how to write an essay hsc

How to Write a Band Six Essay

A very wise English teacher (yes, they do exist) once remarked: “there are essays, and then there are the essays they expect you to write in HSC English.” This is one of the most important lessons you will need to apply when figuring out how to write a band 6 essay during your HSC year. Writing an essay that directly responds to the question and demonstrates that you really know what you are talking about is no easy feat. Most students will be able to haphazardly put together a short introduction and give a few examples from their texts that relate to the question. If you have a lenient marker, this may be enough to scrape a pass. However, by making a few changes to the ways you approach essay writing and using some proven techniques to enhance your essays, you can move beyond “just a pass.”

One of the worst things about having an area of study and three different modules is that each unit is so different that you end up changing the way you write and structure essays for each unit that you study.

Check out the following posts to get the definitive guide for writing band 6 essays:

Essay Structure: Simple Quick Reference Guide

Writing Band Six Essays: Intelligent Introductions

Writing Band Six Essays: Body Paragraphs

Writing Band Six Essays: Conclusion

Similar Posts

Sample Thesis Statements for Belonging Essays

Still have no idea what a thesis statement is? Take inspiration from these sample thesis statements for belonging essays. All of these thesis statements can be used as starting points for arguments about belonging! Experience Our life experiences teach us that when we stop trying to belong we realise that we have always belonged We…

Area of Study

The area of study is common to HSC ESL, Standard and Advanced English. From the 2009 HSC onwards, the area of study has been belonging. The aim of this study is to inquire into a particular concept in depth; to understand the essence of this concept through the way it is represented and commented on…

What is Discovery for HSC English Essays

What is discovery? This question really does not need to be very perplexing. It is a word. It is about finding things. That is as complicated as it needs to be. Here is a complete breakdown of the Area of Study Discovery concept. If you are unsure about any term search for definitions. Do not…

Memory Retention and learning in HSC English

I can’t forget, but I don’t remember what… The psychology of Memory Retention In your final year of High School you’ll come up against more than just your fellow students’ ambitions, parental pressure, the expectations of bureaucrats (your princi-“pal”) and the cryptic code of the Board of Studies syllabus. You’ll come up against yourself. Like…

More Practice Exams-Area of Study

With English Paper One, it is important to practice as many exam-style questions as you can. The English exams are NOT memory tests-there is no prescriptive syllabus, and the board of studies can, and will, ask you anything about the topic you have studied. You should be trying to remember important quotes, techniques and ideas,…

Breaking it Down – Exam Questions and Thesis Statements

They say the beginning of something is always the hardest part, and this is especially true for essays. You’ve read the question; you know what to want to say, but actually writing it out takes careful planning and a fair idea of where you want to go with your essay. The first point will be…

• Pingback: Sample HSC English Essay-Belonging « Save My HSC

Hey Guys, Great ideas here. Keep up the innovation in the face of mediocrity. Roberta Von Heupt (Still inspired educator)

Sorry is there more info yet to be added to this post? What follows “there are a few things you should note down that can and will help you write band six essays.”??? what are these things? Can someone pls help?

Yikes! Thanks for noticing that Lolla, looks like we may have lost a portion of this post during our site migration. We’ll check our backups and hopefully have the rest of the content up soon!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

HSC English: Cheat Sheet

A cheat sheet for HSC English by First in State for Advanced and Extension 2.

• Hi guys! I’m Jesse, and I was First in State for Advanced and Extension 2 English, and Third in State for Extension 1 English in 2019.
• This is my cheat sheet and study guide (kind of?) for HSC English, which (apparently) I was quite good at.
• These strategies will allow you to unfairly dominate your cohort and crush your HSC English Exams while enjoying your senior years in high school.
• They can be used for studies, standard and advanced, and also help for extension 1 and 2.

I’ll be making more posts (mostly essay writing guides and stuff like that) over the next few weeks/months.

If you have any questions, leave a comment at the bottom of the page, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

  - Jesse Caminer

• You shouldn’t memorise as an easy way out of having to think, but rather so that you have a basic essay structure, an array of quotes and a malleable thesis, which can then be tailored with specificity to any given question.
• You should tailor your study and note-taking towards the final goal of essay composition, regardless of your internal assessments. The HSC (which is the end goal) will ask you to write an essay, even if your internal tasks are something else.

Analysing Texts

• BEFORE you read a text, find a summary of the plot and outline of the themes online ( Pranav Sharma and Jackson Taylor have done some pretty good ones on this site) so that you have an idea of what the text will contain before you read it
• It’s best to do this in a digital form (e.g. Google Docs), because a) you can search for it if you lose it, and b) you can annotate using comments and not have to worry about the space on the page
• Once you’ve read through the text and made your list, sort it into a table by theme/concept and annotate each quote
• Make sure your annotations include enough context that someone who has never read the text would be able to understand it. In 12 months time when you’re studying for the HSC, you won’t remember anything about your Common Module texts.
• Once you have a full bank of quotes, and fully fleshed out analysis, you can start drafting paragraphs (and eventually essays/extended responses)
• Once you receive marks from internal assessments, seek out feedback to apply to your notes and essay while it’s still fresh in your head. Don’t leave it until just before the final exam.

Essay Writing

• ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!
• Basically, both are important
• Don’t feel obliged to agree with a stimulus statement — you are free to disagree and explain why you disagree if you can back up your argument with sufficient evidence, reasoning and logic.
• Learn to signpost
• Make it explicit to the marker that you are engaging and answering the question
• The easiest technique for this is to include words from the question and stimulus in the thesis, and wherever possible in throughout your essay
• In an introduction, you must: set down a thesis in response to the question, introduce the texts (with dates) as well as their contexts and show how they are relevant to the question, extrapolate the terms of the question in terms of your text and its ideas and comment on the function of the text in terms of the question.
• Be as specific as possible. Avoid broad, sweeping statements - this screams pre-rehearsed response.
• Master the 5-step formula to analysis: Content of evidence, evidence, technique, effect of technique, link
• This is called CETAL, PETAL, STEAL, etc. depending on your school and teacher.
• Use words of the question in the thesis statement of each body paragraph (signposting)
• A body paragraph should be a progression, where each sentence both relies upon and builds on the sentence that came before it.
• This won’t happen overnight. You need to do dozens of practice responses in order to get good at this
• When discussing the composer constructing the text, use active voice rather than passive voice (for example: “Shakespeare portrays Lear as…” rather than “Lear is portrayed as…”)
• In your conclusion, do not introduce any new evidence or points but rather restate your thesis
• Add a comment about the value and pertinence (importance) of the module/text(s)/question on contemporary society (without being too controversial or inflammatory)
• Avoid excessive jargon (technical terms), and don’t be afraid to split up sentences. The goal is to get as much relevant information across in 40-ish minutes. Aim for clarity and succinctness.
• Keep in mind the underlying purpose of each module (the first paragraph of the module description usually gives this away, as well as the module title).
• Consider the function of the text - What is its purpose? A discussion of a text’s function in society as a piece of literature designed to illuminate the human experience should be discussed throughout your essay.
• Make sure to highlight your own reading and interpretation of the text(s) in order to demonstrate that you have made your own links between the text and contemporary society.

Reading Task

• In the short answer section, pay attention to the marks allocation to get an idea of the expected length. Take the number of marks, add 1, and then multiply by 3, to get the approximate expected length (excluding quotes) for short responses.
• For this section, the clearer you are, the better. Don’t be afraid to be simple or obvious. This section is more about ticking boxes than actual writing skill.
• As a general rule, have one piece of evidence per mark, with analysis.
• It’s usually a good idea to discuss the form of the text as a piece of evidence.
• Do not start writing until you have finished reading all the texts. Once you finish reading, complete the questions in REVERSE ORDER, so that a) the text you respond to first is fresh in your mind and b) you knock out the highest weighted one first.
• For paper 2, stick to 40 minutes MAX per section.

