Which books / texts score the highest

[Art Vandelay]

No you're right. It's just that I assume this thread was made by a student who is aiming to get a 10/10, and in my opinion schools choose their texts with the relative strength of the entire cohort in mind. So a strong cohort would do most likely be doing Shakespeare and a weaker cohort might do OTW. But in both cases the top students in each cohort will have a near equal chance of achieving full marks if they study their texts effectively and write well, so it's not something the OP should worry about.

my school does both?

Study your texts, write essays and you'll get the marks you deserve. Remember, come exam time, you only have to choose one text to write on. If you study both texts to the best of your capacity, you'll have a better idea of which text you'd like to for exams!

It's interesting your school does both these texts though - your Head of the English Faculty might give you an insight into his/her reasoning

[Lasercookie]

It's interesting your school does both these texts though - your Head of the English Faculty might give you an insight into his/her reasoning

I'm guessing they might do OTW to appeal to the "weaker" students, and then Shakespeare to appeal to the "stronger" students.

[peterpan101]

It's interesting your school does both these texts though - your Head of the English Faculty might give you an insight into his/her reasoning

I'm guessing they might do OTW to appeal to the "weaker" students, and then Shakespeare to appeal to the "stronger" students.

probably

[Planck's constant]

This is what I had to say on the topic 12 months ago. I have not changed my mind:
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regarding Text Response, the following are extracts from the past 4 Assessors Reports :

2011: The highest mean score for Section A was achieved by students who wrote on Richard III, A Human Pattern, Selected Poems (Slessor) , Ransom and A Farewell to Arms
2010: The highest mean score for Section A was achieved by students who wrote on Hard Times, Richard III, A Human Pattern, Selected Poems (Slessor) and A Farewell to Arms
2009: The highest mean scores for Section A were achieved by students who wrote on Hard Times, Richard III, Selected Poems (Slessor) and Collected Stories (Farmer)
2008: The highest mean scores were achieved by students who wrote on Hard Times, King Richard III, Selected Poems (Slessor) and Collected Stories (Farmer)

There is an obvious pattern there, right ?
My tip: if you have a choice of texts, pick the 'Classic'. There is stronger and more scholarly material out there to pick your ideas from.
For less classic books you end up using inferior material from Study Guides etc

[peterpan101]

This is what I had to say on the topic 12 months ago. I have not changed my mind:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



regarding Text Response, the following are extracts from the past 4 Assessors Reports :

2011: The highest mean score for Section A was achieved by students who wrote on Richard III, A Human Pattern, Selected Poems (Slessor) , Ransom and A Farewell to Arms
2010: The highest mean score for Section A was achieved by students who wrote on Hard Times, Richard III, A Human Pattern, Selected Poems (Slessor) and A Farewell to Arms
2009: The highest mean scores for Section A were achieved by students who wrote on Hard Times, Richard III, Selected Poems (Slessor) and Collected Stories (Farmer)
2008: The highest mean scores were achieved by students who wrote on Hard Times, King Richard III, Selected Poems (Slessor) and Collected Stories (Farmer)

There is an obvious pattern there, right ?
My tip: if you have a choice of texts, pick the 'Classic'. There is stronger and more scholarly material out there to pick your ideas from.
For less classic books you end up using inferior material from Study Guides etc

shame the Shakespeare has changed 

[Planck's constant]

If your choices include any of,

Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights
Dickens, Charles, A Christmas Carol
Shakespeare, William, Henry IV Part I

.....look no further

[Art Vandelay]

If your choices include any of,

Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights
Dickens, Charles, A Christmas Carol
Shakespeare, William, Henry IV Part I

.....look no further

haha, the context of most of these texts (and the 'classics' you mentioned above) are so great for students especially because of the rich socio-historical setting they emanate from - really really sparked great class discussions in my case (studying A Christmas Carol)!

[Planck's constant]

If your choices include any of,

Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights
Dickens, Charles, A Christmas Carol
Shakespeare, William, Henry IV Part I

.....look no further

haha, the context of most of these texts (and the 'classics' you mentioned above) are so great for students especially because of the rich socio-historical setting they emanate from - really really sparked great class discussions in my case (studying A Christmas Carol)!

Nothing like good heated discussion to get you  angry enough to smash the Text Response in the exam

[EvangelionZeta]

To be fair, A Christmas Carol is comparatively lacking in depth as far as Dickens goes.  I wouldn't put it in the same category as Wuthering Heights (<33) or Henry IV.

