Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

December 10, 2025, 12:43:03 am

Author Topic: How to choose which texts to use for the exam  (Read 2377 times)  Share 

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

zxcasdqwe

  • Adventurer
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Respect: 0
How to choose which texts to use for the exam
« on: September 08, 2016, 10:45:29 pm »
0
Basically what the title says, mainly for Text Response but also for Context. Is it true that some texts are more 'complex' and therefore are likely to lead to higher marks for the depth of your discussion? Is it just better to pick the ones you most recently studied?

I've studied Burial Rites and All About Eve; and Death of a Salesman and Foe if anyone can comment specifically on those texts. Thanks :)

meganrobyn

  • Victorian
  • Forum Leader
  • ****
  • Posts: 836
  • Respect: +62
Re: How to choose which texts to use for the exam
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2016, 10:33:25 am »
+2
Basically what the title says, mainly for Text Response but also for Context. Is it true that some texts are more 'complex' and therefore are likely to lead to higher marks for the depth of your discussion? Is it just better to pick the ones you most recently studied?

I've studied Burial Rites and All About Eve; and Death of a Salesman and Foe if anyone can comment specifically on those texts. Thanks :)

Honestly, it's a bit dependent on how well you perform in English. There are some people who will do well regardless of which text they choose, so they should just go with the one they have the best ideas on; others are quite weak, so should avoid a more complex text because it exposes all their weaknesses and they can't do it justice - they tend to do better on a text with a lower bar for entry. Other people are good enough to tackle a complex text, and the text gives them the push they need.

Burial Rites has twenty million authorial techniques (too much reliance on metaphor and symbol and simile and narrative techniques etc, actually, and they make it a clear "first novel") - but that means you have a lot of authorial technique evidence to use, and that reads well on the exam. All About Eve has more straightforward thematic arguments (less complex in that regard), but students who are good at analysing visual techniques have good material. Death of a Salesman has been done so much it's almost a cliche in its own right; Foe is much more difficult to analyse (if you look at the layers with the original text and the final five pages) - but there are ways to reduce it to a simplistic argument ("some versions of the truth can be omitted" etc).
[Update: full for 2018.] I give Legal lectures through CPAP, and am an author for the CPAP 'Legal Fundamentals' textbook and the Legal 3/4 Study Guide.
Available for private tutoring in English and Legal Studies.
Experience in Legal 3/4 assessing; author of Legal textbook; degrees in Law and English; VCE teaching experience in Legal Studies and English. Legal Studies [50] English [50] way back when.
Good luck!

zxcasdqwe

  • Adventurer
  • *
  • Posts: 7
  • Respect: 0
Re: How to choose which texts to use for the exam
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2016, 11:20:33 am »
0
Thanks for such a detailed reply!! About DOAS, is it so terrible to pick an overused text because I don't think I have a very good grasp of Foe..

meganrobyn

  • Victorian
  • Forum Leader
  • ****
  • Posts: 836
  • Respect: +62
Re: How to choose which texts to use for the exam
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2016, 07:23:49 pm »
0
Thanks for such a detailed reply!! About DOAS, is it so terrible to pick an overused text because I don't think I have a very good grasp of Foe..

My pleasure.

It can just be hard to find anything interesting to say.
[Update: full for 2018.] I give Legal lectures through CPAP, and am an author for the CPAP 'Legal Fundamentals' textbook and the Legal 3/4 Study Guide.
Available for private tutoring in English and Legal Studies.
Experience in Legal 3/4 assessing; author of Legal textbook; degrees in Law and English; VCE teaching experience in Legal Studies and English. Legal Studies [50] English [50] way back when.
Good luck!