Tips on how to get a Band 6 in Advanced English

With the HSC Examinations just around the corner, we tackle some of the most popular queries students like you have.

One of which we see year after year is how to study better for the English Advanced HSC Exam – and with good reason! English Advanced is a content-heavy subject where you’re expected to remember lots of quotes (and most people actually memorise entire essays).

We show you how you can maximise your time and get a Band 6 in English Advanced:

Learn the correct terminology

Do you know the difference between analyse and explain? In this case, we implore you to start from the basics and understand what the question really asks from you. This way, you won’t lose precious marks on both short and long answer questions, making sure that you’re providing an answer in the best possible way.

Question from the 2017 Advanced English HSC Paper

Question from the 2018 Advanced English HSC Paper

Question from the 2016 Advanced English HSC Paper

Question from the 2015 Advanced English HSC Paper

English notes – your way

As we previously mentioned, English is a content-heavy subject and your notes have to be in the best shape possible so you can not only understand the content, but so you can easily revise it.

RELATED: The Best Study Techniques For All Learning Styles

Only you will know the best way to revise your notes, and that could be by physically writing them down on a piece of paper, recording them as an audio message on your phone, using tables and diagrams, teaching them to a friend or family member which in-turn will help you to revise, recording yourself on video (or someone else) or simply just typing up the notes on your tablet or computer.

Start memorising

While this has become a staple for most students, memorising your essays isn’t a sure way to receive a Band 6 in Advanced English. Sometimes it’s quite the opposite, and you end up memorising a complete essay which has no relevancy to questions in the Advanced English HSC Paper.

Rather than memorising a few essays from top to bottom, instead we recommend preparing quotes which relate to a few different themes and using those instead.

Past papers

What good are memorising all your quotes (and sometimes essays) if there’s no way to test if your material is actually applicable in an exam setting? Our Band 6 students always recommend testing your skills with past HSC papers so you can get into the right mind frame for the final exam. Make sure to give yourself enough time to take these practice papers under exam conditions, and you’ll find it easier to adapt all of your content and translate it on paper. If you don’t want to self-mark your own papers, ask your teacher do it it for you and don’t forget to ask for feedback.

RELATED: Meet Your 2019/2020 Talent 100 Mentors

Take a holiday course

Use the StuVac to your full advantage and sign up today to our English Advanced EXP course taking place during the October School Holidays. This is your last chance to prep before the HSC, and make sure that you have covered all the syllabus dot points before sitting the final exam.

Here at Talent, our comprehensive English Advanced EXP course reviews all the content from the new HSC Syllabus and prepares you for every type of question you will face in the final HSC Exam. You will receive:

Day 1: Common Module Texts and Human Experiences

Learn how to read and analyse the stimulus booklet and relate it back to your prescribed texts.

Day 2: Module A Textual Conversations

Review of Module A covering King Richard III and Looking for Richard, Plath and Hughes, Tempest and & Hagseed.

Day 3: Module B Critical Study of Texts

Critical review of Shakespeare (Henry IV) and the poetry of T.S. Eliot specifically within the constructs of potential essay questions you will face in the HSC.

Day 4: Craft of Writing 

Learn how to build a Band 6 essay from the scaffold, to the introduction and presentation of supported arguments within texts.

Click here to find out more about our English Advanced EXP Course, and start preparing for the upcoming HSC Exam today! Good luck to all students sitting the HSC English Advanced Exam this year, we hope our tips have been helpful, and will allow you to obtain your desired score.