English Advanced Question Thread

[Opengangs]

For creatives if we have 1-2 major discoveries e.g. physical and emotional, what if they ask for landscape or cultural for example? How would we adapt?

You don't have to use the stimulus literally -- use elements of the landscape or culture where appropriate. Of course, it's easier said than done.
For instance, if the landscape depicts a barren wasteland, you can conceptualise this notion as an emotional discovery of the landscape -- the protagonist may recall a moment of loneliness, or alienation, and thus, the notion of a barren wasteland can help to conceptualise his emotional (re)discovery of his home.

tl;dr: think deeper when using the stimulus; the stimulus doesn't have to be a physical element.

[kiwiberry]

anyone by chance studied king lear? any ideas on his kingship and/or him in comparison to what a good ruler should be like?

Heya I did this last year! Honestly don't remember much, but in my essay I wrote about how Lear was a careless leader (wanted to get rid of his responsibility over the kingdom as fast as possible), and how his pride and arrogance (after the love test on his daughters) led to his descent into madness. Hope this helps a bit

[bluecookie]

Language, content, or construction techniques aren't anything fancy - it's about the language, the content, and then the techniques. So with content - you talk about subject matter. What is he discussing in his poems? Usually, tension. Tension between young and old, moving and stable, inspiring and dull, peace and war, etc. Then in the language and construction techniques, it becomes really specific. So I might talk about the way Yeats poetically treats the tension between vitality and his own looming old age, he uses the motif of water throughout The Wild Swans at Coole to represent the vitality and vibrancy of the world around him - drawing a comparison to himself. Obviously this analysis compounds with other pieces of textual evidence, but together, you create a portrait of how Yeats' textual integrity is built through his writing

Thanks, just a question on the motif example. Is it the subsequent techniques that showcase his sadness at growing old/despair at mortality that complete the contrast between the water motif and him?

Also, why is there tension between young and old, moving and stable, etc etc? I was a bit confused about that when my english teacher went through it in class...

[bluecookie]

Also, where do you find a list of techniques or just techniques in general for your prescribed texts? My school mostly focuses on a conceptual analysis I guess, so we're given a lot of sheets on the environment/politics/society around the texts, and about the author's life and how his/her work has inspired or affected other people, but there's actually a lack of stuff on techniques. (We were given no techniques at all through the school year from the texts to analyse, or even a simple list of techniques present in our prescribed where we could look through our prescribed text and try to find them) So I need a bit of help finding them for my prescribed...

(For the previous assessments I just bulled haha. Pretty sure I'm heading for an atar of 70 )

[Opengangs]

Also, where do you find a list of techniques or just techniques in general for your prescribed texts? My school mostly focuses on a conceptual analysis I guess, so we're given a lot of sheets on the environment/politics/society around the texts, and about the author's life and how his/her work has inspired or affected other people, but there's actually a lack of stuff on techniques. (We were given no techniques at all through the school year from the texts to analyse, or even a simple list of techniques present in our prescribed where we could look through our prescribed text and try to find them) So I need a bit of help finding them for my prescribed...

(For the previous assessments I just bulled haha. Pretty sure I'm heading for an atar of 70 )

I use literary devices, it is a pretty sweet website all about well, literary devices.

https://literarydevices.net

[elysepopplewell]

Also, where do you find a list of techniques or just techniques in general for your prescribed texts? My school mostly focuses on a conceptual analysis I guess, so we're given a lot of sheets on the environment/politics/society around the texts, and about the author's life and how his/her work has inspired or affected other people, but there's actually a lack of stuff on techniques. (We were given no techniques at all through the school year from the texts to analyse, or even a simple list of techniques present in our prescribed where we could look through our prescribed text and try to find them) So I need a bit of help finding them for my prescribed...

(For the previous assessments I just bulled haha. Pretty sure I'm heading for an atar of 70 )

With your texts specifically - have a look in the notes section to see if other students have uploaded their notes or essays on those texts so you can locate the techniques within them! If you have a copy of the notes that we sell at lectures - Emily put a great list of techniques in there too

[bluecookie]

I use literary devices, it is a pretty sweet website all about well, literary devices.

https://literarydevices.net

Thanks! Bookmarked! (Which is my way of saying I'll procrastinate and come back to it later I suppose...all jks aside I'm mostly working on maths right now, but I will definitely look at it and try to utilise it when I'm properly revising english

With your texts specifically - have a look in the notes section to see if other students have uploaded their notes or essays on those texts so you can locate the techniques within them! If you have a copy of the notes that we sell at lectures - Emily put a great list of techniques in there too

Aaaah, you guys don't have anything for mod a and c from my school aaaah, but the ones for mod b will definitely come in handy Thanks!

