Exactly my reason for liking the subjectWell English gives me a fighting chance against international students as well as people who are only good at maths and science, so it's a decent subject.
English is stupid (1 Viewer)
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theind1996
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HSC Sciences are a load of BS too, so should we abolish them?
hayabusaboston
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They're not compulsory, so u dont have to do them man. English is unnecessarily compulsory, when a simple side report can be issued upon receiving your HSC, detailing your performance in the subject of english. If you choose to pursue a career where it is relevant, the appropriate people may either accept or reject you based on your english performance. I think you should be able to nominate to have english count towards your ATAR or not, either way u get a separate booklet of english. So by this method, obviously as english is still compulsory, everyone will have to do it, but it removes the extreme burden of it possibly dragging down the ATARs of many thousands of students, and pulling up the ATARs of those oh so very few english freaks who nominate it to count towards the 10 unit minimum, while at the same time providing a common benchmark of performance for the HSC and creating young members of society that are fully literate and able to participate fully in the community.
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Shadowless
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they aren't compulsory... and who said anything about 'abolish[ing]'?
someth1ng
Retired Nov '14
You are moving off-topic. Sure, English is a pain and to answer the question asking why only international students should be forced to do English, well, that can be classed as racism and discrimination.
There's no reason to whine so mych about English - suck it up and live with it. Life isn't fair and it usually and probably not fit to suit you. If anything, HSC should be more like IB - you must do a subject from various categories. Consider yourself lucky that you dont need to do Art, Modern History, English, Maths Extension 1, Physics and Philosophy or some strange combination like that.
So bottom line, shut the fuck up, suck it up and get used to life. Nobody cares about what you think so get used to it.
PS English is also compulsory for proper scaling purposes.
There's no reason to whine so mych about English - suck it up and live with it. Life isn't fair and it usually and probably not fit to suit you. If anything, HSC should be more like IB - you must do a subject from various categories. Consider yourself lucky that you dont need to do Art, Modern History, English, Maths Extension 1, Physics and Philosophy or some strange combination like that.
So bottom line, shut the fuck up, suck it up and get used to life. Nobody cares about what you think so get used to it.
PS English is also compulsory for proper scaling purposes.
Shadowless
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but in IB, English is more skill based..
Matrix has a few helpful english articles you can read. Here are the links
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-write-a-band-6-essay/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/6-common-mistakes-hsc-english-students-make-in-exams/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-structure-a-killer-essay/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/belonging-creative-writing-sample/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-write-a-band-6-essay/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/6-common-mistakes-hsc-english-students-make-in-exams/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-structure-a-killer-essay/
http://www.matrix.edu.au/belonging-creative-writing-sample/
theind1996
Active Member
Some of the articles are so fucking stupid, it's unbelievable.
I'd expect better from a tutoring company with the resources and money to give proper tips.
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how are hsc sciences a load of bs? sure they can be improved but they arent as below standard compared to of english syllabus
theind1996
Active Member
Take Chem.
There's so much emphasis on skills and practicals (reliability etc.) and social and environmental issues, that it probably forms 20% of a test's marks.
And even then, knowing the content is like 20% of the challenge/what's required to ace Chem.
So so much emphasis is on verbs, using linking verbs to answer questions, adhering to stringent marking criterias, taking off marks for not having certain words etc.
There's barely any science involved.
It's just as bad as HSC English in my opinion.
Teachers always place an emphasis on "do subjects you like and are good at", however we're forced to learn English. Tbh, I'm not exactly mad that it's a compulsory topic... however, I just don't find it completely fair that it HAS to be counted within your top 10 units. That's just a large disadvantage to those who aren't good at doing English imo. I really wouldn't mind if they changed it to 12 compulsory units and we had to do english but its only your TRUE top 10 units that count. What would be nice is if we learnt comprehension or something that helps increase our vocabulary.
And yeah okay, it wasn't exactly the correct term to call them 'dumb', however they're the type of kids that throw an essay together the day before an exam (I know a few) and receive marks of 16/20 for an essay, whereas I take 2-3 weeks of continual editing and sending it to my teacher to receive a semi-decent mark of 13/20.
