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For all of you science battlers out there, there is one kind of question that I’m sure every single one of you hates dealing with; extended response questions. The ridiculous questions requiring you to write, and write, and write, to try and get the 6-8 marks required of you. The ‘impact on society and the environment’ questions, the ‘describe the method’ questions, the ‘tell me about some irrelevant history’ questions.
Unfortunately for every science student, approximately 25% of your HSC paper, if not substantially more, will be allocated to extended response questions. Having a method for dealing with them, both in-exam and while you’re studying, is absolutely vital to achieving a stellar HSC mark. This is the way I thought about extended response questions; having a structure is all you can do. You would never launch into an English essay without any planning; nor should you launch into an extended response question without carefully planning your answer. So, do yourself a favor, and read on!
Extended Response in Exam
When you’re sitting in the exam, and doing past papers, there is a structured way that you NEED to be thinking about extended response questions. So, here we go!
What is the extended response asking?
It’s really important that you spend some time thinking about what the question actually wants. Time and time again, when you first read a question, you’ll make certain assumptions. You’ll link it to another question you’ve done before, and answer it in a similar fashion. This is not a good approach. You need to look to the nuance of the specific question, and make sure you’re not answering a different one. I’ll use a Chemistry example, but this is just as applicable for all other Science subjects.
“Using appropriate Chemical equations, assess the potential of Ethanol as a resources to replace fossil fuels for the supply of both polymers and energy” 8 marks
The key to this question is the use of Ethanol TO REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS. Most students would go ahead and do an advantages/disadvantages list for Ethanol, but this would realistically give you MAYBE 4 marks. So, my main advice for this part of analysing questions is to read the question at least three times. The first time, get the gist of the question. Then, read it again to check for tricks. Finally, underline important parts of the question. Once you’re sure you understand the question, you can start to think about the best way to plan the answer.
Structure
This is probably the most important part of your planning process. The fact is that the WAY you answer the question will often determine your marks. Teacher’s hate marking extended response questions as much as you hate writing them. So, answering an extended response question in a specific format, one that makes it super easy for the marker to figure out where your answer is, can be vital to achieving full marks. The ways I would consider answering a question is;
Table
Dot points
Flowchart
Subheadings
You should be fairly comfortable by now with figuring out whether to use any of the above structures. The main thing to think about is NOT to launch into the question straight away; think about the above structures, and decide which one works best. Practice makes perfect here, but think about EACH option before starting to answer the question.
Information
This is the most obvious part of the answer. You need to consider what information the question requires you to include, and what it doesn’t. Similarly, try including some tangential information you can use to impress the marker. It might not be DIRECTLY answering the question, but as long as it’s relevant you will stand out in the mind of the marker. This extra information can include statistics, dates, numbers, names, whatever you happen to come across in your study.
Especially important is allocating the marks to the information you provide. If it’s a six mark question, think about where the six marks come from. That way, you can be fairly confident in concluding an answer. This all sounds like a lot more work than just writing down a bunch of information and hoping for the best, but it’s also much more likely to maximise your marks.
Diagram and Equations
Lastly, you need to think about any additional equations and diagrams to include. You need to have a list of these somewhere in your study notes, and if a diagram is relevant to an answer, use it. The fact is that a picture is worth a thousand words, and most of the time drawing a diagram or writing out an equation will get you most of the marks straight away. Diagrams convey so much information, and are such a useful way of telling the marker you know your shit. Don’t forget to use them.
Extended Response During your study
Practice makes perfect when it comes to extended response questions, and there is a very specific way you should be preparing for them. First, go through every HSC past paper from 1980 to now. Write down every extended response question (ie. 6 marks or higher) in a list. Then, catagorise them. More like than not, there will only be 8-10 different kinds of extended response questions, with most of the ones you’ve written doing being slight variations to the norm. Now, the task seems much more manageable right? Rather than dealing with 80 different extended response questions, you only need to deal with 10.
Now, what you want to do is HAND WRITE exemplary answers to those questions. Think about them for a while, as I’ve described above: what is the best structure? What information will you include? Use all of these techniques to write a perfect answer. Post your answer on our FREE science forums here and I can tell you whether they are worth full marks or not!
For the ones you’re not so confident with, write them out every day for about a week, maybe even less. This just ensures you have a structure in mind when going into the exam.
Finally, it’s all about past papers. Do full past papers, including every extended response question, under timed conditions. Don’t use your notes. When you’re marking, compare the answer you’ve given with the practice extended response questions you’ve written previously; Are they similar? What did you forget? If you find yourself forgetting large sections of content, or tables/subheadings/diagrams, then write out the exemplary answer every day for three days as punishment. This is seriously the best way to memorise and familiarise you with extended response answers!
And there you have it! My tips for smashing out the extended response sections of your paper. Don’t be daunted by them, because at the end of the day they’re easy marks, assuming you’ve studied for them. True, they might not be ‘good science’ questions, but they certainly are ‘good HSC’ questions as far as the Board of Studies is concerned. If you’ve got any questions or queries, head over to the forums, and good luck!
