The Home Stretch- Final Preparation tips for the HSC English Exams.

This time next week, the English exams will be over and you will never have to write another essay about belonging ever again!

Important last minute preparation tips

• Do not try and pre-learn your essays. You will do a lot better if you write your essay from scratch, adapting your knowledge of the module and the text/s to the question.
• Remember that for Paper One, they can ask you to write any text type for questions 2 and 3 (Creative Writing AND Extended Response). A brief overview of different text types and their purposes can be found here.
• Don’t spend too much time on one question at the expense of others. English teachers will tell you this time and time again, and it is true, it is much harder to get those last 3 or 4 extra marks than it is to get the first 3 or four marks on another question.
• Know as many techniques and quotes as you can. This will give you a broad base from which you can create and support arguments to respond to questions
• Do not forget your essay structure. Although it is easy and tempting to just write everything you know about a topic, markers appreciate an essay with a proper introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs with one topic of argument, and a conclusion.
• Try and do as many practice questions as possible before the exam. Even if you just look at the questions and write a brief plan so you know that if you got that question in an exam, you would be able to answer it with your knowledge of the module and text/s.
• Remember that no matter how obscure the question they give you may seem, it will be drawn from the syllabus. So read over what the syllabus says about your module/elective/area of study and make sure you understand each of the key concepts it has covered, and how your texts have helped you to understand or explore those concepts.

All of that being said, remember that the HSC is not the end of the world and you should not get too stressed out over remembering every little quote and piece of information. If you have done the work throughout the year, there is no reason to be scared, as you will find that when you are in the exam room, it will all come back to you and you will be able to answer the question well.

Remember to email us at enquiries@oxta.com.au at any time for help, or if you need any questions answered.

Good Luck!

More Practice Exams-Area of Study

With English Paper One just days away, it is important to practice as many exam-style questions as you can.

The English exams are NOT memory tests-there is no prescriptive syllabus, and the board of studies can, and will, ask you anything about the topic you have studied. You should be trying to remember important quotes, techniques and ideas, but not essays word for word.

Try these sample exams which model what you will face in Paper One:

Belonging Area of Study-Paper One Sample Exam-1

Belonging Area of Study-Sample Exam 2 

 

 

 

Studying for your HSC?

It all comes down to this. Most of you will now have graduated and will be doing your final preparations for the HSC English Exams. It is a very stressful time, but rest assured that in a few weeks time it will all be over and you will never have to even think about area of study or modules ever again!

Over the next few days we will be posting study tips, notes and extra practice questions to support you through this critical time in your HSC year.

Today’s advice:

Simply reading your notes will not prepare you for your exams! You should have a concise set of notes about your texts, themes and how they relate to whatever your area of study or module is. However, the best way to practice is to actually try writing practice answers to questions.

Some posts that may be of use to you:

How to study for English Exams

 

Everything you need to know about HSC English-Exams

 

Remember that time is of the essence-you have 40 minutes to respond to each question. Practice writing answers under timed conditions, and get them marked by anyone who will read them- teachers, friends, family, tutors and even the writers of this blog (email: enquiries@oxta.com.au).

It is also important to remember to study start, not hard. Take breaks, stay focused and most of all, find comfort and motivation in the fact that you are on the home stretch!

 

 

Sample Essay-Advanced English Module C, History and Memory-The Queen.

Take note and learn from the way this essay has been structured. This essay received a mark of 20 out of 20 and captures the essence of the module with reference to a really good related text!

Question: Compare how the texts you have studied emphasize the complexities evident in the interplay of history and memory

History, a struggle over the past in the present to shape the future, is an exploration of the causal relationships between individuals and events. However, history has always been contested terrain, due to the fact that history is established through individual and collective memories, which by nature are subjective and coloured by circumstance.In the post modern era, the conventional ways of thinking which dismiss memory due to its bias and triumph historical fact have been challenged, and the credibility of history has been diminished by literature which explores how both history and memory can be essential to any construction of the past. Through their representation of history and memory, Frears’ The Queen and Becker’s Goodbye Lenin explore the nature of each individual concept and their interconnectedness in establishing the past. A plethora of film techniques are employed by both directors in order to represent the importance of memory in establishing the personal dimension of history, the relevance of trivial historical accuracies in constructing a representation of history and the process by which memory can reshape and colour historical events.