Other Stuff for English

• For module C, I recommend having at least one story or discursive composition that is long enough to pass for a 20 mark question — roughly 800-900 words — which can be easily cut down to suit either a 10- or 12-mark Part A response, as well as a Part B response to go with it (roughly 350-450 words).
• Be inspired by your module C prescribed texts - borrow ideas, then challenge them. Markers like to see subtle engagement with the texts, and how they have shaped your writing.
• Play with the form. Texts don’t have to fit into boxes (imaginative, discursive, persuasive, etc.). Consider what is called ‘hybridity,’ where imaginative and discursive are combined.
• Any text that your teachers refer to as “social commentary” uses hybridity. It’s also a FANTASTIC word to use in justifications, and you can talk about societal norms and all that other fun stuff.
• Help others.

Jesse Caminer

Post writer.

First in NSW English Advanced and English Extension 2, studying Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University

How to Structure an HSC English Essay

Expert reviewed • 21 July 2024 • 7 minute read

Video coming soon!

To write a band 6 essay, the structure must complement your techniques, examples, and analysis. There is a simple structure, which we can follow, in order to achieve a band 6 status.

How to Address the Question

Our first course of action, is to break down the question, and understand in detail what it is asking. A good essay not only incorporates numerous techniques and successful analysis, but also directly addresses the question.

For example, the following question is from the 2023 English HSC paper 1, and is asking us to explore the collective human experience.

As such, we must recognise ideas in our prescribed text that capture the concept of collective human experiences, for example, companionship. Additionally, the second part of the question asks us to relate our chosen collective human experiences, with their ability to enrich a view of the world.

The Essay Structure

The introduction must include the following (generally, use this specific order):

• A thesis that directly answers the question: Note that your thesis must provide a valid argument that corresponds to the concepts provided in the text/question.
• An outline of the arguments and topic sentences you will present in your body paragraphs, and how they relate to the question. When doing this, it is good to directly reference a part of the question to support your thesis.
• Answer the question in broad terms according to the arguments you have provided.

For the body paragraphs, the amount you decide to write is dependent on the question and the time limit. A general "rule of thumb" is to have 3 body paragraphs, each with a different topic or argument that relates to your thesis. Each body paragraph should follow a similar structure to that provided below.

• Point - relate the argument/topic you are referencing in this body paragraph to your thesis statement and the question.

The following points are related to the analysis of evidence that supports the argument. These steps can be repeated in sequence as many times as desired, however, the general rule is to provide 3-4 pieces of evidence per paragraph.

• Integrate a "quote": In this sentence/s the quote must contain context from where it is in the text.
• Provide a technique which is used in this quote, and what effect it has on the reader.
• Provide reasonings of how this effect supports to your topic sentence or argument of the paragraph (your link back to your thesis and the question).

The final part is a brief conclusion. In your concluding sentence, you must answer the question based on your thesis, using your arguments as evidence. Your conclusion should be a summary of everything you have discussed in the essay.

It is worthwhile to note that the question, should be quoted consistently throughout the essay. This is done by referring to it during analysis, in topic sentences and concluding statements.

The Types of Essay Questions in HSC English

Return to Module 2: Essay Writing

Exam Advice

How to Ace your HSC English Exam

When I was completing year 12, I discovered a simple trend when completing HSC English – you either love it, or you hate it. HSC English is the only compulsory subject required for you to complete and while many students are more mathematically or scientifically gifted, studying your required texts is a must for success in your ATAR.

As HSC crunch-time approaches, it is worth considering the various ways you can prepare for your HSC English exam. Here are some tips that will prepare you for your exam.

Table of Contents

• Read your texts

Answer the Question

Do not memorise, gain feedback, think outside the box for your module c piece, yes, you have to read your texts.

During year 12, I kept hearing of ‘advice’ from past students stating, “you don’t need to read your text, just read a summary”. FALSE! The HSC English syllabus was re-written commencing in 2019 to stop this exact process from occurring.

As evident in the first year of the new syllabus, questions are now detailed, theme-orientated and specific. Let’s take a look at a couple of these questions from last year’s HSC exam.

The two above examples demonstrate the unpredictability of the modern HSC English exam. I will tell you first-hand and from the views of friends from other schools, many of these themes were only briefly touched on during school time.

Therefore, understanding all themes from your prescribed text will be key in allowing you to have a great understanding of any of the topics that may be thrown at you. 

Being prepared for your exam is only half the process. The other half is making sure you answer ALL questions in your exam to the best of your ability. Your ability to answer the essay question well is the first thing the HSC marker is looking for, from the start of your introduction.

This is why you need to insert the words of the question into a short and snappy thesis for the marker (who is often speed-reading) to immediately place yourself in the top bands. I will stress, the question must not only be answered in the introduction of your piece, but be evident consistently throughout your essay, where you should be linking back to the words of the question at the end of each paragraph.  

But how can I prepare for these questions? I understand, being a new year to the syllabus there is a limited amount of questions available to you. But this should not stop your ability to interact with new questions as part of your study.

So I’m suggesting to find past trial exams from other schools that fit your text. Ask your teacher to give you a question to answer. Whatever it may be, the best way to prepare yourself for the unpredictability of the HSC is to keep completing questions, especially under timed conditions when the exam begins to approach.

As I indicated above, there is no way you can memorise all your essays and expect to achieve a great mark in this way. This essay will only be satisfactory AT BEST. Many students fall into the trap of writing the exact same essay they used in previous assessment tasks and will become too complacent to develop a new strategy. This is the difference between a great essay and a mediocre essay. 

In entering the exam, your greatest change at succeeding is to create a series of essay plans and outlines to help you break down your essay ideas into simple points. This may involve having a few extra quotations up your sleeve in case the question isn’t your first choice preference. Memorising an essay will not allow you to improvise during the exam and will keep you struggling for time which should be utilised planning how you are going to adapt to the question. 

There is no use writing a new essay if you are not going to ask for feedback. So whenever you have written a new essay, ask your teaching to take a look at it. Your teacher will provide you with key points which you should consider to improve your essay-writing skills for the next time and will enlighten you on your journey of improvement throughout the year. I get it, sometimes teachers rarely respond to your constant emails and often provide you unclear feedback on your writing. So I encourage you to ask your teacher specific questions on your writing to avoid getting a vague response. For example, don’t just ask “Ms can you take a look at this essay”. Instead, attempt to be more specific, like “Ms do you feel as though my topic sentence successfully links back to what I have introduced in my thesis or is there a way I can make this more clear”. By drawing your teacher’s attention specifically to an area of concern, you are more likely to improve your phrasing.

Additionally, ask a friend or even a family member for advice. When we are writing, we often do not see our mistakes first-hand and a phrase which may appear like it makes sense, may in fact not. This is why even this article you are reading was also read by the publisher. So seek advice from another student for advice. I sometimes found this more useful than asking a teacher as my friends were often blunt with me and could provide advice on the same mistakes that they made. 

The new HSC English syllabus requires you to have understanding on how to write a creative story, a discursive piece or a persuasive essay. Therefore, you must experiment with all these structures and find which suits your writing skills the best. The pieces that stick out the most to HSC markers are those that are unique, descriptive and clear. Simple is not bad.

Instead of writing a highly plot driven story with 10 different scenes and twists and turns, be clear, introduce limited characters and have a clear setting and plot. The question you will be asked for Module C is going to be very flexible. Be sure to engage with the stimulus and have a few ideas in mind before entering the exam. Also, spend 5-10 minutes planning your piece as this will provide you direction and structure.

Overall, the HSC English Exam is one of the most stressful and unpredictable exams you will have to take. By being strategic in response to your questions, you will be organised, prepared and have limited anxiety as the exam approaches.

With these tips, you will sharpen your analysis and writing skills, allowing you to ace your exam.

