How many words are your english essays? (3 Viewers)

[littlemonster24]

How many words do you guys write for an english essay in 40 min?
I usually write 900-950 but i've head some can write up to 1200 in 40 minutes... that's insane and impossible for me

 

[SpreadTheWord]

I did 1550 for my History in 50-55 minutes class assessment. I know its not English, but it proves you can write that much. Just sacrifice neatness for speed, afterall they are not going to give you marks for beautiful handwriting. But 900-950 sounds about right. Thats how long im planning my essays.

Again quality over quantity.

 

[tambam]

~1250
Did like 1350 once, but that was for an assessment where we were pretty much given the question beforehand.

 

[littlemonster24]

1550 wow! But in my trials this rude teacher wrote my writing was "hard to read" on three of my papers and I reakon she may have even marked me down cause she probably couldn't understand what I wrote... but my writing's not even that bad! And yes quality not quantity but I often need to use a lot of words which is bad but hopefully it'll be fine for the hsc!

 

[SpreadTheWord]

1550 wow! But in my trials this rude teacher wrote my writing was "hard to read" on three of my papers and I reakon she may have even marked me down cause she probably couldn't understand what I wrote... but my writing's not even that bad! And yes quality not quantity but I often need to use a lot of words which is bad but hopefully it'll be fine for the hsc!

Yeah thats fine mate, as long as those words are relevant, and add to the discussion your all good. Also, i would account for everyone on this site, that there handwriting come HSC English exam will be terrible as accustomed to their usual standards.

 

[OmmU]

I only get around ~800. The expected is just below and to 800. Some band 6 essays I have read only had ~700 words. Maybe take some to think about your response a little more rather than just vomiting all your information out onto the paper

 

[slyhunter]

Quality > quantity.

 

[apollo1]

Quality > quantity.

my teacher told us you cant get an A without at least 3 and a half pages no matta how gud quality.

 

[slyhunter]

my teacher told us you cant get an A without at least 3 and a half pages no matta how gud quality.

Lies.

 

[apollo1]

Lies.

wat? external markers for my trial clearly marked us down for it. my module B and C essays were both 4 pages long, 19/20 and head of english kept them as model answers. my module A essay was 2 and a bit pages - same quality as others but external marker only gave me 11/20.

so quantity does matter

 

[slyhunter]

Okay maybe not a page but like OmnU said, 700 words band 6 answers exist and that's not much.

 

[apollo1]

Okay maybe not a page but like OmnU said, 700 words band 6 answers exist and that's not much.

thats gud then bcuz i wuld not be able to string three 4-page essays in 2 hours in 3 weeks time lol.

 

[slyhunter]

I strung 5 page essays but w/e.

 

[yours]

Our teachers always say to aim for 4, and with 3 and a half you can still get 100%. Any less and you're "selling yourself short" (said our head teacher who's one of the judges for HSC english marking). With that said, he has given full marks to 3.5 page essays (though that person was particularly good at english). In the end I think it's really important to balance the length in paper 2: the people who do best don't usually get the highest mark for every (if any) particular essay, but they are consistent. Heaps of people ace one essay then screw up another and essentially it ruins their mark. In short, don't do 5 pages for 1 and 2 for another... I noticed this with lots of people in my trials. BE CONSISTENT!

 

[OldMathsGuy]

My understanding is that if you can hit about 1200 words and answer the question with good support, then you should get in the top mark range (17-20) for your essay. It is a case of quality AND quantity. If you are not writing enough, then you are not supporting your thesis as well as other candidates. Model answers from last years Advanced Paper 2 - Modules were consistently in the 7 to 9 page range with none that I can see below that. There is no substitute for thorough knowledge of the texts and repeated practice writing responses on them.

Best Regards
OldMathsGuy

 

[apollo1]

My understanding is that if you can hit about 1200 words and answer the question with good support, then you should get in the top mark range (17-20) for your essay. It is a case of quality AND quantity. If you are not writing enough, then you are not supporting your thesis as well as other candidates. Model answers from last years Advanced Paper 2 - Modules were consistently in the 7 to 9 page range with none that I can see below that. There is no substitute for thorough knowledge of the texts and repeated practice writing responses on them.

Best Regards
OldMathsGuy

7-9 pages per essay or for the whole paper 2?

 

[jessxxr]

my teacher told us you cant get an A without at least 3 and a half pages no matta how gud quality.

this is pretty much what my teacher told us too, he said if you wrote 4 pages or less, you're gonna get a B at best, and i agree with this and and although i also agree that quality is important too, there obviously isn't going to be great, 'A' range in depth analysis in 4 or less pages, this is advanced lol, and writing 5 or more pages is definitely achievable considering wide spacing and all, im sure you guys will end up writing more than you think you would of

 

[jessxxr]

7-9 pages per essay or for the whole paper 2?

per essay im pretty sure he means

 

[tambam]

per essay im pretty sure he means

Page length isn't the best way to measure quantity, because i've seen some people write very very big.

But yes, in general, although it may be possible, a 700 word essay is not going to have anywhere near as much scope or depth as a 1200 word one, basically it means other students are providing nearly twice as much analysis, twice as many examples etc, which will reflect how much they know about their texts. (But this only applies to well written essays, 1200 words of rambling crap will not get you any good marks)

 

[iRuler]

mine were about 1050-1150

Creative was 950

I hated english to the core