Memory gives history a third dimension of individual emotion and personal experience to documented history that is necessary in understanding the historical value and meaning of both the past and the present. It is not historical truth alone that allows one to gain a universal understanding of an event or person, but rather the interrelationship of the factual history and the personal and collective memories.  In his representation of the contrast between the individual and collective memories prior to the death of Princess Diana, Frears concurs with this notion and allows the responder to establish their own emotional connection with the historical event.  Through the representation of the Queen’s struggle to respond appropriately to the Diana, Frears explores the aforementioned personal and emotional third dimension of history. The Queen is represented as in a confused struggle between protocol and precedent and the desires and needs of her people. This comes across subtly, through the character’s facial expressions at the sight or sound of her people’s disappointment with her behavior, and more explicitly through her dialogue, where she comments “I chose to keep my feelings to myself. Foolishly, I believed that was what the people wanted from her Queen” to Tony Blair. In many ways, this fulfills the purpose of Frears film, to represent the unexplored memories of this significant historical event; the untold stories which allow an individual to gain a more global understanding on all dimensions of the implications and significance of certain moments in history. Becker also explores the importance of memory in accounting for the personal experience of history in Good Bye Lenin!  . When the Berlin wall falls, Becker uses montage and dialogue to suggest the limitations of the former German Democratic Republic and also represent new found freedom and the ability to experience new things on a personal level. The protagonist’s sister, Arianne, is featured in this montage trying out different cultural activities such as belly dancing and experiencing a relationship with a West German man. This construction of the responses to the fall of the German Democratic republic enables Becker to illustrate that when an historical event such as the fall of the Berlin wall occurs, it is personal experience and the emotions associated with the tangible events which enable a more global understanding of the actual historical event itself. To Arianne, and most likely to many others, the fall of the Berlin War was the fall of more than just physical barriers, and through Goodbye Lenin, Becker establishes this truth and validates the personal dimension of memory as that which contributes to a universal understanding of an historical event.

In the construction of a representation of history, it is individual and collective memory which conjures an understanding of the historical figure or event, yet it is historically accurate details and trivialities which authenticate such representations. Physical evidence and relevant historical details are essential in constructing both history and context as they create direct links to memory. Frears interweaves the imagined and the real into a believable representation of history, in order to tap into and make a connection with the collective memory and individual’s personal memories of the historic event. He achieves this through incorporating researched historical accuracies into the narrative. This is exemplified in the character of Cherie Blair, who is constructed to be critical of the Monarchy through dialogue and her actions, most notably when she offers a shallow curtsy to the Queen and calls the royals “a bunch of freeloading, emotionally retarded nutters.”  It is a widely accepted historical fact that Cherie Blair was an anti-monarchist who offered disrespectful curtsies only to the Queen. The inclusion of such a historical truth by Frears makes the representation of both history and memory more believable by creating a direct link to the historical understanding of Cherie Blair and the way that people remember her. Becker also inquires into the importance of historical accuracies in representing history through his construction of Alex’s reaction to his mother waking up from her coma, after the German Democratic Republic she loved so greatly had collapsed. Alex changes their apartment to the way it was before the wall fell in order to reconstruct her old world by means of physical signifiers. He collects evidence from before the wall fell, such as foods and furniture that his mother was used to, and pieces it together to form a reconstruction of the past. This reconstruction is symbolized by the pretend “News Reports” Alexander and his friend Dennis film and present to Christiane as real to cover up the increasing presence of symbols of the West such as giant Coke billboards. Alex’s concealment of the impact of Westernization with signifiers from his mother’s memory is Becker’s way of demonstrating how essential physical evidence is in constructing history and context by creating a direct link to memory.

