VCE English Question Thread

[Quantum44]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how do you incorporate the history of the novel into your text response??

As patriciarose said, the introduction is usually the best place for sociopolitical/historical context of the novel as it's always nice to drop some knowledge before getting into the groove of your essay.

Being able to discuss the context further in your essay without sounding awkward really depends on the prompt. Often the prompt invites a cultural interpretation of the novel and you can use a paragraph to support your contention by linking themes, characters or structural features of the text to the sociopolitical landscape of the time period. But sometimes that is simply not possible and you just have to accept it.

[Sine]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how do you incorporate the history of the novel into your text response??

definitely have something explicit about the historical significance in the introduction and I feel if you want to discuss it later on it'll have to be more implicit or related to your prompt

[agnesbenjamin]

Figuring how to work this website but that's beside the point. I was just wondering if you could tell me if we need a conclusion in the language analysis. In one of the lectures I attended, the lecturer said you don't even need one for that section.

[clarke54321]

Figuring how to work this website but that's beside the point. I was just wondering if you could tell me if we need a conclusion in the language analysis. In one of the lectures I attended, the lecturer said you don't even need one for that section.

Hey!

First of all, welcome to AN

For the argument analysis, the conclusion is really only a structural feature. It's a nice way to wrap things up. But in saying that, I know of people who have scored a 10 for this section without even including it. Nearly all of your marks for this section will come from your body paragraphs and the analysis itself.

Therefore to answer your question, I'd say yes to be safe. However, if you run out of time and have to leave it out, don't stress!

[patriciarose]

Figuring how to work this website but that's beside the point. I was just wondering if you could tell me if we need a conclusion in the language analysis. In one of the lectures I attended, the lecturer said you don't even need one for that section.

so far as i know, there are no marks designated for a conclusion! but since just cutting your analysis off abruptly isn't the best way to finish, it makes sense either to have a conclusion of a sentence or two, or to draw everything to a close in your last paragraph. but definitely don't waste ten minutes writing three or four sentences for a separate conclusion! there's no point in that because there aren't marks given out for it, so all you need is for your essay to be clearly 'finished' so that overall it looks great when the marker is reading it (: but i'm only a year twelve student this year so take my advice with a grain spoonful of salt haha.

[littledreamer]

just wanted to know when is a good time to start timing 1 hour essays? I've been doing a few essays these holidays and can never make the one hour cut off I'm getting worried but wanted to know what you guys think and how you guys are going with the 1 hour time limit?

Thanks

[patriciarose]

i don't have an answer to the question part of that, but if it makes you feel better, i'm in the same boat (and i think we're sharing it with half of victoria lmao) i can manage it when i have reading time but otherwise, no. i feel like it'll probably improve naturally for us though because we'll get better at writing the essay type and should gradually speed up. we do have a fair amount of time to get there though! (:

[zhen]

just wanted to know when is a good time to start timing 1 hour essays? I've been doing a few essays these holidays and can never make the one hour cut off I'm getting worried but wanted to know what you guys think and how you guys are going with the 1 hour time limit?

Thanks

Today, I did an argument analysis essay for tutoring in an hour with 15 minutes reading time and I came out thinking that it was the worst essay I wrote all year long. It was completely different from my SAC where I 90 minutes writing time (I think) and also got reading time. For my SAC I could afford to just stop and think of ways to appropriately express myself and analyse the piece in depth, but for my timed essay if I stopped I felt like I was falling behind. I feel like coming out of that, I realise that I should start doing more timed essays, since it felt like I was just rushing through it and sacrificing heaps of depth so that I could finish my essay. I also missed out on chunks of the text which I thought could have been analysed really well. Overall, I think I'm in the same boat as everyone, since right now I can't even make a half decent essay in timed conditions. So, I guess don't feel too bad about not being able to do an essay in an hour right now since most year 12 students should be in the same situation (I hope). Personally, I plan on doing more timed essays after my UMAT which is coming up really soon. Sorry for the long rant, I needed to vent out my frustration.

