In a dilemna about my text response

[Robert243]

So this year I've done the novels"The complete Maus" and  "Burial Rites" as my selected English texts. I've been pretty happy on how i went for my sacs for both of them , but for Burial Rites i received a higher score, so when it came to deciding which text i'd do for my end of year exam i chose Burial Rites. But the more Burial Rites essays prompts i've seen and written  on ,there are a lot of different themes which could be assessible ,and every time i encounter difficult topics, the more my quality of writing decreases . But when i look at some of my ideas I've used in my Maus essays in semester 1 ,i feel they are a lot more unique and carefully constructed. But as i haven't practiced my Maus essays for several months i think it would be too late to focus on Maus for the exam or at least memorise some of my paragraphs, just in case there are two really dodgy prompts for the other text. Has anyone got any suggestion on what i should do ?any one with similar experiences?
Also i apologise if there a few spelling/grammatical mistakes in this thread , it is very late but my worries are keeping me up 

[AhNeon]

Well it ultimately does come down to what the prompts for the exam are. Try to practice on both i guess, but if on the exam you see a dodgy prompt for one of the texts, you're not gonna want to have no other option. However, seeing as you have down so much practice for only one text, it's much more likely you're gonna see a prompt for that text and remember ideas for that prompt than it would be seeing an easier prompt for the text you haven't studied and getting ideas.

[Robert243]

Well it ultimately does come down to what the prompts for the exam are. Try to practice on both i guess, but if on the exam you see a dodgy prompt for one of the texts, you're not gonna want to have no other option. However, seeing as you have down so much practice for only one text, it's much more likely you're gonna see a prompt for that text and remember ideas for that prompt than it would be seeing an easier prompt for the text you haven't studied and getting ideas.

Hi, and thank you for your reply, I have studied Maus a bit .Would you still recommend i memorise some of my body paragraphs for Maus from semester 1.

[literally lauren]

Hi, and thank you for your reply, I have studied Maus a bit .Would you still recommend i memorise some of my body paragraphs for Maus from semester 1.

I wouldn't recommend memorising any body paragraphs at all!!! You're probably better off just focusing on one text at this stage of the year since the time you spend revising Maus could've been time spend covering more B.R. prompts so that you felt more confident with that text. Plus, if you try and keep them both afloat, you'll have to make a decision between the two texts (and the two prompts for each) in the exam itself... and that's quite a bit of pressure when you've got two other sections to worry about, plus exam-adrenaline kicking in. Instead, if you commit to one text now, you can cut your study in half and just concentrate on knowing one text inside out.

You've still got a couple of days to hone in on those 'dodgy prompts' and work on a plan of attack for them, which would be a way safer option than just rote learning some evidence from Maus or trying to revise the whole text between now and Wednesday. If you feel like you still know it really well, then maybe it'd be worthwhile, but I tend to advocate for just concentrating on a single text so you don't have that added burden of doubling up your study.

If there are things you're less confident with for either of the texts, let us know!

[appleandbee]

Concur with the above.

 I was in a similar situation last year. I planned on doing Burial Rites until the last three weeks (or maybe two), because the barrage of linguistic devices in the book as well the unpredictability of the prompts was overwhelming (I chose Burial Rites because I thought it would have been quite impressive if I managed to pull it off given the vast amount of themes, depth and stylistic detail in the book). It worked out well in the end (although I still would have liked to write on Burial Rites as it is a difficult text to execute), as TR was my highest scoring section (20/20 or 19/20). I wrote on a film (All About Eve), so the 2-3 weeks preparation wasn't much of a problem, studied it at school in the second semester, prompts were extremely predictable and 2/3 of the cohort were doing it for the exam so there was a lot of collaboration.

I don't think three days is enough to study a book to the level of depth required for a high scoring essay (9-10/10), unless the range of themes and prompts is extremely narrow. Considering you have been studying Burial Rites up to this point, you've probably covered a fair number of prompts and have some degree of confidence of confidence in the text. If dealing with the vast amount of themes is the main issue, focus on writing essay plans rather than essays, which would allow you to cover more prompts in the same amount of time as well as concentrate on idea generation. Only switch to Maus if studying for Burial Rites is overwhelmingly stressful.

[Robert243]

Concur with the above.

 I was in a similar situation last year. I planned on doing Burial Rites until the last three weeks (or maybe two), because the barrage of linguistic devices in the book as well the unpredictability of the prompts was overwhelming (I chose Burial Rites because I thought it would have been quite impressive if I managed to pull it off given the vast amount of themes, depth and stylistic detail in the book). It worked out well in the end (although I still would have liked to write on Burial Rites as it is a difficult text to execute), as TR was my highest scoring section (20/20 or 19/20). I wrote on a film (All About Eve), so the 2-3 weeks preparation wasn't much of a problem, studied it at school in the second semester, prompts were extremely predictable and 2/3 of the cohort were doing it for the exam so there was a lot of collaboration.

I don't think three days is enough to study a book to the level of depth required for a high scoring essay (9-10/10), unless the range of themes and prompts is extremely narrow. Considering you have been studying Burial Rites up to this point, you've probably covered a fair number of prompts and have some degree of confidence of confidence in the text. If dealing with the vast amount of themes is the main issue, focus on writing essay plans rather than essays, which would allow you to cover more prompts in the same amount of time as well as concentrate on idea generation. Only switch to Maus if studying for Burial Rites is overwhelmingly stressful.

Cheers for your advice, could I PM you some burial rites essays i've written , just to see what you think of them?