ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Literature => Topic started by: iamdan08 on October 20, 2008, 09:49:04 pm
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Well the lit exam is fast approaching, and i was just wondering if anyone who did lit last year or even this year has any advice/hints for the exam and preparation in the lead up to it. :)
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know your stuff,
revise all your notes
do practise essays timed
our teacher said, especially for the poems essay (we're doing john donne) to basically memorise paragraphs that u'v written and then in the exam, use them, plus detailed discussion of the selected poems. seeings as there's only 11, its not too hard.
with king lear however, he said just keep doing practice essays, know key speeches off by heart and yeah just know your stuff.
dnno if theyr ur texts though
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Have really good notes about what you'd think you'd like to talk about on the exam in relation to each text. This might be assisted by looking at critical essays on your texts (if you need some, I'm quite happy to use my university privileges to search online journal articles for you and post them here, just ask). Write a lot, do at least one exam under timed conditions, and if you can't be bothered doing practice essays, do practice plans. Re-read and annotate your texts like a crazy person. And enjoy it! Become an expert on your texts.
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Thanks guys, only 16 days until the exam!! Still seems like a while away. :)
I think this may have been asked this before but what is the minimum amount of words i should be aiming for per essay. I know its quality not quantity, but my teacher said the more the better. Opinions?
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1000 words for each essay if possible. I'd say definitely over 800 words.
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yeah vcaa says 400-1000 words for each essay, but length will not be a major consideration when marking.
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know your stuff,
revise all your notes
do practise essays timed
our teacher said, especially for the poems essay (we're doing john donne) to basically memorise paragraphs that u'v written and then in the exam, use them, plus detailed discussion of the selected poems. seeings as there's only 11, its not too hard.
with king lear however, he said just keep doing practice essays, know key speeches off by heart and yeah just know your stuff.
dnno if theyr ur texts though
really?
the markers will be able to tell straight away if your plonking memorized slabs of information into your essays
all the assessors have heavily advised against any prepared answers being simply rewritten in the exam
the exam is all about analysing the language in the passages and making links to the text or works as a whole and how the language implictly suggests the views and values of the author.
i'm not attacking you, i just think that everyone should really consider what passages/poems are provided on the day and make meaningful connections and not just a few weak linking sentences inbetween memorized responses because it will harm the coherence of your piece :).
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but the poster (amyminchin... sorry i dont know how to quote peoples posts or anything like that) wasn't suggesting memorising entire essays. not sure if you (julezian) are doing poetry but its a little different - if you've memorised analysis that youve written on the poetry, and those poems come up, then they are highly relevant. sure theres a problem if someone just writes three separate analyses with no sense of coherence between them, but if they're intricately worked pieces then they won't just be language analysis, but would have an interpretation woven into them that amyminchin or anyone else would be then able to make links between during the exam. i do understand where youre coming from in that its a bit of a dangerous thing to do, but with poetry you can take that risk i think.
i have to say amyminchin, if youve managed to memorise 18 pieces (dividing satire into 3 and mistress into 2) then i salute you- i havent memorised any, just going to go into the exam and see what happens :(
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ahh i meant amycourty, sorry. damn you two amys!
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i am currently taking a break from lit study, i just cant stand john kinsella poetry anymore....
im so over lit
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lol. i was SO confused for a little while there.
I disagree with learning memorised paragraphs for poetry. Regarding the exam it's far benefitial to develop your intepretation before hand and then look for applicable links within the poetry and link the three poems to each other and too the rest of the text, like of course you're going to do some copy paste work regarding what certain techniques etc are usggesting but I don't think memorising paragraphs is a very good idea at all.
But hey, whatever floats your boat
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yeah to be honest its not an approach id take either. but im just saying, especially if youre not confident, memorising paragraphs isnt going to suddenly bring you down to a 20.
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yeah no i didnt mean to memorise the whole essay. im just saying however, that if you have key ideas, for each poem. Written in a nice neat little sentence, then if it does pop up on the exam (that poem) then you're set, as you already know exactly what you want to say.
i think it goes especially with Donne, because there is something like 11 or 12 poems (and they're not that long), and if you know your links between each poem, especially with the religious and love poetry, then it will be easier when it comes to the exam to get what you want to say out. for example,, say valediction comes in the exam,
i would use stuff from my practise essays.
