Study Guide
Comparative Essays: Comparing Two Texts
A guide to the comparative essay for senior English, in which two texts are put in conversation about an idea. Using two original…
- Difficulty
- Level 3 · Challenge
- Time
- 35 min
Study GuideYear 12Level 3 · ChallengeHSCVCE
Free Year 12 Exam Technique: Planning, Timing and Command Terms
The skills that separate a good English exam result from a very good one: reading the command term accurately, unpacking the question, planning an essay in five minutes, writing to time and finishing. Includes a command-term table, a worked question unpacking, a minute-by-minute plan for a 40-minute essay and a procedure for what to do when time runs out. Written for HSC/VCE-style examinations and useful for every timed essay in Year 12.
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- Year
- Year 12
- Subject
- English
- Topic
- Text Analysis & Essays
- Difficulty
- Level 3 · Challenge
- Estimated time
- 25 minutes
- Curriculum
- Australian Curriculum
- Answers
- Not applicable
- Format
- PDF (A4) + print
Students will practise
- interpreting command terms and the kind of answer each requires
- unpacking an essay question into a position and key terms
- planning an essay quickly with ideas, evidence and order
- managing time across an essay and recovering when time is short
Curriculum: Australian Curriculum. We show specific outcome codes only where they have been verified against the official curriculum document.
What's next?
Completed: Exam Technique: Planning, Timing and Command Terms
How to use this study guide
- Read it together first, pausing at each worked example to try the step before reading the answer.
- Attempt the "Check yourself" questions at the end without looking back.
- Then practise with a worksheet from the pathway above and finish with the topic test.
Common questions
Who is this study guide for?
Year 12 students (typically ages 17–18) working on text analysis & essays. It is pitched at level 3 · challenge.
Are the answers included?
This is a study guide, so there is no separate answer sheet; the 'Check yourself' questions include answers.
How long does it take?
About 25 minutes. Short, regular sessions work best: two or three a week beats one long one.
Do I need to sign up to download?
No. Click Download Free PDF and it opens immediately. It is free for personal, classroom and homeschool use.
What should we do next?
Try Essay Planning Workshop.
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Year 12 · English · Text Analysis & Essays
Exam Technique: Planning, Timing and Command Terms
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What you need to know
In a timed English exam, the difference between a good and a very good result is rarely knowledge of the text. It is reading the question accurately, planning quickly, writing to time and finishing. Each of these is a skill that can be practised in advance until it is automatic. This guide covers command terms (the verbs that tell you what kind of answer is wanted), a five-minute planning method, and how to handle the clock, including what to do when it beats you.
| Command term | What it asks for | What a strong answer does |
|---|---|---|
| Analyse | Break down how parts (techniques, structure, form) create meaning | Names specific choices and explains their effect, always linked to an idea |
| Compare | Identify similarities and differences | Moves between texts within paragraphs; uses difference to sharpen the argument |
| Evaluate / Assess | Make a judgement about value, effectiveness or significance, against criteria | States the judgement early, supports it, and acknowledges limits |
| Explain | Give reasons; show how and why | Cause and effect in a clear sequence, with examples |
| Discuss | Identify issues and give points for and/or against | Considers more than one reading before settling on a position |
| To what extent | Judge the degree to which a statement is true | Takes a measured position ('largely', 'only partly') and argues both the extent and the limit |
| Explore | Investigate an idea from several angles | Ranges across the whole text; shows nuance and development |
| Justify | Give reasons for a position | Evidence-led; anticipates and answers objections |
| Examine | Inquire into in close detail | Close reading with precise evidence and sustained attention to language |
| How does ... | Focus on method | Technique and form foregrounded in every paragraph |
Unpacking a question in four steps. Question: 'Texts about belonging are really texts about exclusion.' To what extent does your prescribed text support this view?
- Circle the command term: 'To what extent'. You must take a measured position and argue both the extent and the limit, not simply agree.
