• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

How to memorise English essays? (1 Viewer)

chevlr

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2009
Messages
77
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Only ethnics need to memorise essays lol

At my school we had one Asian and one indian and they both memorized their essays and nobody else did.
hey i'm white and i memorise essays... though i do go to a selective :D
 

LoveHateSchool

Retired Sept '14
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
5,136
Location
The Fires of Mordor
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
Uni Grad
2016
The only time I condone memorizing essays is if you already have the question.

To make an adaptable essay, what I do is write a generic draft that gives me the feel for the essay with potential quotes and techniques to include if they are relevant to the question.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
Memorising essays is only appropriate if the question is given beforehand.

Otherwise, memorising an essay word for word is stupid - as techniques, quotes and the like are better use for one's memorisation dedication.
 

anne1010

Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
367
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
most deff memorise a generic essay. i find this is the best way as long as ur not a dumb shit that wont adapt it to the question in exam situation. i do standard eng, coming first in a cohort of about 210 and our school had 2 band 6's last year.

i have alot of trouble memorising essays, or memorsing anything. what i've found works best is an acronym for each paragraph. yea you end up with about 9 but i find it works the best. once i get the first word, the balls rolling. just play with different methods and find what works best.

good luck!
 

jamesfirst

Active Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
2,005
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Memorising essays is only appropriate if the question is given beforehand.

Otherwise, memorising an essay word for word is stupid - as techniques, quotes and the like are better use for one's memorisation dedication.

what band did you get for english ?
 

jnney

lemon
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
1,437
Gender
Female
HSC
2012
if there is anything ive learnt is that you SHOULD NEVER memorise essay understand the text, embrace them understand why the BOD is forcing you to learn this text and then answer the question given to you by using relevent info
I half agree with this comment.

The only way you can efficiently memorise and adapt your essays is if you absolutely understand your texts inside out, thereby leaving a big impression in your memory.
 

s2 SEductive

MostDefinitelyIncredible
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
603
Location
...
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
I always find memorising way easier in eng exams, especially when we have only 40 mins but yes like others are saying writing a generic essay is important.
 

Riproot

Addiction Psychiatrist
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
8,227
Location
I don’t see how that’s any of your business…
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
My tutor memorised his essay word for word and got 99/105 for his HSC for ADV
yes, and most other successful students have also done this and ADAPTED to the question on the day...so they are basically not writing a first 'draft' but something which is polished
I see why you need to memorise one now... They don't have spell-check in exams...

Make a table with 3 columns for each text. Column headings: quote, technique, explanation.
I honestly thought everyone did this and then wrote their prepared essays.

hey i'm white and i memorise essays... though i do go to a selective :D
Liar. White people don't go to selective schools. What kind of white are you?
You're probably confusing Caucasian with Asian.

most deff memorise a generic essay. i find this is the best way as long as ur not a dumb shit that wont adapt it to the question in exam situation. i do standard eng, coming first in a cohort of about 210 and our school had 2 band 6's last year.
Doesn't mean you'll get a band 6 this year...

what band did you get for english ?
LOL.
Was it band 5 in advanced?
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
What band did I get in English (Advanced)? 5.

Your point?
 

jamesfirst

Active Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
2,005
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
I'm just testing the validity of your statement. If you got a band 5 and you didn't memorise, but there are others who got a band 6 with a memorised essay... obviously memorised essays work better lol.
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
I'm just testing the validity of your statement. If you got a band 5 and you didn't memorise, but there are others who got a band 6 with a memorised essay... obviously memorised essays work better lol.
A better test of validity is to look at the raw results of the HSC - because that final HSC mark also consisted of assessments such as a listening task or a speech whose answers cannot be 'memorised'.

I can't remember what I got raw for everything, but I got around ~13/15 for Belonging creative and essay. I got around 14-17/20 for Modules A and B, and then because I have no idea what Module C is about - I got low for that.

Now that's good for a bullcrapped essay on the spot just memorising techniques and the like. Are there people who can get better with memorised essays? Sure, but I will bet they have good enough English sense to know how to tailor their response to the question and those who get better do not memorise word for word, but rather memorise techniques and quotes - and only memorise certain sentences they'd like to use.
 
Last edited:

jamesfirst

Active Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
2,005
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
I was merely saying memorise it word for word so that you fully know your essay, enough to know which parts to change. Not just regurgitate it.
 

Bobbo1

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2011
Messages
971
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
I was merely saying memorise it word for word so that you fully know your essay, enough to know which parts to change. Not just regurgitate it.
Exactly!, and full the listening task (which was short answers) i got full marks for it, because it does not require as high level of sophistication in the responses...
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
I was merely saying memorise it word for word so that you fully know your essay, enough to know which parts to change. Not just regurgitate it.
The problem is when you say 'memorise an essay' it implies word-for-word regurgitation and not 'memorise the quotes and stuff within to be able to adapt it to the question while still keeping the general form'
 

jamesfirst

Active Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
2,005
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
The problem is when you say 'memorise an essay' it implies word-for-word regurgitation and not 'memorise the quotes and stuff within to be able to adapt it to the question while still keeping the general form'
JUST memorising quotes and trying to pull out shit in the exam will result in failure, esp in under pressure...


Have a memorised essay, know which part your gonna change, do IT
 

Shadowdude

Cult of Personality
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
12,145
Gender
Male
HSC
2010
JUST memorising quotes and trying to pull out shit in the exam will result in failure, esp in under pressure...


Have a memorised essay, know which part your gonna change, do IT
It will not result in failure. Maybe for you, but not for me and many others.

What you're saying is that if I memorise quotes and the like only, I'll fail because of pressure on me. And you think that people who memorise word-for-word won't?

Those who have English skill don't need to resort to stupid and silly practices like that to get good marks, as everyone with proper English skills can still 'save' an essay via good writing or extra analysis even if they forget a quote or whatever. You can't do the same with a completely memorised essay.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top