Very Important Q about Relateds (1 Viewer)

[mreditor16]

Here is my question (and it is a question quite a few of my friends at various schools have):

How much of a benefit is it to have two relateds in your essay vs. one WHEN they ask for "at least one related"?

Because I was thinking about how my teacher said they're moving towards asking for only one related, as seen in last year's HSC where both questions (in AOS and Mod C) specified one related only.

I mean isn't it then a waste of time preparing essays with two relateds and memorising that essay as well an essay with one related (if asked for) when I can just memorise an essay for both AOS and Mod C with one related and that can be used for any questions (whether they ask for ONE or AT LEAST ONE).

What do you think guys?

Essentially, it's going to come to how much am I losing out when I put forward one related in a question that says AT LEAST ONE and some students will be discussing two.

Opinions?????

 

[will1997]

I don't have much time here to give a detailed response; but generally, choosing to do one related text adds more depth to your discussion, as opposed to choosing two related texts and adding a little depth to both.

 

[mreditor16]

BUMP! More opinions please.

 

[mreditor16]

BUMP!

 

[strawberrye]

But there is always a small possibility they are going to specifically ask you for two related texts in the question, and in that case, you will be leaving yourself in a very undesirable situation if you only have prepared for one. This can well happen in your school trials or even in the HSC. The benefit of including two related text when asking for 'at least one' depends on the preference of your teachers who is marking your work-in general, it is all about answering the question-you have to answer the given question as closely as possible to get the marks. I would also advise you to think less about 'waste of time' because the HSC rewards people for the amount of effort they put in, you should avoid rote learning essays in general-and spend more time instead on learning how to answer different essay questions with the knowledge you gain from the texts as closely as possible. Hope this helps a bit and best wishes for your studies

 

[erckle999]

I would say that there is nothing structurally about 2 relateds that makes it better or worse. That is, simply having the extra related is not useful in and of itself. If, however, the extra related allows to bring in interesting concepts from your core text (or even just dealing with those interesting concepts in your related) that you couldn't have brought in as easily with just the first related, then obviously that is a good thing. However, if the extra related means you lose depth beyond a critical point for both related's, or you waste time trying to get the marker to understand what the text is an about and therefore not enough time analyzing and answering the question, then that is a bad thing.

I am also not sure if more HSC questions have asked for exactly one or exactly two. For Module C for example I had one related, and to counter the possibility they asked for two, I just found a related as similar as possible to the points I was going to make in my second related paragraph and found quotes that could literally be slotted in for the quotes I would have used from the first related.

By the time the marker is at your last paragraph, so long as you remain coherent, I would say most of your mark is probably decided.

 

[Sammy Robinson]

I agree with the comments above. I've marked the HSC for many years and HONESTLY it is what you do with the texts which is important. How well can you use your related text(s) to argue your case/give support to your thesis? The possible disadvantage to utilising more than one related text is that your treatment of each is superficial and adds little to your discussion. On the other hand, some related texts (especially in the Area of Study) are more relevant to some questions than to others and it is painful to read responses in which candidates try valiantly to squeeze connections to a question from a related text when there are no such connections. My advice? Always prepare 2-one in depth and a second as a back up/just in case. That way you are completely prepared. (The syllabus says for each topic-"and TEXTS of their own choosing". The expectation is that you have a broad range from which to draw your responses). All the best.

 

[BLIT2014]

You could always have a back up related that covers both belonging and conflicting perspectives for example; that way if they specify for two then you aren't completely stuffed and only need to learn one extra text