Advice for Literature students Hey everyone,
Having been in your position 2 years ago, anxiously awaiting the challenge of year 12 Lit, I thought I might give you some advice and a few tips in preparing for next year and what to expect.
Assessment tasksThe most challenging part of Literature, I believe, is understanding the requirements for the assessment tasks you will complete. Only by understanding
exactly what is required, will you be able to score highly.
There are 5 assessment tasks you will complete in class throughout the year, these being:
- Adaptations and transformations
- Views, values and contexts
- Considering alternative viewpoints
- Creative responses to texts
- Close Analysis
As early as possible, know which assessment task will be assigned to each text, as this will enable you to start thinking about what will be required of you whilst you are studying it. You may find that your teacher will not follow the exact order of tasks listed on VCAA (this doesn't really matter). I also recommend you have a read through the study design as this gives you a brief overview of the course
and assessment tasks so that you know what is expected of you throughout the year. Units 3 and 4 Lit are from page 20 onwards. Link:
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/literature/literaturestd.pdfThe study design gives you the essentials of what is required of you in the assessment tasks. If you do not understand everything that is expected of you, make sure you interrogate your teacher until you do. Alternatively, you can ask here
.
Summer preparationI recommend that you read your texts more than once. The summer holidays (
NOW!) is the best time to start. I suggest that whilst reading through the text for the first time, you write down anything that you find interesting or strikes you as important to the text as a whole. These initial ideas will be your own and will be unbiased by teachers, students and other resources. Examiners (including your teacher) will mark original ideas favourably (as long as they are plausible). Reading through a text a second, and even third time will help develop your understanding and familiarity with the text. You will be surprised at the things you pick up on that you may have initially missed in your first readings.
ExamI cannot stress enough the importance of preparing as early as possible for the exam. Do not make the mistake of leaving exam preparation too late, as the task in the exam is different to most of the tasks you will do throughout the year (except the last “close analysis” task). Practise writing on passages and ask/force your teacher to correct them, read high scoring responses, fine tune all your ideas and the interpretations you have developed throughout the year, and most importantly, learn from you mistakes. Only through practice will you improve.
Please note: Not all the texts you study throughout the year you can write on in the exam. Only “List B” texts are on the exam, so look at the texts you are studying and work out what your options are for the exam. The link is
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/correspondence/bulletins/2009/feb/2009FEBSUP3.pdf and go to page 9 (the lit section).
I also suggest you have a look at the assessment reports and understand common errors made by students, as well as reading “high scoring responses” to gain an idea as to what level you should be aiming to write at. Don’t feel intimidated by reading these or even by reading through the exam itself. You have a whole year to prepare, and you will be amazed by how much you will improve throughout the year as you work towards the exam.
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Best of luck to everyone. Work hard and you will be rewarded.
If you have anything else to add, please do and I will include it.