how long does it take you to write an essay? (2 Viewers)

[Road Runner]

I don't remember big formulas in science/engineering and neither have I memorised a single essay for my trials and HSC.
Essays are only relevant and unique to the question being asked but as you said yes I would need to modify my essay to the question being asked.
However if the question was completely unpredictable, unexpected and irrelevant to a memorised essay like what happened to me in the HSC 2007 English Paper One I would be forced to abandon my memorised essay if I did.
Rapid brainstorming is a technique I may not have perfected but it is reliable enough to create plausible and persuasive points of view with relevant quotes to support my argument to answer the question.
I'm just saying memorising essays is not a good habit for me that's all as I would be prepared for any question thrown at me.

Yeah I'm just saying that if someone does memorise an english essay, the fact is that they won't be able to write it 100% word for word during an exam. But they would have the capability of rapid brainstorming by being able to remember the main points in an essay which they attempted to memorise - and then incorporate + expand on these points to suit the essay question.

Btw, What was you HSC English Standard mark?

 

[bawd]

I memorise the main points and just some vocabulary that I feel could be useful.
I think memorising whole essays word-for-word is not a good idea and I would not encourage it .. because you could fall into the trap of writing something irrelevant and not be answering the question..

but once you understand the structure it can become really easy to whip out an essay!

I agree, and it would probably be best to be applied not solely to essay writing, but to other forms of writing as well. For example, one of our assessments involved creative short story writing and we were allowed to prepare for it a few weeks beforehand. The people who wrote their stories at home and tried to memorise it word for word did not perform as well as the people who simply thought out the plot, characters etc, did a bit of planning and left the rest to impromptu on the day.

I got 9/10, and I didn't think of what I was going to write until the night before the assessment, and the only planning I did was inside my head whilst I was relaxing on my bed.

However, I am not suggesting you leave things until the last minute, but rather, spend time planning for the writing task, rather than writing it and then trying to memorise it.

 

[puglover]

I used to pfft at the teachers when they tried to suggest that reading helps you to write.
It is usually difficult to read in year 12 due to the lack of time..
I am a bit older now and have come to realise that they are right.. damn my ego lol.. so, let it be a message to the students of earlier years..
keep up the reading!

Oh and these students are seriously making it hard for themselves by trying to learn their essays word-for-word.. i would struggle to learn just the intro.. I reckon anyone that has the brains to learn the whole of their essay can see that there is any easier way around.. but perhaps i am wrong 0.o'

but i must warn students also.. i can fall into this trap.. infact i am falling into it again.. i am debating whether or not to do year 11 psychology because i feel i don't need it.. we have to write reports and shit.. i figure heck i don't need to practice writing reports and getting it corrected.. i'll just study the material and i will be okay for year 12.. pfft.. trap. same goes with english... you can't just stop at learning the the themes and ideas.. you need to practice your writing and GET IT CORRECTED BY A TEACHER. You need to make sure that your grammar is correct, that you have backed up your points of view with evidence from the novel etc..
come to think of it.. same goes with vocabulary.. i usually learnt all these new words that were relevant.. i would memorise them.. and stick them in my essay on the day.. bad idea.. write down the words and make sure that you are using them correctly and make sense as a whole.. and get some one that understands the word (english teacher) to check it for you! I used to stick up a list of important words on my wall and used them when I did practice essays.

also.. i know that this is going to sound dumb, stupid and rather obvious.. but when you are in an exam and uber stressed it is an easy trap to fall into.. i had all my themes and idea memorised.. and i just plotted them here there and every where.. it can lead you off track of the question. I suggest you take the time to READ the question.. and re-read it.. and work out what it is really trying to say.. you are trying to mould your ideas to fit the question.. but seriously, you are allowed to THINK of responses in the exam.

anywho..
i try to be a maths geek.. but if my lessons from the pitfalls and mistakes in English help somebody else that will make me happy.

everybody has some good advice to share on this thread.

good-o.

 

[nrs1990]

hey i was wondering whether u guys actually memorise ur essays .. because i know most ppl from my school memorise it word for word when given an assessment task in which we were given the question prior to writing it.
however with the hsc , you would obviously have to rearrange ur essay to suit the question. do you guys memorise .. or jst study the main points ?
personally i can't write well under pressure so i find memorisin it more easier.
however the dilema is that u gta memorise 3 essays. how am i sppose to do that LOL!!!!

The best mark I've ever gotten in an English essay was the one time I went in with one (largely) memorised. I mean, I edited the intro and conclusion to suit the question, and I didn't write it entirely word for word (though I'd suspect it was close), but I used the same structure, the same general wordings, and made the same points.

The essay was for module A, though, so there are a very limited number of things they can ask. (I figured my question was either going to be something along the lines of "How do Wordsworth and Malouf portray In the Wild" or "How do Wordsworth and Malouf's contexts influence their depiction of In the Wild", and that's pretty much what the question was.)

I didn't set out to memorise it -- just I knew what I had was working, so every time I wrote a practice essay, I wrote basically the same thing, and ended up remembering the way I wanted to word it.

On the other hand, you do have to be able to adapt to the question, and having a memorised essay can make it harder... But I figure it's probably easier to adapt what you already have, than to write something totally new on the spot.

 

[want2beasenior]

I can write 4 A4 pages, supported with one/two quotes per paragraph/point in 50 minutes maximum. To prepare for exam essays i just memorised quotes which could be applied to a few different thematic concerns (that's where our class lost out: they had no textual evidence to support their essay) and just know the text you're writing about because if you're familiar with it and know some background info regarding context and critical reception its not that difficult.

For me the hardest thing is getting the answer from my head into the paper.

 

[Aplus]

Depends on the length of the essay and how long I'm prepared to spend on it.

 

[Aerath]

It can vary from about an hour up to about 20 hours (which I've done before).