Did anyone actually memorise 4+ essays for the HSC? (1 Viewer)

[veeveearnh]

The teachers always discourage memorising essays for exams, however this has always been my technique. Generic essay -> Adapt to question. It has always allowed me to write much more than other people (around 1300 words per 50 mins, and quantity is really the key from personal experience) and I only lost 2 marks total in my prelim (out of 100, raw), so I say memorising works for me.

However, the thought of memorising 4 essays (1 for belonging, 3 for modules) is quite daunting and I am quite worried for myself when the time comes for me.

How many people have always memorised essays and continued to do so through the HSC? How many people started off with memorised essays and then eventually found it's easier to write it on the spot?

4 essays, really, is it possible?

I'm sure no one memorises creative responses - I've never had to write a creative writing task in an exam before - so is your approach just to have a few ideas at hand, with no further preparation?

 

[shuttle_bus5]

You sounded exactly like me at the start of the HSC.
I always thought generic essay then adapt to question was the way to go.
But fuck, BOS screwed me over this year.
I had memorised 2/4 essays and i didnt even end up using them because the questions were so left field.
You are better off spending the time to actually learn your text and the techniques used instead of spending the time to memorise.

 

[philphie]

i never memorise essays. i just have dot points which have quotes, themes and techniques.

for a 10 page essay i'd have ONE page of really really spaced out dot points (probably less than 20 points) so it's less daunting to look at and easier to remember

 

[MooshyMoosh]

You sounded exactly like me at the start of the HSC.
I always thought generic essay then adapt to question was the way to go.
But fuck, BOS screwed me over this year.
I had memorised 2/4 essays and i didnt even end up using them because the questions were so left field.
You are better off spending the time to actually learn your text and the techniques used instead of spending the time to memorise.

+1. That way, you can pick which techniques to write about in order to suit the question.

Also, try getting different sample essay questions and use different text+techniques to answer them; this will help you memorise the texts better.

 

[Absolutezero]

I'm sure no one memorises creative responses - I've never had to write a creative writing task in an exam before - so is your approach just to have a few ideas at hand, with no further preparation?</SPAN>

From what I've gathered, creative pieces are the most likely to be fully remember. In fact, possibly the only thing more pre-written would be the introductory thesis.

 

[Aerath]

Yeah, I memorised creative + 4 essays. Got 96 in HSC. (95 overall).

 

[alex09hsc]

yeah i memorised mine and got a band 6

 

[veeveearnh]

But fuck, BOS screwed me over this year.
I had memorised 2/4 essays and i didnt even end up using them because the questions were so left field.
You are better off spending the time to actually learn your text and the techniques used instead of spending the time to memorise.

Hmm, the thing is, I memorise really long essays (1500 words+) and then on the day I choose which paragraphs I memorised are relevant to me and then adapt to the question.

For example, for the 1-2 text drama that happened this year for Belonging, I would have still been able to write a decent response even though I memorised a 2-text response. I memorised such a long essay that omitting one of the texts would still leave me with 1000 words a-plenty.

Are they REALLY obscuring the questions now so this technique would probably not work?
I guess I should try it out for myself with practice questions (problem with this is, of course, in the past, BOS hasn't been as mean and has generally asked generic questions, which is going to give me a false sense of security.)

Yeah, I memorised creative + 4 essays. Got 96 in HSC. (95 overall).

Did you just memorise one creative writing response?
I would find it very difficult to adapt even a generic isolated schoolboy response, especially if the question shoves you into a position where you have to talk about babies.

 

[shuttle_bus5]

Are they REALLY obscuring the questions now so this technique would probably not work?

I think they are trying to make it so students can't vomit out memorised essay's.
Im assuming the left field questions will continue because from what ive heard, they stopped alot of the memorised essays from being re produced.
BOS is trying to get kids to "think on their feet"

 

[alex09hsc]

really?
i thought this year was especially good for memorised essays

 

[Fluorescent]

I memorised like 8 essays for english lol

 

[Aerath]

Did you just memorise one creative writing response?
I would find it very difficult to adapt even a generic isolated schoolboy response, especially if the question shoves you into a position where you have to talk about babies.

I had like 3 creatives, but only one that I memorised fully. I had to pull some phrases and some ideas from my other creatives to add into my memorised one, but that aside, it was pretty much the one I learnt.

BTW, I'm not saying that memorisation works for everyone. My entire internal I didn't memorise any essays, and I got 94 for my internal mark. I just thought I would try something different for the HSC, cause I had a bit of time, and it paid off. Different things work for different people.

 

[philphie]

the easiest way to write a creative in my opinion is to do it in first person, that way you can make long winded observations on situations or surrounding environments and make them appear meaningful and insightful. also if you're running out of time write it in epistolary narration or diary entries

 

[kaz1]

Yep, read each of them 8 times every day 3 weeks before the exam. Got 83, not impressive to most people but good enough for me.

 

[snorlaxx]

yep, read each of them 8 times every day 3 weeks before the exam.

+1

 

[philphie]

Yep, read each of them 8 times every day 3 weeks before the exam.

that right there pretty much sums up the complete failure of the english/humanities subjects in the hsc.

(this isn't an attack at you kaz1)

 

[Kujah]

Depends on the students, I memorised my essays. And I also learnt additional techniques and examples if things didn't work out.

 

[mira.mourad]

yeah i memorised mine and got a band 6

same here

 

[Bar901]

Personally, I would memorise a few quotes for each text, read the question in the exam and just start writing. And despite how it sounds, that actually worked for me (93 exam mark in the HSC, 95 HSC mark). Then again, I am one of the only people I know that can go in there and write a coherent and sophisticated response to a question on the spot.

Going to a selective school, I can tell you the majority of my year would memorise at least the solid framework of every one of their essays, often more than one per topic as well.

 

[domoku]

I memorized an essay for one module during my trials but the rest I had memorized quotes and techniques only. I found my writing to be very 'rigid' as I was basically regurgitating what I had memorized, whereas for the other sections I could really twist my response to suit the question and my marks for the memorized essay ended up being the worst... but then I guess it really depends on the student...