50 in English, available for queries :)

[literally lauren]

As promised, attached (hopefully) are some of the helpful words I accumulated last year. Some of these are quite basic, but there will be others you are unfamiliar with. I haven't put definitions for anything as it's better for you to look up the ones you need so that you can understand and define them in your own words.
Add to this as you go, but be aware that the sophisticated language should be used in moderation. Use these words when they're necessary, not to show off or to try to elevate your mark.
As someone who had to be warned off overdoing the vocab. here's some advice that was given to me: 'Some teachers will be impressed, but others will resent having to google every third word just to read your work.' So by all means expand your vocab, but don't risk annoying your assessors
Let the look-say-cover-write-check begin!

[nerdmmb]

As promised, attached (hopefully) are some of the helpful words I accumulated last year. Some of these are quite basic, but there will be others you are unfamiliar with. I haven't put definitions for anything as it's better for you to look up the ones you need so that you can understand and define them in your own words.
Add to this as you go, but be aware that the sophisticated language should be used in moderation. Use these words when they're necessary, not to show off or to try to elevate your mark.
As someone who had to be warned off overdoing the vocab. here's some advice that was given to me: 'Some teachers will be impressed, but others will resent having to google every third word just to read your work.' So by all means expand your vocab, but don't risk annoying your assessors
Let the look-say-cover-write-check begin!

Thanks Lauren! This will really help!

[popoy111]

Hello Lauren, I'm just wondering what are the key aspects to make your English text response an A+

[brenden]

Don't forget to upvote her, people.

[nerdmmb]

Don't forget to upvote her, people.

If only it could be done twice.

[literally lauren]

Hello Lauren, I'm just wondering what are the key aspects to make your English text response an A+

If you're talking about boosting an A to an A+, sophisticated language is probably the major factor. Learning how to channel what I'd learned, in particular using academic articles and such, into what the assessors were looking for was also important. I've mentioned before how using study guides for your texts can be helpful as a foundation, but to elevate your mark you need to move beyond them, as (most!) teachers already know the basics.
Obviously each student will have different aspects that make their work strong, whether it's the articulation of ideas, the interpretation of the text, or even a well thought-out structure and approach. Teachers are usually in a better position to determine how best to maximise your mark, but I'd be happy to look over some practice stuff if you want specific advice.
In general: practice a variety of difficult prompts, know your text inside-out, and read widely. Not only will the latter help develop vocab. but reading other students' essays, or the aforementioned professional academic pieces will also assist in establishing your own unique interpretations and insights.

I'll be posting some of my practice essays and SACs on Henry IV Part 1 in my other thread, even if you aren't studying the text it might help to see how to construct a response or employ some high-level words. There's also general purpose stuff on different prompt types and how to approach them
If you need more, let me know what texts you're doing and I'll try to help

[literally lauren]

Sooo many PMs about orals, I know they're awful guys, but you'll be fine
I thought I'd post some LA stuff since I don't have much on oral presentations that hasn't been said already.
This might assist with speech writing anyway; a good tip for constructing a persuasive piece is thinking about how you would analyse it if it were an LA task. How many techniques could you comment on? Is there a holistic appeal or do you use many different ones? How have you treated the key players in the issue?

SIDE NOTE: I've also had some people asking about what a 'key player' is. Sorry, it's been common vocab at my old school for so long that I forget not everyone knows what it means  It's a simple enough concept, but can make for a sophisticated way of structuring your analyses. A 'player' is basically a party involved in the issue, eg. for the 2012 Exam paper, the players included: schoolchildren, books/ebooks (players don't have to be sentient), parents/teachers, and the author herself. It's easy enough to identify who or what the key players are, but the nuance is in determining the author's portrayal/ positioning of them. (eg. ebooks are something overpriced and pale in comparison to the thrill of genuine books) and thus how the readership is made to view the issue through this player.
Instead of dealing with articles chronologically, the player approach is much more flexible and highly recommended. I used the chronological method for a while, but found I had to keep jumping around either because I wanted to link to a similar point later on, or because I'd forgotten something earlier, meaning my essay lacked cohesion. Grouping paragraphs by players is also beneficial when dealing with multiple articles, as it forces you to compare and contrast, instead of dealing with each text as a separate construct. The exam pieces usually involve a single text and multiple visuals, so this can be a much more practical way of setting up your essay.
For the aforementioned example, you might chose to dedicate one paragraph to the treatment of books as opposed to ebooks (though generally the core player needs discussing throughout your essay,) one to children/students, and one to parents and teachers. For an issue with many players, these can often be grouped together in relatively easy ways. Otherwise, if there are a lot of minor players, a few mentions here and there are sufficient.
This approach is not foolproof, and there are situations where it can turn otherwise solid analysis into a convoluted and nonsensical piece of writing, but overall it's the most reliable method I've found.

