ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Literature => Topic started by: littlebecc on December 24, 2009, 04:09:13 pm
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Hey everyone,
I'm jumping straight into year 12 lit without doing units 1 & 2 (hated history so i had to pick up something else)
I receive pretty good grades in english but i'm quite scared about going straight to year 12 lit because people on here have said it's a really hard subject.
What do I need to prepare for? What do i need to learn over these school holidays?
I've heard a lot of talk about 'passage analysis', so basically analysing and picking apart a passage in a book?
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks :)
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i picked up lit this year without having done it in year 12 so it is do-able.
the first thing i would say is read your books now, and do it again often so you know them of by heart (not so much the books you just read for your sacs but i would advise it). this is something that i didnt do and kinda regret (i wrote my exam on antigone and emma and i never read emma, it was too boring haha)
secondly, put in alot of work for your sacs, coming from a shitty school, my sacs were the only things that saved me (i got a study score of 36 raw from A+, A+, B - didn't do so great on the exam but its good considering a person in my class got a 13 for a study score).
good luck (:
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Don't be nervous! Do you enjoy reading and writing? Because I think, for lit, enjoyment in what you're doing helps the most. I agree that you should read over your texts and make notes as you go - quotes that seem important, your ideas about the book, etc. With passage analysis, you really focus on trying to explain what you think the author is saying and then you just provide evidence from the passages that support your idea. It's difficult to get started because there is no set way to structure your piece (ultimately, your structure probably come down to which passages you'll get anyway), but once you've written a few it's easy enough. It's not really different from an English essay except you don't get a specific question to assist you, you have to completely decide on your contention by yourself.
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Thanks guys, :)
I really love writing, especially creative pieces...reading is ok i guess(i shouldn't really be saying that as lit is all about reading, ha). I'm willing to read all the books because I really want to do well in the subject. I'm naturally an anxious person, so that doesn't really help. You could say i don't have much confidence in myself.
Some people at my school were told not to do lit because their english grades weren't the best...so i suppose i doubt myself too much if i got into it.
And yes, i have to read Atonement and do other set lit homework before school starts and i haven't started! Eek! I should really get onto that.
I asked my friend for her units 1/2 lit work so i suppose if i glance over that it should help.
Anything more I need to know about lit? What do you mean by not getting a specific question? What would an example be?
Thanks, Bec :)
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In English you are given a prompt to guide your discussion whereas in Literature you are given 3 passages to develop a discussion about the text in more general terms, though using the passages as the basis of your discussion.
Definitely try writing passage essays on your exam texts, and practice doing them under a time limit eventually. Remember that literature is more focussed on how meaning is constructed rather than the actual meaning as in English.
Good luck!
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Don't worry, it is perfectly normal to be anxious. Lit is definately a subject you can do without units 1 and 2. You just need to keep in mind that lit is different to english and the essays require a different approach. However your teacher will guide you as to what is expected so that won't be a problem. I recommend that you read your texts over the holidays and write as much as you can throughout the year, as you will definately improve with practice. Best of luck, I'm sure you will be fine and really enjoy the subject :)
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im anxious too!! not sure if i made the right decision choosing between english and lit
(i just hope i have!)
but since you are getting good english grades you should be fine :) goodluck!
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Thanks iamdan08 for giving me reassurance :)
The good thing is my lit and english teachers are both amaaazing. I have really good year 12 teachers in every subject so i'm very happy about that.
If anyone has any helpful literature documents I would be really thankful :)
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If anyone has any helpful literature documents I would be really thankful :)
A good place to start would be to have a read through the study design from page 19 onwards (http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/literature/literaturestd.pdf). This will allow you to become familiar with what will be expected of you throughout the year in your assesment tasks.
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Same boat as you, but I chose Lit as it sounded like it was more fun compared to English (although also doing English just incase - that and my English teacher forced me into doing English thinking my oral presentation SAC will mean alot at the end). As you said, you like writing and you got good grades in English, having interest in writing should really help.
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In regards to being worried, don't be. Synesthetic (a poster here from a year ago) got 50 in Lit without doing 1/2 - you'll be fine. :p
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Have a look at the past exams to get an idea of what you'll be required to do. Don't worry if you think you can't do the exam, because you aren't supposed to know how just yet (you've got a whole year for that, which is ample time if you have a good teacher), but this gives you an indication of what you'll be working towards.
