English Advanced Question Thread

[jamonwindeyer]

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?

Hey! Ideally, you want a fairly even split between the two, 50% to 50% or 60% to 40%. 70% to 30% would do well but is probably stretching a bit! Aim to cover your texts equally with a SLIGHT tendency towards your Prescribed

[winstondarmawan]

Hello!
Leading up to the HSC, how many practise essays should I be aiming for?
Like one a day? Just would like some advice/recommendations. TIA
EDIT: Also would appreciate some tips on the 5 marker for Reading Task. I always do fine in the 2/3 markers but at the 5 marker is where my mark usually suffers. The feedback that I get is that I'm not answering the question but every time I do the questions I feel like I'm answering it, and I'm not really sure where I can improve.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hello!
Leading up to the HSC, how many practise essays should I be aiming for?
Like one a day? Just would like some advice/recommendations. TIA

I'd say it is different for everyone! Depends on where you are at currently, where you want to be, and how you best learn. You should aim to do as many as it takes to walk into the room confident in answering a variety of questions to a standard you are happy with, while under pressure

Personally, I probably did a handful (<5 for sure) practice responses for each Module

[bluecookie]

Hey so, I'm revising some conceptual stuff for Mod A (to analyse it better) and I've come across some terms like romanticism, victorianism, edwardianism, which I'm currently in the process of googling but the problem is, every time I google more and more terms come up (like classical period, and neoclassical period) and it's confusing cause I don't know how many there are/if there are more to research, so I'm wondering if anyone has a timeline of all these terms?? Or the collective name for these terms? (like, are they called 'english literature time periods' or something?) So I could google them and try find out all of them lol!

[~BK~]

Hey so, I'm revising some conceptual stuff for Mod A (to analyse it better) and I've come across some terms like romanticism, victorianism, edwardianism, which I'm currently in the process of googling but the problem is, every time I google more and more terms come up (like classical period, and neoclassical period) and it's confusing cause I don't know how many there are/if there are more to research, so I'm wondering if anyone has a timeline of all these terms?? Or the collective name for these terms? (like, are they called 'english literature time periods' or something?) So I could google them and try find out all of them lol!

hey bluecookie...
i do know what you mean, i've come across the same problem myself
this website is quite useful with the list down the side: http://www.intriguing-history.com/periods-history/ .... only trouble is, it's definitely not exhaustive!  other than that, you could try and search 'eras in english history'?   
~BK~

[studyharddd]

What is the best way to implement critics in a Mod B essay on Yeats? Within intro or embed in analysis?

Cheers

[anotherworld2b]

I was wondering if anyone knew what was happening around the later 1970s. Was the feminist movement at its peak in London?

[bluecookie]

hey bluecookie...
i do know what you mean, i've come across the same problem myself
this website is quite useful with the list down the side: http://www.intriguing-history.com/periods-history/ .... only trouble is, it's definitely not exhaustive!  other than that, you could try and search 'eras in english history'?   
~BK~

Thank you!! Maybe that'll help me push my band 3 up to a band 4 (the average) in english hahaha (All my subjects are looking average rn, with a few below average, and a few above (but not by much) but that's life I guess, the normal person would tend towards the average... :p)

[bsdfjnlkasn]

What is the best way to implement critics in a Mod B essay on Yeats? Within intro or embed in analysis?

Cheers

Hey!

So I don't study Yeats, but hopefully can help you with understanding how to integrate critics more generally. My teacher always says that you include critics only if it is relevant to the claim you're making/if it guides your analysis in a particular direction. So I use critics if they say something well, discuss a particular theme that is relevant to the question, or if they comment on something related to techniques. Including critics that discuss form are useful in elevating your response, but that's just a general tip and something I would recommend.

BUT the most important thing is to ensure that you're engaging with the critic, not just including them because you took the time to memorise and don't want it to go to waste. Markers want to see you unpack the ideas that the critic has proposed through actual evidence from the poems. If you include critics in the intro, you won't be able to engage with them as effectively as say in a body paragraph because you can back up your claims more clearly with quotes. Applying the ideas in this way will show that you have processed them which in turn proves to the marker that you have formed your own interpretation of the poetry, which by the way, is effectively what the whole module is about

Let me know if you have any more questions!

[pikachu975]

What is the best way to implement critics in a Mod B essay on Yeats? Within intro or embed in analysis?

Cheers

Embed in analysis and make reference that it is their perspective... e.g. "The commonality in perspectives is seen in John's view that "the poem is...""

[Lumenoria]

Do you think its better to make specific reference to your characters in the thesis? Because I've talked about the ideas more generally without explicitly stating any names, but a lot of my peers have included names and yeah so I'm not sure whether I should too?

[jamonwindeyer]

Do you think its better to make specific reference to your characters in the thesis? Because I've talked about the ideas more generally without explicitly stating any names, but a lot of my peers have included names and yeah so I'm not sure whether I should too?

I think doing it without the characters names helps you stay conceptual rather than text focused - I never used character names in a Thesis! I'd think it was a disadvantage, not an advantage

[elysepopplewell]

I was wondering if anyone knew what was happening around the later 1970s. Was the feminist movement at its peak in London?

Hey there! Not sure specifically about what was happening in London. Here's two links that might give you some pointers (both from the UK):

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/26/forty-years-womens-liberation
http://londonfeministnetwork.org.uk/what-weve-done/what-we-did-in-2010/womens-liberation-and-radical-feminism-1970-early-l980s

[Kirri Rule]

Hi I would love it if someone can help me !! I just got trials back and for mod c my related text was 1984 and i got marked down for that and got told to change it and im completely stuck on a new related text for The Crucible!! Really needing one that links very well to the crucible and mod c )) Thank you

[elysepopplewell]

Hi I would love it if someone can help me !! I just got trials back and for mod c my related text was 1984 and i got marked down for that and got told to change it and im completely stuck on a new related text for The Crucible!! Really needing one that links very well to the crucible and mod c )) Thank you

Hey there! I can't see why you'd be marked down for using 1984 as your related? Was it what you did with the text, or simply that you used it?

Maybe V for Vendetta (film), When the Wind Blows (graphic novel), Animal Farm (short story)...?