Hello all!I'm frequently asked how to study for particular subjects, Advanced English being the most common. Unfortunately, I can't gift you all with photographic memory - because I don't have it myself, nor am I magic. Each student studies differently, and what one student may find to be very effective, another may not. Some people are more visual learners and others are rote learners. I want to break down some tips for studying, but also some different strategies that you can use to your advantage.
Can I not read the text/Skip parts of the text and still do really well?Yes. But don't even think about trying it. The chance of you doing very well without reading the text, or only reading parts, is extremely small unless you have a sort of sixth sense and are prodigious. Don't even try. The key is to
know your texts really, really, really well. I'd be an idealist if I truly believed that every student could read/view each text twice or more. And I can truthfully say that I didn't read all of my text's in full twice or more, and i got 94 in the exam! I read/viewed each one at least once in thorough detail, making notes where I thought it was appropriate. You'll naturally read poems several times throughout your study because they are such short texts. You'll essentially read all of your texts twice - the second reading just won't be wholesome. Your second reading will essentially be your teacher saying "Let's review this chapter and make notes as a class" or you realising that your understanding of the ending is incomplete and reviewing. Reading/watching the text twice in its entirety isn't an easy task. Your first reading needs to be a thorough (and hopefully enjoyed!) analysis of every word, line, page, etc. A proper first reading will save you finding enormous gaps in knowledge later on. Your "second reading" will be made up of your studying.
Making NotesI'm almost reluctant to write this section because I truly believe that everyone studies differently and you need to find what works for you in terms of notes. Ironically it is for this reason, I am writing this section because I'm going to propose some ideas about making notes. Each module demands something different so even when you find your most effective study method, you'll probably need to tweak it to suit the needs of each module. Some students are visual learners. "Graphic organisers" are great for these types of people. In the English course, you need to be able to link a thesis with evidence and arguments.
You can find an example of this here. Some students will commit their quotes and techniques to memory through rote learning. Saying the words out loud continuously, writing them continuously and reading them continuously does work for most people - it is just really tedious.
I recommend that all students, no matter what type of learner you are, make whatever is hardest for you to remember, ever-present. By this I mean, if you cannot remember a killer thesis statement: print it and stick it all over your house. Put it on the back of the toilet door, put it on the fridge, put it under the clock, put it on the shower wall (laminate or plastic sleeve) and if you're really crazy - stick it to your bedroom ceiling so you wake up to it every single day (soooo romantic!).
A more structured and somewhat limited way to study is to use mnemonics. You can check out the various free mnemonic generators online. If I had a prepared paragraph that I was absolutely committed to using I could remember the techniques of: motif, alliteration, simile and imagery, using mnemonics like this: Many alligators smirk intelligently. The best mnemonics are about people you know and are often a little crude or funny. Then in the exam, I would say the little phrase in my head and use M A S I to direct my paragraph and prompt my memory of what comes next. Remembering a funny phrase is easier than remembering three techniques that don't necessarily have a catchy ring to it. You can use mnemonics across a lot of subjects. Business Studies and Legal Studies are subjects that you may find mnemonics handy for.
Other people would prefer to walk into an exam with the image of their palm cards printed into their memory. For each possible thesis/concept, you could write your quote and attached technique on the page. Your palm card would look like this:
-Concept: Power
-Quote and Technique
-Quote and Technique
-Quote and Technique.
Use colour to your advantage here! Where is the "effect?" It isn't on the palm card because you should know it! English as a subject is limited in what you can memorise. You need to understand the effect of a technique and quote more than you need to memorise it. This works well with the following...
Choosing QuotesCut out some leg work here and study smarter not harder. Don't remember 20 quotes for the text, each with a different technique or effect. Instead, remember some really powerful and versatile quotes (depending on your module, this could be about 10 quotes) that involve more than one technique and be prepared to talk about the effect of it in relation to the essay question asked. If you study a visual text, take a mental screenshot of a frame and observe that in this one snap, mise-en-scene, lighting, camera angles and dialogue are all at work. Perhaps even costuming and diegetic/non-diegetic sounds as well! This one textual reference opens up so many possibilities for analysing, which means that you have set yourself up to succeed by being able to support a variety of arguments for any question.
When you choose your quotes, you want to take note of how generic they are. Are you just using the most famous lines in the text? Or have you dug deeper and found a small but significant section of the text that shows that you have a thorough understanding of the text and haven't just read the Sparknotes? In the 2014 Advanced/Standard English Notes from the marking centre, it says that students showed strengths in areas of: "giving detailed responses that used a range of examples and textual references to support their responses" but lacked in the area of "choosing the most appropriate quotes/technical features of the text that best support a response."
