Can short essays achieve full marks

[Annon4589]

Just curious does anyone know if writing fairly short essays can achieve 9-10 marks, considering that they tick off most of the criteria, i.e. in section A, the essay remains solely focused and unpacks all elements of the prompt, writes fluently and expressively with great use of evidence, and continually explores how the text was constructed in relationship to the prompt so that the text composer can put forth their ideas and values?

Thanks in advance

[The Cat In The Hat]

Just curious does anyone know if writing fairly short essays can achieve 9-10 marks, considering that they tick off most of the criteria, i.e. in section A, the essay remains solely focused and unpacks all elements of the prompt, writes fluently and expressively with great use of evidence, and continually explores how the text was constructed in relationship to the prompt so that the text composer can put forth their ideas and values?

Thanks in advance

I don't know how you can do all those things with a fairly short essay. Depending on your definition of 'fairly short', of course. What is your definition of fairly short?

[Sine]

Just curious does anyone know if writing fairly short essays can achieve 9-10 marks, considering that they tick off most of the criteria, i.e. in section A, the essay remains solely focused and unpacks all elements of the prompt, writes fluently and expressively with great use of evidence, and continually explores how the text was constructed in relationship to the prompt so that the text composer can put forth their ideas and values?

Thanks in advance

how short? I don't see anything less than 800 words getting a 10/10 and it would need to be at the very high end of quality to get a 9/10.

[jinaede1342]

Just curious does anyone know if writing fairly short essays can achieve 9-10 marks, considering that they tick off most of the criteria, i.e. in section A, the essay remains solely focused and unpacks all elements of the prompt, writes fluently and expressively with great use of evidence, and continually explores how the text was constructed in relationship to the prompt so that the text composer can put forth their ideas and values?

Thanks in advance

I suppose as many people have pointed out, it depends on how short you mean by short.

The problem with short essays are:
1) there's no way to "unpack all elements" in a short essay of anything less than 800 words; what differentiates a 9/10 are very small nuances that lie at the 'fringes' of the topic that you are being given. 9/10 essays don't just answer the question, they try to make additional connections to the topic by discussing things like historical context, author motivations, beliefs, messages, motifs, symbolism, imagery, narrative structure and a whole host of other literary techniques which students at a 6/7/8 are not able to confidently engage in.

2) Ultimately, your examiner's perception of the quality of your essay will inevitably, to some degree, be framed in reference to other essays they've corrected. What this means is that a student that writes 18 pages worth of good writing during the exam will receive a higher score than a student who writes 9 pages worth of writing of an equivalent standard to the student mentioned above.

3) There seems to be a moderate correlation between the length of an essay and the score that the student receives. I don't think that is because 'long' essays are better, but it's more of a recognition that a student who knows their texts inside out, will be likely to receive a better score, and it just so happens that these types of students who are familiar with their texts choose to write long essays to capture everything they want to cover in relation to the assigned topic.

However, in saying this, it's not always about quantity. Unless you can write long essays that are very good and have done so under timed conditions before, you shouldn't attempt to write a lot on exam day just for the sake of it. Remember that all of your essays in each section are worth the same amount of marks. If you write too much and run out of time, you rob yourself of the chance of gaining easy marks that could have been gained had you managed to complete all three essays.

[Annon4589]

Thank you all so much for your responses!

Fairly short in my eyes would be 3-3.5 pages, although my writing would be considered small (12ish words a line). I'm asking this as time is my biggest fear/issue and wanted to see if i could counteract this issue through writing shorter essays, which inevitably will save time and ensure that each essay is complete. Does anyone know if we can omit a conclusion from Section C?

Thanks again!

[brenden]

Thank you all so much for your responses!

Fairly short in my eyes would be 3-3.5 pages, although my writing would be considered small (12ish words a line). I'm asking this as time is my biggest fear/issue and wanted to see if i could counteract this issue through writing shorter essays, which inevitably will save time and ensure that each essay is complete. Does anyone know if we can omit a conclusion from Section C?

Thanks again!

I think at 12 words a line 3 to 3.5 pages would be quite an appropriate length? Word counts are helpful in this regard.

Definitely possible to do well in APA omitting a conclusion though I don't recommend on 'planning' for that for high-range students. Like, having one isn't going to hurt your chance at 10. Though, I do recommend skipping if time is a factor (i.e,. you're finishing your third paragraph at 59 minutes or worse).

Short is okay if you hit all the criteria really well, but I think 850-900 words is probably the 'sweet spot' as far as short and concise essays contending for 20/20 go.

edit: I also think your question is not necessarily the right question - there's still a lot of time to practice essays, get familiar with the type of things you like to write and hence get quicker at writing under the timed limit (plus the adrenaline of the exams)

Shorter is not necessarily your solution.

More concise? For sure. Though, if you're already as concise as you can be, omitting swaths of content isn't necessarily going to help you out. Don't 'submit' - keep working hard at writing your best essays as fast as possible. There's plenty of time for everyone to continue to improve

[Annon4589]

I think at 12 words a line 3 to 3.5 pages would be quite an appropriate length? Word counts are helpful in this regard.

Definitely possible to do well in APA omitting a conclusion though I don't recommend on 'planning' for that for high-range students. Like, having one isn't going to hurt your chance at 10. Though, I do recommend skipping if time is a factor (i.e,. you're finishing your third paragraph at 59 minutes or worse).

Short is okay if you hit all the criteria really well, but I think 850-900 words is probably the 'sweet spot' as far as short and concise essays contending for 20/20 go.

edit: I also think your question is not necessarily the right question - there's still a lot of time to practice essays, get familiar with the type of things you like to write and hence get quicker at writing under the timed limit (plus the adrenaline of the exams)

Shorter is not necessarily your solution.

More concise? For sure. Though, if you're already as concise as you can be, omitting swaths of content isn't necessarily going to help you out. Don't 'submit' - keep working hard at writing your best essays as fast as possible. There's plenty of time for everyone to continue to improve

Thanks for your words of wisdom and encouragement! 30 days left until the English exam, which as you alluded to is plenty of time to gain confidence and refine essay writing skills.

[rohanghosh]

From what I've heard, 1000 words is the bare minimum for 9+/10 essays.

[brenden]

From what I've heard, 1000 words is the bare minimum for 9+/10 essays.

I think that's a fair rumour but it's also not true. My APA was less than 850 words and scored in that range. Text response, too - though that was a little over 900.

[brenden]

From what I've heard, 1000 words is the bare minimum for 9+/10 essays.

I think that's a fair rumour but it's also not true. My APA was less than 850 words and scored in that range. Text response, too - though that was a little over 900.