ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE English & EAL => Topic started by: Carocaro on January 11, 2020, 03:49:31 pm

Title: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Carocaro on January 11, 2020, 03:49:31 pm
So I was looking at the vcaa stats the other day for how different schools perform in English and St Kevin’s blows every other school out of the water (35% of students get 40+ raw score!). Just wondering if those who have attended the school can share what the secret is - is it a couple of amazing teachers, or is it that everyone does heaps of practice essays, or are there amazing resources shared with the students or are they just geniuses (ok, I knew that would get suggested!). But I am very curious! It’s not just the well-resourced independent/catholic school thing - other private schools are more like 2-10%....
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Dawn T on January 13, 2020, 07:36:33 pm
Yes, I noticed too. Xavier is also not too far behind— is it their teachers?

Anybody heard of Chris O’Callaghan btw? He’s an English teacher at Xavier and claims to be “super tutor”.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: darkz on January 13, 2020, 07:58:32 pm
Basically, they have around 5 practice exams leading up to the exam and on top of that, they are encouraged to memorise essays etc.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: sk2000 on January 13, 2020, 07:59:41 pm
Yes, I noticed too. Xavier is also not too far behind— is it their teachers?

Anybody heard of Chris O’Callaghan btw? He’s an English teacher at Xavier and claims to be “super tutor”.

I went to Xavier. Chris O’Callaghan isn't one of the college's more renowned teachers, though he does tutor a lot of students and seems to be very good at one-on-one sessions. The best teacher there by far would be Nick Franich - scoring a 50 himself, his students consistently score high with four of them scoring a 50 this year. I didn't have him myself, but the school has him run lectures for all the students and they were an incredible help to me for the exam.

Overall, I'd say the English teachers there have very high standards.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: jinaede1342 on January 21, 2020, 07:22:01 pm
Not from St Kevin’s but a similar private school with good results. Generally it comes down to a few factors;

1. SACs that prepare you for content that is far harder than the exams (eg Language Analysis SAC in 2019 was so much harder than the exam

2. We don’t get a choice for which Section A text to do everyone is simply quickly taught the easier one for creative in the first 5 weeks and then it’s never mentioned again. We then study the comparatively more difficult text for section A and 100% of the class does this for the exam

3. We are allowed a quotes sheet for the SAC to incentivise students to actually prepare well so that we have a good set of notes and quotes before the exam

4. Incredible teachers that are willing to spend 1-1 time with you and hand out a collection of resources from just about every teachers guide

5. Ability to hand in as many essays as you like during the SWOT-VAC period before the English exam

6. Mock exams that not only give you an indicative mark, but extensive feedback. Also in general we were marked very harshly with half the cohort basically getting 6/10s in mocks (which obviously doesn’t happen in the exam but scares you enough to get your life together)
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Stormbreaker-X on February 04, 2020, 11:31:28 pm
I like many others were wondering what St Kevins does that is so different to other schools. I am pretty sure the students there were forced to prepare early from a very young age until year 12. At some public schools, I feel teachers do very little (well at least most of the teachers I had) and the class does not try hard hence distracting people who want to do well.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Sine on February 04, 2020, 11:36:55 pm
I like many others were wondering what St Kevins does that is so different to other schools. I am pretty sure the students there were forced to prepare early from a very young age until year 12. At some public schools, I feel teachers do very little (well at least most of the teachers I had) and the class does not try hard hence distracting people who want to do well.
imo the subject English is probably one of the bigger barriers for students at non-private schools to do well in. The difference in teaching is huge and it matters so much in English given the subjectiveness of the subject. At least in Maths/Science you can learn on your own more readily.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Stormbreaker-X on February 04, 2020, 11:41:04 pm
imo the subject English is probably one of the bigger barriers for students at non-private schools to do well in. The difference in teaching is huge and it matters so much in English given the subjectiveness of the subject. At least in Maths/Science you can learn on your own more readily.
Unfortunately that is the sad truth :(
Teachers MATTERS A LOT IN ENGLISH!!! This is because you cannot self teach yourself English, there is no right or wrong essay hence its hard. That is where tutoring comes in and can make a difference, at some schools I heard teachers take forever to return essays and do very little to help thus hindering students performance. One teacher I had (not for English, but still) took 2 months to return a test.....thank god that was not an important subject.

May I also ask in terms of English, is it St Kevin's cohort that does well (smart students) or is it the teacher?

Mod edit: Merged double post. Please edit your first post if you want to add something rather than posting multiple time in a row.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Future Engineer on February 05, 2020, 05:04:53 pm
May I also ask in terms of English, is it St Kevin's cohort that does well (smart students) or is it the teacher?
Idk man, maybe the ppl studying there.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: WAAAAAAAAAAAA on February 05, 2020, 05:37:39 pm
Idk man, maybe the ppl studying there.
Wanna hear a true story?
2018 was my final year in Vce and guess what I never studied for English nor got tutored, my final study score was low 30's. Look in the end many little factors make up your score and strong performing schools like Stkevs, Xavier, Haileybury, Melbourne grammar etc has very good English teachers and resources to pump up some points. The secret is they start to prepare students for this one grand moment long before those students are even in year 11.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Stormbreaker-X on February 05, 2020, 08:33:20 pm
May I also add that if you struggle in English you might find other subjects difficult. Especially other commerce/history subjects. Generally those who are good at English can do well in English based subjects.
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: Future Engineer on February 06, 2020, 09:32:55 am
May I also add that if you struggle in English you might find other subjects difficult. Especially other commerce/history subjects. Generally those who are good at English can do well in English based subjects.
I can relate to that!
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: jin0016 on February 28, 2020, 12:12:22 pm
I went to Xavier. Chris O’Callaghan isn't one of the college's more renowned teachers, though he does tutor a lot of students and seems to be very good at one-on-one sessions. The best teacher there by far would be Nick Franich - scoring a 50 himself, his students consistently score high with four of them scoring a 50 this year. I didn't have him myself, but the school has him run lectures for all the students and they were an incredible help to me for the exam.

Overall, I'd say the English teachers there have very high standards.
Hi I was just wondering if you have the contact details of Nick Franich? Thanks
Title: Re: St Kevin’s snd English
Post by: humanbeing on December 31, 2020, 08:34:47 pm
I don't go to St Kevin's nor do I go to a school anywhere near as high-achieving as that but Karen Graham the chief assessor for VCE English is the Head of English at St Kevin's (https://www.accesseducation.com.au/Lecturer/12403/karen-graham) so they get all of those insight details. Seems pretty obvious that that would give St Kevins kids the upper hand in English as compared to the rest of the cohort.