HSC English Advanced is known for being challenging, requiring strong essay-writing skills, detailed textual analysis and effective exam technique. Here are some tips to help you prepare for exams and achieve your best results!
What score did you achieve?
I scored a 92 on English Advanced, including a 93 in the final HSC exam.
How would you advise students to go about organising their notes?
For English, I would suggest organising your notes in a way that enables you to easily refer back to them when writing your essays. For example, you could use the main themes of the text you are studying as a heading for your notes. Under each heading, include quotes and their relevance to the theme. Additionally, you could write a brief analysis on each quote that you may later incorporate into your essay if you decide to use it.
What is your advice for SACs?
For internal exams, one of the main challenges students face is writing a strong essay and, for those who choose to do so, memorising it. From my experience studying English for the HSC, memorising was key, it would not have been possible for me to produce something of Band 6 quality with only a few ideas floating around in my head.
However, some students may prefer to memorise key ideas, quotes and arguments rather than an entire essay. This comes down to experience and personal preference. Nevertheless, memorising an essay is a completely valid approach and can give you much more confidence going into an exam.
If you do decide to memorise your essays, make sure you write your essays early enough to give yourself adequate time to memorise and practice. Additionally, try to get as much feedback as possible from others. Whether it be teachers, friends or family, receiving different opinions can significantly improve the quality of your writing. Once you have memorised your essay, practise writing it under timed conditions (around 40 minutes, or even less if you want to increase the pressure) while responding to unseen questions. This will help you ensure that your essay is not only memorised, but also adaptable.
What is your advice for the exam?
During an English exam it can be extremely tempting to simply regurgitate the essay you have memorised. However, doing this can make it very difficult to achieve high marks because you may not be directly responding to the question. If your exam includes reading time, use it carefully to understand what the question is asking (e.g. does it want you to consider multiple perspectives or address a singular theme etc.) and ensure you understand the NESA descriptor verb it includes (e.g. Discuss, Evaluate, Analyse etc.). Think of your thesis in your head and picture how you will incorporate the question across each paragraph in your essay (you could also quickly write it down if you think you will have enough time). It is also ESSENTIAL you utilise words in the question within your essay, this will make it much clearer to your marker that you are actively engaging and responding to the question, rather than reproducing a pre-prepared response.
How did you study and what techniques did you use? What advice would you give to students?
The main study method I used for English was memorisation. Initially, I memorised essays by repeatedly writing them out by hand, but I found this to not only be painful, but slow. Instead, I mainly memorised my essays by saying them aloud to myself and learning the piece in small sections. For example, I would work sentence by sentence, repeating them aloud until I could say it without looking at my laptop. Once I had finished memorising a whole paragraph (e.g. my introduction) I would recite the whole paragraph once and then write it out on paper once. This helped ensure I had solidified that particular part of my essay in my head. However, memorising is only one part of the picture, responding to unseen questions in timed conditions not only tested my memory, but prepared me for what exam day would be like, and ensured my essay was adaptable across a range of questions. I would recommend doing this with friends and then discussing how you approached the question to understand how you could have responded to it through a different lens.
Do you have any resources that you used?
The most important resource for effective preparation is past papers with questions relevant to your text. You can find the official HSC English and trial papers online, however, other school's trial papers may not have questions on your studied text. Even when the prescribed text is different, it can still be useful to look at the style and wording of questions to practise breaking down directive verbs, themes and question structures.
How did you balance study with the rest of your life during Year 12?
Balancing study with the rest of your life is a difficult skill, and it was something I struggled with throughout Year 12, however, I believe taking "productive breaks" can help prevent burnout. After a long study session, try to stand up, get away from your study space and do something completely unrelated to study. Personally, I would not recommend studying continuously for more than around 3 hours. The longest HSC papers are 3 hours and extending your study sessions far beyond this can leave you unnecessarily exhausted and make your study less productive. Try to keep up with your hobbies and exercise frequently, Year 12 was actually one of the best years for me because I continued doing things outside of academics, which gave me something to look forward to and helped me maintain balance to an extent. Additionally, don't let a bad mark or two get in your head. There is only one way forward: identify what went wrong, learn from your mistakes and change your approach so you can improve for next time. Remember that the HSC exam itself is worth 50% of your final mark so there is always an opportunity to improve right until the very end of the year! Finally, some general study strategies I would recommend include completing as many past papers as possible across all of your subjects, doing active recall practices such as mind mapping or flashcards and deleting distraction apps off of your phone!
Good luck with your exam preparation, all of us at Apex are wishing you the best :)
