VCE English Question Thread

[Willba99]

hi guys,

what do u usually write in ur conclusions for lang analysis?

I'd talk about the likely overall effect that all pieces (including visuals and comments) are likely to have on a reader, and also a maybe a quick summary of which arguments are most likely to have caused this overall effect

[clarke54321]

hi guys,

what do u usually write in ur conclusions for lang analysis?

Hey!

Usually I make reference to a difference in tone and manner between the two authors (if there is more than one article), and how this works to bolster the main contention. Some people decide to do it by technique. Given that the conclusion is not a necessity in an AA essay, I wouldn't worry too much about it

[jonwil]

Hey I have this really important question to ask.

Can you use one quote to explain or conclude your points about both texts in comparative?
For example "Forgiveness liberates the soul,... that is why it is such a powerful weapon"
This is a quote from Invictus that you can use to justify the nature of Mandela's forgiveness, more over it can be used as evidence to how Mandela could achieve what he could. But I also wanted to use this quote to explain as well as magnify the same idea from Ransom.
Priam is willing to forgive Achilles who has violated Hector's body when no one else could. (Hecuba calls him a "jackal" the council see this as "folly" yadda ya). So if I were to conclude a paragraph on the power of forgiveness, or if were to make a point about each text and link them in one sentence. Is it okay to use ONE QUOTE from ONE TEXT to justify your idea about BOTH TEXTS?
Thanks

[zhen]

Hey I have this really important question to ask.

Can you use one quote to explain or conclude your points about both texts in comparative?
For example "Forgiveness liberates the soul,... that is why it is such a powerful weapon"
This is a quote from Invictus that you can use to justify the nature of Mandela's forgiveness, more over it can be used as evidence to how Mandela could achieve what he could. But I also wanted to use this quote to explain as well as magnify the same idea from Ransom.
Priam is willing to forgive Achilles who has violated Hector's body when no one else could. (Hecuba calls him a "jackal" the council see this as "folly" yadda ya). So if I were to conclude a paragraph on the power of forgiveness, or if were to make a point about each text and link them in one sentence. Is it okay to use ONE QUOTE from ONE TEXT to justify your idea about BOTH TEXTS?
Thanks

Wait for someone else to reply but I would not recommend using a quote from one text to justify ideas in both texts. You can say that the ideas are similar in both texts, but in my opinion you need to provide a quote for each text to really justify your idea and provide evidence that it’s true for both texts. Also if you use a quote from one text to justify your idea in both texts, you probably won’t be able to analyse the slight differences in ideas between texts cause you’re only quoting one text.

[superficious]

In your opinion, to anyone reading this, would the Romantic Era be a specific theme in the Frankenstein Text Response Prompts? I was kind of hoping for the themes of Nature Vs. Nurture or Innocence...

[kaii]

Hi,

It's exam season and I have left it till the last minute as always. Can someone please tell me how to study for my English exam?
I don't really know where to start because I'm so overwhelmed

P.S.
Besides rereading/rewatching please give me tips on how to begin revision. Thanks!

[Mariamnourine]

Hi,

It's exam season and I have left it till the last minute as always. Can someone please tell me how to study for my English exam?
I don't really know where to start because I'm so overwhelmed

P.S.
Besides rereading/rewatching please give me tips on how to begin revision. Thanks!

Hey, don't be discouraged by that, you've still got a chance at it and remember there are heaps of VCE students in your position right now.

I suggest for language analysis you try and do 2 from the Vcaa website, only because you can then read sample responses and correct your own work and see where you went wrong.

For text response, it is easier to just read themes online because they usually incorporate quotes AND you don;t have to reread your bboks. Thisis a better otion becaseu you are more likely to remeber what points to talk about in your essay id a praticialur theme comes up!

Regarding comparative, I advise you to reread your texts and have them fresh in mind for the exam as it is new to the study design and there isn't much resources out there.if your teacher supplied you with summaries and stuff, I advise you to go over them.

I believe in you, don;t be the one that has to feel overwhelmed, just remember there are many people in your position right now and use them as a force of motivation to push you through these last few days. if you don;t stress and get on with it, you will be fine, because if you haven't realized you have been studying these texts all year, so you're not in  a bad position at ALL!!!!

Hope that helped you and Good luck!

