English Advanced Question Thread

[hmmo_o]

Hey!!
I was wondering if you had any tips for the comprehension section of paper 1 besides 'reading' - I've been putting that one to practice since English isn't my first language

[elysepopplewell]

Hey!!
I was wondering if you had any tips for the comprehension section of paper 1 besides 'reading' - I've been putting that one to practice since English isn't my first language

Hey there! Great question, particularly for a situation like yours. I am a fast reader, and English is my first language, and I still used my entire reading time before the exam starts to read the texts. I only looked at the essay question and the creative writing section when we flicked through the paper at the start to make sure that we have every booklet required. Otherwise, I forget about them and focus solely on the reading at the start.

The very moment that reading time starts, I'd start reading, and I think you should do the same. I also would probably actually read the questions for text one, then move back and read text one. This way, you are spending your time reading looking for the answers, rather than reading and then coming back to have a look for the answers. If there is a word you don't know (this goes for students with English as their first language and students who have English as a second or third language), do not waste time going over it. You just don't have enough time!

Make sure that before the exam, you are familiar with poetic techniques, visual techniques and short prose techniques. This way, the techniques in the text will stand out to you, rather than you having to go back and really search for them

Good luck!

[Airblade]

I am having so much trouble with actually coming up with ideas of what to write in response to the super specific questions my teacher keeps setting, I just find it hard to have something unique to say or even anything to say at all! any advice?

[elysepopplewell]

I am having so much trouble with actually coming up with ideas of what to write in response to the super specific questions my teacher keeps setting, I just find it hard to have something unique to say or even anything to say at all! any advice?

Hey there! This will be good preparation for the HSC, you just don't know how specific they are going to be!

I definitely suggest that you create a thesis statement that you intend to use in any essay, no matter what. Of course, it can be tweaked to the essay. This thesis should have universal qualities. By this I mean, you should open it up to say something really big about discovery, like that it doesn't change through time, or all individuals need discovery to evolve, etc. You should double barrel this with an idea about discovery that definitely flows through both your prescribed text and your ORT. This way, no matter what the obscure essay question is, you have something to discuss.

Here is what I mean:

"The evolution of any individual is owed to making discoveries that are transformative of one's perception."

This part in bold is the universal part that I talked about at the beginning. The part in italics is referencing the rubric in a way that I know will flow through both texts.

Then, your teacher throws something super obscure at you, like: "Intellectual discoveries are paramount to personal growth."

And you're like: waaaaaht?

So, you use your first thesis to open the essay. The second sentence in your introduction will be a direct response to the essay question. It will possibly look like this (remember you can do a kind of disagree/agree thing here): "Although intellectual discoveries are important to personal growth, when combined with physical and emotional discoveries, the individual's outlook on life will be completely altered."

This way, you have a lot to talk about throughout your essay and not just the essay question. You talk about human evolution, you can talk discoveries being transformative of opinions, you talk about intellectual discoveries (hard to do) but you also open yourself up to talking about physical or emotional discoveries.

I will also mention, later on in your introduction when you introduce your text, you may say, "Jamon, the protagonist in ATAR Notes, experiences an unplanned intellectual discovery." BAM. Unplanned is another rubric term. So you open yourself up to spending a bit of time fleshing that out throughout.

The point isn't to avoid the question, you can avoid addressing. The purpose of this is to build up the way you show your understanding of discovery in a way that means you are saturating the essay with your understanding of discovery (most important part of an AOS essay) but you aren't boring the marker because you are showing variation. You are also playing to your strengths and manipulating the question to suit your texts.

I stress again, you can't NOT address the essay question. But you can make it double barreled to suit your purpose, and you can say that for one text, it is in fact true, but for another, it is in fact the opposite.

If this doesn't quite make sense please message back. Or if you want to show me an introduction you wrote specifically to an essay question then I'm happy to look at how you've incorporated that!

[aqsarana_]

Hi,
Recently i was told that for the HSC Paper 1 (Discovery), the standard and advanced classes are ranked together. Is that correct?

