Is Literature via Distance Education hard?

[cath_vall]

I've chosen to do English Literature as my English subject for Year 11 and 12 except my school doesn't offer it. Therefore I have to did via distance ed.

I was just wondering if anyone has had experience learning English Literature by distance and if you have, was it hard? Also, in general, is Lit hard? How do you do well in it?

Thanks

[nikegod]

Honestly, I don't know if I would encourage this. I really can't imagine working through my texts without the help of my teacher and class - not having that constant interaction would make even the simpler texts difficult to properly prepare for. I'm not entirely familiar with how distance education works, but I would consider doing a subject that your school does offer, or one that is more individually accessible. Lit is all about developing one's interpretation, drawing from comments made by critics, your teacher and class, and even other people on AN. I would say it was probably the most difficult subject I have done, although I scored higher marks in SACs than methods and German overall. It is a different beast to English, and it's nuances deserve some cautious assessment, as you must remember ATAR is ultimately a ranking exercise, and in your situation, lit mightn't be conducive to achieving your best possible ATAR result. Then again, I can understand wanting to do an intellectually stimulating subject like lit, which rewards independent thinking, as opposed to some of the more rote-based subjects that require only diligent study of flash cards (not that they aren't worthwhile, but they mightn't pique your interest in the same way). As a word of warning, even with plenty of prep and help from my teacher, I still screwed up my second essay, and therefore 50% of the exam (which may as well be -00% at the top end). Maybe I'm a little jaded, but I feel that this risk isn't quite as prominent in other subjects. I was hoping for 45, but now 37-38 is looking more realistic. This is not to say that I regret doing lit though, as it was probably the most interesting subject I did this year as well. Fortunately, I don't need 99, or even anything above 95.05, so dropping one exam wasn't the end of the world for me.

[miaow]

I know someone who did Lit by corro in Year 11 because of timetable clashes, and they hated it. They said it was difficult without class discussion, the structure of sacs wasn't similar to what we did in class, and all-round not ideal. But they liked the subject in year 12 when they did it with a class and teacher instead. So I'd probably say it doesn't sound like a great idea, having done Lit myself where it is just so so much discussion based, you really flesh out your ideas having to argue them to the class, and absorb other peoples opinions and see how that challenges your own ideas and the like. It was so much discussion based we ended up recording our class sometimes coz it was such a good revision tool. But its really about whats best for you. So maybe try lit by corro in year 11, and if it doesn't work out for you, drop back into standard english for year 12, or even halfway through year 11 if you need. You won't have missed anything you can't catch up on.

As a word of warning, even with plenty of prep and help from my teacher, I still screwed up my second essay, and therefore 50% of the exam (which may as well be -00% at the top end). Maybe I'm a little jaded, but I feel that this risk isn't quite as prominent in other subjects. I was hoping for 45, but now 37-38 is looking more realistic. This is not to say that I regret doing lit though, as it was probably the most interesting subject I did this year as well. Fortunately, I don't need 99, or even anything above 95.05, so dropping one exam wasn't the end of the world for me.

Exact same. Except I reckon my 45 dream is now at 36.

So yea to the OP, the lit exam is subjective and touchy and hard to get a grasp on and if you're not building close passage analysis skills from day one, immersing yourself in a whole world of various interpretations and churning out close passage analysis right from year 11, it'll be a tough gig. Its a tough gig even if you do do that, with an ace teacher, let alone by yourself.

[WillHolt]

What I said:
- something about an anaphoric reference/demonstrative pronoun
- alliteration in first line642-467 vce
- anaphoric reference and semantic field
- listing for sense of endlessness, more information in short space etc.