History can only be recorded retrospectively; hence, to a degree it relies on memory. The interplay of history and memory therefore can result in new understandings of events and people, ones which are now reshaped and coloured by individual and collective memories. In the post modern era, history has lost its monopoly over the production and conservation of the past, and memory has developed independently. Frears explores this notion in The Queen through his representation of collective memory.  Archival footage which is weaved into the film communicates a particular collective memory, which is in many ways just as relevant to the actual death of Princess Diana as the car crash itself. The archival footage is an authentic means of representing memories synonymous with the death of Diana-grown men exploding in tears at the news of her death, mountains of flowers outside Buckingham palace and irate Britons expressing their anger at the monarchy’s failure to respond to their needs.  Frears, through the inclusion of such footage, is attempting to represent how a particular collective memory can reshape and impact on the way an historical event, in this case the death of Princess Diana, is remembered and referred to in the future.  Becker also represents the dynamic relationship between memory and history in the final scenes of Goodbye Lenin. In his final charade, Alex changes the way his mother will remember the fall of the German Democratic Republic through a pretend news report in which he gives “the GDR the send-off it deserved.”  Becker references the fact that memory can reshape and colour the way historical events are represented and referred to, and goes beyond this to inquire into the nature of humans to romanticize their own individual memories of historical events when Alex comments that “The GDR I created for her increasingly became the one I might have wished for.”

Through literature, the concepts of history and memory are explored and appreciated as separate entities and also as interconnected elements that unlock our understanding of the past. History and memory provide both complementary and conflicting understandings of human and personal experience, yet together constitute a source of understanding on all levels of the events and people before the present. In both The Queen and Goodbye Lenin, Frears and Becker use filmic techniques to represent the relevance of memory in enabling a more universal understanding of history, the importance of historical accuracies to re-enact history and link it to memory, and the way in which memory can colour an understanding of certain historic events.

Sample Essay Advanced English Module A Elective One: Exploring Connections. Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice

One of the biggest complaints students have about the way their teachers mark essays is that they criticize what they have done without ever actually showing them what a good essay should look like and how they could have or should have written their essay.

The following essay structure can be adapted to answer questions for any of the electives in Module A Advanced English. This essay received a mark of 19 out of 20 and may be used as a guide for writing essays about this topic.

Question: A reading of Letters to Alice changes the modern responder’s understanding of Pride and Prejudice. Discuss with reference to both texts.

Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice on First reading Jane Austen, through the didactic literary form of an epistolic novel, serves to encourage a heightened understanding of the values and contemporary issues of Jane Austen’s cultural context. In doing so, it inspires the modern responder to adopt more holistic appreciation for the plight of the characters and the values inherent in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Through the inclusion of relevant contextual information from Austen’s time and didactic assertions of the fictional character Aunt Fay, Weldon implores the responder to accept her opinions on the values and issues of Austen’s context. Weldon’s discussion of these, which include marriage, social class and the role and expectations of women within society, transforms a modern responders understanding of the themes and morals explored in Pride and Prejudice, and moreover, alters the way in which the responder perceives the events and decisions of the characters within the novel.

The fundamental importance and value assigned to marriage in the context of Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice is reinforced through Weldon’s discussion of the options for women outside marriage and its purpose of providing financial security for women. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen constructs Charlotte Lucas as a character who does not think “highly of either men or matrimony”, and hence she marries Mr Collins despite not loving him, to ensure her financial security and elevate her position within society. Mrs Bennet echoes Charlotte’s sentiments, as the “business of her life was to get her daughters married,” because she knew they would not be provided for after the death of her husband. In Letters to Alice, Weldon asserts that before reading Jane Austen, Alice “Must understand.. the world in which Jane Austen was born.” As contemporary responders, this advice rings true as only a small glimpse into Austen’s world is given through Pride and Prejudice, hence, it is difficult to understand why marriage was so important to the women of the time. Weldon assists the responder to comprehend the significance of Marriage as a theme in Pride and Prejudice and as the ideal state of existence within the time, by highlighting the differences between the contemporary value assigned to marriage and the value assigned in Austen’s time. She satirically comments that marriage “is the stuff of our women’s magazines, but it was the stuff of their life, their very existence.”

