HSC modern essay structure helppppp (1 Viewer)

[jojosiwa123]

I'm wondering what to do if I get a question I don't really know much about? (some years both options are similar )
I've seen quite a few essays where the person just talks about how another event was more influential. eg Q how influential was the NEP in economic change in the Soviet Union?
some essays would say it was minimally influential, and then go on to talk about how Stalin's 5 year plans are more influential. is this the right way to go? my teacher always tells us to stick to the actual question so isn't this kind of avoiding the question in a way?

I've also seen some exemplars (old syllabus) that are 8-11 pages. I began typing out one and it was only 3/4 of the way done and already 1100 words... is this honestly recommendable? or does it put you at risk of 20/20 in one section and 2/20 for the others?

 

[pine-apple01320]

I think it is okay to make a judgment like that - as long as it is reasonable and well supported (with at least one large substantial paragraph on the chosen topic).Sometimes the thing in question is really quite niche so talking about other things gives it more depth. I think even if you don't talk about the factor within the whole essay, incorporating it into the topic sentence makes it more connected to the question.
Word count wise; some people can just write out heaps within a short period (especially in 45 minutes) - so I wouldn't say that it would necessary correlate to 2/20 in other sections - just depends on your personal writing speed

 

[#RoadTo31Atar]

I think the people from the 11 page exemplars go into the exam, read the question, turn their brains off and write as fast as possible for 3hrs. Only way I could see this being possible is if you have done a lot of practice essays and can answer any syllabus point without a struggle. When I say without a struggle I also mean like not hesitating even for 30sec on what evidence is best or what line of argument to take. It's also possible that they do less for SA but if you're writing above 1k words in essays you can't sacrifice marks of SA either because what's the point of getting full marks for essays and bad marks for SA. Maybe they do just enough for full marks in SA which allows them to save some time which they spend on essays.