I get it — you’re staring down the barrel of another HSC assessment, trying to write an essay and ChatGPT is right there, glowing on your screen, ready to give you an instant answer. Tempting, right?
Here’s the thing though, while ChatGPT is a great start for sparking ideas, brainstorming how you want to say something, or even helping you understand a tricky concept – it doesn’t have all the answers….
ChatGPT doesn’t truly “get” the HSC marking rubric — even if you try to program it in it won’t understand your teacher’s marking requirements, your syllabus requirements, or that sneaky detail you’ve been told to weave in. And, let’s be honest, it doesn’t write in your unique style. Often it transforms your own original writing into something generic and no aligned with the task taking it more off track rather than being useful.
And the thing is if you hand in something entirely AI-written, it’s pretty obvious (markers can spot it a mile away ) and then you miss out on actually learning how to write and think critically — which is kind of the whole point. In an in class assessment, how will you have the skill to express something particular in relation to the question if you haven’t already had a chance to do it on your own?
So, how should you use it?
✅ As a prompt for ideas – ask it a question to get you going.
✅ To help you start when you’re stuck – write in your draft sentence and see how it changes it. Then use a variation of that sentence in your own work.
✅ To check grammar or rephrase small sections
❌ As the author of your whole assessment
ChatGPT is here to help you shine, not replace your voice. Use it smartly, and your writing will still sound like you — only a better version and you are still learning along the way!
Chat to us about how it can be used in your next assessment