Best study guides/exams for English (A+ notes, Checkpoints etc)

[andreag]

So i'm starting unit 3 & 4 English this year and I was wondering which study guide/exam companies (neap, exampro, atar notes etc) are the best for english in terms of extra study and revision. Which is the best?

[TheIllusion]

Hello andreag,
I am also doing VCE English units 3/4 this year.
As reccomended by my school, I purchased the Insight study guides for all my texts and exams. However the Insight guides are not in-depth, and more assist with the understanding of the text.
In addition to this, I have purchased the ATARNotes course notes, which contains very important, in-depth information for the entire course.
I cannot comment on the A+ notes or the Checkpoints as I have not used them.
Hope this helps.

[vceme]

Hey,
To be honest, most company guides aren't all that great. They provide pretty shallow detail and are more of a revision/summary of the book. Instead, I encourage you to look up scholar essays for your text - '(text) scholar essays' on google  . Additionally, maybe you can even start up a thread for your text and get discussing/analysing with others here. The best ideas come from working in a team 

[guac]

If you're studying a film, see if there are any analysis videos of it up on youtube. Sometimes media students at uni will study the same film, and hence there might be surprisingly excellent resources that you can watch instead of read.

For other texts, I agree with vceme - reading text guides should typically just serve as a way for you to revise the most basic aspects of the text (plot, characters, themes, motifs). It's crucial that you're familiar with these things, but reading a text guide alone won't necessarily help you write a good essay when it comes to sac/exam time. What's more important is that you practise, practise, practise. Start writing your first essay early, and then try to get as much good feedback on it as possible. You can always post things here on atarnotes, or even ask your teacher for a bit of one on one time before/after class to discuss your progress. No one ever really does this, but I think you'd be surprised at how willing teachers are to help enthusiastic students! (or maybe not, it kind of depends on if you're lucky enough to have a committed teacher. In any case, there are committed people here too!)