[K888]

Hi,

It's exam season and I have left it till the last minute as always. Can someone please tell me how to study for my English exam?
I don't really know where to start because I'm so overwhelmed

P.S.
Besides rereading/rewatching please give me tips on how to begin revision. Thanks!

Hi there! Just going to add on to what Mariamnourine has said.

How do you feel writing essays - are you confident with them? How do you feel with timing?

I think some important things to do between now and Wednesday are:
- Consolidate your quotes - make sure you have enough short and sweet (but useful) quotes to take into your exam.

- Plan! This was what most of my revision consisted of last year - get all the topics you can for your text(s) (look through past VCAA papers, and resources you've been given over the year from your teacher) and smash out some plans! Doesn't have to be complex - just brainstorm your thoughts and ideas, some arguments you could use, evidence you'd use, and maybe about how the author's message links in with it all. Planning is great because it'll help you come up with something quick when you get into the exam, and you'll be less likely to be taken off guard by the topics you've been given, because you'll already have arguments from heaps of topics that you can pick and choose to make a great essay on the day!

- Read some articles - you can just grab them from past VCAA papers, or use stuff you've been given in class - and highlight and annotate them, decide what you'd analyse if you were to write an essay, and make sure you have figuring out the contention and issue downpat Then, maybe try writing a few paragraphs of analysis, then work up to a full analysis!

- Decide what your weakest part is, and maybe dedicate a bit more time to that - that might mean doing a few more essay plans, or maybe trying to write some language analysis essays or even just read, highlight and annotate some articles.

If you're really not confident with your timing - I'd maybe recommend trying to do some essays under timed conditions, or even trying sitting a practice exam.
Another great thing to do would be email your teacher for some ideas, and maybe see if you can have a chat with them between now and the exam - if for nothing else other than a pep talk!

All the best, I hope this has helped a bit

[usernameincorrect]

Hello there! Just wondering what people think about the text response section of the exam for The Complete Maus. Considering that this is its last year on the study design, and that for the past few years there have been prompts relating to conventions, do you guys think that convention prompts will still be on this year? Also taking into account it is a graphic novel after all.

Anddd, for the comparative section, whats the chances of the prompts being similar to those of the sample ones? I know its close to impossible to tell, but is it extremely unlikely? Or possible. Thoughts?

Thanks!!

[Willba99]

Anddd, for the comparative section, whats the chances of the prompts being similar to those of the sample ones? I know its close to impossible to tell, but is it extremely unlikely? Or possible. Thoughts?

I'd say its reasonably likely that there will be at least one question/prompt focusing on the obvious, major themes of a text. For example, I'd say its likely that at least one of the Tracks & Into the Wild q's will be about society or personal development/self-discovery, so if you've studied both of these themes then you should be alright. Impossible to say for sure though

[pmmenotes]

bit of a random question but in the exam what order are you guys doing everything? idk if i should do lang analysis first (my weakest), then comparative and then medea or another way

[Willba99]

bit of a random question but in the exam what order are you guys doing everything? idk if i should do lang analysis first (my weakest), then comparative and then medea or another way

Personally, I'm going to do LA first, as I'll spend most of my reading time on it so I don't want to have to reread it in writing time. Additionally, doing LA first will (hopefully) let the questions for the other two essays bubble away in the back of my mind. Next I'll do This Boy's Life, as its my weakest and I want to smash it out before I get too tired, hopefully leaving me ~65 minutes to write a good comparative essay. Just my opinion though! I think its definitely popular to do LA first

[clarke54321]

bit of a random question but in the exam what order are you guys doing everything? idk if i should do lang analysis first (my weakest), then comparative and then medea or another way

Hey!

Usually I do argument analysis first, given that I would have just read it during reading time. I also find it the most stressful, so want it to be out of the way. Then I go text response and comparative. All the best for exams

[eloise1231]

hey all! just a quick question- when an essay prompt has a quote in it, if it's are fairly long (i.e. a sentence or more), do you have to embed the entire quote in your essay? Or will fragments of the quote do?

[clarke54321]

hey all! just a quick question- when an essay prompt has a quote in it, if it's are fairly long (i.e. a sentence or more), do you have to embed the entire quote in your essay? Or will fragments of the quote do?

Hey!

Fragments will be fine If anything, fragments demonstrate a stronger understanding of the quote and its implications (ie. you can craftily integrate them and use them to bolster your main points).