VCE English Question Thread

[K888]

Hey guys,
In for Section C, if there are many comments accompanied by the main piece, do we have to analyse every single one of them? Are we allowed to leave one or two out?
Thanks

You should analyse everything - obviously, if they're just small comments, you don't need to do a large analysis, but you need to show the examiner that you've read and considered everything If you don't mention every comment, then your analysis won't be as comprehensive, and you won't have shown that you've considered all the sides to the story (if that's what you want to call it), so you'll lose marks.

Hope this helped!

[Sine]

Hey guys,
In for Section C, if there are many comments accompanied by the main piece, do we h ave to analyse every single one of them? Are we allowed to leave one or two out?
Thanks

if there are comments I would best try to analyse them on it's own (e.g. a seperate paragraph) and then try to show and differences or similarities between them and the main piece of writing.

[simrat99]

You should analyse everything - obviously, if they're just small comments, you don't need to do a large analysis, but you need to show the examiner that you've read and considered everything If you don't mention every comment, then your analysis won't be as comprehensive, and you won't have shown that you've considered all the sides to the story (if that's what you want to call it), so you'll lose marks.

Hope this helped!

if there are comments I would best try to analyse them on it's own (e.g. a seperate paragraph) and then try to show and differences or similarities between them and the main piece of writing.

Thanks a lot!

[pmmenotes]

Hey guys so i've written a couple really good (according to teachers/tutor lol)  english essays for Medea and i want to memorise one of them that im hoping to regurgitate in the exam if the essay question is similar enough (revenge/justice etc). Anyways my question is what are you guys doing? Is anyone else memorising there pieces?

[LifeisaConstantStruggle]

Hey guys so i've written a couple really good (according to teachers/tutor lol)  english essays for Medea and i want to memorise one of them that im hoping to regurgitate in the exam if the essay question is similar enough (revenge/justice etc). Anyways my question is what are you guys doing? Is anyone else memorising there pieces?

BRUH that's brave, considering the variation of prompts on Medea, some questions might look similar, but can be very different if you dissect it, and tbh regurgitating the same essay just because there's some similar parts wouldn't be ideal. I have a friend who did exactly that in his practice exam (memorised comparative and Medea) and got an 8 (comparative)/4 (Medea)/8 (AA) because even though the topics are fairly general (passion-reason), answering the question should be more important. (if you struggle with spontaneously constructing sentences then yeah you can memorise, but if you don't modify your memorised sentences in the exam it's gonna work against you, just don't overdo it).

I do regular plans on Medea, and save it all in a word document, so I'd refer to it regularly, and it actually helps me form complex arguments and think of heaps of examples quickly, so yeah.

[clarke54321]

Hey guys so i've written a couple really good (according to teachers/tutor lol)  english essays for Medea and i want to memorise one of them that im hoping to regurgitate in the exam if the essay question is similar enough (revenge/justice etc). Anyways my question is what are you guys doing? Is anyone else memorising there pieces?

I agree with what LifeisaConstantStruggle said. Know how to manipulate memorised essays. In all honesty, one can't go into the exam without having ideas/quotes/arguments memorised to some degree. The best essays just know how to break down and fit this pre-planned knowledge to the relevant prompt.

[halo]

Hi everyone. So recently, halfway through writing an essay (just finished body para 1 and starting on second one) I got "stuck" because I realised that 2 of my ideas were quite similar, and that I'd essentially be essentially repeating myself in body para 2 and 3. My instincts were to plan again and rewrite my essay (or at least my intro), but I probably won't have the time to do that in the exam, so I was wondering does anyone have any advice on what I should do in such a situation? Should I just keep writing, leaving my essay at two body paras, or try to desperately differentiate my remaining ideas?

Also, I guess this shows that I absolutely suck at planning. So does anyone have a foolproof method of planning they're willing to share? I especially want to know how to make sure you come up with 3 DIFFERENT ideas that are relevant to the prompt (and aren't topic dodges or anything).

Thank you so much :3

[chantelle.salisbury]

i was wondering how to address the theme of justice in the novel 'The Lieutenant'?
a sample topic is 16.   How is the importance of justice addressed in the novel ‘The Lieutenant’?
how would i set out my paragraphs and can you include relationships and how people treat each other, or is this straying too far from the topic?

thankyou

[dec.hargreaves]

This is probably a long shot, but does anyone know how to address a 'how' question in section B. i.e. compare the portrayals of family in Tracks and Into the Wild. i can get an alright score for it (60-65%) but wouldn't mind bumping that up a bit. thanks in advance

[clarke54321]

This is probably a long shot, but does anyone know how to address a 'how' question in section B. i.e. compare the portrayals of family in Tracks and Into the Wild. i can get an alright score for it (60-65%) but wouldn't mind bumping that up a bit. thanks in advance

Hey!