Joshua Salameh

Joshua Salameh is a former HSC student, achieving his certificate in 2019. He is currently attending the University of Technology Sydney completing a Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Laws. As a dedicated NESA Distinguished Achiever, he has a passion for assisting fellow students and providing advice on the misery of school and university. Connect with me @Facebook or @Linkedin

[email protected]

• Jan 17, 2022

How to use a quote in your English essay the right way - important for HSC preparation!

Incorporating quotes is an expectation for all high school English essays (and beyond, if you’re pursuing English academia). It is a simple instruction: discuss a quote. However, it can be a headache inducing task if you're not confident with the process.

This blog post will teach you:

At the end of this post there will be an essay example where you can see our tips in action. You can scroll down to this straight away if you wish – it’s at the bottom of the post.

This guide is geared towards students sitting the HSC English exam, but all high school students will be able to improve their English essay assessment marks with the information.

How to choose a “good quote” for your English essay.

Not all quotes are made the same. Sometimes when a writer talks about a “blue stroller”, it literally just means a blue stroller. There is no deeper meaning behind it (a shocking truth).

A "good quote" for HSC English essays must hit the following checklist:

What makes a quote "juicy" and stronger for textual analysis?

A quote with metaphorical richness and conceptual depth is considered stronger, because there is:

Let’s use Maya Angelou’s ‘Caged Bird’ to examine a weaker vs stronger English essay quote:

A weaker quote:

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

Potential analysis:

The “caged bird” is an extended metaphor for oppressed minorities. In Maya Angelou’s context it refers to the systemic oppression of African Americans. The song thus implies that the caged bird wants to be free.

A song is a symbol of hope – suggesting the oppressed wishes for freedom.

A stronger quote:

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

The extended metaphor of a “caged bird” is also present here.

The morbid visual imagery of the bird upon a metaphorical “grave of dreams” positions readers to understand that oppression is not about simple physical constraint, it is also about the loss of hope.

The reference to death implies cessation of all potential – barring the oppressed from all opportunity. The severity of this is elevated for the reader through this reference to death.

The alliteration of “shadow shouts” elevates this phrase in the ears of the audience, heightening the emotional intensity of entrapment.

“Shout” and “scream” are also violent olfactory images – conveying frustration and desperation to the reader.

The second quote is much richer in techniques and effect and can be used to address a variety of arguments . This is the type of stronger quote that you should prepare for high school English assessments and the HSC English exam.

However, no matter how strong a quote is, you have to make sure you analyse rather than story tell .

What is the difference between analysis and storytelling?

If your English essay feedback is full of comments that say “ stop storytelling” or “ you need deeper analysis ”, this section is a must-read for you.

What is storytelling ?

Storytelling is when you restate what a quote says in different words. It is equivalent to paraphrasing or summarising. You are not adding any new information, you are simply repeating old information .

For example, if you were to discuss the following sentence:

“A red apple with perfect skin but rotten flesh.”

It is storytelling to say any of the following:

“This means that there was an apple that looked good but tasted bad.”

“The apple had smooth skin but when cut open it was actually rotten, so people should be careful.”

“This was a bad apple hidden under smooth skin which is likely to be unhealthy.”

So then, what is analysis?

Analysis is when new information is added to the existing quote . A simple way to help you get started on textual analysis is to think about the following questions:

For the same quote:

It is analysis to say any of the following:

“The apple is a biblical allusion to the Devil’s temptation, implying that immorality is often disguised by an enticing exterior.”

“The contrast between the apple’s appearance and its flesh foreshadows that there is deception afoot, evoking tension in the reader.”

Now that you can select your appropriately dense and juicy quote and analyse it adequately, it’s time for the most important step: use the quote in an English essay correctly.

How to use your quote correctly in an English essay?

Firstly, we must understand the function of including a quote. A successful quote integration will demonstrate:

This means you must:

A good essay writing quote structure we like to teach at Simply English is the TQP structure. TQP stands for:

technique, quote, point .

This short acronym helps you remember to discuss a technique for each quote and relate its effect to your overall argument .

If you’re still not certain how this works, see it in action in our essay example below.

Essay Example (Human Experiences Related Text)

We will use Maya Angelou’s ‘Caged Bird’ to write one paragraph on the following Human Experiences question.

Question: The human experience is highly paradoxical. Discuss in relation to your text.

Each quote integrated was always paired with at least one technique and linked back to the overall argument.

Let's wrap up

Reading guides and sample essays make for a great starting point . However the only way to improve your own analysis essay writing is through practice and feedback.

Make sure you put the advice in this guide into practice in your next essay draft and hand it in to a teacher or tutor for valuable feedback!

For every 1000 word essay you write, 10,000 words would have been discarded. - a wise person (me)

Good luck with your HSC English essay writing journey!

Recent Posts

Score 20/20 for unseen texts with last minute revision! 5 high yield tips 💪🏼

3 Steps for a Strong Start to Your English Essay

Have a weak vocabulary? 5 ways to write better without learning a lot of difficult words.

A State-Ranker’s Guide to Writing 20/20 Economics Essays

So, you want to know how to improve your preliminary and HSC economics essay...

Cory Aitchison

State Ranks (Economics and Chemistry) & 99.95 ATAR

1. Introduction to this Guide

So, you want to know how to improve your preliminary and HSC economics essay writing? Look no further! In this guide, I’ll be covering key tips to help YOU smash the structure, amaze with your analysis, conquer the contemporary, and ultimately master the mystery of maximising your marks.

My name is Cory Aitchison, currently one of the Economics tutors at Project Academy . I completed the HSC in 2018, achieving a 99.95 ATAR as well as two state ranks — 6th in economics and 12th in chemistry. Graduating from Knox Grammar School, I also topped my grade in economics and was awarded Dux of the School for STEM. Believe it or not, at the beginning of Year 11 I initially struggled with economics due to the transition in conceptual thinking required in approaching economic assessments in comparison to my other subjects such as English. However, through Year 11 and Year 12, I built up key tips and strategies — that I’ll be sharing with you in this guide — to help me not only consistently achieve top marks in my internal assessments, but to ultimately go on to achieve the results I did in the HSC.

2. The Correct Way to Write

First off, you need to understand something: HSC economics essays are NOT english essays! They aren’t scientific discussions, nor geography reports, nor historical recounts. They’re unique and often quite different from other essays that you might’ve done previously in high school. The style of writing and approach to answering questions can be confusing at first, but follow these tips and you’ll be ready in no time:

Phrasing should be understandable and concise

Unlike some subjects where sophisticated phrasing is beneficial to getting marks, HSC economics essays should emphasise getting your point across with clarity. This means don’t run your sentences on for too long, be aware of any superfluous words, and make sure you actually understand yourself what you’re trying to say in a sentence.

For example:

GOOD: “An increase in interest rates should lead to decreased economic growth.”

NOT GOOD: “As a result of a rise or increase in interest rate levels from their previous values, the general state of economic activity in the domestic economy may begin to decrease and subsequently indicate the resultant situation of a decrease in economic growth.”

“Understandable” does not mean slang or lacking in terminology

Just because you want to get a point across, doesn’t mean you should resort to slang. In fact, using economic terminology is a strong way to boost your standing in the eyes of the marker — if you use it correctly! Always make sure you use full sentences, proper English grammar, and try and incorporate correct economic terms where possible.

GOOD: “This was a detrimental outcome for the economy.”

NOT GOOD: “This was a pretty bad outcome for the economy.”

GOOD: “The Australian Dollar depreciated.”

NOT GOOD: “The Australian Dollar decreased in value.”

Analysis should be done using low modality

Modality just refers to the confidence of your language — saying something “will” happen is strong modality, whereas saying something “might” happen is considered low modality. Since a large portion of economics is about applying theory, we have to make sure that we are aware that we are doing just that — talking about the theoretical, and so we can’t say for sure that anything will happen as predicted.