Anyway, persuasive techniques!
Attached is a list of any and all that came to mind, let me know if you think of any others. Some will be incredibly simplistic and rarely warrant mentioning, others are needlessly complex and are rarely found. Hopefully all the in between ones will be of some assistance

That said, keep in mind VCAA again reiterated in the Report for last year: "there is little to be gained from simply identifying techniques." Analysis requires much more than that; knowing devices is only the first step.

[yalata2013]

HOW DID YOU GET A 50 IN ENGLISH HAHA??!?!?! how did you study/any tips to improve?

[literally lauren]

HOW DID YOU GET A 50 IN ENGLISH HAHA??!?!?! how did you study/any tips to improve?

Partially blind luck... I'm pretty sure an assessor read mine after a string of barely legible 1s and 2s so I just looked good in comparison...

But I did work throughout the year, I knew what my weaknesses were and made sure I did something whenever I had the chance. Little things like reading while on the bus in the mornings or having my notes pinned to the bedroom wall helped a bit, but ultimately there's no substitute for practice essays. External reading is an excellent way to build up vocab, and if you can find a thread here for your texts/context I'd recommend getting involved in some of those discussions.
But all of this is wasted if you don't know how to implement what you've learned. At this stage of the year get into the habit of reading widely and actively. Get to know your teacher this year too since they'll likely be the most help. Otherwise, tutoring can also confer a considerable advantage. I never had a tutor myself, but my teacher was good enough for me not to need one.
If you want to post some of your work, or some more specific questions I might be able to help

[DJA]

HOW do you write good creative writing. More specifically how do you SHOW and not TELL?

Teachers love saying that but how would you suggest putting this into practice?

[literally lauren]

HOW do you write good creative writing. More specifically how do you SHOW and not TELL?

Teachers love saying that but how would you suggest putting this into practice?

"Good creative writing" is utterly subjective, I'll try to cover this in a later post.
In terms of 'show don't tell':
1. longer sentences is a good rule of thumb. 'Telling' seems to occur when students get to the point to quickly eg. 'She felt conflicted.' whereas 'showing' takes longer: 'She glanced at her mother's tired face and opened her mouth tentatively.' This isn't always the case, but as a guide, look at the sentence you've written. If you can ask 'how' or 'why' then you probably need more. Not every sentence needs to be this way, of course, it's best mixed in with a variety of other lengths and degrees of complexity.
That said, don't lose your message in a web of verbose description. I've read pieces that go on and on about the colour, size and shape of every item of furniture in a room. Don't waste time with anything that detracts too far from your exploration of the prompt/text. They don't give many marks for writerly talent if it seems like you're circumventing the task at hand.
To familiarise yourself with 'showing', pick up a novel and work out the ratio of showing/telling in each paragraph, or (if you pick the right book) observe how authors can both show and tell withing the same sentence. This is also a good way of learning about different narrative styles and plot pacing if you're writing stories.
The creative style is most closely linked with the expository, in that you are exposing and revealing facets of the prompt, as opposed to dictating or polemicising as in a persuasive piece.
If you intend to write this way in SACs and the exam, talk to your teacher and develop a style that works for you. Some students weave in expository elements to a short story, others write letters or inner monologues of characters in the texts. It's an incredibly open-ended and versatile task, but is also the riskiest of the three styles. With a lot of practice you'll be fine once exams roll around.
I'll put up some of my attempts at creative pieces on Conflict later (I won't call them failed attempts but they definitely weren't successful.) The VCAA Past Exam pages also have some samples.
Hope that helps

[literally lauren]

I know you tutor people so hopefully you can be objective; do you find it necessary to have a tutor in Year 12 English to succeed?

My current Eng. teacher seems quite decent but are tutors necessary to provide a different perspective to the course? Or are they not essential to do well?