[elysepopplewell]

Hi,
Recently i was told that for the HSC Paper 1 (Discovery), the standard and advanced classes are ranked together. Is that correct?

Hi there,
I'm a bit unsure of what you mean, but I think the statement is incorrect. The standard and advanced courses are completely incomparable internally, even in Discovery. The reason for this is, different texts are chosen to study and they will be at different levels of difficulty. Therefore, you can not be ranked before or after a Standard student in your school if you do Advanced, because it would be an unfair playing field, PLUS your school has to submit ranks to BOSTES with assessment marks and they cannot be linked to the opposing course because of the following modules that are vastly different. Your rank is not determined by AOS alone, but also the three following modules.

What is true, is that when you sit Paper One, all of the the exam papers go into the one marking centre, and are not distributed between Advanced and Standard. This means that all of the Paper One exams, despite your level of English, are marked at the same standard and expectation.

This has no direct effect on your internal assessment rank or your external assessment mark

[hungrybubbles]

Hello - in the AOS exam, what ratio should the content be between our prescribed and related text? The way we have been taught is to do 50% prescribed and 50% related (all integrated of course, so for example 4 paragraphs with prescribed then related, prescribed then related). Is this not good? I read somewhere you should put weight on the prescribed and I've never been exposed to such an idea before.

[saraahchandler]

Hi! My midcourse exam is in a little over a week and only on discovery! Like you my set text is Go Back to Where you came from and I was wondering what your views were on the strongest characters to write about? As a sup text I am thinking of using W;t which was one of my texts for module A. But I would mainly love to hear some thoughts and ideas of yours on Go Back!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hello - in the AOS exam, what ratio should the content be between our prescribed and related text? The way we have been taught is to do 50% prescribed and 50% related (all integrated of course, so for example 4 paragraphs with prescribed then related, prescribed then related). Is this not good? I read somewhere you should put weight on the prescribed and I've never been exposed to such an idea before.

Hey hungry bubbles!

You are talking about something which is pretty controversial... Or at least as controversial as it can get in HSC English anyway  I'll tell you the opinion I've formulated based on what I was told by a few of my teachers 

A question will ask you to respond to an idea/question with reference to your prescribed text and one related text. There is nothing in the question to suggest that you should focus on one over the other, this comes from the idea that you are studying one text as a core, the other is a related text. This may lead to the idea that you should focus on the core.

I was taught, like you, that 50/50% is the aim. You want a balance between the two texts to prevent a lopsided argument. But this can be tough! So, I was told that 60/40% is also acceptable. A slight shift towards the core is acceptable, and sometimes needed to ensure that you aren't waffling.

But can you write the equivalent of 3 paragraphs on Core, and only 1 on ORT? No, this is too far of a swing. If you want to write separate paragraphs for each text, then you should absolutely be doing 2 on each. If you choose to fully integrate both texts into each paragraph, then the same rule, you should be doing analysis on both texts equally.

Equality guys 

[bradleykouch]

Hi
Im more of a logical person when it comes to my studying and learning. Im finding it difficult to write study notes for discovery about my core text The Tempest and my related texts. I dont know what to do exactly, do i just write down important quotes and techniques or just practice essays? My half yearlies are next week and i would greatly appreciate your advice.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi
Im more of a logical person when it comes to my studying and learning. Im finding it difficult to write study notes for discovery about my core text The Tempest and my related texts. I dont know what to do exactly, do i just write down important quotes and techniques or just practice essays? My half yearlies are next week and i would greatly appreciate your advice.

Hey Bradley! I'm with you, you sound just like me, it is one of the reasons I hated studying for English 

My study sheets for English were a whole bunch of tables, containing quotes which demonstrated different themes for Belonging (in your case, Discovery) in my texts. I had three columns:

Quote/Text Reference -> Technique -> Audience Impact

So in one spot I could revise the quotes and techniques, and also have ideas as to how to actually analyse them in my essay as well.

