Many students feel overwhelmed with their HSC English exams. But the first step to acing them is knowing how to effectively complete the short answer questions in the English Paper 1 exam. Here are some of my best tips to always excel in English short answer writing:

1. Read the text more than once! Ideally, a student should read through each text once in a thorough manner before re-reading it and underlining/highlighting key quotes they will be using to answer the question. This ensures that the student is not only ready to answer the question efficiently, but has a good understanding of the text.

2. Recall key language techniques and devices. When re-reading the text, students should be on the lookout for both language and visual techniques as sometimes students may be asked to analyse an image. Tutoring is the perfect time to create a bank of techniques that students can take in with them on the day of the exam to allow them to feel more confident.

3. Plan your time and know how much you should be writing. My first general rule is that whatever the mark value assigned to the question is, double it and that is the amount of time a student should be aiming to spend on that question. So, for example, a six-mark question should take a student approximately 12 minutes. My second rule of thumb is that whatever the mark value assigned to that question is, subtract one from it and that is a guide as to how many quotes/examples a student should be providing in their answer. This is certainly not a hard and fast rule but it provides a general overview of what each student should aim for at a minimum, whilst utilising their time efficiently.

4. Understand the PETAL structure. Tutoring is the perfect time to refresh a student’s understanding of how to structure their short answers and by using the PETAL structure, students can feel confident in the exam as they know exactly what they should be targeting.

Hopefully these tips help students feel confident for the short answer component of the English Paper 1 exam and show that everyone can succeed!

Kristina McLean