Literature Exam!

[iamdan08]

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. 

[amycourty]

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

[Eriny]

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.

[iamdan08]

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?

[Eriny]

1000 words for each essay if possible. I'd say definitely over 800 words.

[ursus]

yeah vcaa says 400-1000 words for each essay, but length will not be a major consideration when marking.

[julezian]

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 .

[florallover]

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

[florallover]

ahh i meant amycourty, sorry. damn you two amys!

[bridgethuss]

i am currently taking a break from lit study, i just cant stand john kinsella poetry anymore....
im so over lit

[amyminchin]

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

[florallover]

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.

[amycourty]

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.

[julezian]

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!

 

[amycourty]

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