English Advanced Question Thread

[elysepopplewell]

Anyone got ideas about how to establish a setting in 1800s Paris?? (for a creative piece!)

Have a look at some of these links in order to capture the essence of the era, in a correct historical light!

Always start with wikipedia!
Also another wikipedia one here but it is really important movement in Paris described in this one.
And I love old maps! So [url-http://www.oldmapsofparis.com/map/1800]this one[/url] is great!

Once you capture the scenery really well, everything else will fall into place with beautiful realism and mystique.

[jesshosty]

Hi there! I've been wondering what's the best way to go with the creative in Paper 1. Should I write a creative beforehand as a base or should I just go in there and think of my creative once I see the stimulus?

Thank you!!!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi there! I've been wondering what's the best way to go with the creative in Paper 1. Should I write a creative beforehand as a base or should I just go in there and think of my creative once I see the stimulus?

Thank you!!!

I definitely suggest going in with a prepared piece, with the mindset that you will need to adapt in the exam! I think this suits majority of students best. But in saying this, I have a friend who made his creative up entirely on the spot and got a Band 6! He did Extension 2, and kind of just took little slices out of that to put into a creative. So I would definitely prepare a piece beforehand, or at the least, prepare some characters and character profiles so that you have some bodies to apply to your work as the vehicle for discovery

[Lauradf36]

Have a look at some of these links in order to capture the essence of the era, in a correct historical light!

Always start with wikipedia!
Also another wikipedia one here but it is really important movement in Paris described in this one.
And I love old maps! So [url-http://www.oldmapsofparis.com/map/1800]this one[/url] is great!

Once you capture the scenery really well, everything else will fall into place with beautiful realism and mystique.

Thanks so much, you're the MVP! I put the ~in progress~ piece on the Extension 1 creative writing forum, in case you have time to have a look! (I know you must be super busy right now... HSC panic prime-time haha)

[elysepopplewell]

Thanks so much, you're the MVP! I put the ~in progress~ piece on the Extension 1 creative writing forum, in case you have time to have a look! (I know you must be super busy right now... HSC panic prime-time haha)

I'm making it a priority to get to it in the next two days! Sorry for the delay, but I appreciate your understanding! Won't be too long now. I'm at Uni today, so I'm just answering the smaller posts between classes Will get to essays and creatives tonight and tomorrow!

[elysepopplewell]

Hey i was wondering for Module B Critical Study of Texts my prescribed text is T.S Eliot. This means there are five poems as a prescribed text and i was wondering is it likely if BOSTES specifices a poem ?

They absolutely can specify a poem! I studied W B Yeats' poetry and they have specified poems many times before So, it is important that you know each one enough that you can sustain perhaps two paragraphs about them, but you obviously have some favourites (obviously? More like, hopefully!) that you will privilege in your study time - that's ok too! Just cover all bases

For the phrase "A few moments in the countryside …. could number among the most significant and useful of one’s life”, i want to say it's an adage/maxim/aphorism, but can these words only be applied to already well-known sayings? Thanks

Mmm...it can be a maxim, but my understanding of that was it was a very well known saying, like "not all those who wonder are lost." I thought the same of adage too. I could be totally off the mark here, I'm not super familiar with these unfortunately! But, aphorism sounds really promising!

Hi, I have a couple of last minute questions 
1. When a questions asks something like,"How has your understanding of text A been shaped by text B?" or for example, Mod B, " *some statement about your text*. Does your opinion agree with this statement?" Is it advised that we write in first person? 
2. If they give us an extract for poetry, with something like "How do these lines reflect the broader concern of Eliot's poetry as a whole?" do we have to continually make links between that extract and the other poem/s? Or is it alright to simply have the first paragraph on the extract and then relate the other three paragraphs to the first paragraph? I don't know if that quite makes sense haha.
Thanks!

Heya! Good questions. To answer Q1, I advise against using first person and instead take on a more formal register that talks like, "One may experience a more thorough understanding of..." Or, "To a contemporary audience..." or, "A modern student of the work..." So I kind of put my perspective in that way, I think it just keeps it more sophisticated.

Q2. This is tricky. I'd be inclined to give a significant initial focus on the meaning of those few lines. Once you've clarified the meaning, then I'd take it further by applying it to the other aspects of his work, the other poems, and bringing in the meaning recognised in the initial lines, rather than actually continually quoting the lines. Also, use the word oeuvre. It's a wonderful word.

Hopefully that helps! Let me know if I've missed the mark

[jamonwindeyer]

If anyone who posted above this line didn't have a question answered, give us another shout!! Otherwise Elyse and I think that everyone is all set, sorry for the backlog back there

[Sssssrr]

Hi, I'm currently working on Mod C: people and politics. i was wondering if you could give me a hand with my thesis, specifically the section of the rubric which states 'consider the ways in which texts represent individual, shared or competing political perspectives, ideas, events or situations', and 'In their responding and composing, students develop their understanding of how the relationship between various textual forms, media of production and language choices influences and shapes meaning.' how do i include the latter into my thesis, at the moment I've just got a pretty weak statement tagged onto the end of thesis , "Composers select their textual form to best represent their perspectives"< can someone give me some tips?
Thanks

[Elenaa]

Hi !!
I was just wondering, how do you like prepare/study for Module B - specifically poems? I'm doing T.S Eliot and the HSC could specify some poems, or some types poems could relate more to the question than others and what not. So i don't really know how to study for it because i don't think i can prepare essays for all of the poems as i'm only focusing on 2 poems in one essay

Thanks !!