The speaker and his mistress “melt apart, slowly and gently, in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. Teamed with the gentle, whispered sibilance of the opening lines of this poem, Donne reiterates the stillness, and the slow parting of a couple whose love is so much refined and “inter-assurèd of the mind.” Their love contains a quality that cannot be separated and is similar to the love contained in The Canonization – like a phoenix, which burns and rekindles, ‘dies’ and comes back just as strong as ever. Donne asserts that their love is the most refined element, “like gold to airy thinness beat” and no matter how far away this departure takes him, they will be connected, like a painstakingly thin sheet of gold. The intense power of the speakers imagination makes the impossible possible. This is an image of rarefied beauty, one that unites the sold and tangible with the ethereal and insubstantial. It is an outstanding declaration which makes the unachievable seem achievable, which makes it possible for “round earth’s imagined corners” to exist.
etc.
i never meant for anyone to memorise a whole essay and do it like that ! haha . just knowing your stuff, and having pre-prepared killer phrases in the case that that poem is one of the set passages in the exam.
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yeah no i didnt mean to memorise the whole essay. im just saying however, that if you have key ideas, for each poem. Written in a nice neat little sentence, then if it does pop up on the exam (that poem) then you're set, as you already know exactly what you want to say.
i think it goes especially with Donne, because there is something like 11 or 12 poems (and they're not that long), and if you know your links between each poem, especially with the religious and love poetry, then it will be easier when it comes to the exam to get what you want to say out. for example,, say valediction comes in the exam,
i would use stuff from my practise essays.
The speaker and his mistress “melt apart, slowly and gently, in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. Teamed with the gentle, whispered sibilance of the opening lines of this poem, Donne reiterates the stillness, and the slow parting of a couple whose love is so much refined and “inter-assurèd of the mind.” Their love contains a quality that cannot be separated and is similar to the love contained in The Canonization – like a phoenix, which burns and rekindles, ‘dies’ and comes back just as strong as ever. Donne asserts that their love is the most refined element, “like gold to airy thinness beat” and no matter how far away this departure takes him, they will be connected, like a painstakingly thin sheet of gold. The intense power of the speakers imagination makes the impossible possible. This is an image of rarefied beauty, one that unites the sold and tangible with the ethereal and insubstantial. It is an outstanding declaration which makes the unachievable seem achievable, which makes it possible for “round earth’s imagined corners” to exist.
etc.
i never meant for anyone to memorise a whole essay and do it like that ! haha . just knowing your stuff, and having pre-prepared killer phrases in the case that that poem is one of the set passages in the exam.
yeah.. lol sorry i didn't think you meant that either
your expression is awesome, but i think your mentioning too many poems in a short space, I got marked down coz i 'name dropped' poems and didn't relate it to specific and relevant poems using textual evidence. Only because it kind of jumps from poem to poem and its gets a little confusing.
Also the round earth's imagined corners reference is abit obscure.. it's more of a metaphysical reference to a map (map is square, but earth is round) rater than acheiving the unachievable.. especially seeing as the 'round corners' is more of a religiously inclined poem than Valediction which is more of defying the nature of physical separation and celebrating deep love :)
anyway... not meaning to sound like a douche lol but i'm sure i am
just didn't want you to lose marks!
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haha douche. funny word nah u dont at all sound like a 'douche' . i never understood that word. so american it seems. in french it means shower. funny.
anyway nah its all good. . might hav a look through my poems for another example. if not . that gold to airy thinness beat is beautiful anyway. . .i used to hate john donne, but now i understand the poems more i like them
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To all doing Donne,
Why does he call To His Mistress an Elegy??
'Elegy' implies mourning. But what's he mourning? The loss of his lover's virginity/innocence?
"there is no penance due to innocence" = total contradiction if that's the case
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don't stress about it too much
titles are not that relevant for analysis except for naming the poem ^^
i think its pretty clear he isn't mourning anything, and he certainly isn't mourning the loss of her innocence
'to teach the i am naked first'
if anything he's encouraging it :P
Also in the collection his elegies are titled 'Love Elegies' so i dont think their the typical elegy..
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yeah agreed with julezian, just see them as a celebration. so is everyone doing donne then? i thought most wouldnt because its so hard (well i found it hard, obviously my teacher doesnt ;))...
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mm well i had the choice of Much Ado About Nothing, Regeneration and John Donne.
and i figured i'd be able to remember Donne better than a novel(regen).
I found it heaps hard at first.. but then i just stuck with it and it's become pretty fluid :D
although i haven't touched lit since wednesday :o... better get back on it tonight.. i'm forgetting so fast :(
which texts are you doing
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I'm doing Regeneration and Donne.
