Heya! I just read your post on how to achieve a band 6 in english and it was super helpful! I was just wondering if you can give tips on how to make a study timetable. I've always tried to make one but because since my days are obviously very different each week, I always found it hard to stick by it. Also, can you go in more detail about how to write essays? Sorry for the super long question!
Hello friend! So glad I could help out!! Aw noo I’m veryflattered, thank you!! I hope some of mytips will help you further, but remember that everybody learns in differentways, so it’s totally ok if you don’t want to try some of these/if they don’twork for you! It’s all about getting creative and knowing yourself, try as muchas possible to be interested in what you are learning, and more will beattained!
A study/weekly timetable is a great way to keep organized,and not just around exam period! It’s great to get into the habit as soon aspossible, and yeah they can be really annoying to write up, but it’s so muchbetter having a plan than being all over the place!
First, draw up a weekly table of the seven days,and make a space for each hour that you are awake (try to get an early startand don’t end too late! It’s different for everyone so don’t worry if you’renot necessarily a morning person!)
Next, fill in all your social outings,out-of-school commitments, appointments, extra-curricular activities, jobshifts, and every other obligation that does not involve school. This is what you will be basing yourtimetable off, not your schoolwork.(it’svery important to have a life outside of school! Just make sure you have abalance)
So you should end up with something a lotprettier than this
Feel free to use funky colours and stuff
Ok, now it’s time for the study (ugh). First of all, write a list of subjects/tasks you need to prioritise this week, and what date they are all due. (You might want to keep a separate list for this) Then, try to fill these into your timetable- make a fair estimate about how long it will take you to get them complete. Don’t worry if your guess isn’t perfect- after you try out your timetable you can write down your progress to see whether or not you’ve overestimated or underestimated your time.
Once everything’s filled in, you’re all set!
In addition to a timetable I like to have a whiteboard in my room that I divide into a weekly planner, with set goals each week. If that’s your thing, maybe try it out! You should be able to find a cheap one at a bargain store.
Now, I understand that a study timetable fixates morethoroughly on studying, in which case you can follow the same general steps asabove. Fill in your commitments such as job shifts, appointments, activities etc,then write a list of the work you need to get done, prioritise your tasks basedon due date and slot them into your timetable. Trust yourself in giving anhonest estimate about how long you should study- it’s not necessarily about howlong you spend on it, but how much you get done. So, it’s important to discover what time of day your brain ismost active- if you’re unsure, then experiment! Find out which time of theday you can concentrate the most because you’re in your ‘zone’, then organize yourmost difficult/time consuming/important study for those hours. For example, ifyou’re having trouble with the Blueprint of Life unit in Bio, and you’ve foundthat you’re most productive between 11 am-3pm, try splitting up sections of thesyllabus over that time period. Have breaks in between studying subjects- afteryou study something with a lot more information to take in, switch for half an houror so and just go over some notes and answer some questions for a differentsubject. When planning how long each study session will last, keep in mind thefollowing
Don’tstudy in more than 55 minute blocks. Otherwise, your concentration levelswill fluctuate and you’ll stress yourself out and exhaust yourself.
Onlyassociate one environment with studying. Make that study environment anemulation of an exam environment- that means a clear desk with no distractions-no tv or computer or phone. It’s recommended not to listen to music either.
Stick toyour break time. Have a five minute break after a maximum of 55 minutes- donot check your phone or social media during this time. Although it might betempting, you will almost always set yourself back in time, and in every breakthat you do this, more and more time will be eaten up from your work time- whichmeans, less study done, and more stress. You can reward yourself by checkingtumblr after your study is done for the day. (btw, you’re allowed longer breaksafter every 1-2 hours!)
Only follow your study timetable as aguideline- DO NOT BE STRICT ON YOURSELF! If you follow it too closely,you won’t end up sticking to it for more than a week or so anyway. If youbecome obsessive over whether or not you’re sticking to your timetable, you’llbecome too stressed and anxious if you miss something in your schedule. Don’tworry about it! Just try to compromise with yourself!