You can read more of that here . In saying this, the most famous lines are famous for a reason – they are important to the text. You have to find a balance in there. You want to show the marker that you acknowledge the most significant parts of the text for what they offer, but also that you have gone above and beyond and looked for evidence in the text as a whole.
Can you use a pre-prepared response?Maybe…
The benefit of a pre-prepared response is that you can go into the exam confident that you have an entire structure in mind and a game plan. This response can be groomed over the course until you have a perfect essay. The problem? You don’t know what the question will be. The problem with that? Markers hate seeing responses that aren’t tailored to the question because the writer is too busy spitting out an essay that they’ve spent the year memorising.
It is for this reason that I say, you can kind of go into an exam with a prepared response. The key to doing this is to have the response tailored to be very broad, leaving room (or sometimes even just blank phrases, clauses or sentences) for the essay question. How to do this? Refer to the rubric! You can create your response to a very broad section and still run with that in the exam. If you go into an exam planning on talking about how discoveries can be intensely meaningful and transformative of perspectives– that’s cool. If your essay question asks you to respond to the statement that discoveries are provocative and confronting – you can work with that. Some of the worst essays simply agree with the question and go through the motion of explaining why the question is correct in every single way in both the prescribed text and ORT (if the module has one). The better responses will agree or disagree with the question, and then persist with a supporting agenda, like, “although discoveries can be provocative and confronting, the individual may respond to such an unexpected discovery in a way that is intensely meaningful and transformative of perspectives.” The essay question needs to be responded to consistently, but this can be done with the support of your prepared agenda! It takes some preparation and you need to refer to the rubric often enough in your prep that you are ready to adapt your prepared response to anything thrown your way.
Of course, this is easier with some modules than with others. Area of Study is a fairly convenient module for you to prepare a response for. Module C probably ranks in second place for that. If you are studying a set of poetry for a module, this may be difficult in case you are specifically told to refer to one mandatory poem and another poem of your choice (*Coughs HSC 2015 module B: W B Yeats coughs*). Another less structured way to plan a response is how I prepared for Module A Comparative Study: Richard III and Looking for Richard. I based my prepared arguments around the rubric and concepts/themes that flowed through the texts. The module told me it would be a comparative essay, so I prepared palm cards with evidence comparing the theme of power, the use of medium, the importance of context, etc. You need to work to the module’s demands.
Expanding your understanding If you’re on top of your game, you might get to a stage where you think “yep, my study has been effective, let’s put it to bed and never touch it again for weeks until the week before the exam.”
NO.
NO.
NO.
Why not? Firstly, you should be forever submitting your essays for marking and feedback, with your teacher, with the other class’ teacher, with ATAR Notes (
You can do that here) and with your peers. Whenever you get feedback you need to refer to your essay and make amendments where you deem it to be necessary. Remember, it is your essay so you don’t have to take on absolutely everything, but think: why did this person point this section out? Does it disrupt the flow? Can I use a better word?
As for updating your thesis, always think of ways to make it flow better, to make it stronger, to make it more adaptable and make it more unique. This will feature in your introduction and it is in this very moment that you should say “hey marker, look at this, I’m about to blow your mind in a very humble, written way!” Think about your modality, the amount of words in the sentence, the flow and the sophistication.
As for updating your arguments and perspectives – read your peer’s essays and notes. This is a great way to research without researching. Your peers are bound to find a resource that you didn’t find, as you are bound to find something unique that only you have layed eyes on. The internet works in funny ways. Not only this, but the two of you could have read the same resource and interpreted it totally differently! Speaking to your peers about their essay and saying “hey, do you think the pursuit of power is more important than the pursuit for individual recognition? Why do you think that?” will help the two of you flesh out ideas and hey – that’s called studying! One of the greatest ways to get something into your own head is to have to regurgitate your knowledge to someone in a way that isn’t robotic and memorized.
Do you have any more questions?
I'm happy to answer them! I wrote this guide as a response to one member's question, so don't think that you won't get a quality response! If you have a question, I can guarantee that a looot of other people are curious about the same thing!
You will need to make an account to be a part of the discussion and to download notes, and you can do that right here. Comment anything that's on your mind, ask me to clarify something, ask for more help, ask for tips, ask me what my thoughts are on chocolate cake, ask me anything!