eruditeHSC

As a teacher with many years experience, I’ve never thought learning the essay was a good idea:

• if you prepare your answers and rely on them, do you actually read the question and address the issues in the question?

• what do you do when the learned essay doesn’t fit the question?

The purpose of an exam is to test your knowledge. In English, reading the question carefully and then answering the question that has been set is part of that process. This means selecting from the body of knowledge that you have developed over the year just the right material and quotations to address the issues in the question.

Using rote learned answers shows up in a number of ways:

• the phrasing from a past question, even using the terms of a past question
• passages that lack direct reference to the question
• an argument that doesn’t align with the set question
• failure to refer to the issues in the question set despite evident knowledge

Learning the answers can be a product of a lack of confidence or a belief that there is a right answer of some sort. There isn’t. There are many ways to answer a question but whatever the answer, the question on the day must be answered: thoroughly, with textual reference and with appropriate quotations.

Learning pre-prepared answers is a bit like leaning heavily on publishers study notes. It doesn’t suggest your have engaged with the text. You need to show your understanding of the text, not someone else’s and certainly not one that can be accessed by everyone studying the text.

HSC Advice Line. It’s worth the cost of a call for the help you will get.

Follow the link: http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/advice-line-2009.html

… and all the pain and suffering of being in Year 12 will almost be over. make the most of it because you can still make a difference.

‘Belonging’ questions are the biggest source of queries from students in 2009 so far.