Questions about picking EE2 (1 Viewer)

[dotExe]

So l have been doing relatively decently for adv.Eng and EE1, with 48/60 for my adv.Eng and 35/50 for my EE1, but my ranks are average, 95ish/315 for adv.Eng and 22/60 for EE1 however I have considered EE2 (probably because I love English alot ), but I'm abit concern that if I do bad in EE2, my ATAR will be horrendous. I'm aiming for a 95+ atar, with the following subjects, Biology, Eco, Mathematics, EE1, Adv.Eng and Chemistry (depends if I take up EE2, if i do then i will be dropping chem for senior science) and MAYBE EE2.

So I was just asking for the EE2 people's opinion on this matter :/...... should I take it up? Or listen to my teachers and just focus on my current subjects...?
Also, how hard is EE2 in serious terms? I had all my ext teachers and adv teachers say its very intense and that your competing with people who are top at English (I already knew that part).

Thank you very much for taking your time to reply to this

PS: I probably going to think about this matter quite a bit throughout this holiday.

 

[SuchSmallHands]

Yes, take it! EE2 is not an 2 unit extension in the same vein as MX2, it's the kind of work which doesn't really seem like work to the kind of people who are drawn to the subject. I wouldn't call it 'pretty intense', you compose a piece over the course of the year and submit it at the end, you can make whatever you wish of it! If you love English, you will do well and I would strongly advise that you keep both Chem and EE2, even if it seems like a bit of work, if you want a high ATAR as Chem's scaling is far better than that of Senior Science (plus, much more interesting IMO). Seriously, the amount of work that EE2 is isn't really proportionate to most other 1 unit extensions unless you choose something highly elaborate. If you go with the straight-up-and-down short story/suite of poetry/dramatic script that most people do, it's more of a leisure activity than a grueling unit of work. Plus, if it is too much you can always drop it, you can't pick it up half way through the year.

 

[Crobat]

Well I guess you're going to need both sides of the argument to make a decent decision, so here's my two cents.

As an Ex-EE2 student who performed top of his selective cohort in both Adv and EE1, I strongly recommend you ignore the subject altogether. Doing well in the Adv and EE1 course in no way guarantees you will do well in EE2, and contrary to popular opinion, the EE2 course does require a lot of work because realistically speaking, the markers are incredibly well-read and aware, and the students who approach the EE2 course with a "it's not really that much work, it's just write a short story/long essay and hand it in" idea nearly always perform terribly. Most students opt to do the short story form, and after attending an EE2 seminar run by "senior" (and I say senior because I'm not actually sure if that's their official title, but they were very experienced markers in any case), I can tell you it is the worst done textual form, purely because people genuinely think the course is about writing whatever they want to write about. There are limits within the EE2 rubric (mainly that it needs to connect to Adv/EE1 in some way), not to mention the general boundaries of story writing in general students need to be wary of. And furthermore, it is often ignored by students that there are different genres of writing which are absolutely imperative to explore before actually beginning to write, like magic realism, burlesque comedy, satire, avant-gardeism etc. The other forms available are generally more difficult to do, and when you choose your concept, you again need to be wary of the generic, over-done, and clichéd topics like teenage angst, death, anything violent, etc. It is intense in that the research you do on textual form is pivotal to being able to get any sort of decent mark. The markers absolutely hate students who haven't properly studied their chosen textual form before writing. This includes researching the history of the form, the conventions, the seminal texts that defined the form and made it famous, and most importantly reflecting on all the research material and what you've learnt from it. My personal research of textual form took up 40 pages of reflection alone, and I knew people whose reflection took more. Your teacher will also likely have more say in the progress of your EE2 major work than you would prefer, and if your mentor is not someone you get a long well with... then you're in for a terrible year. Further, they will sometimes even push you in a direction they might prefer, which is generally more smart to follow because they wouldn't force you into another direction unless they see you will not do well with your current concept. Now, if you're at a good school, they will push you to have a first draft done by Week 1 Term 2, after the summer holidays. This means all your research has to be done in that break, and you will have to have written a full copy of your major work in that time too. Of course afterwards, you will have it constantly sent back to be re-drafted (this will be different for those doing the multimedia and video medium, but the redrafting will occur regardless, just at a later date), and this process of editing is more tedious than you would think, because they will literally pick out every word that sounds terrible (and every event that is wrong with your story if you choose it). If you treat it leisurely, you will simply fail to get even an E3. It is tedious because the major work is due the same time as trials, and when you want to study or even chill after studying for a while (which you look like you will need to do with those content heavy subjects), it'll be that annoying thing you need to get back to doing and wasting time on. If you're looking for scaling, stay away from it. Even at 46/47 it's crap scaling, and it's even worse in comparison to everything else especially in comparison to the subjects you're currently doing. It won't even be in your top 10 units unless you actually get 48+. If you like English and want to write, do writing in your spare time as a wind-down. I highly recommend you don't waste time on the subject.

Edit: Sorry, didn't realise how long my rant went.

tl;dr: don't do it, harder than most people think

 

[SuchSmallHands]

Just in relation to the comment above, my answer was working on the assumption that you are really interested in both English in general and the concept/genre with underpins your major work. If you are not, or if you allow too much of your work to be guided by someone esle's plans for you, the subject will be a monotonous and tedious hell. Of the people I know who have finished EE2, the ones that performed well and loved it were the ones that really made sure that, while their work was externally edited, their direction was still very much determined by themselves. Their major works reflected their personal interests, not someone else's ideal, and so they loved the subject and performed well accordingly. Those I know who let teachers/mentors guide them excessively and force them to do things they didn't really want to do found it boring and painfully tedious and ended up not putting in the necessary work out of boredom. Of course, those who simply don't like English and reading about textual paradigms and structure detested it and most people I know in this category just dropped it. So yes, absolutely, it can be as described by Crobat. But in my experience, only if you don't love English or end up stuck with a concept and a text-type for which you have little interest or passion.

 

[chrisjohnston]

As a teacher I would advise you approach this one of two ways (and both of the above posts have made very sound and valid points):

1) Your love of English is a great start, but you must be able to compose a piece of work that would hold up against the marking rubric. If you aren't confident that you can achieve in the higher end of the scale, then don't take on this subject. You are right that a poor mark in EE2 will definitely affect the rest of your result.

2) Speak with your English teacher and get an honest assessment. If it is something that you are honestly interested in, you could perhaps try it for the first term and make a decision at the end of the first term. There is nothing to lose in this approach.

What are you hoping to do when you finish the HSC?

 

[dotExe]

Thank you guys so much for the informative responses , and i'm trying to keep a wide range of career choices open in case one doesn't work out for me.