Issues on the English Exam

[bec]

On another point (but still somewhat related), what months should we be studying and looking in the papers for the possible issue of the English exam?

I thought the english exam only had 3 sections this year - text essay, context piece and article analysis. Isn't the only issues-related part of the exam the article analysis?
Would it really help us to try and pre-empt and research the issue that they'll use?

[Nick]

We did our SAC on the new citizenship test a couple of weeks ago. It was the worse thing I have ever done I think I could have done better if I had prepared more. Oh well. I won't know how I did till after the holidays. On a plus note, A+ for my Lit SAC (wooh!!!!), so I think that's going to be the one in my top 4.

On another point (but still somewhat related), what months should we be studying and looking in the papers for the possible issue of the English exam?

The English exam is written in May. It would be best to keep a close eye on issues which are prevalent in print media in mid to late May.

[Rietie]

We did our SAC on the new citizenship test a couple of weeks ago. It was the worse thing I have ever done I think I could have done better if I had prepared more. Oh well. I won't know how I did till after the holidays. On a plus note, A+ for my Lit SAC (wooh!!!!), so I think that's going to be the one in my top 4.

On another point (but still somewhat related), what months should we be studying and looking in the papers for the possible issue of the English exam?

The English exam is written in May. It would be best to keep a close eye on issues which are prevalent in print media in mid to late May.

Thanks for that. I'll do that then

[Nick]

We did our SAC on the new citizenship test a couple of weeks ago. It was the worse thing I have ever done I think I could have done better if I had prepared more. Oh well. I won't know how I did till after the holidays. On a plus note, A+ for my Lit SAC (wooh!!!!), so I think that's going to be the one in my top 4.

On another point (but still somewhat related), what months should we be studying and looking in the papers for the possible issue of the English exam?

The English exam is written in May. It would be best to keep a close eye on issues which are prevalent in print media in mid to late May.

Thanks for that. I'll do that then

No worries. The chief examiner said that without fail, the exam is always written at that time. I was very familiar with the issue on the 2007 exam (overprotective parenting) as it was raised in newspapers in mid May. Our school deliberately scheduled the issues element of the course at this time so we would be exposed to the issues which were highly likely to appear on the exam.

[bec]

that's weird...i didn't start this thread but it says i did...

Anyway, I just looked up the VCAA website to verify what i said before - http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/2008english-sample.pdf - and there is NO ISSUES SECTION in the 2008 study design.

We do issues in class, but not on the exam. The exam consists of 3 essays - text, context and article analysis. We don't have to write a persuasive essay or respond to a prompt about an issue.

[Nick]

In terms of the exam, they classify article analysis to be the section of the exam which directly assesses your ability to complete the "issues" element of the new study design.

I think it's good that you don't have to do a persuasive piece. You really had to rush yourself to write four pieces in the exam under the old study design. Due to the fact that the exam only requires three pieces, your pieces would need to be considerably better in terms of quality than if you had to write four under the old study design.