Hey Jamon and Elyse !!
I think you guys forgot to answer my question haha but thats okay because you guys must be very busy !!
Thanks!!!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey Jamon and Elyse !!
I think you guys forgot to answer my question haha but thats okay because you guys must be very busy !!
Thanks!!!

Ahh so we did! Sorry Elenaa

So I prepared for Module B (I had speeches, and they specified, gulp) by just preparing a massive sheet of quotes, techniques and effects in a huge table. I never memorised, so I did this for all my Modules. In the first column I'd have the quote/reference, the second the technique, the third an effect/audience impact dot pointed, and fourth any other info I could use (maybe a link to 'textual integrity' for Module B, or 'context' for Module A).

Unfortunately there is no easy way to remember a whole bunch of quotes for English. This is especially true for Module B, when yep, they can specify and ruin your Paper 2 I was boring and just sat reading them aloud for ages and ages, but you could use palm cards? Maybe record yourself saying them?

As for what answers what, have a plan. I already knew which speeches worked well together in the exam, so as soon as they specified, I already knew which speeches I was using, and I just focused on answering the question. Try and do the same!

Most of all, practice! It really does make perfect

[elysepopplewell]

Hi !!
I was just wondering, how do you like prepare/study for Module B - specifically poems? I'm doing T.S Eliot and the HSC could specify some poems, or some types poems could relate more to the question than others and what not. So i don't really know how to study for it because i don't think i can prepare essays for all of the poems as i'm only focusing on 2 poems in one essay

Thanks !!

So sorry we missed you! Thanks for letting us know
The way that I prepared for the poems in W B Yeats' section of module B was to know each poem, as well as I possibly could. The best way to describe it is essentially look at my own notes (if you type in "module B" at in the "notes" section they'll be there, I think at the end page because they were recently uploaded. Basically, it's like I wrote a paragraph about the context and what the poem is about (for each poem). Just a quick list of the themes or ideas. Then I actually went through and analysed every single line in the poem. I think actually the night before the HSC paper 2 exam, I remembered more than I ever thought possible. Then I did module B first in paper two the next day, so that I could get rid of the memory space devoted to all the poems I didn't need lol! They can specify a specific poems, so it is important to be sure you can sustain at least two paragraphs on every single poem

Edit: Woops, double responded! That makes up for us leaving you out in the first place

[Elenaa]

Ahh so we did! Sorry Elenaa

So I prepared for Module B (I had speeches, and they specified, gulp) by just preparing a massive sheet of quotes, techniques and effects in a huge table. I never memorised, so I did this for all my Modules. In the first column I'd have the quote/reference, the second the technique, the third an effect/audience impact dot pointed, and fourth any other info I could use (maybe a link to 'textual integrity' for Module B, or 'context' for Module A).

Unfortunately there is no easy way to remember a whole bunch of quotes for English. This is especially true for Module B, when yep, they can specify and ruin your Paper 2 I was boring and just sat reading them aloud for ages and ages, but you could use palm cards? Maybe record yourself saying them?

As for what answers what, have a plan. I already knew which speeches worked well together in the exam, so as soon as they specified, I already knew which speeches I was using, and I just focused on answering the question. Try and do the same!

Most of all, practice! It really does make perfect

So sorry we missed you! Thanks for letting us know
The way that I prepared for the poems in W B Yeats' section of module B was to know each poem, as well as I possibly could. The best way to describe it is essentially look at my own notes (if you type in "module B" at in the "notes" section they'll be there, I think at the end page because they were recently uploaded. Basically, it's like I wrote a paragraph about the context and what the poem is about (for each poem). Just a quick list of the themes or ideas. Then I actually went through and analysed every single line in the poem. I think actually the night before the HSC paper 2 exam, I remembered more than I ever thought possible. Then I did module B first in paper two the next day, so that I could get rid of the memory space devoted to all the poems I didn't need lol! They can specify a specific poems, so it is important to be sure you can sustain at least two paragraphs on every single poem

Edit: Woops, double responded! That makes up for us leaving you out in the first place

Thanks so much guys !!!! 

[imtrying]

Hi guys sorry if you've already answered this one:
Is it okay to totally disagree with the question?
Like for module C last year the question asked to evaluate the statement 'political motivations may be ambiguous but control is the ultimate goal."
My texts would have meant I needed to argue that motivations were not ambiguous, and that control being the ultimate goal really depended on the circumstances and individual. Is that okay?

[ssarahj]

Hi guys sorry if you've already answered this one:
Is it okay to totally disagree with the question?
Like for module C last year the question asked to evaluate the statement 'political motivations may be ambiguous but control is the ultimate goal."
My texts would have meant I needed to argue that motivations were not ambiguous, and that control being the ultimate goal really depended on the circumstances and individual. Is that okay?

Its totally okay to disagree with the question!! Often it can also make your response stand out heaps from the rest of the pile. Since that 2015 question is asking you to "Evaluate" then you've got to make a judgement, and if you deem that your texts disagree with the statement, then go right ahead  I'm pretty sure one of our lecturers Jake had great success with disagreeing with most questions 

[angiezhang9]

You absolutely can reuse your analysis! Part of the reason why, is because although you may identify a metaphor in a shorter answer question, it's unlikely you're going to reuse that identical analysis again, because the new question will mean you need to redirect your work. So, don't stress about that one! Absolutely, it makes most sense to reuse your short answer analysis - in some texts there are a finite amount of things to discuss!

Thanks elyse! That is so good to know because i have been struggling to find other good techniques for the long response question.