When to start making astudy timetable
Start your study period at least three weeks before theexam. It’s up to you how you want to learn and retain information, but try outthis guideline:
Spend thefirst week writing/completing your notes. Always have your syllabus next toyou. Write out the dot point you’re working on, write a summary of your notesunderneath it, and keep going for each dot point. Keep it organized and inorder. Keep your notes as brief as possible! (To shorten your notes, use abbreviations,trigger words, mnemonic devices, and only include what you don’t know and what is mostimportant)
Spend thesecond week revising your notes. Finish up any incomplete notes, read them,highlight them, rewrite them, whatever helps you internalize them. When I waswriting notes, often found it helpful towrite myself some questions on a separate sheet of paper based on each syllabusdot point, then I’d test myself to see if I’d remember what I wrote.
Spend thethird week only doing practice papers. Download some past HSC papers fromthe Board of Studies website and try to complete them under exam conditions.Try to do at least three per subject. Practicing questions, especially exam questions,is what’ll help boost your marks, so please please please do practice papers. If you can, try to get a teacher’sfeedback on your responses. Note that you don’t have to complete all of themunder exam conditions! You’re allowed to have an open book exam to boost yourconfidence, but try to do at least one without your notes with you.
If my information was really unclear or not helpful enough I’mso sorry! Here are some links to help you get a better idea of how to make astudy timetable:
How to study for your HSC online (use this only for ideas, it’s very important study via pen/paper rather than computer)
How to create a study timetable
Create a revision timetable
Make a study timetable (this is a p good one)
Preparing a Study Timetable (great PDF document)
Create a HSC timetable online
How to write anEnglish essay
Writing an essay is different for every subject, so I’massuming you’d like me to fixate on how to write one for English! So, Englishmarkers love essay structure, andthey absolutely love when you answer the essay question based upon theunit you are studying. For this reason, I highly recommend that in yourEnglish class, you take notes based on what your teacher is saying about thetopic. Also, take notes on how the text you are studying links to the unit you’restudying. For example, you may be studying comparative texts this year, whichrequires you to compare two different versions of the same text. In this case,you will be focusing your essay on textualform, and the similarities anddifferences between your texts. So, try to write down ideas about what the form is (e.g. a movie, poem,play) and why the writer chose thisform to portray meaning. Then, comparehow both of the texts portray their meaning. Your teacher will probably betelling you some vital information about your texts and their purpose duringclass, so I recommend paying attention to that! Those details will really setyou apart.
Have aclear structure. As you know, English essays follow a very logical structure,so it should come naturally to you while you’re writing. Whenever you’re stuck,remember that each paragraph should follow this order: Point (your topic sentence in relation to the question), Explain (explain your topic sentencefurther- remember, the word ‘explain’ means that markers want cause and effect), Evidence (This is where your textual techniques such as quotes comein), and a Link to question. Youcan remember it as PEEL!
Have astrong thesis. Your thesis is the statement you are arguing in your essay. Generallyspeaking, it’s easiest and most logical to agree with the essay question. Alwaysbase your thesis around the question being asked- think of your thesis as anidea or a theme, and you must constantly thread this theme throughout youressay. Brainstorm some thesis statements to come up with the right one, and seewhich one sounds strongest- if you don’t feel confident with this part of essaywriting, ask your teacher for some feedback. A thesis can make or break anessay, so it’s important to master!
Be clearand succinct. What brings students down in their assessments is that they’reso caught up in trying to use fancy elaborate words that their sentencesactually don’t make sense, or don’t explain their point very well! Don’t fallinto this trap! When you’re writing your essay, just try to be as clear aspossible, even if it’s really simple. In fact, the simpler, the better! You canalways edit it later! That being said, never focus on whether or not your essaysounds sophisticated. Sophistication ispresenting a comprehensive idea clearly, not using big words.
Payattention to directive terms. You’ve probably heard this a million timesfrom your teachers, but it really gains you the marks. Many English essays callfor a discussion; therefore you must provide both sides of an argument. If you’retold to explain, then you mustjustify the essay question with a cause,and state the effect of that cause.Whatever the term may be, underline/highlight it, and when you look back atyour writing, assess whether or not you’ve answered the question properly.
