English Advanced Question Thread

[bethjomay]

Hi!

There are heaps of papers from other schools on this website! Just select English Advanced >  English Trial Paper 1 (AOS Discovery).
For P1, S1, all you have to really know how to do is how to identify and analyse techniques while answering the question in a sophisticated and structured response. Make sure you give evidence and quote the texts, etc. It is really straightforward and the easiest section to get marks in.

Hope that helps!

Is that on Atarnotes? In the forums or notes section?

[jamonwindeyer]

For every course, BOSTES hires a team of examiners every year. Whilst it's not uncommon for a certain person to be marking more than two years in a row, they always need to apply to do so. They also must declare if or if not they have a relative or someone they know sitting an exam.

Examiners are trained every year to ensure that how they mark will always comply to BOSTES' standards and the syllabuses.

I now take information from my English teachers in Yr 10, 12 and my physics teacher in Yr 12.
For something like English, marking is a bit more painful because a ton of examiners just sit in one big hall (potentially stuffy) and mark. There will be a small bunch of senior markers with greater experience, and they mark with a ton of other examiners. Every marker is assigned one unique question to mark.

Every section is marked twice with the exception of the comprehension. If the marks between the teachers are close, then in general the average (rounded up if necessary) is taken. If there's huge discrepancy, the senior marker will also mark the paper and make a judgment.

Due to the nature of options in which texts are studied, in general one text is examined first. This is usually a popular one (e.g. Module B - Hamlet). The way these essays get marked becomes a standard to how the essays are marked for all the other texts.

Note that the examiners are more interested in how you tackle the rubric, not your description of the plot. That way, the markers have a focus as to what needs to be marked. In this way, any teacher can mark any essay for any text.

This is also the case with virtually every single subject. The one unique exception is mathematics, which can be marked at home due to its black-and-white nature.

(Examiner and marker got juggled interchangeably, but they mean the same thing here.)

Perfect response! some additions:

- Markers can mark electronically from their homes after they have been 'trained' by the senior markers and are marking satisfactorily, though marking centres are also common
- I believe that teachers will also be given questions which match texts that they have knowledge of, or that they are required to know the text to a basic level. Or perhaps given resources. Assume your marker has the knowledge of a casual movie-goer, meaning they won't need the plot, but they'll need thematic analysis
- Beginning with the 2014 cohort, not everything is double marked. I only found this out extremely recently myself. But there are checking methods in place that will, omitting details, mean that scripts can/will be double marked in certain circumstances. Further, teachers can be banned from marking and required to re-train if discrepancies are noticed, in which case things will be marked again. In short, don't let it worry you that things aren't double marked, because the new checking mechanisms are actually probably better in my opinion. Much harder for teachers to be consistently over/under cutting students results

[ssarahj]

Is that on Atarnotes? In the forums or notes section?

I'm guessing kb123 meant to link you to this (or something similar): https://thsconline.github.io/s/yr12/

It's got lots of past papers from different schools etc. 

[bethjomay]

Oh my gosh thank you! Wish I'd discovered that website before! 

[kb123]

I'm guessing kb123 meant to link you to this (or something similar): https://thsconline.github.io/s/yr12/

It's got lots of past papers from different schools etc. 

oh yes ooops i forgot to paste the link...... lol

[RuiAce]

Perfect response! some additions:

- Markers can mark electronically from their homes after they have been 'trained' by the senior markers and are marking satisfactorily, though marking centres are also common
- I believe that teachers will also be given questions which match texts that they have knowledge of, or that they are required to know the text to a basic level. Or perhaps given resources. Assume your marker has the knowledge of a casual movie-goer, meaning they won't need the plot, but they'll need thematic analysis
- Beginning with the 2014 cohort, not everything is double marked. I only found this out extremely recently myself. But there are checking methods in place that will, omitting details, mean that scripts can/will be double marked in certain circumstances. Further, teachers can be banned from marking and required to re-train if discrepancies are noticed, in which case things will be marked again. In short, don't let it worry you that things aren't double marked, because the new checking mechanisms are actually probably better in my opinion. Much harder for teachers to be consistently over/under cutting students results

True true

Yeah regarding the not double marked - comprehension no longer is. Pretty sure everything else still is though.

Electronic marking was recently adopted and my knowledge of marking centres came from 2013 so there might be a tiny bit out outdatedness.

I'm sure they'll favour teachers with the tests they're familiar with, but they'd be able to mark all

[jamonwindeyer]

True true

Yeah regarding the not double marked - comprehension no longer is. Pretty sure everything else still is though.

