Higher English Critical Essay

2

i'm mostly confident on ruae and the set text, but i'm certain that the essay (which, for me, is on the great gatsby) is going to be what kills me. i can force out a mediocre 10-mark essay rather easily, but that just makes it even more difficult to get an a, my target grade. if anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated; my main struggles are remembering enough knowledge about the novel to keep my essay relevant and structuring the essay more effectively.

thank you 🙏

Reply 1

username_9462

9

Original post

by arron.paxton634

i'm mostly confident on ruae and the set text, but i'm certain that the essay (which, for me, is on the great gatsby) is going to be what kills me. i can force out a mediocre 10-mark essay rather easily, but that just makes it even more difficult to get an a, my target grade. if anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated; my main struggles are remembering enough knowledge about the novel to keep my essay relevant and structuring the essay more effectively.
thank you 🙏

structure your essay through quotes/key scenes- chronolgically. your paragraph should be clear and relevant topic sentence-quote+anyalsisx3/4-evaluative comment+link back to question. keep the question in your mind the whole time and constantly use the wording of it to keep on task. you should be able to use the same quote/key scene in any essay you decide to do. keep it simple and confident - if you find yourself waffling of over explaining its not a key point to be making.

Reply 2

be_read08

11

Original post

by arron.paxton634

i'm mostly confident on ruae and the set text, but i'm certain that the essay (which, for me, is on the great gatsby) is going to be what kills me. i can force out a mediocre 10-mark essay rather easily, but that just makes it even more difficult to get an a, my target grade. if anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated; my main struggles are remembering enough knowledge about the novel to keep my essay relevant and structuring the essay more effectively.
thank you 🙏

for my school we are doing great gatsby as well. For the set text (for us it is carol ann duffy) and RUAE we use QTAL, which is Quote Technique Analysis Link (to question). For essays, we use TARTS for introduction: Title, Author, Refer to question, Techniques, Summarise. For main body paragraphs it is PEA-EAR: Point, Evidence, Analysis, Evidence, Analysis, Refer back to question. And finally for Conclusion we use SEEP: Summarise, Evidence, Evidence and Profound Statement. Hope this makes sense!

Reply 3

LLAMAguy

9

My approach for preparing for the essay would be to look at key scenes in the book. At the beginning or somewhere where the important stuff begins -> development in plot or character -> climax -> resolution/aftermath. These become the 4 paragraphs. Some of them could have more than one key scene. For example, I have 2 key scenes in the story, which are good to include in the development in the plot/character. Then, from the key scenes, you try to recall stuff from the story, mainly why the scene is so important. Then, with all that in mind, you look for key quotes from that part of the book. With this method, you end up with 4 chunks of quotes. Each chunk is a paragraph, and you can use whichever quote that fits the best according to the question

When I ask people for help, they give me their quotes and essay plans, but it doesn't help me at all. What I found helpful was to develop your own understanding, which helps you in exams. Instead of remembering the ideas and quotes of other people, develop your own understanding, which will be easier to remember in exam.

Hope this helps

Higher English Critical Essay

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