[Planck's constant]

To be fair, A Christmas Carol is comparatively lacking in depth as far as Dickens goes.  I wouldn't put it in the same category as Wuthering Heights (<33) or Henry IV.

Maybe, but then again Dickens is Dickens, and great minds have written about Dickens, and what VCE assessor would dare contradict great minds like Thackeray :

Here’s a bit of Thackeray’s review of A Christmas Carol from Fraser’s Magazine (1844):

Who can listen to objections regarding such a book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness. The last two people I heard speak of it were women; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, ‘God bless him!’ . . . As for Tiny Tim, there is a certain passage in the book regarding that young gentleman, about which a man should hardly venture to speak in print or in public, any more than he would of any other affections of his private heart. There is not a reader in England but that little creature will be a bond of union between the author and him; and he will say of Charles Dickens, as the woman just now, ‘GOD BLESS HIM!’ What a feeling is this for a writer to be able to inspire, and what a reward to reap!

[Art Vandelay]

To be fair, A Christmas Carol is comparatively lacking in depth as far as Dickens goes.  I wouldn't put it in the same category as Wuthering Heights (<33) or Henry IV.

Maybe, but then again Dickens is Dickens, and great minds have written about Dickens, and what VCE assessor would dare contradict great minds like Thackeray :

Here’s a bit of Thackeray’s review of A Christmas Carol from Fraser’s Magazine (1844):

Who can listen to objections regarding such a book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness. The last two people I heard speak of it were women; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, ‘God bless him!’ . . . As for Tiny Tim, there is a certain passage in the book regarding that young gentleman, about which a man should hardly venture to speak in print or in public, any more than he would of any other affections of his private heart. There is not a reader in England but that little creature will be a bond of union between the author and him; and he will say of Charles Dickens, as the woman just now, ‘GOD BLESS HIM!’ What a feeling is this for a writer to be able to inspire, and what a reward to reap!

It's a great text, but I agree that A Christmas Carol couldn't hold a candle to the other texts (such as Henry IV) that would offer so much more to stronger students, as far as complexity goes.

[charmanderp]

My tip: if you have a choice of texts, pick the 'Classic'. There is stronger and more scholarly material out there to pick your ideas from.
For less classic books you end up using inferior material from Study Guides etc

I'm not going to generalise but I'd say the strong English students like wouldn't try to glean their ideas from study guides or scholarly material; it'd be based upon their own perceptions and analysis of the text upon their own individual readings, as well as in class discussion.

I stand by what I said previously; any student can get full marks or dreadful marks or anything in between on any text. You don't need a perfect text which has rich and soulful depth in all aspects in order to score a 50; I know a number of students who have scored 50s or high 40s writing on On the Waterfront and such texts.

[Art Vandelay]

My tip: if you have a choice of texts, pick the 'Classic'. There is stronger and more scholarly material out there to pick your ideas from.
For less classic books you end up using inferior material from Study Guides etc

I'm not going to generalise but I'd say the strong English students like wouldn't try to glean their ideas from study guides or scholarly material; it'd be based upon their own perceptions and analysis of the text upon their own individual readings, as well as in class discussion.

I stand by what I said previously; any student can get full marks or dreadful marks or anything in between on any text.

I agree with what you're saying, but often scholarly material helps to consolidate and critique a student's interpretation. Additionally, sometimes the mere act of reading these scholarly articles helps in improving a student's vocabulary regarding metalanguage etc.

But yeah, you can do well or dreadful on any text, as you were saying.

[FlorianK]

I guess it also depends on which book you enjoy the most and on the combination as well. Upon reflection I can tell that Interpreter of Maldadies and I&B+Growing Up Asian in Australia make an excellent combination and are really enjoyable.
I studied Cosi as well, but I really hated it, which is why I had no motivation to study it and hence would not have done well in it.

[nisha]

It depends on what text you like discussing. Eg. I did The Reluctant fundamentalist (personally, I hate that book) but got a B+ on the sac. Twelve Angry Men (absolutely loved the book but freaked out on the sac as I couldn't order my thoughts) ended up getting a B+ as well. Decided to do TAM on the exam, and I enjoyed every second of it. Why? Because I learnt from my mistake in the Sac, and (hopefully) killed it in the exam room.