Freaking out about English course! :(

[jess3254]

Hi,
I transferred from IB to VCE this year (the international Baccalaureate Diploma – it’s basically an international equivalent of the VCE but offered at a few schools in Melbourne), and I’m having a near-nervous breakdown about VCE English.

I have NO idea how to do the views/article analysis… I’ve never done ANYTHING like it in IB English before… This week, I had to analyse an opinion article, and failed terribly, as I structured it like I was responding to a poetry commentary in IB and commenting on the techniques used to convey the themes, because that was the only thing I knew. I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do and how it should be structured… and to make matters worse my English teacher is unprepared to go through things I should’ve learnt in year 11.

In IB, we get questions in exams like, “compare and contrast how dramatists create and use suspense in the development of two or three plays you have studied” or “how have the two or three writers you have studied used foreshadowing as a literary device and with what effect to the reader?” and we comment on poetry and passages from books in 2,000 word responses…
We NEVER have written about issues!

I also recently wrote an essay for English on Maestro, and she said I did almost everything wrong. I made it 2,000 words, which apparently was too long, and I shouldn’t have put in my personal statements in the conclusion (the IB encourages you do to this… you actually lose marks for not including one!)

I’m wondering whether anyone could direct me to any information to roughly guide me on how to structure essays and responses to opinion articles for VCE? Because I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, and am having a freak out.

Thanks so much, and I apologise.

Jess

[Nick]

Hi Jess.

Can you PM me your email or MSN address? It will probably be easier if I go over a few things with you on there. 

[Eriny]

IB English sounds way more appealing than VCE English.

[brendan]

yeah it does

[jess3254]

Haha, well to be honest, I did find the IB English course slightly more captivating, yet I can’t really comment, as I have only been in a VCE English class for a term, and I'm probably not enjoying it because I have no direction... my teacher's...ehh, temperamental. I really loved IB English.

IB is ridiculously hard though. I enjoyed the challenge, but had a lot of difficulty keeping up with all the extra requirements after I was admitted to hospital and missed 3 months of year 11.

I'm finding VCE pretty good most of the time though!

Jess

[costargh]

How do you complete VCE without 1/2 units? Don't you need minimum units to get your VCE certificate?

[jess3254]

How do you complete VCE without 1/2 units? Don't you need minimum units to get your VCE certificate?

Nope. VTAC/VCAA and universities acknowledge that IB year 11 satisfies the 1 & 2 requirements for subjects. For example, if you do year 11 IB English, but switch to VCE, that counts as 2 units of English. IB is the only other high school diploma offered throughout Australia, so it’s an accepted curriculum alternative. (Most people haven’t heard of IB though.) 

But because IB is an extremely rigorous course, they accept Victorian students switching from IB to VCE, but the cut of date to switch is April in the year you’re in year 12. But you can’t go from VCE to IB.

It’s complicated.