Weldon also assists the responder by including relevant contextual information and statistics to encourage the responder to see Mrs Bennet’s desperation to ensure her daughter’s married well and Charlotte’s decision to marry without love in a more holistic manner. Weldon informs the responder that “Only 30% of women married…So to marry was a great prize” and women “only lived well by their husband’s favour.” She also reinforces the few respectable options available outside marriage by including the fact that “there was 70,000 prostitutes in London in 1801, out of a female population of some 475,000,” and asserting that “Charlotte married so as not…to be left on ‘the shelve’.” This enables the responder to see the greater social and financial meaning behind Charlotte’s decision to marry without love, as the threat of facing life unsupported financially, eternally labelled as an “old maid, was very real to her. On a second reading of Pride and Prejudice with Weldon’s comments in mind, Charlotte’s choices, as well as Mrs Bennet’s desire to see one of her “daughters happily settled at Netherfield, and all the others equally well married” appear more realistic and sensible to the responder. The didactic achievements of Weldon’s text lie in this acceptance of Aunty Fay’s assertions and judgements, and the transformation  of Alice’s, and by extension the responder’s view of the theme of marriage and the value assigned to it within Pride and Prejudice.

Weldon’s exploration of the way Austen perceived class within the time assists and ultimately colours the responders understanding of the theme of social status and the value of stability and how these are expressed and criticised in Pride and Prejudice. In Austen’s novel, the distinctions between classes and the sense of stability and order created through a rigid class system are presented to the responder. This is seen when Elizabeth advises Mr Collins that the “honour must belong to Mr Darcy, the superior in consequence, to begin the acquaintance” when he tries to break protocol and introduce himself to Mr Darcy. However, it is also important to remember that whilst the characters of the novel conform to this innate value for class-based society, Austen also hints at the breaking down of the class system through Mr Darcy, as Weldon phrases it “marrying where he loved and not where he ought.” Weldon seeks to explain to the responder why and how Jane Austen explored this breaking down of the social hierarchy where she asserts one of her strongly drawn and confidently argued opinions to the responder. Weldon asserts that “Jane Austen likes to see the division between nobility and gentry broken down,” and adds that “Elizabeth Bennet brought neither land nor money to Mr Darcy-but she brought intelligence, vigour and honesty.” Through this, the responder is persuaded to adopt a new understanding of why Austen explores and criticises social class in her novel. On a second reading of the novel, the effect of this is that the responder is able to recognise that Austen through Elizabeth Bennet is attempting to expose the flaws and superficial nature of class divisions, and thus triumph personal traits such as intelligence and honesty over the established conventions of class within society.

Weldon, through presenting an overview of what life was like for a woman in Jane Austen’s time, serves to enhance the responders understanding of the gender roles and expectations implicitly and explicitly referred to in pride and prejudice. In Pride and prejudice, Mrs Bennet is constructed as a woman in an ill-suited marriage who has the supposedly enormous task of ensuring her daughters are married. Her only solace, Austen tells the responder in a satirical tone, “was visiting and news.” The responder is encouraged to laugh and look down upon Mrs Bennet by Austen, more so than her husband even though he is equally as ridiculous in his own way. In Letters to Alice, Weldon encourages the responder to put themselves in the position of women such as Mrs Bennet who had to endure a marriage without love and childbirth, which assists the responder to reshape and challenge their understanding of a woman’s role in Pride and Prejudice. She contextualises what life was like for a woman through a description of the stages of life, emphasising that “if the choice at childbirth was between the mother and child, the mother was the one to go.” Weldon also plays on Alice’s and the responder’s understanding of the role of women within the modern context to reinforce the difficulties women faced in Austen’s time where she asserts “Alice, by your standards, it was a horrible time to be alive.”  The combined effect of these assertions by Weldon is the facilitation of a more holistic understanding of the plight of women within Austen’s time by the responder, and on a second reading of Pride and Prejudice, a greater empathy for women such as Mrs Bennet and the issues that confronted women of the time.