Some useful words include:

May, Might, Should, Could, Can theoretically

Don’t use words like:

Must, Will, Has to, Always

3. How to use Statistics

“What’s most important is that this contemporary is used to bring meaning or context to your argument…”

Using contemporary (statistics) can often seem straightforward at first, but using it effectively is usually harder than it looks. Contemporary generally refers to applying real-world facts to your analysis to help strengthen (or weaken) the theoretical arguments. This can include many different statistics or pieces of information, including:

• Historic economic indicators, such as GDP, inflation, GINI coefficients, exchange rates, or unemployment rates
• Trends or economic goals, such as long-term GDP growth rates, or the stability band for inflation
• Names of economic policies, such as examples of fiscal or microeconomic policies
• Specifics of economic policies, such as the amount spent on infrastructure in 2017

Whatever statistics you deem relevant to include in your essay, what’s most important is that this contemporary is used to bring meaning or context to your argument — just throwing around random numbers to show off your memorisation skills won’t impress the marker, and in fact might appear as if you were making them up on the spot. Rather, your use of contemporary should actively improve your analysis.

GOOD: “Following a period of growth consistently below the long-term trend-line of 3%, the depreciation of the AUD to 0.71USD in 2017 preceded an increase in economic growth to a 10-year high of 3.4% in 2018.”

NOT GOOD: “Economic growth increased by 1 percentage point in 2017 to 2018”

NOT GOOD: “GDP was $1.32403 trillion in 2017”

GOOD: “The 2017 Budget’s Infrastructure Plan injected $42 billion into the economy — up 30% from 2016’s $31 billion, and 20% higher than the inflation-adjusted long-term expenditure.”

NOT GOOD: “The 2017 Budget’s Infrastructure Plan injected $42 billion into the economy”

That in mind, don’t think that these statistics have to be overly specific. As long as the general ideas gets across, it’s fine. You don’t need to say “$1,505,120” — just “$1.5 million” will suffice.

Ask yourself: if I get rid of the contemporary from my paragraphs, does the essay still have enough content?

Further, don’t get roped into the “contemporary trap” — where you fall into the mindset that “if I memorise all these statistics, my essay will get good marks”. Including numbers and contemporary at the expense of having a robust theoretical explanation and analysis will definitely be detrimental in getting you top marks. Particularly in trial exams and the HSC when you’ve got all these numbers floating in your head, it can be tempting to try and include as many as you can (often just because you can!). To avoid this, always try and focus your arguments on analysis and syllabus content first, contemporary second. Ask yourself: if I get rid of the contemporary from my paragraph, does the essay still have enough content?

4. Must Have Insightful “However”s

If you really want to extend your analysis and show the marker that you know your stuff, including insightful “however”s is a strong way to do it. What I mean by this is that for each of your paragraphs, try and include a counterpoint that highlights the flexible nature of economic theory. There are broadly two kinds of “however”s:

Theoretical “However”s

These are counterpoints that are based on theory — often there will be theoretical limitations for many of the concepts you come across in economics. It’s always important to include these limitations as it reinforces your knowledge of the actual content of economics.

“Although the Budget and fiscal policy can be effective at stimulating economic growth, it is also restricted by the “implementation time lag” limitation since it is only introduced annually.”

Contemporary “However”s

These are counterpoints that are based on contemporary — highlighting how although something should happen theoretically, this isn’t usually what is observed in reality. This can be particularly powerful in that it combines your knowledge of theory with your analysis of contemporary.

“Despite the expansionary stance that the RBA adopted in 2012–2016 for monetary policy, Australia’s annual GDP growth rate has remained below the trend rate of 3% — against the theoretical expectations. This could be attributed to factors such as …”

5. How to Interpret the Question

When you first look at a question, before you even put pen to paper, you need to come up with a plan of attack — how can you ensure that you answer the question correctly, and give the markers what they want? There are three main points to look for when interpreting essay questions:

Knowing your verbs

As you may (or may not) know, NESA has a bank of words that they like to pull from when writing questions, and these words impact how they want their question answered. These verbs should help steer your analysis onto the right path. For example:

Explain: “Relate causes and effects”

To answer these questions, you have to demonstrate a thorough understanding of how theory and events impact each other and the economy. This verb particularly emphasises the idea of a process — you need to be able to make clear links as to how each step leads to the next, rather than just jumping to the outcomes.

Analyse: “Draw out and relate implications”

These questions usually wants you to investigate the connections between different aspects of economic theory. Generally this involves showing a holistic understanding of how different areas (such as micro- and macroeconomic policies) come together to make a cohesive impact on the economy. It usually helps to think back to the syllabus and how the points are introduced when figuring out which ideas to link together.

Assess/Evaluate: “Make a judgement based on value/a criteria”

These require you to not only critically analyse a topic but also come to a conclusion given the arguments you provided. This type of question usually gets you to make a judgement of the effectiveness of some economic theory — such as the ability for economic policies to achieve their goals. Make sure you actually include this judgement in your answer — for example, say things like “strong impact”, “highly influential”, “extremely detrimental”.

Discuss: “Provide points for and/or against”

Similar to assess, discuss wants you to provide arguments towards and against a particular topic. Although it doesn’t require a specific judgement to be made, it does place greater emphasis on showing a well-rounded approach to the argument — providing relatively equal weightings towards both the positive and negative sides of the discussion.

Linking to the syllabus

When trying to understand what the question wants from you, I found the best way to approach it is to consider what points in the syllabus it is referring to (To do this, you need to have a solid understanding of the syllabus in the first place). Once you’ve located it, try drawing upon other topics in the vicinity of that dot point to help you answer the question.

For example, if the question mentions “trends in Australia’s trade and financial flows”, then you know from the syllabus that you probably need to talk about value, composition and direction in order to get high marks. Further, it may also be worth it to bring in ideas from the Balance of Payments, as this is the next dot point along in the syllabus.

Digging into the source

For essay questions that provide a source for you to include in your answer, this is another goldmine from which you can discern what the marker really wants. If the source mentions microeconomic policy, it probably wasn’t on accident! Even if it may not be obvious how to link that to the question immediately, try and draw upon your knowledge and implications and see if there’s a different angle that you might be missing.

6. Putting it All together — Structuring your essay

My essays usually consisted of four main parts: an introduction, a background paragraph, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Introduction

Your introduction should not be long. I rarely wrote an introduction longer than three sentences.

First sentence: Answer the question (thesis)

Try and answer the question, while including the main key words of the question in your answer. Don’t directly restate it — instead, try and add meaning to it in a way that represents what you’re trying to get across in your essay.

For example: if the question was “Assess the impact of microeconomic policy in improving economic growth in Australia”, my first sentence might be “Microeconomic policy has had a significant impact in increasing aggregate supply and thus long-term economic growth in Australia since the 1960s”.

Next sentences: Introduce your arguments/paragraphs

In this part, it’s fine to almost list your paragraphs — there’s no need to do a whole sentence explaining each. That’s what the paragraphs themselves are for.

For example: using the same question as above, my next sentence might be “Although trade liberalisation may have been detrimental for short-term growth in manufacturing, policies such as competition policy and wage decentralisation have been highly effective in fostering economic growth in Australia”.

Background Paragraph

The aim of a background paragraph is threefold: to get across the main theory that underpins your argument; to establish the economic context for your argument; and to show the marker that you “know your stuff”.

For example, if the essay was on monetary policy, you may want to describe the process of Domestic Market Operations (how the reserve bank changes the cash rate) in your background paragraph, so that you don’t need to mention it each time you bring up changing stances. Further, it may be good to showcase the current economic climate — such as GDP growth rate and inflation — to give context to your analysis in your essay.

