VCE English Question Thread

[mayonnaise]

Hey lauren just wanted your opinion on something.

for LA in my intros, i have just usually been doing a brief context sentence, followed by the contentions of the authors with their tones occasionally.

Then i move straight into my body paras is this fine ?

Thanks 

Not Lauren but this follows the guidelines she just set out so it seems completely fine
If it's important you might want to add the audience, but you've covered all the basics pretty much

[studentofthenow]

Hey Lauren.

For expository essays, do you recommend knowing one really well and adapting it? Do you recommend having spare paragraphs or ideas as backup?

[Hydraulix]

Hey guys!!

For this prompt for Medea: Are the characters in Medea motivated more so by reason or emotion?

I seem to be unable to formulate arguments that aren't character-based for each paragraph.
How would you approach this and how do I avoid doing this ugghh.

Thank youu sahhh much

[pra96]

Hey guys!!

For this prompt for Medea: Are the characters in Medea motivated more so by reason or emotion?

I seem to be unable to formulate arguments that aren't character-based for each paragraph.
How would you approach this and how do I avoid doing this ugghh.

Thank youu sahhh much

Hi Hydraulix,

I'm not the best at english so take my advice with a grain of salt. 

I would have three paragraphs for this prompt:
- how some characters are motivated by reason (ie. Jason, maybe Creon to a certain extent who decides to exile Medea for this reason, Aegeus who takes a rational approach to dealing with Medea)
- how some characters are motivated by emotion/passion (ie. Medea, also Creon as he "is a father" and sympathises with Medea's situation to some degree, Glauce who falls for the gifts of Medea and her love for Jason)
- how some characters (ie. the Chorus + Nurse) are guided by a combination of the two, embodying sophrosyne

Hope this helps.

PS: always nice to see a fellow MHS student

[HasibA]

Hey!
So I was looking at some context essays on the submissions board and got super jealous of them cool titles they got there   
I know that it is completely optional, but is there any particular benefits to having a title for a creative piece ?

no real benefit, but i hear they like having a title for creative pieces

[Dem16]

Can someone please help me with this Brooklyn prompt?
How does Toibin's understated, economical writing style influence the reader's understanding of characters and settings of Brooklyn?
What paragraphs do you do for these types of prompts asking about the language used??

[cookb111]

Hey just i general question , ive put alot of work in but im still worried im gonna get under 25 , because im not even close to better than half the state. so how hard is it really to get a 25 ?

[Biology24123]

Hey just i general question , ive put alot of work in but im still worried im gonna get under 25 , because im not even close to better than half the state. so how hard is it really to get a 25 ?

Getting 3 5's should be  25-30

[pra96]

Hey just i general question , ive put alot of work in but im still worried im gonna get under 25 , because im not even close to better than half the state. so how hard is it really to get a 25 ?

Using the normal distribution stuff:

- A study score of 25 (top 78%) would be 26/60 on the exam. So that would be getting two 4s and a 5 out of 10.
- A study score of 30 (top 53%) would be 33/60 on the exam. So you would need around two 6s and a 5 out of 10.

Hope this helps. 

[FallingStar]

Hey Lauren.

For expository essays, do you recommend knowing one really well and adapting it? Do you recommend having spare paragraphs or ideas as backup?

Know your ideas and examples really well. And no, I don not recommend you memorising a paragraph unless you are able to memories and adapt too. Which can actually get very clunky when you try to adapt it to the prompt if memorised. I have four main categories of examples which I would use in the exam. And practise planning prompts at this stage.

Can someone please help me with this Brooklyn prompt?
How does Toibin's understated, economical writing style influence the reader's understanding of characters and settings of Brooklyn?
What paragraphs do you do for these types of prompts asking about the language used??

Basically, you sort your paragraphs by the type of language in the text. Perhaps look at metalanguage words would help you. Eg. Metaphors and similes, imagery, etc.

[P.GUAN]

Hello,
I am really worried about the text response. For Brooklyn do you have to write what techniques Toibin uses to support the prompt?

Thanks in advance!!

[Biology24123]

Are vcaa prompts for TR usually very general and easy to respond to?

[Alter]

Are vcaa prompts for TR usually very general and easy to respond to?

They're usually open and accessible and at least one of the topics VCAA gives for a given text will be about an idea you've at least thought about if you've put in any effort into English. It's a waste of time for VCAA to distinguish students with overly-difficult prompts if they can already differentiate them by the quality of their responses.

At any rate, there is no correct answer to your question. One prompt might be very easy for one person and hard for another student. I'd highly recommend that you look at past exams on the VCAA website and make an appraisal for yourself. After all, we don't know what you know about your book. Hope this helps.

[JellyBeanz]

Are vcaa prompts for TR usually very general and easy to respond to?

Definitely more straight forward than prompts you may see on commercial exams. Just have a look at past VCAA exam prompts and gauge for yourself.

[happymeal]

I'm having some trouble trying to make my context expository pieces not sound like a text response essay when I'm trying to link back to my set text. What are some ways to avoid this?