There is no more avoiding it. No more procrastinating. No more pretending that it won’t happen, or that it will magically disappear. It is one week until English Paper 1; your HSC is literally right around the corner.
So, feeling nervous? Not sure what you should be doing? You need a plan of attack. With just one week until English, here is exactly what you should be doing to get ready to go.
1. Read your Rubric
The first thing you should do, if you haven’t already, is read the rubric for your course.
With one week until English, it is essential for you to understand what could be coming your way in the paper, and to prepare appropriately. Understanding your rubric is essential for understanding what could be asked in the exam.
For example, you can read the rubric for the Area of Study here. Could you answer questions on things like these?
How the concept of discovery is conveyed through the representations of people, relationships, societies, places, events and ideas that they encounter in the prescribed text and other related texts of their own choosing
How the composer’s choice of language modes, forms, features and structure shapes representations of discovery
The ways in which exploring the concept of discovery may broaden and deepen their understanding of themselves and their world.
If not, that is where you need to be putting work. Reading your rubric for all your modules is essential for making sure you are prepared; perhaps even more important than understanding your text.
2. One Week Until English? Get Memorising!
With one week to English, it’s pretty clear that you need to be memorising your stuff. If you aren’t preparing your essay, this will involve memorising your quotes, techniques, and explanations. If you are preparing your essay, then you need to be memorising it!
You can read up on tips for memorising your content here, and for memorising your essays here.
The important thing to know though, is that just memorising your stuff isn’t enough!
3. You Need to PRACTICE!
Once you’ve memorised everything you need to memorise, you must be putting this into action. Print off a HSC English paper and do it under exam conditions. It’s not enough to just know your stuff; you must have had experience using it to respond to questions. All the content knowledge in the world doesn’t compare to experience answering the sorts of questions that can be asked in the exam.
This doesn’t just go for essays either. Even with just one week until English, you need to make time to practice for the other sections of Paper 1 as well! So, tomorrow morning, I want you to print off the 2015 English Paper 1 Short Answer Section, and do it in forty minutes. No books, no notes, no nothing. Just have a go, and see how confident you feel afterwards. Do you think it went okay? How could you improve?
This process of practice and evaluation is something you should be doing every day between now and your English Exams. One section, one essay, one creative; just something. Once a day from now until the end. This is the home stretch; make it count!
You should be taking advantage of our free essay marking for Advanced, Standard, AoS and even Creative Writing. You only need to have 15 posts on ATAR Notes for everything you want marked. With one week until English, single one of you can do a bit of posting from now until next week, and get feedback on an essay from a Band 6 student.
4. Write A Bunch Every Day
The English Exam is mentally exhausting. However, it is probably your writing hand that comes out feeling the pain. My girlfriend had calluses for weeks after her English Paper 2. There is no getting around it, it sucks, just a little bit. With just one week until English, it is essential that you are getting your writing hand ready for a little bit of punishment.
So, write every day. This could be practicing for English, or for other HSC Exams, or just writing out notes. Anything, as long as you are writing. You do not want your hand to give up on your halfway through your exam. Keep it warm, keep it trained, and get it ready for what is coming.
5. Think About your Arguments
The other thing to think about is what your Thesis will be for all of your modules and your Area of Study. This is really important, perhaps the most important thing of all. Strong arguments with strong evidence get Band 6’s, it is that simple.
So, you need to have thought about your Thesis statements. Had practice writing them. Adjusted them based on feedback. If there is one thing that you take into the exam that’s been crafted to perfection, a good Thesis/conceptual understanding should be it.
We’ve introduced a Thesis Feedback Thread where you can share your introduction and/or Thesis statements and get feedback on your conceptual understanding of the Area of Study. This is something that often takes a backseat compared to evidence and quotes, but it is essential to a strong essay.
6. Come Ask Us Questions!
We have questions threads set up for both Standard and Advanced for you to come get some last minute help. One week to English, the waiting is up; come ask right now!
Work hard everyone. Don’t give yourself the chance to have regrets. Walk into that English Exam knowing you used this last week until English, as best as you possibly could have. Good luck!
