HSC trials: How not to be surprised by your English Advanced exams
HSC TRIAL HACKS: Hand cramps are the hallmark of a successful study routine for English Advanced. See how last year’s top student cracked the course.
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Hand cramps are the hallmark of a successful study routine for the English Advanced HSC course, with the state’s top student in the subject recommending a schedule of four essays per day in the lead-up to trial exams.
English exams take place over two days. On the first day, students will take paper 1, which consists of five short-answer questions in response to stimulus texts and an extended essay on a prescribed texts studied during the year. On the second day, paper 2 challenges students to write two essays and a piece of creative or persuasive writing in two hours, with reference to prescribed texts previously studied.
Former Pymble Ladies College student Chloe Hoang, 2022’s first in class in English Advanced, said there’s one crucial trick to not being surprised on exam day.
“You will never be stumped if you’ve done enough past papers,” she said.
“English questions don’t get much different, it’s always a variation of a very similar framework.
“When you’re just too tired to pump out an essay” brainstorm how you’d respond to as many practice questions as you can find, Ms Hoang says.
BEFORE THE TRIAL
Wrote learning not rote learning: “In the two weeks before trials, I did a set of paper 1 and paper 2 almost every day. The reason why I did that was to get as much feedback as possible from my teachers, and to evaluate what I was capable of doing under time pressure and what I needed to improve on. Having a good, natural flow to your writing is something that you have to build through doing past papers and writing a lot.”
Memorise essay plans, not essays: “Push yourself to plan out three or four essay plans so that you are forced to think about the text in different angles and learn the different aspects of the text. This is especially important for Module C: Craft of writing.”
Know your texts as well as possible: “You don’t know what they’re going to throw at you and knowing it just that extra bit will help you provide a little bit more insight into your essay.”
ON EXAM DAY
Answer the question, don’t repeat the key words: “The most important thing, always, is that you answer the question. Teachers aren’t dumb, they know that everyone has prepared essays, so they’re looking for someone who’s not just including the keywords in the question, but actually tackling what the question means.”
Don’t panic: “If something feels off, just try your best to finish it and move on to the next thing. If you have time at the end, you can go back. If you think that you stuffed up on paper 1, don’t panic and try your best to attempt paper 2.”
AFTER THE TRIAL
It’s never over until it’s over: “The HSC holds so much sway over your final mark, so get as much feedback as you can based off your trial results.”
Self-mark and self-correct: “Teachers, as amazing as they are, may not be able to mark every single essay you’ve done. Trials are a good way to test the marking criteria for yourself.”
Embrace teamwork: “It’s more important than ever after trials and before the HSC to work together as a cohort. Share all your notes, read each other’s essays, because even reading how other people analyse the same quotes or approach the same question will definitely help to improve your own writing.”
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