English is stupid (3 Viewers)

[nifkeh]

Some of the articles are so fucking stupid, it's unbelievable.

I'd expect better from a tutoring company with the resources and money to give proper tips.

I'm in the same year as you, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd links are highly relevant to the aims of HSC English. Hardly stupid, maybe you're not looking at it in the right perspective. I've done the biggest mistake in my yearlies just then by have 5 hours sleep before the maths 2U and english ext exams, both of which were on the same day. I bombed out the english ext, I was worn out from not enough sleep, couldn't think clearly, had my first ever mindblank in an english exam and wrote the most incoherent crap about Utopias and dystopias and Thomas More's Utopia and etc. I even had trouble trying not to write informally in that exam, something I had never had a problem with before ever. Despite writing an essay plan I still had trouble trying to gather my thoughts together, and only wrote 1.5 crappy points, and a one sentence conclusion.

The writer of the post about 8 common mistakes students make in exams was right about everything, you especially do need at least 7 hours sleep before any exam, especially since I got first hand experience myself.

Plus I do chem, and yes theory makes a component of the course, as well in physics. Not too hard to remember, I do a history subject myself so complaining about the content of the theory in the chem course is nothing compared to writing a sustained history essay. I did a AH yearly exam yesterday, on 3 sections/topics (2 essays and a 'short' response) for 2 hours, and preparing for that was nothing compared to chem's theory which is easy to remember.

 

[RealiseNothing]

I'm in the same year as you, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd links are highly relevant to the aims of HSC English. Hardly stupid, maybe you're not looking at it in the right perspective. I've done the biggest mistake in my yearlies just then by have 5 hours sleep before the maths 2U and english ext exams, both of which were on the same day. I bombed out the english ext, I was worn out from not enough sleep, couldn't think clearly, had my first ever mindblank in an english exam and wrote the most incoherent crap about Utopias and dystopias and Thomas More's Utopia and etc. I even had trouble trying not to write informally in that exam, something I had never had a problem with before ever. Despite writing an essay plan I still had trouble trying to gather my thoughts together, and only wrote 1.5 crappy points, and a one sentence conclusion.

The writer of the post about 8 common mistakes students make in exams was right about everything, you especially do need at least 7 hours sleep before any exam, especially since I got first hand experience myself.

Plus I do chem, and yes theory makes a component of the course, as well in physics. Not too hard to remember, I do a history subject myself so complaining about the content of the theory in the chem course is nothing compared to writing a sustained history essay. I did a AH yearly exam yesterday, on 3 sections/topics (2 essays and a 'short' response) for 2 hours, and preparing for that was nothing compared to chem's theory which is easy to remember.

Correlation causation.

 

[JINOUGA]

I'm in the same year as you, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd links are highly relevant to the aims of HSC English. Hardly stupid, maybe you're not looking at it in the right perspective. I've done the biggest mistake in my yearlies just then by have 5 hours sleep before the maths 2U and english ext exams, both of which were on the same day. I bombed out the english ext, I was worn out from not enough sleep, couldn't think clearly, had my first ever mindblank in an english exam and wrote the most incoherent crap about Utopias and dystopias and Thomas More's Utopia and etc. I even had trouble trying not to write informally in that exam, something I had never had a problem with before ever. Despite writing an essay plan I still had trouble trying to gather my thoughts together, and only wrote 1.5 crappy points, and a one sentence conclusion.

The writer of the post about 8 common mistakes students make in exams was right about everything, you especially do need at least 7 hours sleep before any exam, especially since I got first hand experience myself.

Plus I do chem, and yes theory makes a component of the course, as well in physics. Not too hard to remember, I do a history subject myself so complaining about the content of the theory in the chem course is nothing compared to writing a sustained history essay. I did a AH yearly exam yesterday, on 3 sections/topics (2 essays and a 'short' response) for 2 hours, and preparing for that was nothing compared to chem's theory which is easy to remember.

you can function perfectly fine with 6 hours tbh

 

[atar90plus]

true

 

[someth1ng]

What the fuck is "textual integrity"?

 

[Lina3]

My two cents worth...Okay, some of you have said English is a subject you can bs your way through. And from my experience, this is mainly the case. I am a person who is often given to over analyzing and while it is hardly a good thing when it comes to life, in English it is an absolute blessing. It really made me feel sad when one of my friends got a 7/15 for an in class essay that he wrote before hand and painstakingly memorized word for word and I got 2nd place after memorizing some quotes and techniques and writing w/e on the day. While English could potentially be a very valuable subject, the syllabus being what it is, all the useful stuff such as communication skills and properly taught, development of real analytical skills is simply not there. If they are not willing to go to the trouble of overhauling the syllabus completely, they may as well just make it optional.

