of the text, and formulate a coherent thesis at a quicker rate, because obviously, you only have 40 minutes for each essay (in terms of Paper 1 and 2).

And lol, this "I have no time" is plain silly. You can make time. Given that the average student has around 6hrs to study - though most of it is generally wasted (cause we're inherent procrastinators) - there isn't much of an excuse.

if you're a fast reader, you can get through that book in 3 hrs (srs). although it also depends on how quickly you can comprehend the plot, characters, themes, motifs, etc.

No, there is still the trials and external hsc; it's not too late. I saw your other post, and I would like to say: if the school trials were really hard, then obviously it demonstrates that either a) you had anxiety or b) you simply didn't prepare properly. Normally it's the latter case, but having the right attitude comes into play as well. So don't worry, I'm sure you'll do well in the end. :)
ehehehe..but i dont have time :3 okay maybe its partly due to procrastination... but i have so many assessments coming up and that stupid major project to do (which is due to the teacher by the end of term..im so screwed).

apparently our school uses the catholic schools trial exams :S and apparently they be hard :S :S

ahhhh i have 7 weeks to get my shit together D: D: D: *cries*
 

rawrliongirl

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Hey, so I am hating English so much. I never use to, but now I do and I cannot handle it.

How are you going to study for the upcoming trials and HSC exams? Is it possible I can just write up some notes on every topic, learn everything, then apply that in the test?

I'm doing English work right now and it's so boring and stupid, it's making me want to poke my eyes out.

If you do write notes, what's the general outline of them - I would feel that studying and learning a set of notes that I know I will use in the test would be a lot more beneficial to me since I know I need it for the HSC.

not sure if this is helpful, but for me, i usually take quotes from each text and scaffold them in a table with the headings "quote", "techniques" and "analysis/effect" and try to memorise those. I try and pick quotes which can be manipulated for any questions they could ask.
Also, my teacher usually gives us some context/background info or notes on the themes being explored or whatever and i try and understand/ memorise some of it as well.
idk, thats just something my english teacher taught me to do in year 9 and ive been doing it ever since.
 
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Crisium

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Yeah, it is best if you prepare additional analysis on top of your generic half-essay for mod B, because they can isolate a speech, and if you're unprepared, you're fked lol. iirc, there was a 2014 BoS'er who winged mod B speeches by bs'ing quotes from the Deane speech (whom she didn't really anticipate) and thus made up quotes whilst referring to the little extract. Still somehow got 19/20, which is impressive considering she didn't memorise an essay for this. Shows that under pressure, you can come up with profound crap :haha:

Then again, I also know the person who came 18th in Advanced English last year and she didn't memorise essays at all (wtf)
Yeah enigma beasted Mod B :3

I honestly don't know how people write an essay without memorising o_O
 

Crisium

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amen brudda...

though i also know people who got b6 by not memorising their creative and subsequently got 15/15 in the hsc. fking shat bricks man, the amount of writing talent is unreal lol
Yeah either they're extremely talented or they got lucky (i.e. The teacher was "shooting up" prior to marking it)
 

aanthnnyyy

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for my entire senior career I have never prepared a Creative Writing Essay but have gotten top marks lol o_O
 
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