Well a "how" question is essentially focused on the texts' construction. This can range from film shot, narrative structure, relationship types, dialogue, post scripts and a whole lot more. Every essay, regardless of the question type (ie. to what extent, do you agree) should all incorporate ideas on how the authors/directors have constructed elements to emphasise certain ideas/messages.

So for Tracks and Into the Wild- "Compare the portrayals of family."
-How do the texts portray family? The rigid definition of a biological family is certainly challenged throughout the texts (more so in Into the Wild)
-Is a family necessary? If yes, how is this expressed? If no, how is this expressed?
-Are families toxic or needed for constant guidance? Again, directors/authors choose varying structures/dialogue/film shots/images (in Tracks) to articulate this.

Hopefully this gives you a starting point 

[lovelyperson]

i was wondering how to address the theme of justice in the novel 'The Lieutenant'?
a sample topic is 16.   How is the importance of justice addressed in the novel ‘The Lieutenant’?
how would i set out my paragraphs and can you include relationships and how people treat each other, or is this straying too far from the topic?

thankyou

Haven't done The Lieutenant in agesss, but you could talk about Rooke's relationship with Targaran and how it affects his sense of justice.

Other things about justice you could consider are:
- Does the self-serving nature of the colony prevent them from being just and fair towards the Indigenous population?
- The public whipping of the convicts who stole the food; why did they have to punished and what is the signifance of 's (forgot his name, starts with 'w' I think?) response to this form of justice?
- How does this compare to Rooke's punishment?

This is probably a long shot, but does anyone know how to address a 'how' question in section B. i.e. compare the portrayals of family in Tracks and Into the Wild. i can get an alright score for it (60-65%) but wouldn't mind bumping that up a bit. thanks in advance

Generally in English, prompt words like those don't matter because you should be answering to all of them in your essay regardless. But with regards to your prompt, it's essentially asking: "what are the texts saying about family? Good, bad and to what extent?"

[S200]

Could some grammatical person help here plz??

Is polemical refusal better english than polemic refusal?

[zhen]

Recently I lost a ton of marks for saying stuff like the writer compels the reader to feel a certain way instead of the writer attempts to compel the reader to feel a certain way. Does this really matter, cause adding the words attempts to or endeavours to really doesn’t add anything to the content of a piece. I know that we don’t really know how the reader will react so we do this and maybe I should just do it just in case, but should something that adds virtually nothing to the content of an essay really contribute to a person’s mark? What do you guys think about it?

[dec.hargreaves]

Hey!

Well a "how" question is essentially focused on the texts' construction. This can range from film shot, narrative structure, relationship types, dialogue, post scripts and a whole lot more. Every essay, regardless of the question type (ie. to what extent, do you agree) should all incorporate ideas on how the authors/directors have constructed elements to emphasise certain ideas/messages.

So for Tracks and Into the Wild- "Compare the portrayals of family."
-How do the texts portray family? The rigid definition of a biological family is certainly challenged throughout the texts (more so in Into the Wild)
-Is a family necessary? If yes, how is this expressed? If no, how is this expressed?
-Are families toxic or needed for constant guidance? Again, directors/authors choose varying structures/dialogue/film shots/images (in Tracks) to articulate this.

Hopefully this gives you a starting point 

thanks will give that a shot

[clarke54321]

Recently I lost a ton of marks for saying stuff like the writer compels the reader to feel a certain way instead of the writer attempts to compel the reader to feel a certain way. Does this really matter, cause adding the words attempts to or endeavours to really doesn’t add anything to the content of a piece. I know that we don’t really know how the reader will react so we do this and maybe I should just do it just in case, but should something that adds virtually nothing to the content of an essay really contribute to a person’s mark? What do you guys think about it?

I've also been criticized for this. Sometimes there's such a subtle difference that it seems like a petty correction. But I suppose the addition of endeavours/aims/strives/seeks and all of those verb types, places a greater emphasis on authorial intent- the primary purpose of the task.

Here is an excerpt from the 2015 VCAA examiners report: Note that the task focuses on the intent („attempt to persuade‟), not on the result.

So to be safe, I'd stick with the addition of these phrases