[scout]

Today, I did an argument analysis essay for tutoring in an hour with 15 minutes reading time and I came out thinking that it was the worst essay I wrote all year long. It was completely different from my SAC where I 90 minutes writing time (I think) and also got reading time. For my SAC I could afford to just stop and think of ways to appropriately express myself and analyse the piece in depth, but for my timed essay if I stopped I felt like I was falling behind. I feel like coming out of that, I realise that I should start doing more timed essays, since it felt like I was just rushing through it and sacrificing heaps of depth so that I could finish my essay. I also missed out on chunks of the text which I thought could have been analysed really well. Overall, I think I'm in the same boat as everyone, since right now I can't even make a half decent essay in timed conditions. So, I guess don't feel too bad about not being able to do an essay in an hour right now since most year 12 students should be in the same situation (I hope). Personally, I plan on doing more timed essays after my UMAT which is coming up really soon. Sorry for the long rant, I needed to vent out my frustration.

100% agree.

Best of luck for the UMAT, zhen. 

[Quantum44]

just wanted to know when is a good time to start timing 1 hour essays? I've been doing a few essays these holidays and can never make the one hour cut off I'm getting worried but wanted to know what you guys think and how you guys are going with the 1 hour time limit?

Thanks

I haven't been brave enough to try any 1 hour essays yet. I struggle putting out 3 pages in 90 mins, I can't imagine doing that in an hour. I probably wouldn't worry too much about it now, I'm planning on starting 60 min essays after the comparative SAC.

[TheCommando]

Where can i find compartive resources on here
How do i write a A+ peice and what can i do to get an A+ etc

As well how do i discuss complexities and nuances of the topic.

[lilyrosee]

Hey guys,

I just did my oral presentation which was meant to be in the range of 5-6 minutes. My oral got 6 minutes and 22 seconds. Will I get marked down for going over the limit??

[Sine]

Hey guys,

I just did my oral presentation which was meant to be in the range of 5-6 minutes. My oral got 6 minutes and 22 seconds. Will I get marked down for going over the limit??

Personally i dont think that should be an  issue. I think teachers will start getting concerned if its too short e.g below 3 minutes or 8+ mins. However i don't know about your teacher.

But i really dont think 22s is a big deal

Definitly the content is much more important!!

[patriciarose]

good luck for the umat zhen and anyone else sitting it!

Hey guys,
I just did my oral presentation which was meant to be in the range of 5-6 minutes. My oral got 6 minutes and 22 seconds. Will I get marked down for going over the limit??

it's subjective tbh. my friend's school did mark them down for that, mine just stopped marking at the cutoff, so anything we said afterwards wouldn't be counted, but i know another school that was super lenient with their timeframe. you'd need to ask your teacher to know (: but marking you down seems pretty unfair, normally 30+ seconds would be when they start getting iffy about timing.

[lilyrosee]

Personally i dont think that should be an  issue. I think teachers will start getting concerned if its too short e.g below 3 minutes or 8+ mins. However i don't know about your teacher.

But i really dont think 22s is a big deal

Definitly the content is much more important!!

Thanks for the reassurance. I think my content was good and a few people walking out said they would be surprised if I lose any marks for it so I am hoping that the teachers do not deduct any marks just because of 22 seconds.

good luck for the umat zhen and anyone else sitting it!

it's subjective tbh. my friend's school did mark them down for that, mine just stopped marking at the cutoff, so anything we said afterwards wouldn't be counted, but i know another school that was super lenient with their timeframe. you'd need to ask your teacher to know (: but marking you down seems pretty unfair, normally 30+ seconds would be when they start getting iffy about timing.

At my school they have one of the students timing each person on their phone so they didn't know what time it was until afterwards. I hope they lenient because they wouldn't know when the student started timing and when they stopped e.g. they could have started the timer a few seconds before my speech or stopped it a few seconds afterwards.