ninetypercent
ninety ninety ninety
Hullo,
I did my HSC in 2010 and I got a state rank in English Standard. A lot of people have been asking me for tips on how to do well in English. I’ve decided to share some of the secrets to whooping HSC English Standard.
THESIS
- Ultimately, it is your thesis that differentiates you from the other Standard English candidates. Your thesis should be succinct, developed well and sustained throughout your whole essay.
- When you get an essay question, ask WHY and HOW. Develop your thesis on that. Your essay deals with the WHY and HOW of the essay question. E.g. if a essay question is “Distinctive images are used by composers to demonstrate their vision of the world”. Why are distinctive images used? What distinctive images are used? How are they used? What purpose do they play? How is the composer’s vision of the world shaped by the images? Why is this successful? HOW always means techniques. NEVER EVER write an essay without talking about techniques.
- Your thesis should be backed up with Evidence (TECHNIQUES!). With no evidence, there’s no point in having a thesis. Remember, you are trying to prove a point!
- Your thesis is stated in the introduction (or rather first introduced in the introduction). Your thesis shows your approach to the essay question. It is NOT a RESTATEMENT of the Essay question. It is an argument, the way you are going to approach the question. In constructing your thesis, refer to the topic rubric. E.g. For Belonging, the concepts of belonging include: relationships, identity, understanding and acceptance. In general, you write about 2 of these concepts in your thesis.
- It is helpful to define some terms in your introduction.
- Your thesis must be CLEARLY STATED. Remember to include at least 3 ideas in your essays. If your thesis is too narrow, then there is not much you can say in your essay.
BODY OF THE ESSAY
- Thesis should be addressed at all times throughout the whole essay. Do not waffle! Stick to the main topic!
- Please do not write about the plot of your text or include a long description of the characters. You are NOT DESCRIBING, YOU ARE ANALYSING! Always remember: Do not retell the story, analyse it!
- Include opening sentence which addresses a key point of the thesis. Closing sentence should link to the next paragraph as well as address the thesis again.
- Refer to the STAR method. S – Statement. T – Textual evidence. A – Analysis. R – Reference. So when you are writing about a point, include a statement at the beginning. Then quote evidence from the text. Then analyse the quote/technique. What does the technique mean? What does it suggest about the theme? Why is it being used? What effect does the technique have on you? Then refer back to the essay question or your thesis.
- Do not repeat things you have already said!
- Your essay must flow and be easy to follow. Keep things in a logical sequence. Also, link your related texts to the thesis as well as the CORE TEXT. When introducing a related text into your essay, you should say how it relates to your core text.
CONCLUSION
- Should sum up everything said in the introduction. No new information should be given.
PRACTICE
- Practice makes Perfect. This is true. If you want to improve in English, you should write, write and write. Keep writing essays on different essay questions. Hand them into your teacher and get feedback. After getting feedback, refine the essay and hand them into your teacher again. Repeat.
- For Belonging Comprehension, do some practice comprehension questions. Remember to always include techniques regardless of whether the questions asks them or not. If the question includes “how”, “why” or “explain” without saying “discuss the techniques” it is obvious that they still want you to talk about the techniques.
- For Belonging Comprehension, remember to include a variety of techniques you observe. You should directly quote evidence from the text. E.g. news article – talk about the visual text as well as written text.
- Write an essay plan before you write your essay. 5 mins spend on writing an essay plan is better than 45 mins spent on writing an essay with no logical sequence.
CREATIVE WRITING
- Please do not write about bullying or racism (cliché). Too many students write about these and it shows a lack of creativity. Also, please do not include FANTASY, ADVENTURE, WAR, FAIRIES OR ROMANCE in your short story. Examiners don’t like these. You are writing a short story, not a novel.
- Make it short and do not complicate things in your story. Do not write about an event that covers a span of say 15 years – this is for novels or novellas. 800 words is sufficient.
- Your story must relate to Belonging (DUH!). Sometimes it’s NOT what you write that matters but HOW you write it. If your story contains a lot of emotion, has a strong narrator voice, and is realistic/believable, you will get a good mark. I wrote a story about a girl visiting her old primary school and reflecting on being unable to belong/relate to the playground. Yes, dumb idea, but it had a strong narrator voice and it depicts the inherent desire within individuals to belong, whether in the past or present. It got me 100% in the trial exam as well as a state rank in English.
- Too much dialogue is not good.
- Pay attention to your grammar, spelling and punctuation (goes without saying).
- Avoid verbosity. You are not trying to impress your marker with your fabulous vocabulary – you are trying to show that you understand the concept of Belonging. This means you should include long descriptions only if it is necessary. Do not do it for the sake of making an impression. Do it to show that the main character is feeling a sense of belonging, not feeling a sense of belonging, etc…
- Understand the limits of writing in first person, second person and third person. First person allows your persona to express his/her feelings and thoughts but third person would allow you to talk about the other characters. Personally, I wrote in first person because it gave me the option of showing my persona’s desire to belong and how it has affected her sense of identity and sense of place.
- Do not include 5+ characters in your short story. This makes your story complicated and hard to follow. 2-3 is good. Even 1 is sufficient.
- No overdramatic endings! No suicide, no sudden deaths and no “I woke up and it was a dream”. You are writing a SHORT STORY. If you want to write about suicide, a short story is not long enough to examine the effects of and events leading up to say suicide.
- SHOW AND DO NOT TELL. E.g. Do not say Sam felt sad. Show he is sad!
RELATED TEXTS
- Pick texts that explore a variety of themes within your topic area.
- Make sure you have a variety of texts. This is because you may get an essay question totally unrelated to your related text.
- DO NOT PICK texts such as TWILIGHT, NARUTO (ANIME/MANGA), HARRY POTTER. Sorry, but these texts are not sophisticated enough. Yes, they may relate to the topic but examiners don’t like it.
- Write a short analysis about each of the related texts you are going to consider using. This makes it easier for you to map out what the text is about and how it relates to your topic.
- Do include a variety of medium. If you are doing Skrzynecki poems for Belonging, do not choose poems as related texts. Do a film, a news article or an image. This is because examiners want to see that you can analyse a variety of texts, not just poems or short stories.
- If you do song lyrics, you must also analyse the music (tempo, pitch, etc). Too many students lose marks when they do song lyrics because they don’t analyse the music.
- Your related text does not only have to relate to your topic but also to your CORE TEXT. You must state how it relates to your CORE TEXT.
- In general, if the essay question asks for AT LEAST ONE RELATED TEXT, do one if it is Belonging. If it is one of the Standard Modules, then do 2. This is because you need to show that you have an extensive knowledge on the topic. E.g. for Module C, if you do one related text, this means you only talk about 2 texts in your WHOLE ESSAY. This is insufficient for the examiner to see that you have an extensive knowledge on the topic.