I think you should definitely write practice essays too. I wrote my quote sheet, got my quotes memorising and all set, and then wrote practice essays, as many as I had time to do (which admittedly for half yearlies wasn't many, I wasn't very organised at that point in time haha). Practice essays are the best way to prepare in my opinion, so yep, you should definitely do a handful to get you ready for your half yearly 

[aqsarana_]

Hi,
Is it okay to start the discovery essay with a definition of 'discovery'? I was told by my teacher not to but I don't understand why?
Also, can you please have a look at my introduction?

Discovery is a multifaceted process providing insight for individuals and society. The progression of individuals to new worlds shapes the experiential processes of discovery, allowing for renewed understanding and perceptions of previously held beliefs. Go Back To Where You Came From (Go Back), a TV documentary series by O’Mahoney, explores how physical experiences can be transformative to provide insights into the human condition. Geoff Parr’s, 1985 The National Picture critiques the disjunctive relationship of colonisation in challenging the human condition. The displacement of individuals to new plains becomes a catalyst to expose the underlying truth and the implications of abrogating power. Through a developed understanding of the impacts of personal, physical and social discoveries, the audience is forced to question the human condition and the impact of discovery in understanding individual experience.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi,
Is it okay to start the discovery essay with a definition of 'discovery'? I was told by my teacher not to but I don't understand why?
Also, can you please have a look at my introduction?

Discovery is a multifaceted process providing insight for individuals and society. The progression of individuals to new worlds shapes the experiential processes of discovery, allowing for renewed understanding and perceptions of previously held beliefs. Go Back To Where You Came From (Go Back), a TV documentary series by O’Mahoney, explores how physical experiences can be transformative to provide insights into the human condition. Geoff Parr’s, 1985 The National Picture critiques the disjunctive relationship of colonisation in challenging the human condition. The displacement of individuals to new plains becomes a catalyst to expose the underlying truth and the implications of abrogating power. Through a developed understanding of the impacts of personal, physical and social discoveries, the audience is forced to question the human condition and the impact of discovery in understanding individual experience.

Hey aqsarana! I would respectfully disagree with your teacher, a definition of discovery in a way which links to the question is a great way to start! It is important that it actually responds to the question though, that is, your definition should help your approach to the question. Don't define discovery as something which provides insight for people/societies unless it is relevant to the question 

Your introduction looks great (although it is a little trickier without having the whole essay). Maybe try linking the ORT and Core text in some way, just to give some reason as to why you are discussing both. Besides that, as long as you address the things you have discussed in the body, this looks great! 

[elysepopplewell]

Hey aqsarana! I would respectfully disagree with your teacher, a definition of discovery in a way which links to the question is a great way to start! It is important that it actually responds to the question though, that is, your definition should help your approach to the question. Don't define discovery as something which provides insight for people/societies unless it is relevant to the question 

Your introduction looks great (although it is a little trickier without having the whole essay). Maybe try linking the ORT and Core text in some way, just to give some reason as to why you are discussing both. Besides that, as long as you address the things you have discussed in the body, this looks great! 

Just adding to Jamon here...
If you choose to start with a definition, then you either need to define it with your own words or correctly cite your definition. I see why your teacher is suggesting not to start with a definition. Defining discovery is useless if you can't flesh out what you understand about discovery as a protean notion in relation to the question. Which is where Jamon comes in. You need to make sure that your definition (which is why I suggest you make it yourself) needs to be flexible enough to incorporate the understanding that discovery is fluid. You shouldn't use a rigid definition of discovery that doesn't add anything to your essay other than showing the marker that you searched it in a dictionary. However, defining it in a way that incorporates the question or the thesis that you wish to follow, works in your favour!

[cj98]

Okay I know this is absolutely terrible and I regret it so much but I never finished reading 1984 (one of my Mod A texts). I am now one week out from the exam and stressing because I got so caught up in other things I just didn't read it all. I tried to finish it but it's just so time consuming. Basically would there be a large benefit from finishing it? Or would I be better off just learning specific quotes and continuing preparing practice my thesis statements? Is there any good websites to find summaries? I am just so overwhelmed and angry at myself