It's perfectly normal to be anxious and even to lack confidence in your ability at this stage, in fact it's a good thing, it'll give you an incentive to work harder. One thing I really want you to remember though is this: whatever your interpretation of your text is, it is correct. You're a writer yourself, which means that you already have a grasp of how writers accomplish what they set out to accomplish (it may not be a conscious grasp yet). Therefore, you are capable of analytically reading a text for yourself. Don't let others/study guides/anything make you second guess the way you understood it. By all means, let other resources help your analysis, but don't lose your own ideas in the process. The examiners aren't looking for cookie-cutter responses, if you're able to give them something well-argued and genuine then you will do really well.
There are a few examples of lit essays on the forums, and I've posted one of my old ones in the 'notes' section of the site if you're interested in looking at them. They may be more useful later down the track as your course progresses.
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Don't be intimidated by the "high scoring responses" from the assessment report. I remember reading them at the beginning of the year thinking how on earth am i going to even get close to that. You will gradually gain confidence in your ability throughout the year and i can guarantee you will notice much improvement when you read back through some of your earlier work.
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Thanks everyone
Both my aunties who did lit in uni are willing to tutor me :) Haha.
Their words of advice: Read, read and re-read. Lol, i'll be sure to take that on board
Again, thanks for all your help :)
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Don't stress about not doing 1/2. I didn't and got 50 for Lit.
Literature gives you allot more freedom than English. You don't even have to write on a text if you don't like it (there were 2 texts I couldn't stand, so didn't even bother finishing reading them).
Do you have any idea what texts you're going to be doing? If you do I can probably dig up some useful stuff.
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Don't be intimidated by the "high scoring responses" from the assessment report. I remember reading them at the beginning of the year thinking how on earth am i going to even get close to that.
I'm going to sound like a total ditz here amongst all these highly literate responses, but oh my god, this quote is so true. I think I actually shat myself when I read the '08 report at the start of this year. I would like to stress, then, that no-one starts out writing passage-based responses in such a concise and elegant way - your teacher should guide you as to what registers of language are appropriate to the task, and you will naturally develop a style of your own, complete with a "bank" of well-formed phrases, for each text. It can be helpful to read actual literary criticism for clues if you are really stuck on developing style, but often I find these a bit pretentious, and moreover, jargon-laden. Ultimately, whatever you write, write it with conviction - the most important thing is that your style is expressive and consistent.
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Redmosez, I'm doing Atonement, Hamlet, Rosencratz & something are dead (whoops, can't remember that book) and wolf notes?
I have yet to read Atonement before school starts because i'm kinda busy reading my english book. Haha. :)
Wow, i can't believe you got a 50, that's amazing. Yeah, if you have any useful notes for lit i'd be more than grateful to check them out.
And jejak, thanks for the advice :) I'm gonna put faith into my teachers hands haha. What do you mean by literary criticism though?
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I think jejak means looking at examples of how others have written their essays in terms of literature (which is in general literary criticism). You can find some good ones at: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/literature/exams.html, but there are other places you can look.
And yeah, 50 in lit is just outta this world, considering lit is like 1e99 times harder than English!!!
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I definately need to expand my vocabulary.
English (the subject) is easy.
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And jejak, thanks for the advice Smiley I'm gonna put faith into my teachers hands haha. What do you mean by literary criticism though?
Literary criticism is the interpretation of literature. In a sense, what we write in yr 12 literature is often indeed criticism, but I meant more generally to say that you can often find an interpretation, usually of a certain theoretical "school", of whatever text you are studying, that has been written by an bona fide academic. Not only can this help you flesh out your own interpretation of the text, but it can help you build up your own critical vocabulary. As I've said though, you might want to do this sparingly; I imagine examiners would not take too kindly to someone who imitates the style and content of, for instance, a Harold Bloom critical essay!
And yeah, 50 in lit is just outta this world, considering lit is like 1e99 times harder than English!!!
Really? I'm not saying that 50 in lit came very easily for me, but I don't think I was any more stressed-out than the English-English kids. (They were certainly more conscientious than the lit people haha.) Aside from the most basic elements (coherency, structuring an essay, forming an interpretation etc), I think literature examines an entirely different set of higher-level skills than does English. And I'm sure I would have phayled at stuff like lang analysis.
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And yeah, 50 in lit is just outta this world, considering lit is like 1e99 times harder than English!!!
Haha, I actually did (slightly) worse in English. It's pretty hard to compare the two subjects, I found Lit had more freedom though.
Littlebec
I'll pm you some stuff :)
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And yeah, 50 in lit is just outta this world, considering lit is like 1e99 times harder than English!!!
Haha, I actually did (slightly) worse in English. It's pretty hard to compare the two subjects, I found Lit had more freedom though.
Littlebec
I'll pm you some stuff :)
Very small difference if I remember correctly ;)
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Very small difference if I remember correctly
Yeah :(
I haven't got my assessment reports but I'm going to go ahead and blame Voxi... Damn you Voxi!