English Advanced Question Thread

[jamonwindeyer]

So if I chose a related text with lots of analysis on the internet like Animal Farm, I will need to compose it very skillfully in order to get a band 6?

If I chose another related text with not much material on the internet for analysis, I can still make up stuff on the spot and get good marks (compared to a classical novel with lots of analysis on the internet)?

It's not related to the analysis online, just the fact that the marker will be more likely to know the text inside and out. Less room for error, I suppose, since other students have studied it in depth 

In any case I think it best you choose a non-prescribed text, from there, anything is great, especially if there are lots of resources available 

[conic curve]

It's not related to the analysis online, just the fact that the marker will be more likely to know the text inside and out. Less room for error, I suppose, since other students have studied it in depth 

In any case I think it best you choose a non-prescribed text, from there, anything is great, especially if there are lots of resources available 

So I guess I might go with animal farm then, even though it's a well known text but not a prescribed text 

Also Jamon, I think I asked this before but is using a film better than using a novel as a related text (personally I feel novels are better because films have too many visual and language techniques hence you'll need to analyse it more)

[jamonwindeyer]

So I guess I might go with animal farm then, even though it's a well known text but not a prescribed text 

Also Jamon, I think I asked this before but is using a film better than using a novel as a related text (personally I feel novels are better because films have too many visual and language techniques hence you'll need to analyse it more)

If you feel that way then go for it, there is absolutely no benefit of one over the other, the only consideration would be a variety of techniques. This could mean selecting a novel if you are studying film, and vice versa, but it is absolutely not necessary 

[specclee]

Hi! I was wondering if I could get some help with a Mod C Elective 2 question? The elective is representing people and landscapes and there aren't really any resources for the elective, so I have no clue about how to approach the question...
Sorry to bother you all!
"Analyse how the representation of people and landscapes leads us to a greater awareness of the complexity of human behaviour.
In your answer make detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least one other text of your choosing."
My prescribed text is Clay by Melissa Harrison and I'm really struggling because its a relatively new text (2013) and there is almost no resources for it 
Any help is appreciated!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi! I was wondering if I could get some help with a Mod C Elective 2 question? The elective is representing people and landscapes and there aren't really any resources for the elective, so I have no clue about how to approach the question...
Sorry to bother you all!
"Analyse how the representation of people and landscapes leads us to a greater awareness of the complexity of human behaviour.
In your answer make detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least one other text of your choosing."
My prescribed text is Clay by Melissa Harrison and I'm really struggling because its a relatively new text (2013) and there is almost no resources for it 
Any help is appreciated!

Hi there! My first suggestion is to have a look at my essay - I did people and landscapes too! I just uploaded my essay and you can download it here! Also, my "study notes" for the essay (basically, my memorisation tool) are available for download here!

First of all, have a look at them and let me know what you think. It might give you a few ideas about tackling the question. What I'm linking you to is essentially a more "universal" essay because it was my preparation

Let me know how you're feeling, and then we can flesh out specific things about your own work

[specclee]

Hi there! My first suggestion is to have a look at my essay - I did people and landscapes too! I just uploaded my essay and you can download it here! Also, my "study notes" for the essay (basically, my memorisation tool) are available for download here!

First of all, have a look at them and let me know what you think. It might give you a few ideas about tackling the question. What I'm linking you to is essentially a more "universal" essay because it was my preparation

Let me know how you're feeling, and then we can flesh out specific things about your own work

Oh my god, thank you so much!! Your essay really helped in clearing away many of my doubts!
Do you think that this is a good thesis for the question above? I feel like it's not specific enough...:
The representation of people and their interactions with different landscapes leads to a greater understanding of the complexity of human nature as it enhances the audience's awareness of how an individual's level of engagement with their surroundings is significantly shaped by their experiences and beliefs
I really appreciate you help, thank you so much!!

[conic curve]

How do you prepare for curve ball questions in english and how often do they occur?

I believe that this was a curveball question from the 2011 English Advanced paper: “In the context of your critical study, to what extent does your response to the closing scenes of Hamlet inform your judgement of this play as a whole?”

I know for a fact you always need to refer to the question and keep an audience in mind

[jamonwindeyer]

How do you prepare for curve ball questions in english and how often do they occur?

I believe that this was a curveball question from the 2011 English Advanced paper: “In the context of your critical study, to what extent does your response to the closing scenes of Hamlet inform your judgement of this play as a whole?”

I know for a fact you always need to refer to the question and keep an audience in mind

The idea of curveballs is I think that is hard to prepare for them specifically! 

