How to increase writing speed? (1 Viewer)

[youngsky]

Why no memorising? Unless you are innately good at English, you have to memorise to have enough stuff down in an exam.

Maybe it is assumed that you'll freeze up / mindblock / miss the question completely if your memorised essay turns out to be a dud

 

[Shadowdude]

Why no memorising? Unless you are innately good at English, you have to memorise to have enough stuff down in an exam.

Yes because we should all memorise responses to questions where we don't even know what the question is.

It's like going into the maths exam preparing answers such as: 2, 6, pi/5, C(35,9)

 

[JasonG123]

yeah no memorising



I am telling you that if you expect 1100 words per 40 minute essay, then you must be a naturally fast writer. I am a naturally fast writer - I can dish out 1100 words fine. But I know tons of people, i.e. the majority, can't.

900-1000 words is what is usually done by most people - and that's enough to get a Band 6 if you make your points clear enough, and articulate them well enough.

I'm aware of what most people do. Most people don't get a band 6.

 

[Shadowdude]

Yes but you're making it seem that those who write more will get higher marks, and that's simply not the case.

 

[JasonG123]

It generally is. Writing 1200 words of quality is better than writing 900 words of quality. That just seems obvious.

 

[Shadowdude]

Yes, but who says the more you write - that every extra word will be 'quality'?

My point is that once your goal is "omg i must write at least 1100", then you're pretty much inevitably going to write irrelevant fluff that will boost your word count sure, but it won't be quality material.

Why? Because in the HSC, it's a pressure system - if you only have some material, and you try to draw it out and expand it further than it should be, then your essay quality is going downhill...

Now you could have lots more material, but you have to answer the question - so if you're going to try to boost your word count by putting in that extra point which doesn't really answer the question - again, your word count goes up, but your essay quality goes down.


I'd rather have a shorter essay that answers the question, rather than a longer one which has weak points and too-extended an analysis because "I have to get 1100 words" or whatever.

 

[JasonG123]

Yes, but who says the more you write - that every extra word will be 'quality'?

My point is that once your goal is "omg i must write at least 1100", then you're pretty much inevitably going to write irrelevant fluff that will boost your word count sure, but it won't be quality material.

Why? Because in the HSC, it's a pressure system - if you only have some material, and you try to draw it out and expand it further than it should be, then your essay quality is going downhill...

Now you could have lots more material, but you have to answer the question - so if you're going to try to boost your word count by putting in that extra point which doesn't really answer the question - again, your word count goes up, but your essay quality goes down.


I'd rather have a shorter essay that answers the question, rather than a longer one which has weak points and too-extended an analysis because "I have to get 1100 words" or whatever.

If you've rote learned a response the extra stuff won't be fluff because you would have prepared it beforehand. You won't have "some material," if you've memorized content, and you won't find yourself under pressure or scratching around for points. You can make your points fit the question very easily, you just have to throw in the words of the question into your pre-prepared response.

Anyway, I'm going to stop now because we're going to keep going around in circles. If not rote learning essays and writing short responses works for you or anyone else, then power to them. I have not met someone who this method works for. No one in the state is that good at english that they can spout out an 17+/20 essay on the spot, it's just not possible.

 

[Kiraken]

If you've rote learned a response the extra stuff won't be fluff because you would have prepared it beforehand. You won't have "some material," if you've memorized content, and you won't find yourself under pressure or scratching around for points. You can make your points fit the question very easily, you just have to throw in the words of the question into your pre-prepared response.

Anyway, I'm going to stop now because we're going to keep going around in circles. If not rote learning essays and writing short responses works for you or anyone else, then power to them. I have not met someone who this method works for. No one in the state is that good at english that they can spout out an 17+/20 essay on the spot, it's just not possible.

Nope

 

[someth1ng]

If you've rote learned a response the extra stuff won't be fluff because you would have prepared it beforehand. You won't have "some material," if you've memorized content, and you won't find yourself under pressure or scratching around for points. You can make your points fit the question very easily, you just have to throw in the words of the question into your pre-prepared response.

Anyway, I'm going to stop now because we're going to keep going around in circles. If not rote learning essays and writing short responses works for you or anyone else, then power to them. I have not met someone who this method works for. No one in the state is that good at english that they can spout out an 17+/20 essay on the spot, it's just not possible.

Wanna see my Belonging trial essay? 14/15 in the exam, all HSC markers tell me it's a clear 15/15 response. The only thing I memorised before entering the exam was a thesis for a general question and around 15 quotes. English isn't about writing a lot, and I'd even go as far as saying that it's using the least amount of words to convey the same detail, making your response clean and easy to read (not hand writing) and interesting enough that it has some value in reading.

You clearly know nothing about the HSC and FYI, the vast majority of the best responses (19+/20) do not surpass 1000 most. In fact, a lot of them don't even go past 850-900.

 

[JasonG123]

You're right. I'm an idiot.

Congrats on your marks.

 

[Shadowdude]

If you've rote learned a response the extra stuff won't be fluff because you would have prepared it beforehand. You won't have "some material," if you've memorized content, and you won't find yourself under pressure or scratching around for points. You can make your points fit the question very easily, you just have to throw in the words of the question into your pre-prepared response.

Anyway, I'm going to stop now because we're going to keep going around in circles. If not rote learning essays and writing short responses works for you or anyone else, then power to them. I have not met someone who this method works for. No one in the state is that good at english that they can spout out an 17+/20 essay on the spot, it's just not possible.

pre-prepared response...

no

just no



It might work for some people, but you should never, ever tout how good preparing an answer for a question is - when you don't even have the question yet.

 

[ellie95]

Up until the HSC put 1-2 battery around your pen with an elastic band and get use to writing with it. On the day of the exam, take the battery off, it should be much faster.

 

[RishBonjour]

Up until the HSC put 1-2 battery around your pen with an elastic band and get use to writing with it. On the day of the exam, take the battery off, it should be much faster.

I tried this for 5 mins, gave up. ill stick to writing 900 words in 40 mins and get a band 3 in English.

 

[Abanious]

im going to prove everyone in this thread wrong and get a band 6 in english ( I MEMORISE ALL THE TIME AND IVE DONE WELL)

 

[unLimitieDx]

try writing small