- Underline the claim's key terms and restate it plainly: belonging can only be shown through what people are shut out of.
- Decide your position in one line: 'Largely true for the first half of my text, where belonging is defined by its gatekeepers, but the ending finds a belonging that is chosen rather than granted, which the statement cannot account for.'
- Turn the key terms ('belonging', 'exclusion', 'really') into the language of your thesis and topic sentences, so the marker sees you answering this question and not a prepared one.
The five-minute plan
- Minute 1: unpack the question as above and write your one-line position.
- Minute 2: write three topic-sentence ideas as fragments, each answering the question from a different angle (for example structure, imagery, a character's arc).
- Minute 3: under each idea, list two pieces of evidence with their technique, five words each ('"had learned our names", personification').
- Minute 4: order the paragraphs. A reliable pattern is clearest idea first, most complex in the middle, most sophisticated or surprising last, so the essay builds.
- Minute 5: draft the thesis sentence in full. Everything else can be built from the plan while you write.
- A 40-minute essay: 5 minutes planning; 5 minutes introduction; 8 minutes for each of three body paragraphs (24); 3 minutes conclusion; 3 minutes reading back and correcting.
- Keep to the paragraph clock. When a paragraph's eight minutes are up, finish the sentence, write the link, and move on, even if you have a quotation left. A finished essay with three balanced paragraphs beats an unfinished one with two long ones.
- Write less and finish. Around 900 to 1000 words is the ceiling for most writers in 40 minutes. Length beyond that usually means repetition.
- Leave the reading-back time alone. Three minutes of correcting missing words, tense slips and unclear pronouns can lift a response a band.
Common mistake: writing the prepared essay. Markers see at once when a thesis does not match the question, and the response is capped no matter how polished it is. Prepare ideas, evidence and sentences, not a script, and spend the first minute adapting them.
Common mistake: no conclusion. An essay that stops in the middle of a paragraph loses the marks for sustained argument. If time is short, write a two-sentence conclusion rather than finishing the paragraph.
Adapting prepared material
Prepare three or four flexible ideas about each text, not three fixed paragraphs, and attach four or five quotations with techniques to each idea. In the exam, ask of each idea: how does it help answer this question? Rename the idea in the question's terms, choose the two or three quotations that fit best and drop the rest. A paragraph that argues two points well will always beat one that forces in five memorised quotations.
If you run out of time
- Stop the paragraph you are in at the end of the current sentence.
- Write a two-sentence conclusion that restates your thesis in the question's terms.
- If a minute remains, add a dot-point outline of the missing paragraph (topic sentence, two quotations). Some markers can credit the intended argument; none can credit a blank.
- Never write 'ran out of time'. It draws attention to what is missing rather than to what is there.
Check yourself
- What does 'To what extent' require that 'Analyse' does not?
- Write a one-line position for: 'Stories about the past are always stories about the present.' Discuss.
- How many minutes should planning take in a 40-minute essay, and what are the five outputs of the plan?
- Why is a prepared essay dangerous even when it is well written?
- You have five minutes left and one body paragraph unwritten. What should you do?
- Which command term asks for a judgement about effectiveness? (a) explain (b) evaluate (c) examine
Answers: 1. A measured judgement about degree: you must argue how far the statement is true and where it stops being true, not only break the text down. 2. e.g. 'Largely true: my text uses its historical setting to interrogate present attitudes to land and ownership, though its final chapter insists the past also has a claim of its own.' 3. About five minutes: a one-line position, three topic-sentence ideas, two pieces of evidence with technique under each, an order for the paragraphs, and a full thesis sentence. 4. The thesis and topic sentences will not match the question's terms, so the response reads as off-task and is capped regardless of quality. 5. Write a short, direct version of the paragraph (topic sentence, one quotation with effect, link) in three minutes, then a two-sentence conclusion. Do not try to write the paragraph in full. 6. (b) evaluate.
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- Last reviewed
- 1 October 2026
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