Length of Responses (1 Viewer)

[kpq_sniper017]

i know quality is more important than quantity, but roughly how long should responses for Q2 and Q3 (of the AOS paper) be?

i looked at some exemplar responses, and they ranged from ~600-1400 - each of them got 15/15, so it's kind of strange. i want to hit the bulls eye - not going overboard, whilst also writing enough to get full marks (or close to it).

 

[santaslayer]

Find the equilibrium between quality and quantity. Keep in mind you have other tasks in the exam as well. Easier said then done though.

 

[ujuphleg]

we've been told all sorts of crazy stuff. some of which are: that you have to write at least 8 to be considered for an A, that the top band responses last year were about 20 pages (keep in mind these are exam booklets)

while its definatley quality over quantity, you would have to admit there is a human factor into this marking lark, ie, if a marker is reading something which is really good and it goes on into the second booklet, they are undoubtedly going to be impressed (or really pissed off they have to read that much, one of the two)

 

[silvermoon]

whilst it is quality over quantity, there has always been the mentality in english that theres always something else you could have discussed - the senior markers do consider that anything under 8 pages will never cover enough to get in band 6. i would aim to write as much as you can within 40 minutes, but if you run out of things to say before then, then stop - waffling on to fill up time doesnt look too crash hot either. dont worry bout it dude, it'll only stress you more, just do the best you can.

 

[kpq_sniper017]

whilst it is quality over quantity, there has always been the mentality in english that theres always something else you could have discussed - the senior markers do consider that anything under 8 pages will never cover enough to get in band 6. i would aim to write as much as you can within 40 minutes, but if you run out of things to say before then, then stop - waffling on to fill up time doesnt look too crash hot either. dont worry bout it dude, it'll only stress you more, just do the best you can.

"the senior markers do consider that anything under 8 pages will never cover enough to get in band 6"

taking how many words per page? there are 21 lines per page @ ~ average of 6 words per line = ~1000 words???
...if u wrote 12 words per line, u'd have a good essay in about 4 pages

 

[silvermoon]

they dont count words dude! average writing - bout 6-8 words per line, they're looking for roughly 8 pages. if ur writing is bigger or smaller, then you can write a little more or less. once again, dont get 2 caught up in this, just write enough so that you feel that you have covered everything you can/want. nobody can ask more than that.
oh, and dont get freaked out by other ppl writing more - many ppl actually ask for extra paper when they dont need it: is a proven technique 2 psych out others in exams and so lift ur performance.

 

[kpq_sniper017]

they dont count words dude! average writing - bout 6-8 words per line, they're looking for roughly 8 pages. if ur writing is bigger or smaller, then you can write a little more or less. once again, dont get 2 caught up in this, just write enough so that you feel that you have covered everything you can/want. nobody can ask more than that.
oh, and dont get freaked out by other ppl writing more - many ppl actually ask for extra paper when they dont need it: is a proven technique 2 psych out others in exams and so lift ur performance.

hehe. fair enough.
i didnt mean theyd go and count all the words, but it's just out of curiosity. i wouldn't want to lose marks for writing too little.

 

[Seraph]

IMO

ARea of Study essay can be longer than Paper 2

cause in paper 2 its like 40 min per essay
so really 1000-1200 words each?

 

[mishka]

for my trials i focused on time limits... they work!! well, for me, anyways. but seriously, wouldn't you rather do the same level of achievement across every section rather than brilliant in one and crap in another?? 40 mins is not a long time to plan a response, so i guess the main thing is to study your texts and have general ideas

 

[silvermoon]

for my trials i focused on time limits

yes, this seems to be the best way to work it...i made the mistake in the trial of spending bout 5-7 extra minutes on part I and III, not realising that this meant i had 10-14 minutes less then to do my composing task - and i think thats definately reflected in the relative marks! (unfortunately!)

40 mins is not a long time to plan a response

true, but its still necessary to have some sort of plan, even if you dont write it down - one of the key things they mark on is the cohesive quality of the text - ie. that it doesnt jump from one thing to another or is disjointed.

