Subject Name: English Language
Units: 3 & 4
Workload: Moderate (5/10). This subject doesn't gain a lot from bashing your head against books IMO, but more about watching the news, reading widely, understanding social conventions and understanding purposes of language. I probably spent too much time collating content, and if I was to think about something I would've done differently, it would've been studying less for this subject.
Assessment: Unit 3: Formal & Informal Language - Mostly to do with the varying registers of language, what dictates them, how/why texts/speeches are created, understanding what makes the purpose of particular texts (25% of your SS).
Unit 4: Identity: Australian, Group & Individual - There's so much 'Aussie' in this unit, it's ridiculous. Make sure you understand what is common to the 'Aussie' vocabulary, our culture, and interrelate the two throughout your essays. Australian values such as 'laid-back', 'egalitarian' and 'larrakin' are good to mention, whether you're arguing in favour, or against them being inherent to the Australian identity in present times (25% of your SS).
---------------------------------------
Your SACs will presumably be divided as ours were, into Short Answer, Analytical Commentary and Essay sections, and mirroring the exam. I'll try to specify a quick tip for each.
Short Answer: be specific, answer the question, no more.
Analytical Commentary: Nailing your introduction immediately puts you into the higher range. Make sure you're writing it quickly, concisely, and ensuring your social purposes and functions match the mode, audience and he context of the text.
Essay: Ensure that your contention matches the rest of your essay, and that it is somewhat complex and not dull. You want the teacher/examiner coming out of reading your essay having learnt 'something' new, or being somewhat surprised and therefore interested with what your wrote. As long as it all logically follows, you're in with a very good chance of the high-very high range.
Practice Exams Completed: 12
Exam Thoughts:15 marks Short Answer, 30 marks Analytical Commentary, 30 marks Essay. one (or two) texts for Short Answer to analyse, one (thus far) text for the AC to analyse, and 3 prompts to choose from in the essay. You can double all these numbers for the exam, as two examiners mark your paper (this is an FYI, especially should you get your statement of marks, so you don't get a shock with numbers!)
The 2019 Exam was, overall, not a difficult one, but I definitely think people over-complicated it, I know I certainly did.
The Short Answer was on a novel excerpt, the only time they've ever used such a text type in an EngLang Exam for either the SA or AC sections. Beware for next year! They may well use in for the AC next time. The other big thing to note from this exam was that there were only
4 questions in the SA section, so they were large marks (3,3,4,5). In terms of marks, I got 23/30 for the SA (so an 11/15 from one examiner, and 12/15 for the other). One thing to be super wary of with novels is not to mistake the social purpose. Many people I spoke to used the social purpose of
the narrator, who was a young boy retelling their experiences. In actual fact, they should've been discussing the purpose of the
author. Due to receiving my statement of marks, I was able to see how that was marked and managed to get full marks on that first question, despite
almost throwing them away in the exam. The other question I wanted to bring up here was Question 3 of the SA. It was on....
sentence structures! I legitimately remember talking to a former 45+ EngLang student in the week prior and when I mentioned sentence structures, he told me not to worry too much, as they're probably too boring to discuss in an AC, and haven't ever come up in a SA...well they did. I left this question right to the end of the exam, as I was rushing and hardly finished anyway, but couldn't bear leave a 4 marker blank...and lucky I didn't! I got 5/8 (so a 2 & 3/4 from each examiner). I vaguely remember mentioning something about listing, and discussing the scope of items the boy wanted to mention in a cohesive manner. Obviously I didn't ace it, but it shows that it's important to cover all your bases in revision, as I was still able to scrap out a few marks.