 

[Bobbo1]

My two cents worth...Okay, some of you have said English is a subject you can bs your way through. And from my experience, this is mainly the case. I am a person who is often given to over analyzing and while it is hardly a good thing when it comes to life, in English it is an absolute blessing. It really made me feel sad when one of my friends got a 7/15 for an in class essay that he wrote before hand and painstakingly memorized word for word and I got 2nd place after memorizing some quotes and techniques and writing w/e on the day. While English could potentially be a very valuable subject, the syllabus being what it is, all the useful stuff such as communication skills and properly taught, development of real analytical skills is simply not there. If they are not willing to go to the trouble of overhauling the syllabus completely, they may as well just make it optional.

You guys are whining now but just imagine someone acing maths/science/languages, getting a high ATAR and then entering university into degrees like Law, Commerce or Medicine - whereas someone who is actually passionate about the subject may miss out. I agree the syllabus needs to be changed drastically but making it optional would be going too far...

 

[theind1996]

I'm in the same year as you, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd links are highly relevant to the aims of HSC English. Hardly stupid, maybe you're not looking at it in the right perspective. I've done the biggest mistake in my yearlies just then by have 5 hours sleep before the maths 2U and english ext exams, both of which were on the same day. I bombed out the english ext, I was worn out from not enough sleep, couldn't think clearly, had my first ever mindblank in an english exam and wrote the most incoherent crap about Utopias and dystopias and Thomas More's Utopia and etc. I even had trouble trying not to write informally in that exam, something I had never had a problem with before ever. Despite writing an essay plan I still had trouble trying to gather my thoughts together, and only wrote 1.5 crappy points, and a one sentence conclusion.

The writer of the post about 8 common mistakes students make in exams was right about everything, you especially do need at least 7 hours sleep before any exam, especially since I got first hand experience myself.

The 8 common mistakes article is pretty stupid, I stand by my point. It intends to help HSC English students out, and some of the tips are incredibly general/irrelevant to the HSC English course.

E.g.
2. Failing to write a rough essay plan - You can easily come in with a memorised essay and adapt, so no need to plan.
4. Rewriting an essay from memory - This is ridiculous, since basically 90% of students at selective schools memorise + mould essays and these schools are the top achieving English schools. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure than 90% of Matrix students memorise + mould, so it's kind of stupid for them to tell this to us when even most of their students don't follow the non-memorising approach.
6. Being messy - I think it's darn obvious that if a teacher can't read something, it won't be marked.
7. Don’t get a full night’s sleep - Thanks Captain Obvious, please tell me how this is specifically relevant to HSC English.
8. Forget to write their student number on the booklet - thanks champion, seriously relevant help.

And your failures in the preliminary exams are nothing pertaining to HSC English, they are due to your poor time management skills.

 

[iSplicer]

The 8 common mistakes article is pretty stupid, I stand by my point. It intends to help HSC English students out, and some of the tips are incredibly general/irrelevant to the HSC English course.

E.g.
2. Failing to write a rough essay plan - You can easily come in with a memorised essay and adapt, so no need to plan.
4. Rewriting an essay from memory - This is ridiculous, since basically 90% of students at selective schools memorise + mould essays and these schools are the top achieving English schools. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure than 90% of Matrix students memorise + mould, so it's kind of stupid for them to tell this to us when even most of their students don't follow the non-memorising approach.
6. Being messy - I think it's darn obvious that if a teacher can't read something, it won't be marked.
7. Don’t get a full night’s sleep - Thanks Captain Obvious, please tell me how this is specifically relevant to HSC English.
8. Forget to write their student number on the booklet - thanks champion, seriously relevant help.

And your failures in the preliminary exams are nothing pertaining to HSC English, they are due to your poor time management skills.

Agreed 100% for the most part (I've taught you well =P), except maybe point 2; you still need to plan HOW you're going to mould your memmed essay to the question (but yes, I didn't plan at all haha).

Also, you'd be surprised about the Matrix kids; I'm not so sure that they're packed with the state's best students.

 

[JINOUGA]

The 8 common mistakes article is pretty stupid, I stand by my point. It intends to help HSC English students out, and some of the tips are incredibly general/irrelevant to the HSC English course.

E.g.
2. Failing to write a rough essay plan - You can easily come in with a memorised essay and adapt, so no need to plan.
4. Rewriting an essay from memory - This is ridiculous, since basically 90% of students at selective schools memorise + mould essays and these schools are the top achieving English schools. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure than 90% of Matrix students memorise + mould, so it's kind of stupid for them to tell this to us when even most of their students don't follow the non-memorising approach.
6. Being messy - I think it's darn obvious that if a teacher can't read something, it won't be marked.
7. Don’t get a full night’s sleep - Thanks Captain Obvious, please tell me how this is specifically relevant to HSC English.
8. Forget to write their student number on the booklet - thanks champion, seriously relevant help.

And your failures in the preliminary exams are nothing pertaining to HSC English, they are due to your poor time management skills.

for 2. you can argue that preparing an essay and moulding it to the question is a form of "planning". Plus, you do have to spend a few minutes at least thinking to yourself how to adapt the essay to the question. You may not write up the plan, but the actual planning element is still there.