Some ideas for what to include in this paragraph include:

• Key theory such as DMOs or the rationale for macroeconomic policies
• Economic indicators that provide context to the time period that you’re working in, such as growth rates, inflation, unemployment rates, exchange rates, cash rates, etc.
• A brief description of the recent Budget (if talking about fiscal policy), including the stance and outcome

Bear in mind that this paragraph shouldn’t be too long — it isn’t the focus of your essay! Instead, aim for around 100–150 words at most. At this point in your essay, it may also be good to include a graph (more on this later).

Body Paragraphs

There’s no set rule for how many body paragraphs to include in your essay — I generally aim for at least 4, but there’s no real limit to how many you can (or should) write! Unlike english essays, it’s totally acceptable to just split a paragraph in two if you feel like the idea is too large to be written in one paragraph (as long as each paragraph makes sense on its own).

When writing a paragraph, I usually follow this structure:

Topic sentence

This is where you answer the question, and outline your argument or idea for this paragraph. If you are doing a discuss/assess/evaluate essay, try and make your judgement or side obvious. For example: “Trade liberalisation has been detrimental in its impact on economic growth in manufacturing industries”.

These sentences are where you bring together the theory and contemporary to build up your argument. Remember, the theory should be the focus, and contemporary a bonus. Try and weave a “story” into your analysis if you can — you should be showing the marker how everything fits together, how causes lead to effects, and ultimately bringing together relevant economic concepts to answer the question. Feel free to also include graphs here when they help strengthen your argument.

Fit in your “however” statements here. For discuss questions, this however section may take up a larger part of the paragraph if you choose to showcase two opposing arguments together.

Link your argument back to your overarching thesis, and answer the question. Following on from your “however” statement, it can often be a good idea to use linking words such as “nevertheless”, “notwithstanding”, or “despite this” to show that taking into account your arguments presented in the “however” statement, the overarching idea for the paragraph still remains.

Like the introduction, your conclusion should not be overly long. Rather, it should briefly restate the arguments made throughout your essay, and bring them all together again to reinforce how these points help answer the question.

Aggregate Demand / Supply Graph

Graphs are a great way to add extra spice to your essay — not only does it help strengthen your explanations of economic theory, it also makes it look like you wrote more pages than you actually did! Graphs, such as aggregate demand graphs, business cycle graphs, and Phillips curves, can be great in reinforcing your ideas when you mention them in your essay. They usually come either in background paragraphs or body paragraphs, and it’s usually best to draw them about a quarter to a third of the page in size. It’s also good practice to label them as “Figure 1” or “Graph 1”, and refer to them as such in your actual paragraph.

Although they can be beneficial, don’t try and force them either. Not all essays have appropriate graphs, and trying to include as many as you can without regards for their relevance may come across negatively in the eyes of the marker.

8. How to Answer Source Questions

If your essay question involves a source, try and refer to it multiple times throughout your essay. For example, this can be in the background paragraph and two of your body paragraphs. Rather than just adding in an “…as seen in the source” to one of your sentences, try and actively analyse it — show the marker that you understand why they included it, and how it actually helps strengthen your arguments.

9. Plan You Essay

Don’t be afraid to use the first page of your answer booklet as a planning page. Taking a couple minutes before you answer the question to lay out your scaffold for body paragraphs is a great first step to helping ensure that you actually end up answering the question to the best of your abilities. It also serves as a great reminder to keep checking as you finish each paragraph to ensure that you actually wrote what you intended. Just make sure to make it clear to the marker that those scribbles on the page are just a plan, and not your actual essay!

10. How to Prepare for Essays in the Exam

I find it much better to prepare paragraphs and ideas that you can draw upon to help “build up” a response during the exam itself.

Don’t go into the exam with a pre-prepared essay that you are ready to regurgitate — not only are there too many possibilities to prepare for, but it’s also unlikely that you’ll actually answer the question well with a pre-prepared response.

Instead of memorising sets of essays before the exam, I find it much better to prepare paragraphs and ideas that you can draw upon to help “build up” a response during the exam itself. What I mean by this, is that in your mind you have a “bank of different paragraphs” and ideas from all the topics in the syllabus, and when you read the exam, you start drawing from different paragraphs here and there to best formulate a response that answers the question. This allows you to be flexible in answering almost any question they can throw at you.

On top of this, ensure you have a solid foundation in both the theory and contemporary — knowing what statistics or topics to include in your essay is useless knowledge unless you have the actual content to back it up.

Now that you know the basics of how to write a good HSC economics essay, it’s time to start practising! Have a go, try out different styles, and find what works best for you. Good luck!

If you would like to learn from state ranking HSC Economics tutors at Project Academy, we offer a 3 week trial for our courses. Click to learn more !

Top 5 Tips for Acing HSC Biology

The Head of Biology, Alex's guide to acing HSC Biology

Alex Loustau

Head of Biology & 99.45 ATAR

The Ultimate Guide on HSC Verbs

Navigating the HSC exams can be daunting, especially when it comes to understanding and responding to the nuances of the seemingly endless HSC verbs.

Alexandra Lawrence

English Department

HSC Parents Guide: How to Create an Effective Learning Environment at Home

Whilst COVID-19 lockdowns are gradually being lifted, most Australian kids...

Project Academy

TEAM OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS

Complete Guide to HSC Biology Module 6 - Genetic Change

We got you! This is the only guide you'll need for Module 6 of HSC Biology.

99.40 ATAR & State Ranker

Maximise Your Chances Of Coming First At School

Trial any Project Academy course for 3 weeks.

NSW's Top 1% Tutors

Unlimited Tutorials

NSW's Most Effective Courses

Access to Project's iPad

Access to Exclusive Resources

Access to Project's Study Space

A Student’s Guide to Surviving HSC Society & Culture

Olivia Widjaja

Wednesday 16th, May 2018

Olivia is a current Year 12 student. For all things HSC Society & Culture, check this out !

HSC Society & Culture is sometimes dismissed as an ‘easy’ subject, considering how the essays are worth 15 marks, in comparison to the 20-mark and 25-mark essays you have to write in other subjects. However, don’t underestimate the difficulty of Society & Culture, considering how you have to flesh out the definitions of the SAC concepts and work on your PIP throughout the year. So how do you survive in HSC Society & Culture?

Using the Syllabus to Your Advantage

Just like the other subjects, the syllabus is extremely important to help you understand what content you will be going through and any important ideas and definitions you need to know. The syllabus for other subjects usually tells you what content you’ll need to know, but the HSC Society & Culture syllabus gives you more than that. Not only do they tell you what content you’re expected to know, they give you the glossary of key terms that you should know for each depth study and overall, and a thorough list on how to be a more socially and culturally literate person. Take advantage of these key terms and definitions because they’re important when you have to apply them in real-life situations in multiple choice and short answer.

Furthermore, they tell you the two types of research methods and give you a list of what methods belong in qualitative or quantitative. The types of research methods may seem easy but don’t underestimate the difficulty of these types of questions because the multiple choice can easily offer options that can arguably be correct but you must choose the ‘most correct’ answer.

Know these key terms and definitions really well. Personally, I find the hardest past of HSC Society & Culture is to be able to flesh out these key terms into paragraphs and finding the perfect example. Plus, these SAC concepts need to be applied to your PIP as well.

Short Answer Responses

When approaching short answer responses, it’s best to divide your response into two paragraphs: an ‘introduction’ and a discussion. It’s difficult to describe what you need to do in the first paragraph because it’s a combination of an explanation of the key idea in the question and a bit of a discussion on how this idea relates to the depth study. This approach is generally applicable to questions where it addresses two key ideas.

An example of this is Question 11 from the 2017 HSC Paper, where it states: ‘For a country you have studied, apply a social change theory to explain change in one of the following aspects: beliefs, values and lifestyles; education; family and population; gender roles and the status of men and women; and the legal system and political processes.’ Considering how this question requires you to apply a social change theory, the way you could approach this question is:

Paragraph 1: Explain your chosen social change theory in three or four sentences.

