VCE Literature Exam Discussion and Questions

[Joseph41]

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[Sam M]

I thought the heart of darkness prompt was very decent.
And the coriolanus passages for part B were definitely workable .

How did everyone else go/were there any particularly hard passages or prompts for texts I didn't do?

[Confusedprincess]

I found the Pygmalion prompt on Shaw criticising society for not seeing the potential of all individuals quite unexpected. I’m not too sure if I did well on that section :/

The Heaney passages were great! (Requiem for the Croppies, A Transgression and The Strand at Lough Beg) I had written an essay on the first two poems with Funeral Rites the night before, so I felt really lucky!

[Na__oia]

Loved the close analysis passage for section B (Rhinoceros), but found the section A prompt for 'Baron in the trees' a little bit difficult to encorporate views and values as well as perspectives - Thank god for post structuralism!!!

[Sam M]

I found the Pygmalion prompt on Shaw criticising society for not seeing the potential of all individuals quite unexpected. I’m not too sure if I did well on that section :/

The Heaney passages were great! (Requiem for the Croppies, A Transgression and The Strand at Lough Beg) I had written an essay on the first two poems with Funeral Rites the night before, so I felt really lucky!

Thats very lucky to have done a passage analysis on two of the poems the night before!
I had actually been given a few practice passages for my text, two of which were on the exam. However I only looked at it and couldn't be bothered writing one with them ._.

[Ashyyy23]

Anyone here who did North and South and found the last passage hard to link?
What were your contentions?

[clarke54321]

I found the North and South prompt for section A quite challenging (especially for a feminist perspective). Not sure how relevant my response was.

Chris Wallace-Crabbe poetry was also difficult. However I think I reconciled the links.

[-elcee]

Our whole class walked out of the exam discussing how we didn't know the meaning of indictment ; luckily I jumped in and talked about Conrad's condemnation of imperialism, but I'm sure some others (vce discussion space) weren't so lucky

The Pygmalion passages were okay, good start, then I got a bit frazzled, and then I regained my balance.

Hopefully we do okay T^T

[jaceyjace]

Twelfth Night prompt definitely favored a feminist perspective! But that's what I was doing, it was a good prompt overall and I think it went ok, but I separated my paragraphs based on character which I never ever do so that was weird.

The Leopard passages were ok, I liked them personally but the first one was the only one with an actual event in it the other two were just before or just after.

Just glad its over tbh

[lilyrosee]

Did anyone else do Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? I think the prompt was a lot more specific and narrow than I expected!

[Confusedprincess]

Did anyone else do Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? I think the prompt was a lot more specific and narrow than I expected!

I didn’t do that play, but I thought for many texts the prompts were surprisingly restrictive in what could be discussed.

[lilyrosee]

I didn’t do that play, but I thought for many texts the prompts were surprisingly restrictive in what could be discussed.

I agree. I honestly think they should have had set perspectives for each text that you had to learn - ones that would at the very least compliment the topics they had on the exam. I don't know the whole of Section A seems to be a bit wafty - my teacher (an assessor) said she was quite unsure what she will be looking for in her marking and she has a PD thing in a few days so she will know them, which is no help to us!

The Heaney passages were great! (Requiem for the Croppies, A Transgression and The Strand at Lough Beg) I had written an essay on the first two poems with Funeral Rites the night before, so I felt really lucky!

I did Heaney too! I loved the poems they selected and was so glad they did not repeat one from previous years! How did you link the three poems? 

[clarke54321]

I agree. I honestly think they should have had set perspectives for each text that you had to learn - ones that would at the very least compliment the topics they had on the exam. I don't know the whole of Section A seems to be a bit wafty - my teacher (an assessor) said she was quite unsure what she will be looking for in her marking and she has a PD thing in a few days so she will know them, which is no help to us!

I couldn't agree more. In all honesty, I was very disappointed with VCAA and their advice/recommendations for section A. The fact that they didn't even release a sample paper with relevant text prompts was exceedingly unhelpful for students and teachers alike. Hopefully future Literature students will have a better direction after this year.

[Confusedprincess]

I did Heaney too! I loved the poems they selected and was so glad they did not repeat one from previous years! How did you link the three poems? 

I discussed nature in all three poems - how it is used by Heaney to discuss the cycles of life and death (in Requeim for the Croppies and The Strand at Lough Beg), it’s contrast to human violence, and also its link to personal and political identity (in A Transgression and Requiem for the Croppies. My interpretation might not have made sense though!

How did you link the poems?

[TRA0023]

I discussed nature in all three poems - how it is used by Heaney to discuss the cycles of life and death (in Requeim for the Croppies and The Strand at Lough Beg), it’s contrast to human violence, and also its link to personal and political identity (in A Transgression and Requiem for the Croppies. My interpretation might not have made sense though!

How did you link the poems?

I went off the rails with Heaney. I thought of talking about nature, but then went against it cos I wanted a more unique interpretation... oh boy did that back fire. I talked about heaney’s associations of religion and violence, then talked about paradoxes? With religion being necessary to discrupt the cyclical nature of sectarian violence? But my close analysis of the techniques were horrendous, barely talked about any sound techniques, spent 2/3 of the essay talking about connotations and euphism, only managed to squeeze in assonance and euphonism. 😭