[anotherworld2b]

Hi I was hoping to get some help. I am trying to address the fact that 'the book thief' is set during the hitler regime. I am not quite sure how to address this in a topic sentence. The text is set during the context of the hitler regime?

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi I was hoping to get some help. I am trying to address the fact that 'the book thief' is set during the hitler regime. I am not quite sure how to address this in a topic sentence. The text is set during the context of the hitler regime?

The common way of referencing this period is just as "Nazi Germany," so even just "The text is set in Nazi Germany" perhaps?

[KeelzeyMac]

Hi!
I have a question about an assessment our year has been given. It's a bit odd so I'll try to explain it the best I can;
With our prescribed text for Mod C (Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog), we've been asked to prepare for a 40-minute in-class essay on the nature of media in the post-truth age. But we have to write it from the perspective of Levinson, using a YouTube vid of a convention on media in the post-truth age as a related text. So we have to pretend we're Barry Levinson who has gone to this convention, reflected on what the panelists are arguing, then created a thesis that either agrees or disagrees with their main arguments and supports this with his own film- all in 40 minutes!
 I'm wondering how you would go about structuring an essay like this? As a guide, my teacher has recommended that each paragraph talks about the Convention for 1/3 and Wag the Dog for 2/3.
Thanks in advance!

[Lachlan Morley]

Hi All,

Just a question regarding Paper 1 short answers, im constanlty sitting at about 12/15 for this short answer section, how can i aim to improve this in order to get closer to full marks, i feeel like my depth of answer is fine although our school dosent give us alot of feedback

[Opengangs]

Hi All,

Just a question regarding Paper 1 short answers, im constanlty sitting at about 12/15 for this short answer section, how can i aim to improve this in order to get closer to full marks, i feeel like my depth of answer is fine although our school dosent give us alot of feedback

Hi, Lachlan!

Have you checked your feedback, or at least consulted with the criteria?
The only way to improve with English is to receive as much feedback as possible from tutors and teachers. Especially for short answers, work out if there is a trend of lost marks from your previous exams. Is it particularly the last question that you're losing marks in?

Once you have found the root cause of your lost marks, work to fix them. If it's because you're not placing enough time into it, then your goal is to improve with your management of time. You can do this by restricting your time, and thus dedicate strict times to tackling the 3/4/5 mark questions. If it's analysis, work to strengthen them by directly answering the question. Don't waffle on with short answers; be succinct and directly address the question.

Practice these main areas, and in the HSC, it will feel natural to you.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi All,

Just a question regarding Paper 1 short answers, im constanlty sitting at about 12/15 for this short answer section, how can i aim to improve this in order to get closer to full marks, i feeel like my depth of answer is fine although our school dosent give us alot of feedback

I'll also link you to Elyse's fantastic guide on the Unseen Text section of Paper 1

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi!
I have a question about an assessment our year has been given. It's a bit odd so I'll try to explain it the best I can;
With our prescribed text for Mod C (Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog), we've been asked to prepare for a 40-minute in-class essay on the nature of media in the post-truth age. But we have to write it from the perspective of Levinson, using a YouTube vid of a convention on media in the post-truth age as a related text. So we have to pretend we're Barry Levinson who has gone to this convention, reflected on what the panelists are arguing, then created a thesis that either agrees or disagrees with their main arguments and supports this with his own film- all in 40 minutes!
 I'm wondering how you would go about structuring an essay like this? As a guide, my teacher has recommended that each paragraph talks about the Convention for 1/3 and Wag the Dog for 2/3.
Thanks in advance!

This is definitely a really strange/interesting tasks, I'd have no specific insight because I've never done anything like it! The usual stuff I suppose, techniques and quotes and such, one paragraph per main idea on the media - This guide might be helpful as a start! Just a general guide on Module C

[jasminesadiqi]

I have a question! my teachers are really confusing me with the 'text of your own choosing.' some say, you will only get a good mark, if you have written about your prescribed text and also text of your own choosing , 50%, and 50% each, some other teachers say it has to be 30% of the text of your own choosing and 70% of the prescribed text...  which way is the right way for a high mark in the actual hsc?