Why is the time constriction on english exams so tight? (1 Viewer)

[Bloodstriker]

In any of my other subjects, if you go through the exam at the normal pace, you will finish with at least 10 minutes remaining. In English, you have to write like a maniac and you're lucky if you have ANY time to spare. What's BOS aim in doing this? Honestly i think the fact that a lot of people run out of time is a silly way to lose marks

lol, and they expect 6 page non-memorised responses

 

[brent012]

It's just always been like that in recent years and they can't really do much about it unless theres a big syllabus change or something. Everyone has the same issue anyway.

 

[slyhunter]

In all honesty, if you've critically studied your texts well over the past year, you should be able to approach any question with ease.

And time constraints? Personally, I was bashing through 6 pages odd in 35 mins. I'm not bragging or anything, I'm just saying there are people who don't have this issue and those that do, they're not alone

 

[onedaysnotice]

I agree. I find it retarded that other subjects get 3 hours whilst english gets 2 per paper. That would be reasonable if they dialed down the amount of content they're expecting, but really 6 page non-memorized essays? Even an extra 5 minutes could've got me at least 2 more marks =_=

 

[brent012]

Even an extra 5 minutes could've got me at least 2 more marks =_=

Along with half the state likely, it would just push up the raw mark cut offs and/or reduce the scaling of English.

 

[SpiralFlex]

I thought the point was to see the quality of work you are able to produce with a time constraint.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Yeah the time crunch is what distinguishes the HSC (well one of the things) from the other states English. Not time crunch, they whinge about writing essays in an hour!

 

[Leffife]

Honestly, I'm not sure why but I believe they did it because they either want to see what students can produce in a short amount of time or to separate the students who ease through the questions and those who don't.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Yeah the time crunch is what distinguishes the HSC (well one of the things) from the other states English. Not time crunch, they whinge about writing essays in an hour!

I'm not talking about giving us 3 hours or something, maybe like an extra 15 minutes. People who write really fast can finish like 10 minutes early and get to proof read and check other sections while everyone else doesn't. If you have no clue in 2 hours you're still going to have no clue in 2 hours 15 minutes. At best, they will waffle on just to make their response longer.

 

[Rawf]

I'm actually good with short answers but I'm an EXTREMELY slow reader.
Today I booted out my essay and creative, with 50 mins to spare for short answers (I was planning on having 1hr for short answers but I spent too much time trying to mould).
But with that 50 mins I still thought oh yeah, great.. most people only have like 40 mins for this. But I spent so frikken long tryna read through the stuff and UNDERSTAND what they were trying to say. In reading time i only got through to the first paragraph of that aboriginal text.
At the end, I didn't even really read the last unseen text (i skimmed over it.. all i got was some dude playing a xylophone) and I didn't do the last question of the short answers (5 marker). The second last question I did was extremely crap as well cause I wrote whatever I extracted from that text. I only had 10 mins to read the last text and do the last 2 short answer questions -__-
I have practised a lot of AoS papers and it takes me like 1hr and 15 mins to complete short answers, but I would usually get 13/15. For this I'm pretty sure I got 9 or less.

 

[Gary_Oak]

I'm actually not worried....... i did 2 and a bit page for each (1 page for creative), and i finished 30 minutes before time up...... So if you can't handle the time, try and compress your work even more.....

 

[its_tricky]

I'm actually good with short answers but I'm an EXTREMELY slow reader.
Today I booted out my essay and creative, with 50 mins to spare for short answers (I was planning on having 1hr for short answers but I spent too much time trying to mould).
But with that 50 mins I still thought oh yeah, great.. most people only have like 40 mins for this. But I spent so frikken long tryna read through the stuff and UNDERSTAND what they were trying to say. In reading time i only got through to the first paragraph of that aboriginal text.
At the end, I didn't even really read the last unseen text (i skimmed over it.. all i got was some dude playing a xylophone) and I didn't do the last question of the short answers (5 marker). The second last question I did was extremely crap as well cause I wrote whatever I extracted from that text. I only had 10 mins to read the last text and do the last 2 short answer questions -__-
I have practised a lot of AoS papers and it takes me like 1hr and 15 mins to complete short answers, but I would usually get 13/15. For this I'm pretty sure I got 9 or less.

urgh im with you i stuffed up that section and section 3

 

[petermeetswendy]

I aim for 40mins each section and naturally time constraints are always on my side.
For example, in section 3, I finish that section with 5-10 minutes to go, section two with 5 minutes to go then section 1 with three minutes to go.
To be honest, I felt confident with all the sections and I chilled cause I had d & e in section 1 with about 15mins to go and till manage to finish the exam.
Practice with time constraints and you get better, eventually.

 

[Scarlet Tears]

I never usually have problems with time constraints but this was the first exam I didn't finish, I'm not even sure how I didn't. All I left out though was a part of the last short answer question so I missed one quote from it so basically that's just one mark. I was upset though because last time I got 15/15 in that section.