Paragraph 2: Apply the theory to one of the listed aspects in at least five sentences.

However, questions that ask you to relate a concept to a situation will most likely require you to have two paragraphs:

Question: How do traditions and culture influence gender roles in ONE belief system or ideology?

Paragraph 1: Small explanation of how the concept relates to one aspect in real life.

Example: Gender roles in Buddhism are heavily influenced by tradition and culture due to its adaptable nature. Since most of Buddhist values and beliefs and left open to interpretation due to their belief that individuals are responsible for their own actions, Buddhism is capable of adapting to different cultures, thus resulting in slight variations in different countries. An example of this is the differing role of women. Traditionally, the Buddha stated that women are capable of reaching enlightenment. However, cultural values alter this value. In Theravada Buddhism, women are not allowed to be ordained. Instead, men are able to take their vows and be ordained as monks to reach enlightenment for women and the laity. Nevertheless, due to the varying Buddhist traditions, the enforcement of gender roles differ; my experiences in Nan Tien Temple indicates the importance of women as the nuns are responsible for maintaining the temple, thus emphasising the significant role of women in Buddhism due to the combination of the Buddha’s teachings in relation to women and the influence of western society.

Paragraph 2: Discussion of how the concept relates a different real life situation.

Example: Globalisation is also used to propagate its culture, influencing gender roles within Buddhism. Due to the increasing fascination towards Buddhism in the west, women are starting to become more involved in the monastic life due to their desire to follow the Buddha’s footsteps. As a result, there is an increase in the number of women achieving more significant roles. An example of this is Abbess Blanche Hartman, the first woman to achieve a position of high authority in San Francisco Zen Centre. Since the west are conscious over the role of women in all aspects of society, Abbess Hartman encountered an issue whether her title would be ‘abbot’ or ‘abbess’; on one side, the title ‘abbot’ would allow her to achieve equality with other abbots. However, her title as ‘Abbot Hartman’ would be misleading due to the ambiguity of her gender, thus her decision to use her ‘abbess’ title. This debate illustrates the complex role of women in Buddhism due to the conflicting nature between the Buddha’s teachings and the traditional idea of women being unable to achieve positions of higher authority, hence emphasising the idea of western values influencing gender roles in Buddhism.

Disclaimer: This response is typed and not completed in exam conditions. The length of this response may be cut down in exam conditions. However, my teacher gave me full marks for this response.

Notice how I showed the relationship between gender roles and traditions and culture in the first paragraph and did a more extended discussion on the relationship between the two aspects in the second paragraph. It really depends on how you want to approach the different types of questions.

Essay Writing

Writing essays in HSC Society & Culture, just like in other Humanities subjects, follows the PEEL structure. The difference is that your thesis varies slightly. The difficult thing about SAC essays is that the verbs differ from ‘assess’, ‘evaluate’ and ‘examine.’ Take note of the differences between these verbs because you can easily get off-track. For example, a lot of students generally use ‘assess’ and ‘evaluate’ interchangeably but the main difference between these terms is that ‘evaluate’ requires you to make a judgement based on a criterion. Your first sentence should be answering the question – in the ‘assess’ or ‘evaluate’ instance, your judgement should be in your first sentence. Put simply, remember when you were in primary school and the teachers asked you to write in full sentences by including key terms from the question? This is how you should write the first sentence – of course, be a bit more sophisticated with your wording and include terminology if applicable. As for the rest of the introduction, I generally follow the ‘one sentence per paragraph’ structure and reinforce my thesis.

Another difficulty in writing essays in using the most appropriate example. Your examples can be a variety of things: your case study, a scene from a film (preferably one you studied), contemporary issues or even your experiences. As long as you can apply a SAC concept to these examples, you should be able to link your evidence to your topic sentence and answer the question. My teacher tends to look favourably on the students who use personal experience since HSC Society & Culture is all about combining personal experience and public knowledge. However, this does not mean you should be writing a biography – only use your personal experience when appropriate. For example, my school visited Nan Tien Temple for our Belief Systems and Ideologies camp and we used that as an example in our essays. It’s appropriate and fits with the social and cultural literacy.

Personal Interest Project

A lot of students dread the PIP – it’s long, requires a lot of effort and it’s something you can’t do in one night. It’s also easy to fall behind and get extremely overwhelming. Organisation is key when starting your PIP. A timeline is really important to keep you on track. Use this as a way to set weekly goals and make sure you complete them. Make sure your goals are small and achievable – the project is already large so don’t stress yourself even more by setting yourself unrealistic goals. Set something simple such as annotating five secondary sources. Doable and helps you get the job done.

When researching, don’t forget to take notes and date and title them! This is extremely important when you’re writing your annotated bibliography since it helps you reflect on how useful the source is or how valid the information is in comparison with your other sources. Furthermore, when you’re writing your PIP chapters, it makes things easier when you have your information in dot points so you can easily put it into your own sentences. Plus, quoting makes it easier since you don’t have to dig through your list of sources since your notes are dated and titled.

Writing PIP chapters can sound overwhelming to many. Personally, it took me three weeks to start drafting my first PIP. Start off your PIP chapters by planning out what you want to discuss in all of your chapters; for the sake of simplicity, I will be dividing my PIP into three chapters to show the past, present and future component. The easiest way to satisfy these three components is to come up with a focus question that fits under the three chapters. For example, in my first chapter, I discussed how interracial marriage was viewed in the past and explained the issues interracial couples experienced and the reasons as to why intermarriage rates increased. After you’ve come up with a focus question, flick through your research notes to find what ideas answer your question. These ideas will become the basis for your paragraphs. Make sure your paragraphs are set out in a logical order to make your chapter flow better.

The difficult part in writing PIP chapters is that there’s no specific structure – it’s a combination of a report and an essay. Taking your focus question into consideration, your first paragraph should be like your introduction for an essay – state your stance and support this with the ideas you have found through your research. As for writing the remainder of your chapter, I found it helpful to have my chapter structure and research notes open while I ‘free-write.’ I use the word ‘free-write’ loosely because you have a plan. Set around 30 minutes and just write – don’t bother going back and re-reading to see if something doesn’t flow as well as you like to. The main point of this exercise is to get all your research into a report/essay format so you can go back and polish it. I found this extremely helpful during my PIP lessons since I tend to overthink. Make sure you’re in an environment where you won’t get distracted; essentially, it’s like writing a personal reflection except the style of writing is formal.

Just like other Humanities subjects, notes are extremely important. My layout for my HSC Society & Culture notes is the exact same as my other Humanities notes: syllabus dot points and have my information in dot point form underneath the syllabus. Considering how key terms is really important, make sure you have the definitions in your notes. You can have them in a glossary format at the beginning of your notes. Another way is to make flash cards, either typed or written. I would suggest colour-coding flash cards so you know what key terms are applicable to which depth study.

Another thing you should include in your study notes is examples. You need strong evidence for your essay so include quotes, statistics or even a summary of a situation in your notes and highlight how a SAC concept relates to your example. Also, keep up to date with contemporary issues and see how SAC concepts and theories apply to these issues – this makes essay planning easier.

Here are some ways you can do to survive HSC Society & Culture. Don’t underestimate the difficulty of this subject. Even though the syllabus basically tells you all the definitions and key terms you need to know for exams, these terms can get very overwhelming. If I had to summarise Society & Culture, key terms is what helps you survive this subject. Not only is it useful for exams, you also need to apply it to your PIP, especially your five main SAC concepts.

For study motivation, hear more from Olivia at @studywithlivia .

Q. How can I effectively utilize the syllabus for HSC Society & Culture?

Master the glossary of key terms provided in the syllabus as they are crucial for exams. Pay attention to the two types of research methods outlined and understand which methods belong to qualitative or quantitative research. Regularly refer to the syllabus to ensure you're covering all necessary content.

