ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE English Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE English & EAL => Topic started by: Julian_Ln on September 02, 2021, 08:06:02 am
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Hi all,
**Update: Here is a guide for those that have their text response SAC coming up :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5iKHU558zI&ab_channel=JLTutoring
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My name is Julian and I was fortunate enough to receive a raw 50 and a Premier's Award for VCE English in 2020. I know it's been a tough year for everyone, so I want to help by going over some common questions and my sample essays in the format of Youtube Videos (all FREE of charge)
I've attached my full sample essays and an introduction video since I do not write 'conventional paragraphs' but I split them.
Enjoy :)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7WBxkuclmInB50j62iwegA/featured
Thanks, and feel free to ask me anything :)
J
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What texts did you do for text response and comparative?
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I did Wordsworth (for text response), I am also familiar with Owen's poetry, and for comparative I did The Longest Memory and 7 Stages of Grieving (also familiar with Photograph 51 and The Penelopiad). Although I can still talk about general tips that apply to all texts and sections :)
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Hi all,
My name is Julian and I was fortunate enough to receive a Premier's Award for VCE English. I know it's been a tough year for everyone, so I want to help by going over some common questions and my sample essays in a video format (all FREE of charge)? Would anyone be interested?
Thanks, and feel free to ask me anything :)
J
(mods, if this post doesn't belong here, feel free to move it)
How did you revise for English exams?
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How did you revise for English exams?
Hi there,
Great question. My studying strategy depended on the section, so here's a breakdown (does not matter what the text is, however). Just a quick note, my way of studying is by no means perfect, and not the only way, treat recommendations as a grain of salt, the best method of revising is always the one that suits you the best.
Section A/B Text Response:
Contrary to what some may believe, I did not do too many essays compared to others- only about 5 completely new and different essays for each section. I spent the majority of my time completing plans, because this exposed me to a wide variety of exam topics, and using this method (i did close to 100 plans for both sections), I actually got an essay topic that I did before on the exam :) Just note, that this does not mean you should try and 'guess' the topic, but as a result of widening your knowledge of essay prompts, there is a greater likelihood that you may come across something similar on the exam.
What did I do for each plan? Well, I had a 'generic essay' that I understood very well and nearly memorised the key parts (key evidence points and good sentences), and so I practised adapting my 'generic essay' to new essay prompts. So from my experience a lot of essay topics are quite similar so try and be efficient and rather than writing 10 essays on very similar topics, perhaps do 1 essay, and then 9 plans if they all focus on the same ideas.
For example, look at these topics, I used the same basic plan for all three (again the texts doesn't matter):
1) Despite the circumstances in The Longest Memory and The 7 Stages of Grieving there is still hope. Discuss.
2) ‘Neither text offers any hope for the future.’ Compare how the texts portray the idea of hope for the future.
3) To what extent do the two texts suggest that racial discrimination may be overcome?
4) ‘The oppressed characters in both texts are never fully defeated by the brutality they experience.’
(Quick side point, always be careful memorising essays, you should never just copy and paste a previous essay or try to intentionally memorise one, but if you have a series of talking points that you seem to be able to use in a lot of essays, then hold on to them and try and use them again - because for every sentence you don't have to think in the exam, that is going to save you a lot of time. I can elaborate more on this if you want because this is something my fellow peers are worked on and it worked well for us in the exam.)
Here is a sample of what areas I would memorise (again text does not matter) - bolded parts are the parts I would 'memorise'
As a microcosm for corrupt capitalism, the plantations in D’Aguiar’s Text expose the economic impetus for despicable abuses of power that were justified upon the erroneous assumption that “Africans [were their] inferiors.” Such horrors are crystallised through the overseers use of the whip that “ate” into victims and “chewed without swallowing,” as the sole purpose of these “public display of savagery” was to assert the hegemony of master and slave. Equally nefarious is the buying and selling of slaves who were viewed as merely “chattel”, further exposing the callous prioritisation of profit that eroded individual identity, and in turn, inflicted psychological oppression."
And so when I do plans, first I plan out topic sentences, then I try to fill in the unbolded parts (refer to above)
But just to summarise, don't feel like you need to churn out an essay every day to do well, you need to balance breadth and depth - so I personally did plans first, and then closer to the exam period, I would practice turning plans into essays. Remember writing full essays under timed conditions doesn't always improve your writing (since it's a summative task), it definitely will improve your time management if that's what you're aiming for. But if you want to improve how well your essay answers the prompt, detailed plans are the way to start.
Section C:
- Slightly different to Section A and B since you can't pre-prepare much. However, this DOES NOT mean you cannot do some of the writing at home. Here is what I prepared for the argument analysis:
- Intro Structure
- Topic Sentence Stems
- How + What + Why sentence stems
Also, slightly different from A and B, I would actually recommend practising more essays and plans here, since it's important to finish these essays quickly
Hope these help, I will update this post if there is anything I need to clarify / expand on
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Can you share some sentence stems you used for section C?