EDIT:

Perhaps I should cut to the chase, did you personally employ a tutor to get your score or could you self-study/rely on your teacher solely in English?

haha, I can be objective. No you do not need a tutor. I've never had one. And look at me now 
They are in no way essential, plenty of students obtain brilliant or even perfect marks without one; it just depends on your learning style and capabilities. I had all the support I needed at school through my teacher and a group of friends who were always willing to have lengthy debates with me about whether Anna had the hots for Elinor in Year of Wonders       (she totally did, btw)
If you're the sort of student that gets a lot out of discussions with other students or need fresh perspectives once in awhile then I can recommend looking around for a tutor. It'll also help in getting alternate marking/ 2nd opinions on practice essays. There are a lot of benefits of tutors (okay I'm not that objective) so you might want to trial lessons for a few weeks, but ultimately it's nowhere near a necessity for high achievement.

[brenden]

Tutoring definitely not required.

[brenden]

HOW do you write good creative writing. More specifically how do you SHOW and not TELL?

Teachers love saying that but how would you suggest putting this into practice?

There's a potential for you to find this useful, DJ. (No one judge me for spelling Coober Pedy wrong looooooll)
17/20 Identity and Belonging (Skin) Short-story Example.

[literally lauren]

Re: all the Context PMs...
The golden rule of context writing: Don't mention Hitler. Just don't.

This applies more to the expository Conflict factions, but there is an overall message for other contexts and styles too. There are more than 40,000 english essays every year. Some of them are blank, granted, and some will be less than a paragraph. Some people have to fail after all. But for the most part, there are thousands of other students and there's only one prompt for each context. That means for conflict there were about 18000 essays, Id&b had 11000, Whose Reality around 8000, and Imaginative Landscape had 3500. Each assessor will be reading hundreds of these essays, and while some overlap is inevitable, the key to high marks in Context Units is originality.

Historical examples are one of the most common bastions of Conflict students. Given Paradise Road was the most popular texts last year, drawing parallels between the events of the text and other POW camps or war crimes was also a prevalent approach. Furthermore, most schools provide students with heaps of handouts on WWII, The Cold War, The McCarthy trials etc. These are all perfectly fine and versatile examples to incorporate in essays, but they are the same ones most of the 18000 will be using. The trick is to find slightly more rare fodder for your writing.
This is one of my opening paragraphs I wrote about the causes and consequences of conflict:

On February 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara fired a gun whilst standing on a rickety chair, killing the Mayor of Chicago. Mayor Anton Cermak was not his target, however; Zangara was aiming for the man shaking Cermak’s hand, Franklin Roosevelt. If the chair hadn’t wobbled, if Zangara was taller, if he had picked any other piece of furniture to stand on, then America would have lost its 32nd President and instead sworn in his running mate, then Vice President John Nance Garner; a man whose political ideology was the basis for his opposition to a famous package of legislation called ‘The New Deal’ designed to revitalise the financial system. If Zangara’s chair hadn’t wobbled, if any number of things hadn’t occurred exactly when and how they did, America may not have survived The Great Depression.

In short, using common examples can be useful in communicating with assesors directly, since you won't have to waste time like I did providing background information. No one will have any doubt which Hitler or Stalin you're talking about, but they will have read 20 other essays that reference him for similar reasons. This does not mean, however, that you should go out of your way to find esoteric stories or facts just for the sake of standing out. There's a reason the common examples are so common. But good writers will be able to use these as springboards into more sophisticated discussion, not just let the basic historical fact speak for itself.

By the end of the year you should have built up a range of avenues to explore in the exam. They don't all have to be fully formed ideas you've written practice essays on already, in fact it can be better to have some fresher concepts so that you don't fall into the trap of rewriting something of little relevance. I never got to use the above sample intro in a proper SAC or full essay, because the prompt wouldn't allow it. Forcing in examples where they don't belong is worse than not having any at all; ideally you will be so familiar with historical/literary/socio-political events and constructs that when you first look at the exam topic, 3 or 4 will just spring to mind to use at your disposal. Going into a SAC or exam with a mindset of 'I'm going to write about Edward Snowden, Asylum Seekers, and Hitler' is not only limiting, but can inhibit your natural response to the prompt. Every year the assessor's report comments on the lack of genuine engagement with texts and contexts, primarily in instances where students have had a pre-written essay or formula in mind. Build up the repository with stories from the media, novels, films, anything; so that come October there'll be no need to discuss Hitler, because you'll have a wealth of examples that demonstrate your points with much more clarity, sophistication, and individuality.

So to invoke the ever-quotable Monty Python, don't mention the war. Just don't.