Electronic marking was recently adopted and my knowledge of marking centres came from 2013 so there might be a tiny bit out outdatedness.

I'm sure they'll favour teachers with the tests they're familiar with, but they'd be able to mark all

My source is Elyse on that double marked thing (I literally found this out last night, so everyone who I said things get double marked yesterday, I apologise), I'm thinking we math-geeks just had no idea about the change? Elyse knows her shit

[RuiAce]

Oh I knew about the comprehension not being double marked because there was a link circulating around Facebook

I'm not sure where it states that anything else is no longer double marked now though.

[ssarahj]

Oh I knew about the comprehension not being double marked because there was a link circulating around Facebook

I'm not sure where it states that anything else is no longer double marked now though.

Unsure about the double marking of essays, but this document (https://www.nswtf.org.au/files/hsc_markers_award_reviewed_award_379_ig_785.pdf) section 4.1 it says:
"4.1 Double Marking shall be used for questions which require an extended response such as essays, creative
writing and responses to literature and will be used in all subjects where double marking was applied in
the 1998 HSC."

Spoiler

But Elyse is the master 

[elysepopplewell]

Ok so my source is my own two English teachers, as well as an Ex-English teacher who worked with BOSTES for a year after her teaching retirement. AOS is not double marked in 2015. Not any single part of it. The teachers are PAID PER PAPER. I know this is a fact because I know it bothers my own English teacher who marks slowly and carefully and she doesn't make as much doing HSC marking as she used to on the old scheme (the old scheme is the one that Sarah has linked to - you used to get an hourly rate, no matter how many papers you marked in the hour + tea and coffee provided lol).

So, in 2015, everything was only marked once. There was outrage, trust me. All marks are submitted electronically and a senior marker looks at the marks coming through from individual teachers and the marker will be locked out of their marking account if it is deemed that they are marking suspiciously low or suspiciously high. They will have their marks reviewed and will go to "training" before they can start marking again.

In saying all of this, my English teacher has JUST sent me through a message saying she spoke with a friend from the Ext 2 marking centre, who says that AOS creatives will be marked twice this year, presumably due to the 2015 outrage.

In all though, to me, the most important thing you need to know if you're thinking about the marker is that they are marking from home. To me that's most important simply because it means you need to engage a marker who potentially has all kinds of distractions in their house, as opposed to a quiet marking centre. 

Think of it like this: You're writing a discovery creative to engage someone you've never met before. That's your aim. Plain and simple

[birdwing341]

Thanks Rui, Jamon and Ellyse!! All that info is very helpful. What happened last year with the 'outrage' you referenced though?

[nibblez16]

Hello. For Mod A - comparative study, Im doing Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice and my essay is written on the values of marriage and role of women in society. Do you think thats enough, or should I have more points aside?

[imtrying]

Hello me again:)
For Mod C, I'm doing Henry IV. From research I found that in several instances Shakespeare deliberately modified or exaggerated aspects of the history he was writing about. Could I say this is a technique specific to his medium of production, historical drama, or is that too much of a stretch?
Thanks for all your help:)

[elysepopplewell]

Thanks Rui, Jamon and Ellyse!! All that info is very helpful. What happened last year with the 'outrage' you referenced though?

Just that we were all peeved! It was a concern of ours. We thought, "but creatives are so subjective!" and I think BOSTES received a lot of criticism for cost cutting (I don't know this for a fact, but I know that the criticism was definitely prevalent in my own circles). I think a lot of teachers found that it wasn't in the best interests of the student!

In saying that, Extension 2 English is double marked, and that's like a year-long, 6000 word thing. Some would argue that an AOS discovery piece hardly deserves the same attention as an Ext 2 piece. Not my criticism - just some criticism I've found as I've googled around earlier today lol!

Like I said, the most important thing you know is that marking is done from home. So you have to be that little bit more engaging

[elysepopplewell]

Hello. For Mod A - comparative study, Im doing Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice and my essay is written on the values of marriage and role of women in society. Do you think thats enough, or should I have more points aside?

From all the essays I've read from these two texts - these seem to be the most important or common. I haven't read the texts, so I'm going off other essays here Of course, you want to give yourself more to work with incase a curve ball comes your way in an exam. Perhaps the value of education, the way a society can mould an individual's course of life, etc. All of those things probably play into one another anyway so it won't involve too much extra work, but definitely a good idea to expand your horizons! You don't want to be kicking yourself if a question comes up that you could have prepared for but didnt think you'd need to!