Free English Advanced Essays! (1 Viewer)

[sida1049]

Hello everyone!

After receiving requests (even offers) for my HSC English Advanced essays, I've decided to give them out for free! I've noticed that many of my peers during the HSC didn't bother researching effective essay structure and style, and yet those are perhaps some of the most crucial skills required to excel in HSC English. I managed a Band 6 in the subject, so hopefully my essays will provide you with an idea of what markers are looking for in your responses.

Along with my essays, I've also included the marks I received from every assessment relevant to each essay.

For further references, here are the texts I studied for each module:
- Area of Study: 'Wrack' by David Bradley (I used the film 'Pi', directed by Darren Aronofsky, as my related text)
- Module A: 'King Richard III' by Shakespeare and 'Looking For Richard' by Al Pacino
- Module B: The poetry of T.S. Eliot
- Module C: 'The Art of Travel' by Alain de Botton (I used the film 'Her', directed by Jonze Spike, as my related text.)

Beyond the obvious reasons against academic dishonesty, plagiarism is not only useless and counterproductive, but may also end up costing you. Probably the biggest aspect that English challenges you on is your ability to improvise and adapt. And unless if you've attained a firm understanding of the themes within your text and formulated arguments which you're familiar with intimately, you'll likely find formulating a quality response to exam questions on the spot very difficult. My essays are best studied for their structure and style, as opposed to drawing arguments from.

So here are my essays.

I'll gladly answer any questions you may have.

Good luck!

 

[Orwell]

Legend.

 

[zachary99]

Yep, legend!

 

[eyeseeyou]

Just curious Sida but where did you lose marks?

 

[sida1049]

Just curious Sida but where did you lose marks?

That's a great question - and I have no idea! Some of my markers didn't bother with criticism.

The main piece of general criticism my teacher gave me every time I sent her one of my essays is that I don't have enough linking in between my texts. I structured my essays such that every paragraph primarily focuses on one text, not both (which many students do), so I lose a bit of that linkage between texts that markers wanted.

With the T.S. Eliot Module B essay, the trial question (CSSA) specified that we had to write with reference to 'Journey of The Magi', which at the time, was the only poem I didn't bother to study for (I haven't read that poem for over 7 months at the time in my trial exam), since I felt it was the one outlier in his works.

 

[porcupinetree]

Sida is 10/10 bae and his essays are 11/10 recommended

 

[eyeseeyou]

Sida is 10/10 bae and his essays are 11/10 recommended

Why don't you share yours?

 

[sida1049]

Sida is 10/10 bae and his essays are 11/10 recommended

"You can't get anything for nothing." - Michael Stewart

"You can get my essays for nothing." - me

 

[eyeseeyou]

That's a great question - and I have no idea! Some of my markers didn't bother with criticism.

The main piece of general criticism my teacher gave me every time I sent her one of my essays is that I don't have enough linking in between my texts. I structured my essays such that every paragraph primarily focuses on one text, not both (which many students do), so I lose a bit of that linkage between texts that markers wanted.

With the T.S. Eliot Module B essay, the trial question (CSSA) specified that we had to write with reference to 'Journey of The Magi', which at the time, was the only poem I didn't bother to study for (I haven't read that poem for over 7 months at the time in my trial exam), since I felt it was the one outlier in his works.

Oh so you didn't synthesise the 2 paragraphs into one paragraph when you needed to refer to the topic statement in the beginning of the body paragraphs?

E.g. Discovery is ___________. THis has been demonstrated in Wrack where __________________________. Similiarly in pi ______________________________. How would you end your body paragraphs though? (if you were to synthesise the two texts in one paragraph)

 

[sida1049]

Oh so you didn't synthesise the 2 paragraphs into one paragraph when you needed to refer to the topic statement in the beginning of the body paragraphs?

