How Ruhika Scored 96/100 in HSC English Advanced and 47/50 in HSC English Extension 1

1Learning to write with intent

The jump from junior high school English to senior English can be especially daunting, from being given very prescriptive and structured methods of writing to suddenly being asked about personal voice and what directive verbs means – I struggled to say the least. I had to learn that a good essay has nothing to do with number of words written down or however fancy my vocabulary is but rather how eloquently I state my arguments to support my thesis. Learning to write with intent and purpose drastically changed the way I think and approach HSC English.

More than that, HSC English is a true test of the adaptability of an individual. Can you change an entire essay to make it answer a question you've likely never seen before? It's this unpredictibility that I once hated that I was able to use to my advantage when it came to both my internal and external exams through lots of practice and preparation. So through my own game of tug of war and trial and error with the subject, these are some of the tips that helped me perform to my very best ability in the subject:

21. Know Your Texts very well

Knowing your text very well doesn't just mean reading it twice or maybe even thrice. It's engaging with nuanced ideas that the text is trying to communicate, things that extend beyond your average umbrella theme. I found the best way to this by going on JSTOR or Google Scholar to read academic articles and critic readings about my texts and adding my own ideas and personal voice to them. English is an accumulation of thoughts and opinions and I highly recommend utlising as many as you can.

A methodical way of doing this can be reading the text first and making your annotations (this can include opinions – they don't have to be fully formed, any language techniques that you've identified or things to do with form and purpose), then spending a couple of day reading as many relevant articles and highlighting quotes that could be used as either analysis or critic quotes, finally combine your own annotations and the ones from your wide readings. This method is not just applicable to essay but also your Mod C creatives, discursive and persuasive, essentially any time you have to engage with a prescribed text you should be drawing your understanding from a variety of sources. This allows you to form strong arguments and ideas that aren't littered with holes and juxtapositions.

32. Don't be afraid to experiment with form

With all types of writing from essays to creatives, don't be afraid to stray from the traditional PEEL or PETAL structure. In fact, if done well it can set your essay apart in the best way possible. Some ways that you can move away from a more formulaic approach to essay writing that experiments with paragraph structure is to include a Universal thesis before a question-specific thesis. Additionally having a sentence that analyses the form and purpose of your text allows for more integrated analysis creating a more seamless flow between your discussion on the effects of various stylistic features.

For creative pieces, moving from the conventional five-paragraph narrative and into a more fragmented form can seem daunting at first, but can potentially add depth and nuance to your purpose (it also gives you more to draw from in your reflection). Something that I focused on in my creative writing is positioning my character as the focal point of my pieces as opposed to making them overly plot-driven, which takes away from the emotional significance of your writing. Intentionally focusing on moments of reflection, solitude and ambiguity within my writing also allowed me to transition from a more straightforward (and yr 7,8) style of writing to a more sophisticated and profound one.

43. Practice Adaptation Drills

A well-adapted blank essay is often the difference between an A and a B. The best way to practice adaptation drills is to go through a bunch of past paper questions whether they're from your school or past HSC questions and create a simple plan based on your blank essay for each of them (if you end up not having any time to do write out your essay fully before the exam, I highly recommend this). This means tailoring your arguments to answer the questions. You want to aim to adapt your essay fully under timed conditions at least twice before your assessment, this lowers the chance of you freezing on the assessment day and potentially wasting valuable time.

Adaptation drills also let you know how flexible your essay is. I can't tell you the number of time I've replaced quotes and analysis after realising that they're too specific. Choosing the right quotes all comes done to my first tip – Knowing your text really well.

5Final thoughts

To conclude, English is all about creating and finding the perfect formula that works for you. However, the more you engage with various resources such as academic articles, practice papers, and exemplar essays the more confident you will become. English is a process and although seeing someone's final product may look very daunting, remember that it took them lots of trial and error and likely many drafts to get there. Every word you write is part of the creative process and I encourage you to enjoy it as much as you can!

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