English in class essay issues (1 Viewer)

[tigerlily97]

I've always had issues with in-class essays. I never get higher than a C or 50%. This is because i freak out, my mind goes blank and i just don't know how to approach the question and structure the essay. It has gotten to the point that just thinking about doing it makes me break down.

Anyway, I am in year 11 and we just received our notification for an in class assessment. We will be watching a scene from the movie A portrait of a lady then we will have to answer an essay question in relation to the scene, the move as a whole and our prescribed poem The love song by J.Alfred Prufrock.

I have absolutely no idea how to prepare for it. Any ideas or tips?
Also, the topic we are doing is the individual and society and comparative study.

 

[ataratar]

Make sure you know key themes, concepts and aspects of characters in both the poem and movie to the point that you can write in depth about them and analyse them in relation to how it contributes to the audience's understanding of the movie/poem as a whole. Once you have made notes on that, just do heaps of practice essays from different key scenes of the movie, and if you're lucky, one of the ones you chose will be shown on the day! If you are thoroughly prepared, you shouldn't freak out and just remind yourself that you've done as much as you can

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

There's nothing worse than that feeling of "this essay is so bad, I'm gonna fail" halfway through an in-class essay.

Your best bet is to go in with a structure in mind. Maybe an argument that you know you'll be able to adapt to any question. Don't memorise a whole essay, but decide on a general theme (e.g. existentialism, the past, whatever it is) and whatever the scene is, write about that theme. Make sure the theme is general enough so it works with any scene.

 

[nomadkookai]

hi tigerlily97, i suggest that you just read over and dissect your book. the only way to do well is to stop stressing, sit down, breathe and dont over think it or it could end in your breakdowns. the hsc isnt everything, im sure you can still achieve your life long goals with an atar that isnt too amazing, youre fabulous. dont stop loving and living! love nomad

ps. please reply im your #1 fan

DONT FORGET!

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. –John Lennon

STOP TRYING TO PLAN EVERYTHING! have fun and live while youre young

 

[ashbash4210]

I am in year 12 and literally today just did a similar task, except we had to listen to an excerpt from a movie we are studying and write an essay on that excerpt and our comparitive text. I studied by knowing my comparitive text, or for you the poem, back to front. Study all the main themes, techniques and examples from the other text so that you can adapt this knowledge to the question and scene you are confronted with. As for the movie, know the main themes, and points that you could talk about but dont study examples or specifics because you will be given that on the day. As long as you have the basic points in your head, it will come to you in the exam, just relax and dont over stress it.