Through contextualisation and discussion of some of the significant issues and values of Jane Austen’s time, Weldon’s “Letters to Alice” serves to enhance and colour the responder’s understanding of the themes and morals evident in Pride and Prejudice. Weldon’s discussion of these fundamental themes and values which include marriage, social class and the role and expectations of women within society, provide the contextual background for a more holistic appreciation of the main characters actions and values within the novel. This in turn, encourages a heightened degree of empathy for the characters and a deeper understanding of the issues and themes explored and questioned by Austen in Pride and Prejudice.

Practice Questions for Advanced Module B: W.B Yeats

Most students consider Module B to be the most difficult of all three modules. It requires a close knowledge of text and language forms and features used to create meaning within texts. Refine your skills and test your knowledge with the following questions:

• How is your personal response to the poetry of Yeats shaped by a perception of voice in the poems? In your answer, refer to THREE of the poems set for study. (2009 Catholic Trial)

• A valuable text has something to say and says it well. How valid is this claim, considering the different contexts in which a text can be received? In your response compare your evaluation of Yeats’ poetry with one other perspective on his work. Base your discussion on close analysis of at least TWO poems. (2009 ETA Trial)

• Write a series of three or four reflections that demonstrate how your response to William Butler Yeats’ poetry changed and developed during the process of your critical study. Base your reflections on a detailed examination of TWO or THREE of Yeats’ poems. (2009 Independent Trial)

• “A text has value if it creates opportunities for change, while maintaining its core values.” Explore this notion in relation to your text set for study.

• A key aspect of the poetry’s ongoing appeal is Yeats’ use of meaningful structure.  In your view, to what extent does the structure contribute to the appeal of Yeats’ poetry? Support your evaluation with detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems prescribed for study.

• How has considering other interpretations of Yeats’ poetry helped you develop your own appreciation of the textual integrity of the poetry? In your response you should consider the ideas, poetic techniques and structure of at least TWO of Yeats’ poems prescribed for study.

• Tension between individuals and life experiences create interest in the poetry of W.B Yeats. Discuss in reference to two poems.

Practice Questions for Standard English Module C: Into the world

2010 HSC

‘The experience of moving into the world can challenge individuals’ attitudes and beliefs.’

Discuss this view with reference to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.

2009 HSC

Individuals venturing into new experiences may encounter obstacles, but may also gain significant rewards.

Do you agree with this perspective? In your response, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.

 

• Write the transcript of a radio program called Times of Transition. In your transcript, highlight how features of texts reveal attitudes to the worlds that open to individuals.
• You have been asked to host a segment of an evening radio programme, called Focus, which looks at a variety of contemporary issues. For this segment, you are going to interview 2 or 3 HSC students about what they have learnt in this elective about the impact of new experiences on individuals. Write the transcript of this interview. (Independent 2008 Trial)
• ‘Individuals moving into the world are increasingly involved in having to make moral or social choices.’ To what extent do you agree with this view? (Independent 2009 Trial)
• The struggles of moving into the world are worth the effort.
• “Transitions into a new and unfamiliar world result in change“. Do you agree?

• Significant experiences in people’s lives provide opportunities for growth and development. Write a persuasive argument to support this statement. In your response, refer closely to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing. (2010 CSSA Trial)

Download this post as a word document 17.07.11 – Practice Questions

 

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We all have a lot to learn from other people’s mistakes. Following on from this notion, each year the board of studies publishes a document with markers comments that give general feedback and provide some insight into what the markers will be looking for in your responses.

Here are some helpful links to the markers comments straight from the BOS:

English Standard and Advanced

English (ESL)

English Extension 1

English Extension 2

Practice Questions for Frankenstein and Blade Runner (Advanced English Module A, Elective 2: Texts in Time.)

