Anonymous lilted: I am going into year 12 and I am doing Advanced English and I was wondering do you have any study tips and essay tips as I want to boost my marks. I know you need to write your statement out then provide evidence but how do I make longer essays? I can write plans but I can never write more than two pages. Thank you!
How I structured my essays in year 12 was pretty straightforward; I used a method called SEX to remember it all: Statement, Example, Explanation (because SEE isn’t as scandalous.)
So each paragraph
- you state your argument (Love is portrayed as a corrupt concept in the Jazz Age of The Great Gatsby)
- provide an example from the text - always use a quote that has a technique in it (“foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams”)
- and then explain how this point demonstrates your statement/overall thesis - this is where the literary technique comes in (this metaphor represents how the materialism of Daisy and the Jazz Age has ruined Gatsby’s pure and idealistic ideals of love).
If your essays are only a couple of pages long, you either need to be more elaborate in your paragraphs, or you need some more arguments to support your thesis. By the end of year 12, I was writing about 1400 words for my essays. They don’t expect this of you now, so don’t worry! It’s a skill you develop throughout the year.
Your paragraphs shouldn’t just be three lines long; that’s the kind of thing they’re expecting from students who do Standard. You’re doing Advanced because you can analyse texts at a higher level - show them. Introduce the influence of context (post-WWI, modernism, the rise of disposable income), explain your examples a little more eloquently, and avoid the examples they use in study guides and by your teacher. Everyone in your class/the state are using those quotes and arguments. You want to stand out. That will involve some more individual work, like going through your text and analysing quotes yourself, but it’s worth it.
When you’re preparing for an exam, go in with examples that can be used in a couple of situations. Don’t just go in with one example for each theme that can’t be used in any other context - it’s a waste of brain space. You need to be efficient in Year 12 because you have to learn a stupid amount of information, so try and minimise it when you can.
And do practice essays! That’s probably what got me through year 12. I’d done so many practice essays that there were few question styles I hadn’t encountered before. And get your teacher to mark them so you know where you can improve.
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Anonymous lilted: my ball dress is yellow because i like lemon pie and you know what else is yellow? bananas. do you know what is shaped like a banana? a penis and i really love penis, so thats why my ball dress is yellow
if that isn’t a number one reason to buy a dress, i don’t know what is
i hope you get laid xoxo
Anonymous lilted: where do you normally get drinks
bottle shops?
I go to pubs in Newtown, the city, and I want to spend some more time in Manly and Surry Hills too.
Anonymous lilted: one of my good friends tried to kill herself recently and i really dont know how to process that information, like really.
wow this is really heavy
I’m so sorry about your friend. That must be impossible to process, so definitely don’t try and rush that. I suppose all you can really do is support your friend as much as you can, and be there for them whenever you can.
I’m absolutely useless in this situation, I’m sorry.
Anonymous lilted: Do you have a boyfriend?
yes
his name is Robert
he is very tall and and funny and sweet and lovely and is featured heavily in this tag
(if you are a regular viewer, he’s the same boyfriend I had before)
(reduce reuse recycle amirite)
(but yeah he’s great)
Anonymous lilted: I can't believe you're doing this again, Emma. This guy broke you emotionally, mentally. And you're giving him a second chance? What was his reasoning for this, it had better been fucking good. Don't do this again. You don't deserve him. You deserve to be happy. What's to say he won't do it again? Ugh.
Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m happy.
So thanks for the concern, but fuck you for going about it in the douchiest way possible.
Do you think I’m that dumb to take him back if nothing had changed?
Anonymous lilted: yay for loving crash course! what other nerdfighter related youtube channels do you follow?
vlogbrothers, charlieissocoollike, nerimon, ItsWayPastMyBedtime, frezned, myharto (because of that one MDK she has with Hank Green? Right?), The Lizzie Bennett Diaries.
that’s probably about it. apart from dailygrace and lacigreen, pretty much everyone else I subscribe to is makeup related and/or I’ve found through pixiwoo.
Oh and I subscribe to Smart Girls but only really watch Ask Amy
I’m not huge on the YouTubes, but I do enjoy spending my evenings catching up on subscriptions
Anonymous lilted: I'm not going to America and I'm going to avoid that library to ensure I don't fabricate such a situation. soz
daz ok i 4give u
Anonymous lilted: If I wasn't going to America for a year I would find that library and fabricate such a situation
wow
thank you
omg i’m blushing over an anonymous person.
have fun in America though! I’m so jelly, I really want to go there. I’m thinking of maybe doing exchange over there!
Anonymous lilted: What did you think of the movie?
I enjoyed it, but I think it was a bit confused as to what type of movie it was. There was a lot of stuff going on plot-wise, and I feel like either some moments/content were thrown in and then never discussed ever again, unless to lamely tie up a loose end right at the end of the movie, or when it was convenient for the characters’ situations, and that really irritates me. Does that make sense? I’m trying to be as spoiler free as I can. But basically I think if it had been a little less ambitious in what issues it was tackling, in terms of how many issues rather than the nature of those issues, it would have been a better story.
But it was lots of fun and the soundtrack was fab, and, well, Emma Watson was in it. I also really liked Patrick. He was cool, even though he was set up straight away as the ~cool one~
Anonymous lilted: what's your favourite thing to do with a guy you like?
Hug, sit on the couch and play BMO.
Anonymous lilted: y u sad
bad face day/spent last night being quizzed about my break up (in a nice way tho) and i miss some of ma franz who i haven’t seen in 5eva
Anonymous lilted: ok bye bye i am never going on your blog again its not you its me :(:(
i didn’t even post anything mildly offensive tonight
unless you find adventure time offensive
in which case GOOD
but uh okay I hope you enjoyed your stay?
Anonymous lilted: tell me five things youre going to do this summer
- get drunk
- go to the beach
- go to NZ
- go to some concerts/festivals
- spend an entire day reading
