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How long should coursework take?

How long should coursework actually take, if you are focusing entirely on it. I have been surprised at how quickly I have managed to do some of my English pieces (although I have put a lot of effort in)-- it has only taken one or two days for some of them! :smile:

Anyway, with this in mind, I was hoping to get most of it done before the start of the summer holidays-- is this possible? To put it in context, these are the ones I've got left:

English Language and Lit
1984 essay ( Lit/Lang crossover piece)
Educating Rita (Lit)
War poems (Lit)
History local study (research + three questions)
History: one essay question (the woman's vote)
Maths: stats and algebra pieces

I've done Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Sociology. But I thought if I could get these done, hopefully I'll have a stress-free holiday, and hopefully year 11 won't be so bad either. :smile:

To give you an idea of my ability, I'm A/A* in all subjects except for Maths, which I'm averaging at grade C. However, I want to get at least an A in the c/w so the exam is slightly less pressurised. Will this take a lot of extra effort?

Anyway, all thoughts are welcome! :smile:

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Reply 1
Avatar for QED
QED
11
I usually did them in 2/3 hours at most, with re-draft of about an hour and a half per piece in Year 11, just before the deadline. I got all A*s for coursework, I think.
Usually about an hour for each GCSE piece of coursework, not including art or tech.
Reply 3
Avatar for n_251
n_251
12
of course you can do them over the summer but if you are anything like me, you won't!

my maths stats took me forever over christmas but i reckon 3 days of good hard work shouldbe enough

the english courseworks should take 2 - 3 days at most and same for history

but my advice would be, don't do too much and enjoy your summer!
n_251
of course you can do them over the summer but if you are anything like me, you won't!

my maths stats took me forever over christmas but i reckon 3 days of good hard work shouldbe enough

the english courseworks should take 2 - 3 days at most and same for history

but my advice would be, don't do too much and enjoy your summer!


How long should I be looking at for History research? I was thinking about 8-12 hours, but I'm not sure whether that's enough...
Reply 5
Avatar for BethanW
BethanW
My maths coursework took me forever :rolleyes:

And then to top things off, a strange trend in my results meant I ended up with a bunch of graphs that vaguely resembled penis's - I didn't realise this until after i coloured them pink.
Reply 6
Avatar for n_251
n_251
12
The Nightingale
How long should I be looking at for History research? I was thinking about 8-12 hours, but I'm not sure whether that's enough...


it depends how much research you need. When I did my history coursework I did not have to do any research, so I cannot call on past experience to help you specifically with that. 8 - 12 hours sounds a bit much but as I said it really does depend on how much you require
Interesting, 8-12 hours? We did all research in class and then I wrote it out in a few days at home.
Reply 8
Avatar for Diaz
Diaz
12
I get two drafts, I use up as much time as there is for me to get an A/A*.
Maths took me AGES. I'm not exaggerating, but it was genuinely two of the most difficult and boring pieces of coursework I have done in my life. In particular, the statistics one was repetitive, dull and just plain hard. The algebra was easier, but nevertheless very boring! I'd give yourself about two weeks for the Maths coursework, especially if you want to complete it to a high standard. English Language and Lit, were for me, a lot easier, but that's because they're the subjects I'm naturally good at. Language was easier than lit, so maybe for the creative piece and the media about 4 full days. Lit, I'd spend more time on as depth of analysis is a key criteria in order to achieve the higher grades (A/A*) I don't know a great deal about History, as I've studied RS for the past two years; however, I've heard from my friends who do both that History required a lot more time than RS. I'd say that both RS pieces took me about 4 full days, so maybe give yourself a week for History.
Hope this helps you.
History really doesn't require that much time to research, you can normally find a site such as johndclare which has a section on the actual topic.

It's less about content and more about how you present your answer and your writing style.
Reply 11
Avatar for Diaz
Diaz
12
ArchedEdge
History really doesn't require that much time to research, you can normally find a site such as johndclare which has a section on the actual topic.

It's less about content and more about how you present your answer and your writing style.


I couldn't agree more.
The time doesn't matter, its the quality of the coursework that counts. Also don't over elaborate for english/history. I knocked a piece of A* work to B because I wrote too much crap and over elaborated (english) it screws up how fluid the coursework is

i took 1 week to redo a whole english folder from c>A/A* and 1 night to wrote A* pieces of history cw (im good at history though)

you have about 10 weeks though in which you should be able to bang out some damn good cw. also with maths pm me and ill give you some really useful tips to get your grade up
It's local history though, research on a school.
ArchedEdge
History really doesn't require that much time to research, you can normally find a site such as johndclare which has a section on the actual topic.

It's less about content and more about how you present your answer and your writing style.


the writing style doesnt matter with history, id say its the opposite and its more of what your views are vs how you write.. both are important with english language/literature though
Reply 15
Avatar for PhyZ
PhyZ
Really doubt you'll get it all done before the holidays, although set a few weeks aside where you can concentrate for a couple of hours a day to get it done.
English and History essays took me hours because i was useless at them... probably say about a few days lol...
ArchedEdge
History really doesn't require that much time to research, you can normally find a site such as johndclare which has a section on the actual topic.

It's less about content and more about how you present your answer and your writing style.


I don't think the 'style' is very complicated. For history, you just lay the facts out in good paragraphs and answer the question precisely, you will do well.
trance addict
the writing style doesnt matter with history, id say its the opposite and its more of what your views are vs how you write.. both are important with english language/literature though


It's not your views vs. how you write

It's your "views AND how you write" Vs. "actual factual knowledge"
ArchedEdge
It's not your views vs. how you write

It's your "views AND how you write" Vs. "actual factual knowledge"


honestly my writing style was really boring (if you mean juicing it up with fancy language) just whenever i write essays i backup my points stringently

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