One of the most challenging things about writing an English paper is maintaining a good flow whilst answering the question effectively. Memorizing what you want to say would help if you knew the question at hand but each year the HSC questions change which means you need to develop a skill other than memorization. As you write you want to maintain a decent structure and pepper in your themes along the way. Practicing a variety of questions will get your brain working on deeper critical skills that will help you in the long run where memorizing will not. We have prepared a list of practice questions that can be used to build a holistic skillset.

• HSC 2010:

Analyse how Frankenstein and Blade Runner imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of their times.

• HSC 2009:

‘A deeper understanding of disruption and identity emerges from considering the parallels between Frankenstein and Blade Runner.’

• Compare how these texts explore disruption and identity.

• The creators of Frankenstein and Blade Runner have anchored their visions in the social and cultural realities of their time. Despite contextual differences, however, at the heart of both texts is a fear that we may not be able to control what we create. Is this your view of these texts.

• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, and Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, share many common attributes, most notably, that time has demonstrated both texts’ significance to society. Explore this statement.

• To what extent do the two texts present similar or different criticisms of society?

• Similar issues, explored in different contexts, may reflect changes in values and perspectives. How is this demonstrated in the comparison of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner?

• In spite of different contexts and values, both Shelley and Scott are concerned with the question of what constitutes true humanity. Explore this statement.

• “What does it mean to be human?” Explore this statement in relation to Blade Runner and Frankenstein.

• Both Frankenstein and Blade Runner share a common premise. If humanity, through scientific advancement, is able to create life artificially, then ethical quandary will arise. How are the relationships between the creator and created used by Scott and Shelley to illustrate a common premise. In your response also explore how they reflect societal concerns of the time in which they were composed.

• Compare the ways in which both texts offer insights into the human experience. (CSSA 2009 Trial)

• ‘Despite having been composed in different times texts can reflect the enduring values which human beings share.’ To what extent do the two ‘Texts in Time’ you have studied lead you to accept this statement?

• ‘The values of each age are reflected in the texts which are composed in them.’ To what extent do the two ‘Texts in Time’ you have studied lead you to accept this statement?

• To what extent does the time in which composers live influence their response to enduring human concerns? Discuss with reference to your two prescribed texts.

• ” The most interesting aspect of texts written in different times is seeing the differences in what people value.” Evaluate this opinion in relation to the novel, Frankenstein, and the film, Blade Runner. In your response make detailed references to both texts. (Independent 2009 Trial)

• While texts are products of their times, the composers of each text are both concerned that the quest for understanding and knowledge has left our values vulnerable.

• The significant similarities between the texts are more important than their difference. Explore this statement by making close reference to the TWO texts you have studied.

• Does Blade Runner enhance or trivialise Shelley’s Frankenstein? Support your view by referring to your TWO prescribed texts in detail. (ETA 2009 Trial)

•  The notion of responsibility is the critical connection between Frankenstein and Blade Runner. (ETA 2009 Trial)

• “The key to understanding anything is to understand its value in its time and our own.” Discuss this proposition in relation to both texts set for study.

• ‘Texts on their own are interesting but when you compare them to other texts they become illuminating and dynamic.’ How has your exploration of the shared ideas of Frankenstein and Blade Runner – Director’s Cut moved you to a heightened appreciation of each text?

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Module A: Elective 1- Exploring Connections

The first elective in module A focuses on the connections between texts and the benefits of looking at connections between texts that exist across time.

The syllabus states that students will explore “meanings of a pair of texts and how they can be shaped and reshaped by considering the nature of the connections between them.” Basically, they want you to look at and give good examples of how the meaning and your understanding of any given text may be shaped and changed by connections between that text and another text.

Exploring connections is very much a value and context study. Values are hard to define but the basic idea is that a value is something an individual or group gives significance to, such as scientific progress or more generally, intelligence. Context is, as it says in the syllabus, exploring connections between texts will “enhance understanding of the values and contexts of each text.” You need to make it clear that the connections between the texts have helped you to understand the context and values of the time in which one of the texts was composed.

Remember to check back often, more modules will be being posted up over the coming weeks.