That was indeed a tough one in 2011, because it specified the closing scene of Hamlet (an excerpt of this scene was also provided). Not something that had been done before and hasn't been done since 

Curve balls can occur at any time, no way to anticipate them, BOSTES will just occasionally do something different. The only way to prepare for them is to know your text well, have had lots of practice, and then when it comes just answering it as best you can. That is all you can ever do 

[conic curve]

The idea of curveballs is I think that is hard to prepare for them specifically! 

That was indeed a tough one in 2011, because it specified the closing scene of Hamlet (an excerpt of this scene was also provided). Not something that had been done before and hasn't been done since 

Curve balls can occur at any time, no way to anticipate them, BOSTES will just occasionally do something different. The only way to prepare for them is to know your text well, have had lots of practice, and then when it comes just answering it as best you can. That is all you can ever do 

But then you're going to have to come up with a new essay on the spot as well as a completely different analysis  and that's when you might have to start using language techniques you haven't used in your novel before (most likely)

Anyways, how do you attack a question like this because it refers to the closing scene (i.e. what specifically do you need to talk about)

Do you always have to refer to the last scene in the whole play and talk about that specifically?

Could they ask you this type of question in Yeats Poetry? (I believe Hamlet and Yeats poetry were Module B)

[jamonwindeyer]

Oh my god, thank you so much!! Your essay really helped in clearing away many of my doubts!
Do you think that this is a good thesis for the question above? I feel like it's not specific enough...:
The representation of people and their interactions with different landscapes leads to a greater understanding of the complexity of human nature as it enhances the audience's awareness of how an individual's level of engagement with their surroundings is significantly shaped by their experiences and beliefs
I really appreciate you help, thank you so much!!

I think this is a great Thesis!! I agree, I do think it could be a little more specific, but that I think will just come from fleshing out this idea a little more. If I were to express your Thesis a little more succinctly:

Composers will often explore how an individuals engagement with their surroundings is significantly shaped by their beliefs and experiences.

That is taking out the bit at the beginning that links you to the question, just for demonstration purposes. If you wanted to start getting a little more in depth, you could try thinking of different ways you could finish this sentence, then using things you come up with to develop your Thesis further:

Composers will often explore how an individuals engagement with their surroundings is significantly shaped by their beliefs and experiences. This is because ...

Just an idea to develop it further, but it is definitely a great Thesis! 

[jamonwindeyer]

But then you're going to have to come up with a new essay on the spot as well as a completely different analysis  and that's when you might have to start using language techniques you haven't used in your novel before (most likely)

Anyways, how do you attack a question like this because it refers to the closing scene (i.e. what specifically do you need to talk about)

Do you always have to refer to the last scene in the whole play and talk about that specifically?

Could they ask you this type of question in Yeats Poetry? (I believe Hamlet and Yeats poetry were Module B)

Yep, that's the idea of a curveball, and another reason why I don't memorise my essays 

This question would require the usual analysis and the usual context and the usual techniques, everything usual. You'd need to be pulling a significant amount of textual references/quotes/techniques from the closing scene of the play, but not everything needs to come from there. The question does talk about the play as a whole as well, so you would include probably a 50/50 mix of closing scene, and then other sections. Remember, the students were given a short excerpt from the closing scene (from memory), so this would help.

The idea for preparing for a question like this that is so different would be to know your text at the level where nothing is a curveball. The better you know your text and the more quotes/techniques/analysis you remember, the less likely it is you will get caught off guard. The only preparation for a curveball is just good old fashioned textual knowledge.

Yes, they definitely could, and they do. In my HSC (I did speeches for Module B) they specified a particular speech to discuss. It had been done before, but still, threw a lot of people. They may specify a single poem to discuss. Really, they can ask anything they like about your text as long as it is confined by the syllabus, and the syllabus is broad, so you have to be ready for anything 

[elysepopplewell]

Oh my god, thank you so much!! Your essay really helped in clearing away many of my doubts!
Do you think that this is a good thesis for the question above? I feel like it's not specific enough...:
The representation of people and their interactions with different landscapes leads to a greater understanding of the complexity of human nature as it enhances the audience's awareness of how an individual's level of engagement with their surroundings is significantly shaped by their experiences and beliefs
I really appreciate you help, thank you so much!!

That works! I'm more tempted to split the sentence up, however. I tend to not mention the audience in the thesis unless the question actually talks about the way a text influences an audience (common of Module B). So, with this in mind, I would put the second half of your sentence, as the first sentence of a two part thesis. I think this part holds a lot of uniqueness that really reflects your unique stance on the question. I think the first part of the sentence (that I would make the second sentence in a two-sentence thesis) is more generic of the question, which is still required, but you don't want to let it detract form the uniqueness of your perspective! This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I know. I just read it back, but I don't know how to reword it. So if it doesn't make sense, post back asking something specific of the thesis/response and I'm more than happy to respond to that! Creating a thesis is always a difficult process - it is probably the small thing that I spent the most time on when preparing an essay! I think the perfect thesis has a lot to do with the success of an essay.

