You're listening to the Parents of Hardworking Teens podcast, episode 156. Why it is not about the word count or the page count when your teen is trying to work out how much they need to write, but also why it kind of is about the word count or the page count. Why it is quality over quantity, and conversely, why quality is, in some ways, sometimes determined by quantity, or creates a particular quantity in creating that quality. Let me explain exactly what I mean and how your teen can nail this golden combination of top-quality content in the exact right quantity.
Hey VIPs, I hope you and your teen are having a really great school break right now. I will give a quick apology if this audio is not sounding the best. I am still in the midst of having my setup not quite back on track yet with the work we're having done on the house, but I still wanted to be able to record these podcasts and really just give it the best setup that I can. So, that is what I have for you. And I'm confident that the conversation I want to share with you today will make up for any lack of sound quality.
I also hope that you are ready for a little bit of a brain workout because I have a kind of conundrum to share with you today. Maybe we could kind of consider it a bit of a paradox. I don't think it's quite a paradox, but either way, don't worry, I am going to walk it all through with you step-by-step, and I promise it will be worth it if you stick with me, to be able to use this to help and guide your teen in those bigger assignments, their essays, the feature articles, the reports, even the creative tasks like narratives or imaginative writing, the essays, the extended response format exam questions. This will directly apply and influence what they do with those, how they tackle them, and what they produce.
This episode is off the back of a consult I had just recently with an awesome hardworking student and his supportive mum. And in particular, it's from a comment that this student—we'll call him Jack—that Jack made when he'd named English as one of his priority subjects and mentioned that he wanted to be able to get better at writing faster so that he could write more, get more down in his essay answers, because he felt, or in fact, he had been told—I'll get to that in a second—that he needed to write longer responses in order to achieve the higher marks that he was after.
And this wasn't just in English, it turned out. So, he had been told by his commerce teacher that to get a band 6—so this was in New South Wales, so band 6 is basically a top band, an A grade—that they needed to be writing five to six pages for their essay answer in the exam. And as you can probably imagine, and maybe as your response would be to this as well, it's, "Hey, it's not about quantity, it's all about quality." So, we got into this conversation, and we started off with that, for sure. I think everyone can relate to that because it's absolutely not true that if we just write five or six pages, that guarantees us a great mark. We know that a student could write six pages of mediocre, or worse, content, and absolutely not be hitting a band 6.
Likewise, a student could have, maybe, big handwriting and have four pages worth of content, or vice versa, four pages of tiny writing that's six pages if we average that out. And I will tell you, Jack did say that as well as trying to write faster, he was also writing a bit bigger so that he could fill up the six pages. And I laugh here because we did all have a little bit of a chuckle at this. He knew, as well as me and his mum, and I think everyone listening, that it wasn't about the six pages.
But on a serious note with that, I do totally get it. I get that there are so many students out there who are constantly trying to figure out, "How do I hit these top marks?" They're trying to take on their teacher feedback, they're trying to do whatever they can to really understand the rules of this game because so much of it just seems fuzzy. It doesn't seem very clear. It's like, "Why did this person get this, and I got this?" or "Why did they write more than me?" or "Why did they write less than me and still get a better mark?" or "The descriptor says this, how do I actually do that? What does that look like?"
So, if a teacher tells you something that is as concrete and clear-cut as "six pages will get you a band 6"—in fact, let's just be clear, they didn't say, "write six pages, it will get you a band 6." What they were saying is, "In order to get a band 6, that is the quantity, that is the length of the response that would be required." So, let me be really clear on that. But I don't blame a student for thinking, "Okay, that is a lot, but it's something very tangible to aim for." So, they put their effort into figuring out, "Okay, like, can I get better at writing faster? How do I get more on the page in the time available?"
It's a lot more of an appealing and tangible goal to be aiming for, as opposed to trying to figure out, "What do those actual marking descriptors mean? How do I actually get from effective to skilful?"—which is actually what Jack was looking at doing in his upcoming English task when we had a look at that in a coaching call a few days after.
And so back on the consult, I explained to him: I can't help with writing faster, that is not my skill set. And in fact, I'm not going to recommend that that's the thing to aim for here. I didn't know at that point, I hadn't seen any of his work, but I would put a pretty big bet on there are other things that we can up-level and improve and figure out that are going to help him get a lot more marks than just figuring out, "How do I write faster to get more on a page, or across six pages?"
