Resources for english?

[WhoTookMyUsername]

Going through 3/4 Bio this year i had a wealth of resources at my disposal, with some more useful than others.

Just wanted to know what you guys have felt most useful throughout this year.

Are the any Uni textbooks we should have (e.g. like Campbells for Bio)? What should we buy or what should we borrow from the library?

[pi]

I'm probably not the best on here to answer this question. But here is what I was recommended to do:
1) Read the novels over the summer holidays (not to take notes, just to read enjoyably for the storyline)
2) Read them again, this time, making your own notes on the book (take as many annotations on the actual book as possible, this will help in later study)
3) Borrow out NEAP/Insight/York, etc and complement your notes with additions from theirs
4) Brush up of LA, write a few (~4-5)

I don't think it is important to start writing essays yet, your teachers will have a lot of useful information to give too, don't disregard them.

[vivj]

I'm probably not the best on here to answer this question. But here is what I was recommended to do:
1) Read the novels over the summer holidays (not to take notes, just to read enjoyably for the storyline)
2) Read them again, this time, making your own notes on the book (take as many annotations on the actual book as possible, this will help in later study)
3) Borrow out NEAP/Insight/York, etc and complement your notes with additions from theirs
4) Brush up of LA, write a few (~4-5)

I don't think it is important to start writing essays yet, your teachers will have a lot of useful information to give too, don't disregard them.

^ this for English, most definitely. A potential thing you could do would be to read through your old essays and see what you did well/could improve on as well. Always good.

[pi]

which study guides are worth buying? (e.g. specific books)

Liz Fear's LA books are very useful for LA (esp, if your yr11 teacher wasn't great), DisaFear has them up for sale atm.

NEAP is the best for study-guides, but York Notes dominate for Shakespeare Insight is okay, but I wouldn't recommend them.

[funkyducky]

^ I have a copy of Liz Fear's LA book too, as well as Neap and Insight. The Neap guides are best for texts, insight has some good stuff for context though. I'd also recommend Connect Education's English notes - I didn't buy it myself, but just took a look at their online sample and it looks awesome. There are lots of free online resources too, blogs, etc. if you know where to look.l

[totaled]

I hate to disagree with the above posts, but I don't think the Neap and Insight guides are worth getting, firstly because the content in them isn't THAT great i don't think, and also since everyone has them, you'll be simply reusing ideas that come up on every third essay that an examiner marks. Having said that, if it's just to ensure that you get a better grasp on the book, then they're fine

[funkyducky]

Whatever you do, don't fork out $50 for that huge oxford vce english book. It's not worth it.

[pi]

Whatever you do, don't fork out $50 for that huge oxford vce english book. It's not worth it.

Definitely not!

[funkyducky]

^ I got a free copy - borrowed from my cousin who did VCE last year (who was silly enough to buy it)

[Hamdog17]

•Write essays weekly throughout the year (ie. don't do what I did which was write maybe one essay a month during the year and then crap yourself about month before the exam and churn out two a day)
•Constantly read and re-read your novels/plays (you should aim to read each maybe three or four times)
•Be active during English classes and participate in discussion and interpretations
•Seeing as you go to MHS don't be disheartened if your SACs aren't as high as want (it's still quite a big achievement to maintain an A throughout the year)
•Use your teacher, they are one of the best resources you will ever come across (they also offer free essay marking which is good)
•With text response develop your own original ideas about the text and when answering a topic don't just think of textual evidence that supports the idea or contention you're aiming for but also try to get a bit conceptual and try to explain the "why" of the question not just the "when".

[monkeywantsabanana]

Whatever you do, don't fork out $50 for that huge oxford vce english book. It's not worth it.

Opps!
I was suggested this book by a friend... It's not that useful but it's also not that bad...

[funkyducky]

^It's decent, just not worth the hefty pricetag

[pi]

Just on the subject of resources, would anyone want me to type out all of my Ransom page annotations? I know MHS, Uni High and Mac.Rob study Ransom and there aren't any good guides out there, so would anyone want that (I'll add it to the Notes section of VN and link here or something)?