Q. What is the best approach for short answer responses in HSC Society & Culture?

Structure your response into an introduction and a discussion. Keep the introduction concise, explaining the key idea and its relevance. Provide a clear explanation followed by relevant examples in the discussion. Remember to use terminology from the syllabus to demonstrate your understanding.

Q. How should I structure my essays in HSC Society & Culture?

Follow the PEEL structure (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link). Tailor your thesis according to the specific verb in the essay question. Use diverse examples to enrich your argument. Ensure your introduction succinctly outlines your stance and sets the tone for your essay.  

Q. What are some effective study tips for HSC Society & Culture?

Organize notes according to syllabus dot points, including key terms and examples. Stay updated on contemporary issues and analyze their intersection with SAC concepts. Use mnemonic devices or flashcards for memorization and engage in regular review sessions. Don't forget to actively discuss concepts with peers to deepen your understanding.

Q. How do I approach writing my Personal Interest Project (PIP) for HSC Society & Culture?

Set achievable weekly goals and establish a clear focus question to guide your project. Organize chapters logically and blend report writing with essay structure. Utilize structured free-writing sessions to draft chapters effectively. Regularly seek feedback from teachers or mentors to ensure you're on the right track.  

Q. What is the significance of key terms in HSC Society & Culture?

Key terms are essential for understanding and communicating concepts. They serve as the foundation for applying theoretical frameworks to real-world scenarios, particularly in the context of the Personal Interest Project (PIP). Practice incorporating key terms into your discussions and essays to demonstrate a deep understanding of the subject matter.  

Featured Articles

What does it actually mean to “study smart”?

When I was in high school, I was often told to “study smart, not hard”. It’s a common high school trope and, to be completely frank, I didn’t know what it m...

The benefit of asking questions in high school

For whatever reason, asking questions through class can actually be pretty tough. Maybe you feel embarrassed about not knowing the answer. Maybe you haven’t yet developed rap...

How to study in high school - the 'dos' and 'don'ts'

As we know, different students study in different ways, and that’s totally fine. This article isn’t prescriptive - we’re not telling you what must be done - but w...

Spare 5 minutes? Here are 7 quick study strategies

There are sometimes occasions when you only have a few minutes to yourself, and you want to be productive, but you’re not sure how. You don’t have a lot of time up your...

• Fall 2024 Seminars & Workshops

Seminar & Workshop Schedule

Kristin Grogg | Thursday, July 18, 2024

 Fall 2024 Seminar & Workshop Schedule

Attendees will learn about what health professional schools look for in an applicant and create an action plan to become a competitive applicant. This seminar is useful for any student interested in a health profession career but is particularly useful for those early in their undergraduate career.

Wednesday, September 4 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm in SC-North, Room 1909

Tuesday, October 1 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm in Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 126

Attendees will learn what to expect and how to prepare for professional work and graduate admissions interviews, both in-person and virtually. This workshop is useful for any student looking to improve their interviewing skills.

Thursday, September 12 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in HSC-North, Room 1909

Wednesday, October 12 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 126

Wednesday, September 18 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in HSC-North, Room 1909

Monday, October 14 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 126

Attendees will learn what to expect and how to prepare for the application process for health professional schools (e.g. Medical, Dental, PA, PT, etc.).

Monday, September 9 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm in Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 126

Tuesday, October 22 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm in HSC-North, Room 1909

Attendees will learn how to develop a well-written personal statement for health professional schools (e.g. Medical, Dental, PA, PT, Nursing, etc.). We will also cover the difference between a personal statement, statement of purpose, and a diversity statement. This workshop is recommended for students who are beginning their application to health professional programs in 2025.

Thursday, September 26 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in HSC-North, Room 1909

Monday, October 28 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 126

Attendees will learn how to develop well-written experience descriptions for their application to health professional programs. This workshop teaches students how to present their extracurricular experiences efficiently and effectively on their applications.

Wednesday, October 9 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in HSC-North, Room 1909

Thursday, November 7 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 126

Advisors Toolkit

If you are an academic advisor to a student interested in pursuing a healthcare profession, this toolkit is here to assist you in answering questions and getting them on the right track.

Subscribe to our mailing list

Sign up for the Pre-Health Newsletter to be notified of important news and deadlines.

* indicates required

How to Memorise HSC English Essays Using Only Key Points

When it comes to the HSC, trying to memorise HSC essays can seem almost impossible. With so many to draft, write and memorise, it can feel like you’re staring down an impossible task and asking yourself, ‘How do I memorise an essay?’

We’re here to tell you that you don’t have to memorise HSC essays — and shouldn’t!

What you should be focusing on is using key points , and we’ll guide you through this with our advice on how to smash out awesome essays based on memorised key points when it comes to the HSC.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

Why You Shouldn’t Just Memorise HSC Essays The Benefits of Memorising Key Points How to Memorise Key Points

Why Shouldn’t You Just Memorise HSC Essays?

We’re not going to lie, there’s definitely some solid logic behind both sides of the debate on whether or not you should memorise HSC essays.

While we think attempting to memorise an essay is a great way to build up confidence and prepare for your exams, we know it’s not a technique that works for everyone.

With that in mind, let’s check out some of the benefits and drawbacks.

• Confidence – knowing your essay before you even walk into the exam room reduces any anxiety about not knowing what to write.
• Preparation – in order to memorise HSC essays you have to study and prepare, so you’ll be setting up good study patterns.
• Time saver – once you get into the exam you won’t end up spending any of your writing time trying to think up an idea or draft a plan for an essay.
• Quotes – it’s pretty much a given that you’ll only learn a certain amount of quotes for one essay, so having an essay pre-planned around those quotes avoids any chance of them not suiting what you’re trying to write.
• Answering the question – many people forget that they have to adapt their planned essay to the actual question, leading to essays that don’t actually suit or answer the question being asked.
• Memory – learning a whole essay is tough! Taking the time and effort to memorise HSC essays which can be 1000 words just isn’t reasonable for many people.
• Adapting – if the question asked is even a little different to what you prepared for you’ll be forced to adapt your essay, meaning you have to think fast and change things you’ve already drilled into your head.  

As you can see the pros are pretty awesome, but the cons definitely present some major drawbacks when you try to memorise an essay. So how do you get the best of both worlds?

It’s simple! You don’t memorise HSC essays – just the key points of an essay!

Why Memorise Key Points?

You’re probably wondering why memorising key points is going to be any better than trying to memorise an entire essay – and I get it, I do! I mean, where’s the logic in only learning pieces of a whole, right?

Wrong. Here’s why.

#1: It makes memorising easier

There’s no questioning that it’s easier to remember 16 dot points over a full, 1000 word essay.

The fact that there’s less content to learn will not only make it easier to get the info stuck in your head, it’ll also cut down on the time it takes to do it. Plus it’s way less daunting than trying to remember 3-4 pages of essay.

#2: It makes adapting easier

As mentioned before adapting is important and can be tricky when you’ve memorised a full essay, but if it’s only your key points you have stuck in your brain it’s pretty simple to adapt how you write about them.

It’s just a case of building the essay around the question, using your key points as the bricks and filling in the rest as you go.

#3: You can answer any question

This kinda goes with the last point, but being able to adapt your response easily means you can also make it suit any question.

Again, you’re avoiding the possibility of getting in there and writing something you know back to front, but doesn’t answer the question.

#4: It prevents rote learning

This is less about the essay itself and more about how you learn, but when you get into the habit of memorising an entire  response and just rewriting it in the exam, it creates rote learning.

Rote learning is basically just learning from memory recall and it can be useful, but it’s not the best way to learn to adapt your knowledge (and essay!) to different questions and situations. Just learning key points helps prevent that.

#5: It gives you confidence

Even though you’re not going in there with a full essay planned and memorised you’ll still be entering your exam knowing exactly what you need to know to formulate a strong response.

