Hi Lauren
I have to write my contect piece on "We find out who we are from the conflict we face"... This prompt is a bit tricky and I'm finding it really hard to come up with ideas for an expository essay.
Could you please help me?
All suggestions welcome 
If you're really struggling, go back to the text and use that as your starting point. I'm a bit hesitant to help you out here since coming up with ideas is the most important part of an expository essay, and having someone else do that for you sort of undermines the benefit of practising.
I can give you some advice on general tactics though: remember to question the prompt as much as possible. What is it implying? Is this always the case? Are there exceptions, and if so, what do they tell us?
At the most basic level, work out what your contention is. Obviously for an expository piece your contention doesn't have to be a really strong one, but it should still be clear and well-developed so that it gives your easy some focus. So work out what you think of the prompt then get back to me if you're still struggling.
Two silly questions:
1. If you received feedback - how would you handle it? I mean, what would you do to work with your feedback so that next time, you can improve on it? I know you can just 'write more constantly', but I'm trying to work with my feedback so next time I write again I'm aware of what the heck is wrong with my writing.
2. How did you expand on your quality of ideas? What tips would you suggest to expand on the quality of ideas?
1. That would depend on the feedback. For instance, a lot of the stuff I got last year was for my structure; my topic sentences often lacked focus, and my conclusions were a bit weak, so I knew what I had to do. However, in earlier years I'd also had feedback like: 'you need to work on this paragraph. I'm not "feeling" this paragraph' (to which my sarcastic response at the time was: 'shall I write it in Braille next time?')
If the feedback isn't clear then ask your teacher to explain. I've heard some teachers make comments deliberately ambiguous so that it encourages the students to come to them and discuss their work.
2. Ask questions. Dissect the prompt. Read widely. Force yourself to move beyond "safe" analysis once in awhile. If you want more specific advice, let me know which essay type you're dealing with and/or which texts you're studying
Hi Lauren,
I consider English to be my one and only speciality (in life generally) and I did poorly in my text response essay as I am aiming for a 40+ and only got 27/30 when I was receiving 29s in the practice ones. Moreover, I have dropped two marks for Language Analysis and the Speech 19/20 and 19/20, and I know to get 40 you have to be getting 100's and A+'s. Bitterly disappointed, as I feel that my teacher adjusted the marks slightly to keep me motivated. Unfortunately, even if I had done the impossible like yourself and got a 50 study score in English, I would have always been looking for ways I could improve in the future.
Sooo upset. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on dealing with this disappointing result? I created my own chapter summaries, highlighted my novel, read it x 2, completed + 13-15 essays and went beyond the book itself to include the history of In the Country of Men. I remain inconsolable at the moment.
VCE is just a gruelling, torturous year of unrequited results. You are going nowhere with these results - it's too late, just give up.
90ATAR's post was obviously in jest, and I know the self-deprication can be somewhat irksome when the people doing it aren't "struggling", but let's not lose perspective here.
Jono_CP: this sort of self-awareness isn't such a bad thing, so long as you channel it properly. Rather than descending into inconsolable grief, think about things in a more constructive way. cyclops is right, those marks put you in an excellent position at this stage of the year, well and truly in the 40s if you work consistently.
Also, have a read of some of the 'how vce/ATAR/study scores are calculated' threads on here; A+s and 100%s aren't essential; I bombed on two SACs and there was always room for improvement in other essays, and it all turned out alright for me
I say bombed. I was still in the A/A+ bracket. For some people, a 14/20 is a landmark achievement, and for others a 19/20 is a slap in the face. We all have our different standards for good reason.
On the one hand, other people need to be aware of this, but on the other, you putting yourself down can make others feel even worse. Unfortunately VCE doesn't measure performance based on personal bests, but on how you perform in relation to your class, cohort and state. Yes it sucks, but you're all in the same boat. Apologies if this all sounds flippant or cliched, but trust me, 6 months after vce is over for you, you'll wonder why grade points ever mattered at all.
My only other suggestion would be to have a think about uni/career pathways. Aiming for 40+s is excellent, but sometimes your performance is out of your control. If you're sick of something goes terribly wrong outside school, GAT and derived scores should help you out, but in subjective courses like English, sometimes an assessor just won't like the cut of your jib. The system tries to make it fairer, but you never know. Study scores are very rarely an accurate representation of a student's potential, just a combination of blind luck and learned ability. It's a ticket to a uni course and then it hardly ever matters again.
Cept bragging rights.
Don't let the numbers get you down
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