The AC was a Hughesy & Kate radio show transcript. I initially thought I butchered this, bordering on tears after talking to my classmates after talking to them following the exam, as I barely even mentioned the largest social purpose! 19/30 (9/15 & 10/15) was an unbelievable output considering my immediate reaction, and considering I didn't really finish either. I think it can be credited to my uniqueness of examples (I wasn't discussing the use of simple sentences or conjunctions), and the fact I picked out niches in the text, such as the two lines where they asked for callback from the audience, which I hammered on about in relation to Hughesy & Kate's discussion on 'soft drinks'. I guess this shows that even if you miss something major in the text, you can still salvage an AC if you show complexity and detail, as I honestly thought I'd butchered it so badly in the aftermath that I was walking into a barely double digits out of 30. Ultimately, I ended up (somehow) outperforming some of my peers who mentioned far more applicable ideas in the AC after the exam, but must not have gone into them as explicitly.
The Essay had three rather open prompts, and I picked the one along the lines of
'The non-standard varieties of Australian English enrich it' (I can't exactly remember it, but it was close to that). I landed a 24/30 for it, despite some errors that stood out as I walked out of the exam, such as mentioning ethnolects in my introduction, but not going into detail with them anywhere in my Essay, which I think was the main factor in dragging me down from the very high range. As mentioned above, the key part of this essay section was to clearly identity some non-standard varieties, what they do, and how they do, or do not enrich AE. I took the path of finding a complexity, where I discussed indigenous languages (and other varieties), enriching the language insofar as it is 'mutually intelligible'. These trigger phrases are handy, as they come across as complex to an examiner and show your more worldly understanding, and ensure you don't sound the same as every other essay they read. I am by no means a great writer, but ensuring you have these details and complexities (as well as a heap of evidence!) can be crucial in lifting your marks. FYI: Examples,
make sure they are as recent as possible. I was following the NSW Police Instagram and I prepared to use their posts as evidence, and had a few other very contemporary examples prepped. As is the nature of social media platforms, these posts can pop up in the weeks, even days before an exam. Use them! You can prep these sources from months before, knowing they're going to have new content come up constantly. Be prepared for it, and ensure you date these examples so the examiners know how interested and thorough you are!
The exam didn't feel great, during, I was sick and after, I felt I'd just thrown away a whole year of work with a bad few hours. I didn't feel any better until getting my score, which I was shocked with. It just shows you that, irrespective of how you feel in an exam, have the faith that your preparation carried you through. My big piece of advice for EngLang exams (and prep) is to
not just do heaps of practice exams, but learn the 'typical' characteristics of each AC type, brainstorm structures for every 'type' of essay that could come up, and think about what you'd say for different metalanguage terms in a Short Answer. That way, you can adjust most effectively in the exam, as
every text you get will be slightly different to the ones you practice for.
Textbook Recommendation: Living Lingo, as almost every school I know does. It was a great reference for theory and quotes, despite being somewhat complicated. I wouldn't use this as a 'reference', per se, but instead go through it with a fine tooth comb and make notes off it. Used it regularly, 4-5 times a week.
Recommended Other Resources:EngLang ATARNotes was moderately useful, especially for the essays they've got at the back! Not much else, to be honest. The online newspaper? Talkback/on the ride home (4-6pm) radio? All of which are crucial to get an understanding of, as you never know what might come up on any SAC, or the end of year exam.
Year of Completion: 2019
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Your Mark/Grade: 39 (A+, A+, A), where my SACs were mid 80s.
Comments: This subject is incredibly valuable, giving you an insight into current affairs, how language is being used in contemporary society and different cultures in Australia, and I would
highly recommend it. The workload is less than the other two Englishes from what I've seen, but you can score higher than 'naturally gifted' English students by virtue of hard work, reading a lot, keeping up with current affairs and ensuring you understand the metalanguage. I under performed in the exam yet still managed to snag a pretty good score. Despite this, like any other English, there is some subjectivity, as I know some amazing students who must've gotten unlucky with how their exams were read. However, with hard work, I feel like you can really excel in this English with an absence of 'natural talent' more than any other English, and really increase your knowledge about Australian society and how language works, which is one of the things I've felt like I gained most from Year 12.
Home
Help
Search
Login
