VCE English Question Thread

[ZACCO003]

Hello,

I'm confused as to this topic and how to plan it to write an essay, it is on the lieutenant written by Kate Grenville, the topic is “By the time the snag had unraveled the whole thing, it was too late to mend”. The Lieutenant is a story of regret and remorse. HELP please it makes now sense to me.

Thanks in advance,

[The Cat In The Hat]

My teacher's said I'm not writing long enough essays (to get those 19-20/20s) in exam conditions; my average is right to the end of three pages (per essay), medium sized to maybe a bit small handwriting, with some crossing out (maybe more than average deletion...). How do I increase the length without just getting excessively verbose? Also said that while the depth of ideas is good, I need to increase the sophistication and command of language etc.... how do I do all this?
Thanks!
Also if anyone has any tips for effective exam revision when aiming to get 19/20 for each essay, I'd like to hear them.

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Do you guys have every single essay you write get marked?

I was thinking about doing a practise English exam this Friday and then another one next Monday (3 days later) but I doubt my teacher will be able to mark them in that time.

[GodNifty]

Do you guys have every single essay you write get marked?

I was thinking about doing a practise English exam this Friday and then another one next Monday (3 days later) but I doubt my teacher will be able to mark them in that time.

Assuming you go to a relatively mid to large school, I would advise you to send your practise English exam to all the year 12 English teachers. If you don't have a lot of year 12 teachers, then I guess your best bet is to send your year7-year11 English teachers with your analysing argument essay.

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Having a lot of trouble finding examples in my second comparative text for these two really hard sub themes (education).

How do I go about this?

[whys]

Having a lot of trouble finding examples in my second comparative text for these two really hard sub themes (education).

How do I go about this?

I think the best way is to reread your texts. You don't need to read all of them from start to end, just key scenes that showcase those themes or major aspects of those themes. Or, if you've made notes throughout the year, look back on them to find those quotes. Some themes can be quite obscure and there may only be a few quotes, or the theme may be explored in a subtle fashion, so sometimes it's not as easy as flicking through the text to find them. I would ask a study group, or you can approach your teacher and ask for help too. Try googling some critical essays on your text and find ones that relate to your themes - this can kickstart your analysis and help you find your footing again. Remember that themes from essay prompts will always be linked to BOTH texts in a significant manner, so there should be no shortage of examples and interpretations of these examples to develop a well-thought-out response.

[ArtyDreams]

- Do examiners give half marks for exams? i.e. 8.5s?

- Are we able to have ‘discussions’ within body paragraphs? For example, rather than having 2 paragraphs agree with the prompt and one paragraph disagree, can one body paragraph itself have for and against?
Something like this: While this suggests the women's lives were miserable, it also shows the progressing of societal views, and that the world has become a more accepting place for them.

[The Cat In The Hat]

- Do examiners give half marks for exams? i.e. 8.5s?

- Are we able to have ‘discussions’ within body paragraphs? For example, rather than having 2 paragraphs agree with the prompt and one paragraph disagree, can one body paragraph itself have for and against?
Something like this: While this suggests the women's lives were miserable, it also shows the progressing of societal views, and that the world has become a more accepting place for them.

Fairly sure no half marks.

I don't know if we're really able to have discussions; it probably depends on how it's handled/what the topic is etc. It could provide a more nuanced view, especially in a comparative, but I think it would need careful treatment. (Although note, I'm just a year 12 as well )

[hel256]

- Do examiners give half marks for exams? i.e. 8.5s?

- Are we able to have ‘discussions’ within body paragraphs? For example, rather than having 2 paragraphs agree with the prompt and one paragraph disagree, can one body paragraph itself have for and against?
Something like this: While this suggests the women's lives were miserable, it also shows the progressing of societal views, and that the world has become a more accepting place for them.

I've done things similar in my own essays and haven't suffered for it.
Remember that there is no 'set' structure for how to write an essay; the essential components are ideas, the efficacy of which they are conveyed depends on your expression/fluency. This main idea for a paragraph demonstrates a nuanced understanding of your text, which is what the examiners are looking for, so its perfectly fine to do if you believe it to be the best way in which to present your argument.

(I'm also in Year 12, but have had this message of flexible structure hammered into me by my English teacher, who is a VCAA examiner)

[a weaponized ikea chair]

How many body paragraphs are we expected to have for an essay? Three or four?

[ArtyDreams]

How many body paragraphs are we expected to have for an essay? Three or four?

I don't think theres an expectation to have a certain number of body paragraphs - I think it depends on the type of prompt you get - and how best to organise your ideas. Quality is definetely more important than quantity, if you can have 3 well written, anaytical paragraphs, it is plenty - and better than having four paragraphs that only scratch the surface of analysis.
Sometimes 3 is sufficient, but if you tend to have more ideas 4 might be helpful too. I personally stick with 3 due to time constraints, but if I feel like the essay is better divided up into 4 body paragraphs I do that too.

Hope this helps!

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Does anyone have experience with the company boo book? My school hired them to company exams and results were dodgy. I’m wondering if it’s because my cohort was so large or....?

[The Cat In The Hat]

Does anyone have experience with the company boo book? My school hired them to company exams and results were dodgy. I’m wondering if it’s because my cohort was so large or....?

Our cohort was kinda small (19 kids) and we'd been having them all year, so perhaps it's the difference? We got a page of feedback each (for the three sections thus a paragraph or so).

[whys]

Hey everyone,
Would we be marked down for long essays? I know this is a bit of a weird question but I've found that all the essays I write in exam conditions end up being around 1350 words... I really don't want to lose marks for the length of my essays but I have trouble reducing the amount of what I'm writing. I don't have any issues with rambling/going off-topic, etc, I just write a lot. From the feedback I've gotten my essays are around 8-10/10 but I don't know if VCAA assessors would mark me down for the length of my essays.

Thank you!

[The Cat In The Hat]

Hey everyone,
Would we be marked down for long essays? I know this is a bit of a weird question but I've found that all the essays I write in exam conditions end up being around 1350 words... I really don't want to lose marks for the length of my essays but I have trouble reducing the amount of what I'm writing. I don't have any issues with rambling/going off-topic, etc, I just write a lot. From the feedback I've gotten my essays are around 8-10/10 but I don't know if VCAA assessors would mark me down for the length of my essays.

Thank you!

The only advice I can give you is that my teacher told me that to get the really top marks in the exam (ie going from 18/20 to 19 or 20/20) I need to lengthen my essays, which are currently around three full pages (handwritten) with reasonably small handwriting (although not tiny). So no, I don't think you'll get marked down.