4. This point refers to simply regurgitating the essay imo, rather than carefully preparing and *adapting* it, so it's fair advice. It's telling you not to 100% replicate an essay, but rather think about it. So by no means is it saying not to memorise and mould an essay

6-8 might be obvious but nevertheless still relevant advice so I don't see it as a problem. Plus even though messy handwriting, sleep and writing your student number are very obvious, you'd be surprised by the number of students who actually don't stick to this.

 

[x0xDarkness]

Relax its just english just get it done and over with

 

[enoilgam]

8. Forget to write their student number on the booklet - thanks champion, seriously relevant help.

Suprisingly, quite a few people fail to do this or make other simple admin errors. Even the best of students can miss these things, but I guess it is true that it isnt relevant for "English tips" per se.

 

[taylahnilsson]

As I sit here, trying to study for the HSC English Advanced class on monday, this has literally made my night. Thank you guys haha

 

[Blonde Mushroom]

English is ridiculous, especially when you have to analyse a film. seriously, what does camera angle have anything to do with the use of the actual English language? seriously, english is retarded.

 

[Capt Rifle]

yeh well I hate the fact that you put your heart and soul into an essay, and still receive shit marks because of some bs response they make... Can't wait till it's over...

 

[WALTAWHITE]

English is by far the most useful HSC subject in everyday life. If studied for properly, rather than regurgitated, English helps you develop arguments and think on your feet, valuable for law, commerce, medicine (abductive reasoning especially) and the like, so it's also the best preparation for university study.

I'd argue that economics, science and maybe legal studies are far better for that.
English helps you analyse texts and *sound good* when you argue, it doesn't necessarily help you develop actually good arguments (doesn't help you any better than science, economics, etc at least).

 

[WALTAWHITE]

Teachers always place an emphasis on "do subjects you like and are good at", however we're forced to learn English. Tbh, I'm not exactly mad that it's a compulsory topic... however, I just don't find it completely fair that it HAS to be counted within your top 10 units. That's just a large disadvantage to those who aren't good at doing English imo. I really wouldn't mind if they changed it to 12 compulsory units and we had to do english but its only your TRUE top 10 units that count. What would be nice is if we learnt comprehension or something that helps increase our vocabulary.
And yeah okay, it wasn't exactly the correct term to call them 'dumb', however they're the type of kids that throw an essay together the day before an exam (I know a few) and receive marks of 16/20 for an essay, whereas I take 2-3 weeks of continual editing and sending it to my teacher to receive a semi-decent mark of 13/20.
In English, they stress that 'clarity' is important... however, I can write a line extremely clear and simple, and my teacher would bombard it with higher order language crap which then means that I don't understand the essay at all. She also told us that to access the higher marks we need to use higher order language, and for me... I don't even know where people learn these words. I've also read some of essays in my school that receive 18/20's and 17/20's and oh my goodness... I don't understand a thing.
I have developed strong analytical skills from my subjects, particularly from economics... which helps me access nearly full marks for my short answer questions in most of my subjects. I'd rather have a bunch of stats, figures and evidence to support my arguments that seem logical to me rather than base it on 'techniques' and what I can gather from a very vague statement. I guess in most cases (not all), people are either maths or english lovers.

+1

 

[WALTAWHITE]

Ok so are you going to believe the crapload of information that comes from media personality? I don't mean from celebrities, I mean the stupidity coming off people who call themselves educated. Being able to analyse what your seeing, the information people tell you, its important to form your own view.

Therefore saying that English is useless for society is the same thing as saying Maths is useless for society
And then by process of Mathematical Induction
Then we can say that every other subject is useless for society with this logic

The analysing skills we develop in English is just as important as the logical reasoning skills we learn in Maths.

So gen maths should be compulsory and count for HSC also then?

 

[WALTAWHITE]

- but an essay isnt really marked on its argument, but rather the way in which that argument is presented (is it sustained, logical and supported by evidence).

This is what I don't like about English. I often don't entirely believe what I am writing and I dislike having to 'bullshit'. I do not always agree that the use of the pronoun 'she' means 'she' completely lacks identity or the description of a flickering light is symbolic of a lack of identity. I often just don't see it, and feel that I am manipulating what is written for whatever argument I want to make. I have to write saying these things that I have not interpreted for myself but have learned from sparknotes, been fed by teachers, or have bullshitted. I end up making weak links and what I feel are vague statements (talking about 'the human condition'). However, I can still achieve good marks not fully believing what I am writing (and sometimes have to). I think many students feel the same way I do.

I don't believe it's never the creator's intention to use symbolism or have depth. Sometimes I do like English, and can get into a flow when writing essays, agreeing with what I am saying. Often though, I don't, and dislike it.

I certainly do not see why it should be compulsory as it currently exists.

 

[nerdasdasd]

English prepares you for Uni , wait till you get those 3000 word essays ....