I love Regeneration, man I wish I could just write a massive essay on Regen in 2 hours instead of doing Donne.
Gah, if we get the rest of Satire III I'll cry... or Song, I hate Song.
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Our teacher hated satire so much that we just didnt do it as a class, but only because he reckoned it was time wasted, it didnt tie in too much with the others , etc.
hoping they dont do it though. .. was in 07 though, so maybe IT wont be this year
..
i dont really like hm,, elegy his picture
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i love satire :( so passionate, though it can get a little difficult to wrench things out of the second part with the 5 portraits. but yeah, i find his picture and song the hardest... thats why im trying to write on them right now, sigh
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It seems like my two texts are like, the least popular ones you can find.
Kinsella and Hotel Sorrento... :smitten:
Kinsella is a total freak, but it's easy to link his poems together. Hotel Sorrento is a bit of a challenge to prepare for because there are SO many possible passages that could be on the exam. Like, every scene is loaded with relevance. Luckily, it is a short play, so there's not a huge amount of choice but yeah. ALL possibilities and SO many themes. :) I'm lucky I like it.
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There's HEAPS of kids in my class writing on Hotel Sorrento, it's the most popular text.
My teacher's a raging feminist and spent half the term banging on about masculine dominance in Australia...so they're all hoping for a passage on Hil's oppression and the "brutalizing masculinity" of Australian culture.
will you be puttin a feminist spin on it?
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i love satire :( so passionate, though it can get a little difficult to wrench things out of the second part with the 5 portraits. but yeah, i find his picture and song the hardest... thats why im trying to write on them right now, sigh
lol please tell me there is an extremly low chance of it coming up this year since it was on 2007 :)
we never covered it in class, nor did i by myself, its just way too dense!
songs just like valediction.. in content.. i think
my god i need to study
but its like about separation as well isn't it,
the flea, good morrow, satire 3 part 1, the sun rising, valediction and death be not proud
are very likely NOT to be on the exam.. since they have already been this study design 2006-2007
the first three especially, one of the last 3 may pop up in a combination but doubt it.
i really hope hope hope they just avoid satire otherwise im just going to be like
.... Donne's belief in a deeper love transcending physical limitations evolved into his fervent religious inclinations as passionately addressed in Satire3.... as i did for the practice of last years :P
So that leaves...
Elegy 2 : To his mistress
His Picture
The Canonization
Song
The Anniversary
The Relic
At the Round Earth's imagined corners
A Hymn to Christ
Hymn to god.
lame they took all the good ones.. imma deff need to restudy..
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There's HEAPS of kids in my class writing on Hotel Sorrento, it's the most popular text.
My teacher's a raging feminist and spent half the term banging on about masculine dominance in Australia...so they're all hoping for a passage on Hil's oppression and the "brutalizing masculinity" of Australian culture.
will you be puttin a feminist spin on it?
no way! i'm doing an identity/belonging style essay i think, or maybe betrayal/trust/loyalty. i dont like the feminist aspect at all :S I'm not a raging feminist so i find it hard to put that spin on it.
i'll just talk about the distance and how its a metaphor for the emotional distance and both expat sisters are searching for something when they travel back to aus, one reconcilation and one a shallow longing for place.
or about how rayson suggests that truth is more important than loyalty because conflicting loyalties can cause undue guilt which generally affects the most innocent, TROY
omg i love Troy. if he was real... i would be all over him in a flash.
damn fictional characters
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Not too long to go now. I've done more practice essays for lit than english I reckon, craving that 40+ so hard. Anyone doing Washington Square? Also in terms of bringing in quotes from outside the passage, how much do you guys do it? I probably only use one or two quotes at most but talking to a few compadres from other schools they seem to do it a lot more. Just like to get an ideaaaaaa
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Also in terms of bringing in quotes from outside the passage, how much do you guys do it? I probably only use one or two quotes at most but talking to a few compadres from other schools they seem to do it a lot more. Just like to get an ideaaaaaa
ah well we've been told to use a fair few. The more the merrier he said, as long as its not tooo many
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aaaand we got told not to do any. so it probably doesnt matter as long as most of your discussion is based on the text.
