Hi, I need some clarification about the structure of the legal studies HSC paper, as well as how to go about answering the 15 marker on crime
1) First off, is it right to assume that out of the 20 multiple choice questions, 15 are based on crime while 5 are on human rights? Also, will the remainder of human rights always be tested through short answer, with crime always being the extended response? I just need clarification to make sure this is how the paper is structured, and not just a trend that could change any year.
2) How do we go about answering the 15 marker? Modern History lecturers and teachers say that we shouldn't follow the structure of an English paper. Does this apply for legal as well? Is it fine to follow a TEEAL structure for a legal essay? Also, how much are we expected to write to be placed in the top bands, in contrast to the options essays. My school's crime exam was a 15 mark essay with a given question, which we had 40 minutes to write. Is 40 minutes an appropriate amount of time to spend on this response, or should I put more time into the options? Essentially, what i'm asking is how different in time and length should my crime extended response be in comparison to the options?
Thanks for any help
Hey Robert! In case no one has said it yet, welcome to the forums
1) Yep, 15 Crime and 5 Human Rights in the MC. Then 15 marks for short answer on human rights, then 15 marks for Crime essay. It
always works that way
2) You structure a 15 mark Crime essay the same as any other essay you write (at least in a broad sense) - Introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Obviously there is no analysis of techniques in these paragraphs, but you still follow the general paragraph template you'd be used to. Introduce the idea, give some evidence (cases, laws, media, etc) and link it all to your argument, then conclude the paragraph. Rinse, repeat
A Crime essay will be shorter than your Option essays - Mine was about 5 and a half HSC booklet pages (which is smaller than an A4, maybe 3.5-4 A4 pages?) My option essays were about 6 and a half to 7 booklet pages - About a 25% increase in length, which roughly matches the mark increase. This length isn't what is
required for a top range mark though - I've seen incredible 20/20 essays for the options with 5 pages. It is quality over quantity. That said, I'd expect a Crime essay to be at least 4 booklet pages, and an Option essay to be at least 5 booklet pages, from what I've seen (not a blanket rule).
I spent a little short of 45 minutes on my Crime essay - So a bit more than prescribed. Roughly my distribution was probably something like:
MC - 10 mins
Short Answer - 25 mins
Crime Essay - 45 mins
Options - Just over 50 mins each, I think I scored a bit of extra time from other sections