This blog task was assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad Sir (Department Of English, MKBU)
How Much Should You Write in Literature Exams?
In literature exams, one of the most common and often most confusing questions students ask is: "How much should I write for a 10-mark or 5-mark question?" While teachers often stress that “quality matters more than quantity,” this advice can feel abstract without clear examples or measurements. This blog addresses this dilemma by engaging directly with the insights shared in the video.
The video provides a much-needed research-based approach to quantifying the relationship between marks, word count, structure, and quality especially in English Literature descriptive answers.
This blog aims to:
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Summarize the key takeaways from the video and related research;
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Present model answers for two commonly asked literature questions one worth 10 marks and another 5 marks;
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Demonstrate how to balance depth, clarity, and length in alignment with academic expectations and assessment rubrics.
Question A (for 10 marks):
Based on the video, discuss what factors affect how much one should write in exam or assignment responses (for example: word count, depth of content, structure, relevance, and clarity).
Students frequently query the ideal length for exam answers, particularly in English Studies descriptive essays. While quality is universally acknowledged as more important than mere quantity, the video highlights several quantifiable and qualitative factors that collectively determine how much one should write for effective and well-scoring responses.
Factors Affecting Exam Responses:
• Marks Allotment and Time Duration:
This is the most fundamental quantifiable factor. The video proposes a "golden mean" of 36 words per mark and an average writing speed of 20 words per minute for English Studies. For a 10-mark question, this translates to approximately 360 words and roughly 18 minutes of dedicated writing time. This framework provides a crucial baseline for the expected volume.
• Depth of Content and Quality:
While a specific word count shouldn't be an arbitrary target, the quality of content, encompassing depth, relevance, and clarity, is paramount. Mark schemes typically focus on assessing skills like identifying key features of a text and effective communication. However, sufficient length is crucial for examiners to recognise a candidate's knowledge. Research by Tom Bennett shows answers fewer than 200 words often result in a 'U' grade, whereas A+ grade students wrote much longer responses (around 700 words for higher-mark questions), indicating a clear correlation between adequate length and achievement.
• Structure, Relevance, and Clarity:
These elements are integral to quality. Effective communication is a key assessment criterion. The video calculates "saving time" (e.g., approximately 2 minutes for a 10-mark question based on 20 wpm in 20 minutes versus 360 words needed), which is vital for reading the question, framing the answer, and reviewing for errors, directly supporting structured and clear articulation. Individual writing styles, such as using bullet points, leaving empty lines, or including quotes, significantly impact the actual page count for the same word volume, underscoring the importance of visual structure.
• Contextual Factors:
The specific subject (e.g., English Studies) can influence length expectations compared to science or commerce. A student's writing speed increases with age, and the complexity or familiarity of the material (e.g., unseen vs. seen paragraphs) can affect the rate of writing. Furthermore, the duress of exam conditions and nervousness can impact word production compared to free writing.
In conclusion, while quality remains non-negotiable, understanding these interconnected factors, especially the quantifiable targets of words, lines, and pages, helps students ensure they provide sufficient content to demonstrate their knowledge effectively. Striving for the suggested word and page counts is a practical step towards achieving good marks
Here are the samples of answers based on the video’s format
Q:Write an essay on the women characters in novel Hard Times (10 Marks)
Louisa is raised entirely under Mr Gradgrind’s credo of fact and utility. Although intelligent and composed outwardly, she suffers internally: Dickens uses her to show how suppressing feeling can damage one’s soul. For example, Louisa’s marriage to Bounderby, a union of convenience rather than love, demonstrates the cost of duty without affection. Her confrontation with her father later reveals her inner disruption. Louisa’s character arc from repression to a painful awareness of what she has lost makes her central to the novel’s critique of utilitarianism.
Sissy Jupe is the novel’s counterpoint to the Gradgrind system. Though treated initially as “Girl Number Twenty” a mere statistic she embodies qualities value cannot measure: kindness, pity, imagination. She cares for the Gradgrind household, comforts Louisa, and displays loyalty even when the system treats her as inferior. In Sissy, Dickens shows that emotional intelligence and moral goodness can survive and even flourish under hardship.
Mrs Sparsit represents another facet of femininity in Dickens: one corrupted or distorted by ambition and social position. Once of high birth, she is now dependent upon Bounderby’s charity and status. Her pride makes her bitter; her envy of Louisa leads her to scheme. She serves as both a cautionary figure and a source of tension in the narrative. Her fall emotionally, socially shows that ambition without empathy also traps women.
Rachael is a more minor character, but morally crucial. She stays loyal to Stephen Blackpool, offering him emotional sustenance though circumstances are harsh. Her humility and integrity are quietly heroic. Unlike Louisa or Mrs Sparsit, Rachael is not conflicted by ideology; she is simply benevolent and steadfast. Dickens uses her to contrast with utilitarian characters who lack compassion.
In Hard Times, the female characters perform indispensable moral work. Louisa’s suffering and subsequent awakening show the human cost when a life is built only on facts; Sissy Jupe’s warmth and imagination preserve what facts cannot; Mrs Sparsit’s ambition warns us of pride devoid of compassion; and Rachael’s quiet strength demonstrates goodness in adversity. Dickens, through these women, argues that a just society must include emotions, sympathy, and moral conscienc not simply cold logic or facts. For a full‑mark answer, one must discuss more than one character, show how each relates to the main themes, include textual detail, and structure the essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Q: Write an essay on the women characters in the novel Hard Times (5 Marks)
Introduction
In Hard Times, Charles Dickens presents several important women characters who highlight the emotional, moral, and social issues of industrial society. Characters like Louisa Gradgrind, Sissy Jupe, and Rachael are used to criticise the utilitarian values of the time and to show the importance of compassion, imagination, and emotional strength.
1. Louisa Gradgrind is a central character raised in a system focused only on facts. She suffers emotionally because she is never allowed to express her feelings. Her unhappy marriage to Mr Bounderby and her breakdown later in the story show the failure of a life without emotional balance.
2. Sissy Jupe is the opposite of Louisa. Though she is considered weak in Mr Gradgrind’s school, she has strong values of kindness and love. She helps take care of the Gradgrind family and becomes a symbol of emotional intelligence and human warmth.
3. Rachael, a factory worker, represents moral purity and loyalty. Her quiet courage and support for Stephen Blackpool show her inner strength, even in a harsh society.
Conclusion
Through these women characters, Dickens shows that a good society needs more than just facts. It needs love, empathy, and moral values. Women in Hard Times play an important role in revealing the problems of a heartless, industrial system.
Referance:
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