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tomorrow after my biol exam im gonna have a hardcore lit session and just get as much done as possible.
for our last sac our teacher made us do heaps and heaps of "practise" sacs and the best mark you got would be the actual sac mark. so cut with mine i got 34/40 on my sense and sensibility one its my lowest mark of the year and did terrible things to my average. she said it was too general but didnt actually tell me specific parts i needed to improve on...so as far as the exam goes, i think ill be ok with s&s but NOT FOR KINSELLA AAAAHHH!
and want to hear the sad part? no student from my school who does lit (except for me, my sister, and my sisters friend) know ANY poetic devices...how sad is that....the other day i mentioned enjambment and one girl in my class was like WHAT IS THAT????
when i went to the VATE lecture with my sis and her friend, we were just overwhelmed and shocked....we didnt know anything! well we do know...so in a sense we have a slight advantage over the other students...BUT i dont think anyone from my school will get an A for this exam
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omg i love Troy. if he was real... i would be all over him in a flash.
damn fictional characters
BAHA!! Oh I totally agree! The movie Troy didn't quite live up to my fantasy Troy though =(
Y'know there's a facebook group called "I'm in love with fictional men"... They started with Robin Hood (as depicted in that BBC drama on the ABC a few months back) and it snowballed from there...I should add Troy to their list!
no student from my school who does lit (except for me, my sister, and my sisters friend) know ANY poetic devices...how sad is that....the other day i mentioned enjambment and one girl in my class was like WHAT IS THAT????
when i went to the VATE lecture with my sis and her friend, we were just overwhelmed and shocked....we didnt know anything!
Yeah my teacher said that some teachers refused to teach the poetic devices after kids just started listing them in the exam. She said that you don't need to know the technical terms for the poetic devices, so long as you put forth your own unique interpretation of the poems in your close analysis. I hope that helps?
VATE was fantastic, especially for Regeneration.
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this is the first year my teacher has taught yr 12 lit, so i think shes learning along the way?
VATE was such a great help tho : )
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There is a criteria fro the exam which is "analysis of the features of a text and how they contribute to an interpretation" and "analysis and close reading of textual details to support a coherent and detailed interpretation of the text" hence it is required that you make reference to use of language and how the authour has used language to inform meaning. So for poetry you would need to pass comment on language and poetic devices. (eg. describe how a simile informs meaning and assists the flow of the poets' argument)
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Haha sorry - I just read how much I was rambling!
Basically you need to discuss language in your essay to fulfill the exam criteria - but not necessarily label things as enjambment etc ...
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I'm totally in that group on facebook lol!! And yeah, movie= not quite as good, but still good. did you know he was in round the twist as pete for a while? I was so excited.
And yeah, discussion of language is essential. I feel so sorry that you didn't get an awesome teacher for lit! :( I can't imagine lit without my teacher. She's like an ENCYCLOPEDIA of lit knowledge! I LOVE her, :( I'll miss her so much.
Good luck everyone!
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It seems like my two texts are like, the least popular ones you can find.
Kinsella and Hotel Sorrento... :smitten:
yeah a lot of my friends from other schools have HS, some of whom are doing it for the exam
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I'm doing Regen and Hunting the Wild Pineapple for the exam, anyone else doing the latter?
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i can't be the only one stressing right lol
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No, you're most definitely not the only one stressing. Don't worry.
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dont stress.
JUST do your best
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im more tired than stressed, i have psych in the morning, then ill do a bit of lit study until 1pm where i have to go to this lunch for the announcement of the new school captains..i dont wanna give up my badge...then ill study a bit more and head into the lit exam
my god i am so tired..
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my god i am so tired..
Yes.
Brain. Hurts.
I hate analysing words.
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Yeah the nerves are starting to kick in. Just praying for good passages, then everything should be okay..
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I also have psych in the morning and then I have to go to an assembly to recieve the aston shield (community service award) and then lit... ahh so stressful. Ah well, c'mon passages!!
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Is it bad that the only study I've done tonight is for methods?
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No, I don't think there is that much you can do from this point. Just read over your notes perhaps, read the examination report perhaps.. that's what I'm doing anyway. I'll probably go to the library pretty soonish, so I'd just like to wish everyone the best of luck today and hope the passage gods are smiling upon us!!
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and hope the passage gods are smiling upon us!!
lol.
as flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. they kill us for their sport.
THE gods are not friendly king lear says.
they bring unhappiness and loss.
HAHA
nah good luck guys .
i really hope they're good passages
now just gotta concentrate on psych
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Edgar at least believes "the gods are just". Then agan, Edgar's such a lame character...
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20 minutes till the start of the lit exam :|