Just a couple of things that I found useful this year:
1. Do a sufficient amount of essays progressively throughout the year and get them marked. English is a language and so you've got to put all your learnt material into action - in the form of a piece of prose. Essay writing not only draws together the grammar, linguistics, punctuation and spelling you've come to learn over the years; it also gathers together your ideas and views on specific novels/films in a literary sense. An essay puts all of this into action - and it's therefore critical that you practice, practice, practice! Keep writing essays progressively until you reach a point of satisfaction. But also make sure you proofread these essays straight after writing, or even better, one or two days later. Get your teacher to mark it as well.
2. If you don't like reading books, get into the habit of reading the newspaper frequently instead.If you're not confident reading The Age, at least have a crack at the Herald Sun on a frequent basis. Whilst the Herald Sun resembles a gossip magazine in so many ways, there are still some parts of the daily newspapers that can really boost your understanding of current events on a national and international scale. This could be of good use come oral presentation time - or even better, for a more definitive grasp on your context study. Also have a read of the opinion pieces and editorials every now and again - have a look at how writers use 'persuasive techniques' and how
you yourself are impacted by what they write and what you read. So, in essence, reading newspapers can really benefit you in all 3 aspects of the English course.
3. Write your own study guide on all your texts. I personally only did one study guide for English this year (for the new text which had hardly any resources).. and I found that the commercial study guides for the non-new texts were absolutely useless (to me anyway). For next year, I'll definitely be writing study guides for all my texts. Whilst the writing of a study guide may take a considerable amount of time, the actual
writing component of your study guide may actually be more helpful than the
reading of your study guide. Your own personalised study guide would suit your own needs, but it would also, more importantly, contain your own perceptive views on the text - and its characters, plot, themes, ideas and so on. And this is exactly what is needed come SAC and exam time! You cannot, and I stress, you
cannot rely on commercially-written study guides for English. Put in the effort to write your own guide and you will be rewarded!
4. Realise that you need to question absolutely everything in VCE English - ask 'why?' at all times!Why did the writer use the derogatory terms 'idiotic' and 'ineffectual' in his opinion piece? Why did Susie act the way she did in front of Anna? Why does our identity change in a different setting? Why is the reader positioned to feel receptive towards the editor's stance? Why did the film director use photomontages and vignettes in their film, and in what way were the characters therefore perceived? Asking 'why' is so important! When you're having trouble, stop for just a moment and ask 'why' things are the way they are in that editorial, in that film scene, in that sentence, and so on. By asking 'why', you will inadvertently develop your own perceptive view of everything you study!
5. The last one - learn to manage your time!I know I'm being a hypocrite, talking about time management.. but I learnt it the hard way - you really have to learn to manage your time! Do practice exams in conditions that resemble examination conditions as closely as possible. When writing practice pieces, do them under time constraints. I made a huge mistake with time management - all year, I only made time for single essays at any one time. These essays were achievable under the 1-hour time limit. But I didn't do
three essays in one hit - a real practice exam - which was really my downfall. So yeah, manage your time properly!
That's about it, from me anyway.
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