How many words should you aim for in a creative piece? (1 Viewer)

[zlum23]

My Mod C imaginative is 600 words. Is this too short to achieve a band 6 (excluding the reflection)?

 

[jimmysmith560]

There are a few elements that you may wish to consider when determining an appropriate length of response for Module C. The first (and perhaps most obvious) element would be the mark allocation for the question that requires you to write an imaginative response. Ever since the current syllabus was implemented, Module C questions had different mark values, examples of which include:

• Question 9(a) from the 2019 HSC exam was worth 10 marks. In such a case, a 600-word imaginative response is likely to be sufficiently long.
• Question 9 from the 2020 HSC exam was worth 20 marks. In such a case, it is unlikely that 600 words would be enough to achieve a band 6. In fact, it would likely be significantly below expectations. Here, a better word count would ideally be closer to that of your essays for the other modules.
• Question 3(b) from the 2022 HSC exam was worth 15 marks. In such a case, 600 words may be below the word limit that would be considered appropriate, although not by much. Based on this, it would probably be a good idea to try to aim for approximately 750 words.

Of course, mark allocation and word count are not the only relevant factors. The quality of your writing remains the main element. You should therefore ensure that your imaginative piece is of a high quality, as this will be significant in determining whether you will be able to achieve a band 6. While longer responses allow students to demonstrate their ability in more depth, this is not always necessarily the case. In some cases, shorter responses may be of superior quality. With that being said, you should ideally still aim to maximise the length of your response.

Best of luck! I hope this helps!