In English, they stress that 'clarity' is important... however, I can write a line extremely clear and simple, and my teacher would bombard it with higher order language crap which then means that I don't understand the essay at all. She also told us that to access the higher marks we need to use higher order language, and for me... I don't even know where people learn these words. I've also read some of essays in my school that receive 18/20's and 17/20's and oh my goodness... I don't understand a thing.
I have developed strong analytical skills from my subjects, particularly from economics... which helps me access nearly full marks for my short answer questions in most of my subjects. I'd rather have a bunch of stats, figures and evidence to support my arguments that seem logical to me rather than base it on 'techniques' and what I can gather from a very vague statement. I guess in most cases (not all), people are either maths or english lovers.
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English is by far the most useful HSC subject in everyday life. If studied for properly, rather than regurgitated, English helps you develop arguments and think on your feet, valuable for law, commerce, medicine (abductive reasoning especially) and the like, so it's also the best preparation for university study.
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it could be the most useful, but not at its current state
Absolutezero
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So... because you're bad at it... it shouldn't be complusory...
fionarykim
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you legitt said every thing on my mind
the fact that we have to learn english is completely understandable
but for mee, i feel like its a huge disadvantage for those who are bad at it
like i am dojng pretty well in all my subjects, rank top 5 for all... cept english LOL
and i reckon it would bring my atar down by lots!!
its also not an easy subject to study for ): so so so hard to study for and prepare!
id like to add it is also subject to bias HAHAHA
Absolutezero
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Don't worry, English still loves you.
nifkeh
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What I gather from the criteria of English Adv is that you need to construct a sustained composition (i.e. an essay) that is appropriate to the language, audience and form, connects the ideas, themes or concepts of the texts well and that you have a sophisticated understanding of the texts involved.
so if you're doing a critical essay you need to present a well structured, coherent (not just rambling, it needs to make sense and be nominalised) knowledge of the themes, concepts presented in your text. and relate that to textual integrity of it
and for your comparative essay you need to compare contexts, themes, values and be coherent as well.
so at the prelim & hsc level you can't really step into the exam unprepared and expect to get 90+ for BS because you're not a junior anymore. You still need to have a solid understanding of what you're going to talk about, if you can't do that then you won't be rewarded for the poor knowledge you demonstrate. So basically the marking is fair, if you aren't sophisticated and logical in your arguments to make valid points then you shouldn't be expecting to get a 90+ mark.
so if you're repeating points or not really having a strong argument for them then do more research and justify what you want to say on the texts, because that's how you would improve.
my cohort is really strong in english every year, even though I thought I did really good for my extension I was just on average, I got 44/50 which was the average, and the ranking was like 68/169. BS won't get you much anywhere, because I'm pretty sure the rest of the cohort did prepare lots for it too to get a good mark. I don't mean memorising essays, but they have a good grasp of the themes and ideas, knowledge of the module in order to do their exam well, which is what the marker needs to give you a A mark.
so if you're doing a critical essay you need to present a well structured, coherent (not just rambling, it needs to make sense and be nominalised) knowledge of the themes, concepts presented in your text. and relate that to textual integrity of it
and for your comparative essay you need to compare contexts, themes, values and be coherent as well.
so at the prelim & hsc level you can't really step into the exam unprepared and expect to get 90+ for BS because you're not a junior anymore. You still need to have a solid understanding of what you're going to talk about, if you can't do that then you won't be rewarded for the poor knowledge you demonstrate. So basically the marking is fair, if you aren't sophisticated and logical in your arguments to make valid points then you shouldn't be expecting to get a 90+ mark.
so if you're repeating points or not really having a strong argument for them then do more research and justify what you want to say on the texts, because that's how you would improve.
my cohort is really strong in english every year, even though I thought I did really good for my extension I was just on average, I got 44/50 which was the average, and the ranking was like 68/169. BS won't get you much anywhere, because I'm pretty sure the rest of the cohort did prepare lots for it too to get a good mark. I don't mean memorising essays, but they have a good grasp of the themes and ideas, knowledge of the module in order to do their exam well, which is what the marker needs to give you a A mark.