This will naturally make you feel way more prepared and help avoid any extra panic or anxiety on exam day.

How Do You Memorise Key Points?

Memorising key points is actually pretty simple, much more so than trying to memorise HSC essays!

It’s really just a case of figuring out what the most important elements of your essay, essay plan or analysis are and then studying them.

Follow our simple 5-step formula and you’ll have your key points memorised in no time at all without having to memorise an essay.

Step 1: Write an Essay

Okay, before you come with the pitchforks yelling about how this was supposed to be about key points, hear me out.

In order to know what your key points are, you actually have to have an idea of what you could write for an essay response. And what’s the best way to do that? You got it; write an essay.

The purpose of this section is for you to figure out what themes you want to work with, how you’re going to analyse your texts, what techniques and quotes you’ll use, etc.

The essay you write doesn’t have to be a perfect Band 6, but you want it to have all the features and functions of something you’d hand in to be marked.

Unsure how to write a strong essay? Check out this step by step guide to writing a Band 6 worthy essay here!

You can even use an essay you’ve already written if you don’t feel like writing a new one!

In that situation it’s super important that you go through the essay and edit it. Maybe you got some feedback from your teacher you need to address, or you’ve found some better quotes to use, just make sure it’s up to date and of awesome quality.

Step 2: Pull out TTEA

This is where we start breaking down and figuring out our key points so that we can learn them.

The best and quickest way to do them is by actually printing out your essay (or just grabbing it if it’s hand written) and highlighting anything that fits the TTEA structure.

What is TTEA, you ask?

Theme –  What theme are you talking about and in what way? Technique – What technique are you analysing? Example – What is your quote/textual reference? Analysis – Why does it all matter?

Basically these are the key points you’re pulling out of your essay to start memorising.

You’ll have to go through and highlight these in each body paragraph of your essay in order to figure out just what your key points will be.

If you feel like there are other things you need to include in your key points (e.g. context, comparisons, etc.) feel free to highlight them too.

That said, remember to highlight only the most important elements of your essay – we don’t want to end up with the whole thing coloured in with fluorescent marker.

In the end it will look a little like this (as an example, this paragraph is on Frankenstein ):

You’ll notice that in this case there’s also a lot of context in the paragraph, so I’ve gone ahead and highlighted the key parts of that too.

Other paragraph structures that may be useful to know include PEEL , TEEL and STEEL ! You’ll also want to know how to write effective linking sentences for your paragraphs.

Step 3: Study Your Key Points

So now that you’ve gone and highlighted all this stuff what are you going to do with it? Study it!

In order to get your key points into a study-ready format you’ll need to turn the TTEA things you highlighted into a set of super succinct notes.

Dot points are usually the best way to go, and I always found it good to break them up paragraph by paragraph.

This means you should end up with 4-5 dot points* per paragraph , making 16-20 dot points overall – way less than what you’d need to memorise HSC essays in full.

Disclaimer: If you have more than one quote per paragraph (which you definitely should) you can also choose to turn each quote into an individual dot point. I did this for the sake of organisation, making each quote and the techniques it included a single dot point, so this did mean I ended up with a fair few more than 4 dot points per paragraph.

My dot point format often ended up a little something like this:

• Theme statement
• Quotes (repeat for each quote, usually 4-5)
• Analysis point

Yours may follow this same pattern or be totally different, it’s up to your personal preference and what you want your notes to look like.

That all said, each set of notes will end up looking something like this.

These are now your key points!

That means it’s time to start studying them and trying to memorise them for your essay. Most people like to start by just reading over these notes a few times, but that’s definitely not the only or even the most effective way to learn them.

Some of the best techniques for learning your key points include:

• Flashcards – write your text and theme on the front and the context, quotes, techniques and analysis points on the back. Then only look at the front and try to remember what the back says. If you can remember them all you’re good to go, if not flip the card over and try again!
• Quizzing – you can quiz yourself just by not looking at the notes and trying to recall them, but giving them to a friend or family member to quiz you is way more fun. Just hand over your key points and have someone else ask you questions about them to see how well you remember them.
• Re-write them – getting some practical study in is always an awesome way to start memorising things, but it’s especially useful when learning how best to use key points. That means you’re going to want to start writing practice responses!

Step 4: Write a Practice Response

I can hear the indignant screams already; “You said this wasn’t about essays!” “This is the second essay you’ve made me write!”.

I get it, I do, but here’s the thing – if you want to be able to use your key points to effectively write an essay in your exam, you’re going to have to practice it at least once first.

Even though you’re not trying memorise HSC essays, the only way to test how well you can actually utilise your key points for an essay in an exam situation is by doing it. That means grabbing a past paper question and your key point notes, sitting down and getting stuck into it. This way you’re putting your knowledge to practical use as well as teaching yourself how to actually use your key points to develop an essay.

The best way to do it is by giving yourself 5 minutes to create a quick essay plan first. It’s as simple as reading over the question and then jotting down how you’ll fit each of your key themes/texts to the question – the rest should just flow naturally.

Let’s try an example!

Question: Understanding context is essential to understanding a text.

Looking at our notes from before we can pretty much just jot down how we might link it to the question. In this case it’s really important that we had that dot point on context, so by drawing on that we’ll be able to build up a really strong essay around it!

Pro Tip: If you feel like the question isn’t really suiting your key points you can always twist it by playing devil’s advocate!

I always recommend keeping your notes on hand the first time you try to write your essay based on your key points, just to give that sense of security, but if you feel super confident with your knowledge then give it a try without them!

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat

You know what they say – memory comes through repetition. That means you have to keep doing these things over and over to really get those key ideas stuck in your brain.

While I recommend doing at least a few practice essays (even some timed to make sure you’ll get everything down in the exam time limit) how you choose to study is up to you.

If you’re the read and re-read type or the kind who loves to be quizzed every other night then go with that – it’s all about what works for you!

Just keep practising and before long you’ll know every key point and quote at the drop of a hat. You’ll be ready to write those Band 6 essay responses in no time!

Preparing for the Common Module? Check out our step-by-step guide to HSC English Paper 1 with study tips and tricks!

Now you give it a try!

Remember that the big takeaway from this is that by knowing your key points you’ll be memorising enough information to get you ready for an essay, but the amount of effort you put in is always going to influence your final outcome.

That means that if you write 5 practice essays and study your key points every day for a week you’ll probably get a different end result than if you write your notes out once and then let them collect dust on your desk.

The effort that you put in is the results that you’ll get out, so get out there and start studying those awesome key points instead of trying to memorise an entire essay!

Not sure whether or not to memorise your essay? Check out our article on Memorising vs Improvising Essays !

Looking for some extra help with HSC English?

We have an incredible team of hsc english tutors and mentors.

We can help you master HSC English essay writing and ace your upcoming HSC English assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!

If you live in other areas of Sydney, we have tutors that can come to you! Get in touch with our Hoxton Park tutoring team or our  Wollongong HSC English tutors !

We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years , and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC English tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!

Maddison Leach  completed her HSC in 2014, achieving an ATAR of 98.00 and Band 6 in all her subjects. Having tutored privately for two years before joining Art of Smart, she enjoys helping students through the academic and other aspects of school life, even though it sometimes makes her feel old. Maddison has had a passion for writing since her early teens, having had several short stories published before joining the world of blogging. She’s currently deferring her studies until she starts her Bachelor of Communication at UTS in the spring.

• Topics: 📚 Study , ✏️ English

Related Articles

How to write a well-structured peel paragraph for your english essays, how ashim improved his hsc english mark by 34%, how to make your essay stand out in hsc english with a strong thesis statement, 45,861 students have a head start....

Get exclusive study content & advice from our team of experts delivered weekly to your inbox!

Looking for English Support?

Discover how we can help you!

We provide services in