Writing Essays or Essay Plans (1 Viewer)

[*n.a.t.a.l.i.e*]

As it is getting closer and closer to the HSC, I do not believe there is an abundance of time to do all of the exam questions, for example in Legal Studies I have so many trial papers it is not funny, does anyone believe that 'essay plans' would be just as beneficial, or not really?

 

[glitterfairy]

Just pick good examples of different questions. The aim of the game isn't to do everything, it's to do as much as you can to improve yourself as possible

In the HSC, it's pretty granted that most people will pass. However, to refine your responses - getting to really know your stuff and increasing confidence in your ability to answer a variety of questions - this is where the prac questions come in.

That being said I may be misinterpreting your question, if this is so please ignore me.

 

[*n.a.t.a.l.i.e*]

That's ok, I know exactly what you mean. Although, I probably blabbed on a bit too much for what I was trying to say, if I do not have time to write out a full response, are essay plans just as good, outlining what you would write for that question?

 

[*n.a.t.a.l.i.e*]

Anyone else know?

 

[fakingtheday]

I'm kind of thinking english, whilst legal is very much more a content of concept subject (to my knowledge anyway) you should have all your information collated. If you've done that, questions would be something you'd do after. For instance i won't be writing any practice essays for english because you are writing the same thing every time just with a different thesis altered to the question. In my content subject, geography, i'm not writing any either. For two reasons:
a) there's no point, just know your stuff and things will fall into place.
b) i'm lazy.

The only reason you'd need to actually write essays is if your structure needs work, which by now should be fine anyway.

Hope that helped in a roudnabout kind of way.

 

[DanielleM]

memorise content
adapt it to differnt questions
thats the best you can do

 

[starbaaa]

Well, the closer the exams get, the less essays I'll be writing. Theres just not enough time! I find plans to be useful though... I outline what I would put in each paragraph, make sure I know all the info, and then write out only the paragraphs that sound hard. I also believe that knowing the info is more important than having the practice of writing. For geography essays especially, its more important to jam them full of information (this is what will get you the marks) than it is to have a fluent or sophisticated style. This is true for history and english, but to a lesser extent, as its still the info thats going to get you the marks, but they like some sophistication too, and structure.

In my experience, geo essays are the easiest (mine suck, but I get all the info in!), then english (know a few techniques, a few original insightful comments, keep throwing in question words and you'll be fine), then history are the hardest (you really need to know your stuff). Well now I'm just babbling. Anyway, to answer the question, I think essay plans can be beneficial.

 

[glitterfairy]

That's ok, I know exactly what you mean. Although, I probably blabbed on a bit too much for what I was trying to say, if I do not have time to write out a full response, are essay plans just as good, outlining what you would write for that question?

Ah. Probably not.

The point of an essay is to argue - it's all very well to say a "statement" but useless if you're not going to back it up with something solid.

It can be very difficult sometimes to cram everything in - just pick the most relevant "stuff" and eliminate as much waffle as possible. That's what I'd do.

 

[exa_boi87]

Yeh, what ive done is gather together a series of thesis statements, or broader opening lines for each of my texts so I can combat that inevitable difficulty in opening a paragraph. Basically I decide on the basic theme of that text, its relationship to the module, and put together a line ..

Besides that Ive been doing 2-3 english essays a day lately PURELY because ive never had good structure. As the exams approach im planning on dropping that back to 1 per day. But i do recommend, whatever you choose to do, that you also plan out the main points as was suggested. I find its better that way than memorizing an entire essay (plus, theres no way I could remember an entire essay )

 

[glitterfairy]

Hold on, I've just been assuming she meant essay plans *in* the HSC itself. Reality check!

Provided your essay style and structure is solid, then you may be able to get away with this is if is *proven* at least twice that you can consistently show that you know what you're talking about. However, if it's not, then I say that writing it out to speed is definately a good idea. 40 minutes or an hour isn't all that long - just do one or two a day. Any more is overkill.

 

[MasterOfDisgyis]

Legal studies is a really good course in regards to essays.

If you look at past papers (a few years of them), all the essay questions are very similar, and also that there is only pretty much four essay questions they they ask (worded different).

The crime section is the only section where they can be a bit tricky because it is a common module that everyone does.

In the options, all the essay questions are the same except they insert (for example): 'in regards to family law'.

So you don't have to do millions of different past HSC exam papers, what you need to do is practice your essay writing technique.

DO NOT spend anymore than 45 minutes on an essay. Even if you have 1/4 of the essay left, you should stop it and go to the next essay. If you have time at the end of the exam, go back to any incomplete essays and put some bullet points, or if you have lots of time left go and write what you would have.

My teacher says that its easy to get 15 marks out of 25 even without completing the essay, but its very hard to get 25/25 even if you do complete an essay.

 

[bonniejjj]

does anyone believe that 'essay plans' would be just as beneficial, or not really?

I think essay plans are very useful, although perhaps not for all subjects. For Ancient History and Extension History my teacher has encouraged us to write essay plans rather than time-consuming lengthy practice essays (although we have done plenty of practice throughout the year.) By this point, you *should* know your stuff; I think writing plans is a much more time-economical way to study, and more useful in being able to adapt to any question the HSC may throw at you.

In English, I do like to write adaptable "model essays," and the occasional full practice, but once I have my generic "model essay" at a good standard, I find it helps to brainstorm a number of questions as to how you can adapt what you have learnt to that question. It makes you much more adaptable once it comes to the exam, and much less confronted if you get a question that does not fit in perfectly with what you have memorised or learnt.

So basically, I think writing essay plans (without notes) is a very economical and productive way of studying and whilst I don't recommend doing away with complete practice essays altogether, writing essay plans can be very worthwhile.

I also have to write essays for Drama, English Extension 1 and Studies of Religion I, but I don't think I need to elaborate on study techniques for those here. For Religion there is a very limited scope as to the essay question they can give you, for Drama and English Extension 1 I would practice writing thesis statements/intros that would guide the rest of the essay.

I don't really know how useful what I've said would be for the topics I don't study (like Legal, Geo, etc...) But for what subjects I do do, I absolutely recommend essay planning.
Ok, well thats about all I have to say on it...

 

[darkroomgirl]

I'll share what my English teacher said... "Don't have prepared essays, have prepared ideas."

While I'm doing practice questions and essays... by no means am I going to memorize all of those. For notes, what I'm doing is writing down a concept/idea/point then elaborating on it a bit, then putting all the relevant quotes in.

I think that's pretty much an essay plan.