How do you prepare for Lit in the summer holidays?

[Help.Me.]

I just picked up lit for year 12 without doing 1/2 in year 11 considering English is my strongest subject.
How different is Literature from normal English (such as SACs/essay structures and the level of difficulty between the two subjects) and how should I prepare during the holidays?

Thanks!!!

[HopefulLawStudent]

I just picked up lit for year 12 without doing 1/2 in year 11 considering English is my strongest subject.
How different is Literature from normal English (such as SACs/essay structures and the level of difficulty between the two subjects) and how should I prepare during the holidays?

Thanks!!!

Holiday Preparation:

Read your texts and be familiar with them. Do a dry read of it first whereby you get a grip on plot details, characterisation and main themes/ideas of the text. Then, if you have time, read them again (or if you're lazy, reread key scenes/chapters) but this time note down any interesting stuff you found whilst reading; if you think there's even a tiny chance that something could be useful later on, write it down, take note of it.

How difficult is it:

Difficulty is such an arbitrary thing and you have to keep that in mind when you ask these sorts of questions. Like for me personally, I found English to be harder than Literature through Year 11 and Year 12 until I hit the all important exam preparation and discovered passage analysis which would eventually go on to become the bane of my existence (also, cannot stress this enough -- start practising exam-style responses early on instead of waiting til like a month before your exam to start asking questions like "what even is a passage analysis?", otherwise you're shooting yourself in the foot and signing yourself up for hell). But to be fair, I did Unit 1/2 Literature so I guess the transition for me wasn't as rough because my teacher eased us into the subject during 1/2 Literature.

HOWEVER, you're totally not at all at a disadvantage! A classmate of mine picked up 3/4 Literature for giggles and ended up pulling a 35.

In general though, the consensus seems to be that Literature is harder than English. Why? Because in English you can afford to be more general, I guess whereas in Literature, you look at your texts VERY closely and generalisations just aren't enough. So in that way, I guess Literature can be harder than English -- also the essay styles for SACs and The Exam (assuming the new study design isn't too different) are *very* different from what you're generally accustomed to from normal mainstream English which can also add to perceived difficulty of the subject.

If you work hard though, Literature can prove to be a very rewarding subject!!!

Disclaimer: New study design for next year so my opinion may no longer be accurate and these are just my opinions.

[Help.Me.]

Holiday Preparation:

Read your texts and be familiar with them. Do a dry read of it first whereby you get a grip on plot details, characterisation and main themes/ideas of the text. Then, if you have time, read them again (or if you're lazy, reread key scenes/chapters) but this time note down any interesting stuff you found whilst reading; if you think there's even a tiny chance that something could be useful later on, write it down, take note of it.

How difficult is it:

Difficulty is such an arbitrary thing and you have to keep that in mind when you ask these sorts of questions. Like for me personally, I found English to be harder than Literature through Year 11 and Year 12 until I hit the all important exam preparation and discovered passage analysis which would eventually go on to become the bane of my existence (also, cannot stress this enough -- start practising exam-style responses early on instead of waiting til like a month before your exam to start asking questions like "what even is a passage analysis?", otherwise you're shooting yourself in the foot and signing yourself up for hell). But to be fair, I did Unit 1/2 Literature so I guess the transition for me wasn't as rough because my teacher eased us into the subject during 1/2 Literature.

HOWEVER, you're totally not at all at a disadvantage! A classmate of mine picked up 3/4 Literature for giggles and ended up pulling a 35.

In general though, the consensus seems to be that Literature is harder than English. Why? Because in English you can afford to be more general, I guess whereas in Literature, you look at your texts VERY closely and generalisations just aren't enough. So in that way, I guess Literature can be harder than English -- also the essay styles for SACs and The Exam (assuming the new study design isn't too different) are *very* different from what you're generally accustomed to from normal mainstream English which can also add to perceived difficulty of the subject.

If you work hard though, Literature can prove to be a very rewarding subject!!!

Disclaimer: New study design for next year so my opinion may no longer be accurate and these are just my opinions.

Alright, thank you so much!

[HopefulLawStudent]

Forgot to add: Terry Eagleton's "How to Read Literature" is a hella amazing read. Not just cos I'm a dork and found the book to be genuinely interesting-ish despite it having been forced down my and my classmates throats throughout VCE but also because it gives you an insight into the sort of close analysis Literature teachers (well... my Literature teacher in particular) may be looking from you.