Hsc Essay

PREPARING FOR THE

HSC EXAMINATION

This advice will help you as you prepare for your school based Trial examination and the HSC examination

itself. You can also dip into it for helpful sections if you are faced with a school based assessment item. The

HSC examination will test many skills, and it is important for you to realise that one of the first of these is

the skill of time management.

planning your TiMe

SECTION

CONTENT AREA

WORTH

TIME

I

World War I 1914–1919

25%

45 min

II

National Studies

25%

45 min

III

Personalities in the 20th century

25%

45 min

IV

International Studies in Peace and Conflict

25%

45 min

Key points to remember as you plan your time are:

• You will be given reading time before the commencement of the examination, which should be used to

carefully read the relevant sections of the paper.

• Do not waste time looking at questions that do not apply to the subjects you have studied, and never

be tempted to answer a question from a topic you have not studied ‘because it looks easier’. You will not

be able to compete with those students who have studied this topic in detail.

• You may answer the questions in any order. Some argue that you should do your ‘best’ topic first, as this

will give you a confident start, leaving your least favourite topic till last. However, as most of the reading

time will be taken up with reading and comprehending the World War I sources, we recommend

starting with this topic while your mind is centred on it.

• In whatever order you choose to answer the sections, it is vital that you remember that they are of equal

value and therefore deserve equal time. A common mistake is for candidates to devote too much time

to their first response (commonly WWI) and to leave insuffi

cient time to answer their final section.

• When full essays are required in Sections II and IV you are advised to plan your essay for five minutes...