E.g. Discovery is ___________. THis has been demonstrated in Wrack where __________________________. Similiarly in pi ______________________________. How would you end your body paragraphs though? (if you were to synthesise the two texts in one paragraph)

Essentially using the simultaneous comparison method, in your body paragraph, your topic sentence would be along the lines of "The aspect of the impact of discoveries on individuals are similar in the two texts, as both protagonists undergo reformations in their perceptions which inspire them to question their beliefs." (An introduction sentence like this would be better than just saying "Discovery is impactful.") You then would explore one text, then link it to the exploration of your second test. Your concluding sentence should essentially reflect the point that you're making.

Overall, I still would personally prefer my structure of analysis over simultaneously comparing two texts closely in each paragraph (i.e. typically 3 body paragraphs in total), just because I felt it was more aligned to my own style of writing. But it's completely up to you.

 

[eyeseeyou]

lol Thanks Sida1049

 

[meh-]

just wondering how did u study/prepare for these?? did you make it up on the spot or like know roughly what the question would be etc. btw these are amazig

 

[sida1049]

just wondering how did u study/prepare for these?? did you make it up on the spot or like know roughly what the question would be etc. btw these are amazig

Thanks!

I'm firm believer in preparing and practicing your essays: your first draft essay is your worst, so why would you hand that in when it counts? I strongly recommend to essentially plan out the arguments, ideas and quotes that you plan on using, but allow room for flexibility when you need it.

I tend to try guess the question, or at least practice with questions that capture the essence of the module, so that the actual question on the day wouldn't be too different from what I prepared for.

What I used to do for each of the English assessments is

1. Conceptualise: pick the main (two to three) ideas that will take up your body paragraphs. You have to be very confident in manipulating these ideas to suit your interpretation of the text and your understanding of the module itself.

For example, in my Module A essay, one of my ideas was didacticism. This allowed me to demonstrate my understanding of the texts (Shakespeare used his work to communicate a religious and moral message, while Al Pacino used his work to try garner appreciation for Shakespearean literature), as well as my understanding of the module (i.e. how the differing messages communicated by the authors is a product of their different social, historical and political contexts).

2. Analyse: find quotes and form analyses to support your argument around the ideas you are exploring.

It's a good idea to come up with a bank of quotes to memorise for your essay, but on the actual day, it's perfectly okay to stray away from your preparation when you need it.

3. Prepare: write out the general gist of how your ideas will flow. Prepare a strong introduction and thesis that you won't change, unless if you need to do so in order to answer the essay question.

4. Draft/practice essays: I tend to aim for at least 6 practice essays before internal assessments for the modules and area of study. Each time you practice writing your essay, it gets better, more refined, and worth more marks. Not only that, but it helps with memory (especially for me, since I can't picture myself remembering an essay just from reading it) and allows you to write faster. (Typically I skipped designing the essay; what I tend to do is to write up a quick plan of my essay structure, start the timer, and that would end up as my first draft essay. All you really need is your ideas and a good sketch of the introduction and thesis.)

If your teacher didn't give you an essay question to practice with, try Googling. If that doesn't help, just read the syllabus/rubric to get an understanding of what the module is about, and write practice questions yourself. Each time you practice writing out your essay, change up your question a little, so you can practice improvising and thinking on your feet too.

That last point is very important, because you never know what essay question you'll get on the day of the exam, so don't feel discouraged during reading time when you realise that your preparation doesn't suit the question as much as you would like. It happens. And when it does, don't panic, try to use as much as your preparation as possible without seeming too forced, and come up with other quotes or arguments if you need to. The most important thing is to answer the question, and make sure your response to the question is very clear right from your introduction.

I hope that helps.

 

[sida1049]

Hello, are these essays still up for grabs ?
I'm only interested in your MOD B essay on TS Eliot

Kindly awaiting your reply,
Richard

Yup! The link is still in my original post:

So here are my essays.

Good luck!

 

[WildestDreams]

Legendd!!!

 

[vanescott]

It is interesting. Thank for sharing!

 

[vicwoods]

Wow, you've been writing essays on pretty heavy topics. Do you like literature?