[elysepopplewell]

Hi! I was wondering if I could get some help with a Mod C Elective 2 question? The elective is representing people and landscapes and there aren't really any resources for the elective, so I have no clue about how to approach the question...
Sorry to bother you all!
"Analyse how the representation of people and landscapes leads us to a greater awareness of the complexity of human behaviour.
In your answer make detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least one other text of your choosing."
My prescribed text is Clay by Melissa Harrison and I'm really struggling because its a relatively new text (2013) and there is almost no resources for it 
Any help is appreciated!

One more thing: The question says "us." I think it is important to identify the "us" - even in a really implicit way. Whenever the question used the inclusive first person, I was always inclined to espouse the "us" to be a "modern/contemporary audience" or "contemporary student of the composer's work" for example. It doesn't have to be identified immediately - but I hate using the first person for an essay! So this is how I avoided it

[elysepopplewell]

Pretty sure you can but I for one massively advise against it. The marker will feel like you took the lazy way out. So unless you're actually that good at writing an essay, it's risky.

I don't think BOSTES is serious in saying how students will not be disadvantaged.

I tend to disagree here. And I'm only addressing it in relation to your comment Rui because a lot of people espouse the same perspective as you - so I'm just going to do some myth busting

 BOSTES has no motive for lying to students on their FAQ when saying that you will not be penalised for selecting a prescribed text as an ORT. It isn't really seen as a lazy way out - because the only way it could be perceived as "lazy" is because you looked at a list, carefully went through the texts to find one you like, and then used that. The only difference between using a text from the prescribed text list and a random text from the world outside of HSC, is that you aren't starting with a written list from BOSTES, but are instead just as easily accessing a text you've already known or have found on google.

The resources available for some prescribed texts are rich, whereas other prescribed text have like, zero resources available (I know this because my Module C text was the latter unfortunately). So it isn't as though all prescribed texts come with an abundance of study help. In saying this, there are definitely texts that aren't on the prescribed text list that have an adundance of resources, because they are studied all around the world for various reasons beyond the HSC. So the argument of resource-help is nullified.

Furthermore, I used an ORT that was not on the prescribed text list (Distant Lands - Tim Winton) and many, many, many teachers have studied this work before because it is a well known text from an Australian author. This didn't set the bar any higher for me because a teacher was familiar with the text. A teacher will not judge your knowledge against their own, that would just be cruel to compare 30+ years of living and studying, to 2 years of intensive HSC. English is cool because everyone can look at the same text and espouse various different interpretations. Furthermore, different modules require you to view a text in a different lens anyway! So, if you choose a Module A prescribed text for your Module C ORT - your analysis of the text will not be compared to the analysis of the Module A student - for the initial reason that the same marker will not mark both modules, but also because what is required of your analysis is entirely different.

Hopefully this clears the air a bit about ORTs from the prescribed text list - and thanks for letting me use your comment, Rui, to bounce off!

[Sahar8642]

Hey there!! Definitely don't be sorry for the questions, happy to help! 

So for starters, there is a cool essay scaffold you can download from the notes section that goes through the basic essay structure I used in the HSC. It might help you with your overall structure!!

For the intro specifically, you should probably do things in this order:

- Present your Main Idea (Thesis)
- Relate it to the Question
- Link it to your Texts
- List the Ideas you will Discuss
- State the conclusion you will draw

The ordering of your body paragraphs is fairly inconsequential, you can put them in any order you like. You can do one of three things:

- Text by text, so one on Text A, one on Text B, one on Text C, then back to Text A, etc. This would have to be 6 paragraphs!
- Text at a Time, so everything on Text A first, then everything on Text B, etc. I don't recommend this 
- Integrated, three paragraphs (usually) where each paragraph discusses the three texts (well, two poems from your prescribed and the ORT) simultaneously. These paragraphs would be structured around 3 main concepts or ideas (in your case, political ideologies) and how each text represents them in a similar/different way. This is what I used 

And yes, you do need to compare the poems with your ORT  the body paragraphs should contain the usual things: A main concept/idea, then analysis with techniques, quotes, explanations and impacts on audience, as to how that concept/idea has been represented by the composer of the text(s). It's a lot to cover, so being succinct is essential 

I hope this helps!

Thank you!
That helped make things a lot clearer
I am most probably going to do the structure with the integrated paragraphs.

I just wanted to confirm
What's the word limit for a Module C and B essay?
Also, do the module C & B essays have to contain context like the Module A one?

Thanks again! 😀