 

[silvermoon]

woah, pcx_demolition017, looking through this forum it occurs 2 me that u feel a little insecure bout english! dont stress out dude, these are small things - its clear from the questions you ask and the way that u ask them that ur a good english student - ur gonna ace the exam, ok!?!
stop worrying!
*lotsa hugs*

 

[kpq_sniper017]

woah, pcx_demolition017, looking through this forum it occurs 2 me that u feel a little insecure bout english! dont stress out dude, these are small things - its clear from the questions you ask and the way that u ask them that ur a good english student - ur gonna ace the exam, ok!?!
stop worrying!
*lotsa hugs*

lol...
...well four posts in one night isnt too bad...i tend to accumulate all my questions into one heap and ask them all at once.
6...0....0...0...1...10....0 etc.

 

[silvermoon]

*laughs*
fair enough then dude i guess.

 

[danie]

We were told that it's definately quality over quantity but within limit. We were also told to keep it succint and not to waffle or you'll end up repeating or contradicting yourself. Also you have to keep in mind that a subjective marker will not think that just because you've written one booklet as opposed to two that you'll get a lower mark. Not to mention our teacher kept stressing this to us that if you can say what you have to say sufficiently then that's all that matters. Like for stud. of religion trials in the extended response I wrote 8 pages (pad paper not the booklet) and my mate wrote 4 and we got the same mark.

 

[silvermoon]

oh yes, none of us were saying that theres a length that's better in that sense. in english, there is an amount of pages which is considered to be a minimum length to get enough points in with examples etc. and that is ROUGHLY 1 booklet. past that, nobody cares whether youve written 3 booklets or not, except to think that if youve spent that much time on one question, youve probably neglected the others.

 

[lukebennett]

dont the exemplar responses answer your question.
You should aim for well over 600 as that may be a bit small unless you are an amazing writer. i'd say about 900-1000 words.

 

[gordo]

we've been told all sorts of crazy stuff. some of which are: that you have to write at least 8 to be considered for an A, that the top band responses last year were about 20 pages (keep in mind these are exam booklets)

while its definatley quality over quantity, you would have to admit there is a human factor into this marking lark, ie, if a marker is reading something which is really good and it goes on into the second booklet, they are undoubtedly going to be impressed (or really pissed off they have to read that much, one of the two)

lol there is no way it was 20 pages
i write rougly 1200 words (6 pages) and my teacher says thats perfect length (he is the head of the englisht eachers association)

 

[lukebennett]

lol there is no way it was 20 pages
i write rougly 1200 words (6 pages) and my teacher says thats perfect length (he is the head of the englisht eachers association)

It is possible to write 20 in an exam booklet considering how large writing some people have. 6 pages would be well over ten pages in the HSC which is more than enough. I think as long as you talk about at least two points each text makes in regard to journey and discuss the techniques used to do this clearly you should be set. you must also link some themes each text has with other texts. this will easily get you about 5 normal pages and more than enough booklet pages.

Some people for Q2 have only written 5 booklet pages and got 15/15. for creative writing it really depends on the quality and fluency of your writing and how you implicitly explore journey and its impacts on the subject. i always find it hard to write much on these, i got 14/15 for one which was 2.5 A4 pages but the marker thought it was "a very powerful piece"

 

[silvermoon]

with the 8 pages: we were talking about exam pages - which is 1 booklet. not A4 pages. 8 A4 pages IS too much for the hsc exam. creative writing is far more subjective than the essay. there IS a feeling among the markers (in regards ot the essay) that unless you have at least approached the 1 bklet mark (depending on your writing size of course) that you cannot have included enough material to get an A. not that it sint still possible to get one, but your work has to be that much better to convince them that you've said enough. and, anyway, lets face it - if you haven't written at least 7 pages there's no way you've covered enough.

 

[Acid]

You realise for Q2 (thecreative part) the marking criteria only states that you need to write 400 words right? That means 2 pages of a booklet usually...