Havestrong textual evidence. A lot of kids provide very simple techniques suchas similes and rhyming, and that’s all well and good, but it all comes down to how you use that evidence to supportyour statement. Your evidence must always be relevant to your topic sentence,so avoid using irrelevant techniques, even if they sound fancy and like they’llgive you more marks. I would always chooseevidence that reflected the type of text I was studying, so I could proveto the markers that I knew the difference between different texts, andthat helped to compare them well and show howthey portrayed meaning. For example, a movie may use lighting, music, colours,and camera angles to portray meaning- a poem may use enjambment to break theflow of the text, or metaphors to elucidate an object. If I talk about a cameraangle in a sentence, the markers will know that I’m talking about a film, andthat I know these little things in the film that portray meaning. If I begantalking about a metaphor, they’d think “ah yes, this is a literary text”. Thisis particularly helpful in a comparative text assessment.
Interpretyour evidence differently. It’s one thing to take a literary technique froma textbook and chuck it in your essay, but it’s another to actually think aboutthe effect of some techniques, evenif they’re more unseen. Markers will automatically notice this, becausepresenting a more comprehensive and analytical thought really proves to themthat you understand the text thoroughly. My teacher said that what set me apartfrom some other kids was that they would throw some techniques into theiressays, which is all good, but I took it a step further and attempted tounderstand why they were used andwhat effect they had, and that’s whatanswered the question. And to prove that I tried to understand the text, Iwould always include my own interpretation of ideas and analyse them based onthe unit we were studying. So, keep an open mind, but don’t get too caught upin things- sometimes the simpler, the better! But if it’s a valid andanalytical thought that answers the question, try arguing it in your essay.
Integrateyour evidence well in a sentence. This is also something that trips somekids up. What makes a lot of kids lack sophistication in their essays is thatthey signpost their evidence, for example “this metaphor shows the inner disillusionmentof the old man” or “this quote shows…” That’s alright, it could still get youmarks, but it’s not what the markers are looking for- they need it to beintegrated more smoothly in your essay. For one, it’s good not to follow the “xshows y” technique, because it’s notvery smooth. Instead, we could blend the technique into the sentence so that itflows, e.g. “the inner disillusionment of the old man is highlighted in themetaphoric…” So you see, try not to include the word ‘metaphor’, but statingthat the expression is ‘metaphoric’ insinuates that you can identify atechnique, and that you can work it into a sentence. This is important forquotes too. Never say “this quote…” Make it sound like part of thesentence, e.g. “constant enjambment is reflective of the swans’ “wings” that formthe “great broken rings” in the lake, creating the illusion of the swans’ability to break the bands of time”.
Alwayslink back to the question! This is super important. Don’t feel like a dyingrecord, you need to always prove to the marker that you’re answering thequestion! Just try wording the statement in slightly different ways, and if you’rehaving trouble, use similar words the question is using.
Alwayswrite practice essays and submit them to your teacher. Even if you don’thave an assessment coming up, it’s great to have some practice, even if it’sjust writing one paragraph. Always submit your work to the teacher, and payattention to their feedback! Then, rewrite your work based on their commentsuntil you get it perfect. Whenever you get an assessment back, ask what youcould’ve done better, and try to tweak your response a little bit more. That’s what will stop your marks from flatlining!
Always receive teacher feedback. Don’t ever be afraid to ask your teacher for feedback or help! It’s their job, and no question you ask will be stupid! Whatever you write, ask your teacher for feedback, and always try to contribute to class discussions!
When your essay is complete, read it out loud tocheck for errors, and evaluate whether or not you’ve followed that PEELstructure.
Here’s some more information to help broaden your view on someideas!
10 practical tips for writing better exam essays
10 steps for writing an essay
How to write a band 6 essay
How to write an English essay (good info for planning on here)
5 things every band 6 HSC English essay must have
Thesis statements (a general overview of what they should include)
I could be missing a thing or two, but I’m pretty sure that’sthe basics of what you need to know! I apologise if some of my information wasunclear (and sorry for rambling too much!!), let me know if you need me toclarify anything! I’m always more than happy to help, so please don’t be afraidto ask! I know you’ve got what it takes to get the marks you deserve!! Be niceto yourself! xx
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