And that is exactly what I help students with. It's not about writing faster or making your writing bigger, but up-leveling from adequate to effective, and then effective to skilful. Having your evidence selection go from relevant to discerning. Having your writing, your response, your content, your analysis go from appropriate to sophisticated. This is what will get your teen top marks.
And so here is the point—I'm going to make this very clear right now—of this episode. Doing that might—and I say might—require six pages worth of content to do so. It might not. We might be able to get that into less than six pages. I would like to also put a bet on that that is possible, if we know how to do it really succinctly with sophistication, really clearly, in a really focused way. It might take six pages, it might take less if we get really skilled at those things.
But as a general guide, I think we can all agree that it is about quality over quantity. We all know that an essay or exam answer could be twice the length of another, and yet score half the marks. But—and this is the 'but' that I really want to focus on today—if quality analysis means analyzing a range of different features in detail, that is going to require a certain quantity of features to be analyzed, and a certain number of explanations and impacts of those features to be discussed to go with them. And that will create a certain length of response. And therefore, maybe we can consider that a certain length of response will be needed in order to achieve top marks. Not because of the number of words or pages, but because, to demonstrate everything that is required, a certain amount of content is a byproduct of that demonstration. Length is not the goal, it is a side effect.
So, perhaps, if we are just going to stretch our thinking a little bit here, we can understand that it is somewhat about the word count or the page count, and yet it is also nothing at all about the word count or the page count. Are you with me? I'll say that one more time. It is nothing at all about the word count or the page count, but it is also about the word count or the page count with regards to the content, the quality of that content, the range of evidence, the level of detail in the discussion.
So, let's use some specific examples to help demonstrate this. Let's consider when there is a maximum word limit, or, if we're in an exam, that will be a time limit. This inherently requires your teen to be discerning. They need to exemplify, they need to demonstrate, they need to be discerning in what they choose to discuss, what they choose to include. They cannot include everything, and they don't need to include everything. And part of that skill is that discernment. Being discerning in their selection of evidence, discerning in selecting the most significant factors to discuss. And it's requiring them to be clear and succinct and focused in their writing. So, all the things that are deemed to be high quality and sophisticated.
Now, what about if there is a minimum word or page count? Like the five to six pages for a band 6 commerce essay under exam conditions. This would be the minimum content required. So, rather than having a maximum limit, we've got a minimum content required to show a comprehensive, detailed, sustained response. This can also happen in imaginative and creative tasks. I've seen it on Year 12 writing tests where there is a specific amount that they are supposed to write and produce, and producing less than that will result in a lower mark. And that's where that word 'sustained' comes in.
So, let's just say we've got average-sized handwriting. If there were a certain number of concepts that needed to be defined and explained in order to show the range of understanding, the range of knowledge, or perhaps it is a certain number of examples, or a certain number of features of a case study to have been applied, that would demonstrate a breadth of knowledge. Or perhaps it's a certain amount of evidence, or a certain number of source references that should be used to support the discussion points. Then, if all of that was done, and done effectively, but succinctly and clearly and with focus, then this would imply that for most students, this would equate to five or six pages worth of content.
And note the word content. Content, case studies, examples, evidence, concepts, explanations, definitions, knowledge, not pages. But the content is, of course, spread across those pages.
Now, side note, but important note. Personally, I have never officially marked for a commerce exam. But I have worked with students on commerce tasks and commerce assessments, so I will stick my neck out here and say that I believe the marking descriptors could be accomplished in less than five to six pages if a student is highly skilled in dissecting the question and responding with focus and detail, and discernment and clarity, and doing it succinctly with sophistication. Yes, I do believe it could be done in less than five to six pages. But I would need to see a real question and mark scheme to be totally certain on that, of course, and it would be a case-by-case basis.
So, I hope this has clarified, rather than creating any confusion, about why it's not about the word count or the page count, and yet, when we understand that it is about the quality and the content, when we get that, we can then also understand that it therefore also kind of is about the word count and the page count. That what is required in the response is also determining how much will end up being written, and that the conditions like a time limit in an exam are an indication of the requirement to produce a focused, succinct, and streamlined response, and the expectations to create a longer response, extend a response, let's say to five or six pages, is an indication of the requirement to produce a detailed, sustained, comprehensive response. And therefore, figuring out how to do that is the holy grail, and is what I'm working with students on week in, week out.
So, let me know your thoughts on this. I would love to hear from you. support@rocksolidstudy.com is the email address. I promise to respond personally if you want to share your feedback or your thoughts or your questions around this. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and I will see you back here again soon. Take care, bye!
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