How to get your best mark in HSC English

English can help all students develop their understanding of key issues and effectively express their thoughts and feelings, through written and spoken language.

Lucinda Macdonald, Canobolas Rural Technology High School, English teacher and HSC marker

Top dos and don’ts for English

Lucinda Macdonald says it’s important to practise answers under exam conditions.

• Actively respond to the question. Use the key terms in the question and deliberately apply the verb to guide your response.
• Use your unique voice to guide your response and showcase your personal engagement with the text. Use your informed opinions and perspectives and let these shine through in your critical and creative compositions.
• Integrate analysis of the text in terms of its structural features and language devices in your response and support your assertions with evidence from the text.
• Don’t write a response about your text that appears to be generic or says what you know without addressing the question. Instead answer the question that is asked.
• Don’t provide a generalised retelling of the text. By analysing the text in your response, you will answer the question and not just retell the story.