Hi Everyone,
Some interesting discussion here! Thought I'd share some opinions on how to approach English these holidays for the 2013'ers looking to get ahead, from the perspective of the state's highest achievers. Having achieved ATARs of 99.90+, our collective opinion is to of course focus on Maths/Science during the holidays where you can do as much practice as possible and 'get it out of the way'. That's of course a valid approach and we encourage it.
However, a commonly made mistake is to not touch English at all because the path forward is perceived as being unclear ('English? How on Earth can I study for that right now, we haven't started anything!!') If you get the right things done, it will make your trials so, so much easier (like, seriously). I've prepared a list to help you guys out.
During these holidays, we recommend that you:
- Write your creative! Get something, anything on paper. This is the singular most helpful thing you can do for yourself in these holidays. Once you have something on paper, you can start mouldign it and polishing it all year long. It would be tragic if you had to write a belonging a month in advance of your trials, which is what the majority of students sadly do.,
- Read as many of your prescribed core texts as possible (extensive analysis not required, just read/watch and familiarise at this stage). This will allow you to focus on analysis/forming a thesis during class when your peers are learning/watching it for the first time.
- Find a related text for belonging, and start having a think about related texts for Module C.
- Learn how to approach the reading task, and do as much practice as possible at this stage! This is the section in English where you can guarantee full marks. Practice makes perfect! You will NOT have time to do a reading task (or two) every week when your trials are upon you. Get it out of the way.
We realise that the above list might be daunting, but it's a lot easier to complete than it seems. Get your creative and related texts out of the way, and you'll have a profound advantage over your peers when they're all tripping over themselves to write a creative and find a related a week before their first assessment/trials. At that stage, having had completed the fundamentals during the holidays, you can be perfecting your essays and examination technique. That, is the key to success.
Kind Regards,
Delta Education