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Can you share some sentence stems you used for section C?
Sure can. (I will use these in actual essays when I record videos for this section, I'll let you know when its ready just you can better understand how I use these in an essay context, but also experiment on your own:))
For example....
Intro:
- Heated public debate has proliferated as a result of...
- Weighing into the debate... (author) contends that...
- Adopting a largely _____ argument with ____ tone, the piece overly targets (audience)
Paragraphs:
- Strategically commencing with ....., the author clearly hopes to...
- Unbending in his assertion that...., the author maintains his/her stance that
- Compounding/ building on the author’s previous belief that (sense of outrage)____, the writer employs
- Adopting a more ___ tone (e.g. sober/sombre)
- Attempts to fortify /amplify /augment/strengthen his arguments by…
- Supplementing earlier claims that ____, the writer…
- Unbending/ insistent / Maintaining that / in their assertion that ____, the writer continues to
- The author shifts the focus of the argument by
- Further fueling sympathy
- Anticipating the readers’ likely response to the issue, the writer pre-empts concerns
- Focuses attention on ___ in an attempt to emphasise
- The author's focus shifts to one of (impassioned support for / unapologetic condemnation)
- Continuing his (X) approach…
- Attempting to appeal to a different demographic, the author...
- Advancing their critique of... the author engages the audiences in...
- Attempting to generate ___ in the ___ demographic
- Ensuring that arguments logically build on previous ideas, the writer concludes by...
- Indeed/ Hence / At this point / thereby (as a result)
- Making concerned efforts to provide a balance view of..., the writer...
- Through a series of largely unsubstantiated claims asserting that...
- The culminative impact of these techniques is...
Image:
- To visually highlight (purpose), (author) deliberately includes an image showcasing / of / revealing / conveying
- this (focal point) may symbolise + creating a sense that + evokes a sense of concern/ outrage/ sympathy/ alarm/ anger/ remorse
- Correlating/Complimenting/Supporting with the author's claims/views that (quote), readers would recognise that the image is representaive / indicative of (X), bolstering the feeling of (responsibility to stop littering)
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Had a few questions:
1) How do you suggest to compare two texts in comparative? Do you compare throughout the body paragraphs or is more like the first half the body paragraph is text 1, linking sentence, 2nd half: text 2? Can you also share an example?
2) How do you come up with arguments?
3) How many body paragraphs did you write for each section?
Thanks!
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Had a few questions:
1) How do you suggest to compare two texts in comparative? Do you compare throughout the body paragraphs or is more like the first half the body paragraph is text 1, linking sentence, 2nd half: text 2? Can you also share an example?
2) How do you come up with arguments?
3) How many body paragraphs did you write for each section?
Thanks!
Hi,
Thanks for your questions!
1) Lazy answer :), but I'm planning on releasing a video tomorrow or over the weekend that's going to cover a full mark comparative essay (around 30mins) where I will explain everything in depth. So if you still have questions after watching that, then I'm happy to answer. I'll put in the link in this post.
But short answer, I compared throughout my essay, this prevents you from running out of time and forgetting or not having enough time to compare. The areas I compare were:
- topic sentence
- comparative joining sentence (middle sentence of your paragraph)
- when I'm talking about text two, I will talk about text 1
Like with everything, there are many ways to compare, this was just a personal preference.
2) There are a couple of ways to come up with arguments, here are some: (I'm assuming your talking about argument analysis)
- go chronically (quite straightforward, just split the article into roughly 3 parts)
- it is also possible to not have any arguments and just analyse
- however, the method I used (does not mean it's better, everyone has their style) was... I liked to split my paragraphs based on the author's arguments e.g. what is the author talking about, what is the argument type? is there are tone shift? is there a different audience that is being targeted? these are all signs that you should move onto your next argument / paragraph. The benefit of this is that your essay will flow better since the ideas are grouped together, a potential downside is that it takes longer - however, with practice this was the method i used in the exam.
So basically, group arguments based off their style (again I will have a video on this)
3) 3 body paragraphs for all sections all texts
Hope this helped :)
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Thank you for your reply!
I was also wondering how you come up with arguments for Section A/B?
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Thank you for your reply!
I was also wondering how you come up with arguments for Section A/B?
ahhh I was waiting for something to ask this :) This I'm afraid largely depends on your texts, however, I'll try to be as general as possible.
Section A: I did Wordsworth as 3 central themes were the urban, natural and internal world so these formed my three paragraphs for all essays. If this is not your next, I would still base it off central themes and then weave the following structure:
P1: Agree with the prompt
P2: Disagree with the prompt
P3: Message
OR other combinations:
Agree + Agree (maybe to a greater extent) + Disagree
Disagree + Agree + Message
etc
This is largely the same for Section B. Although see if this structure works (this is what I used for The Longest Memory and 7 Stages)
Causes (what caused these racist systems)
Compliance + Consequence (how some characters comply and what are the consequences)
Resistance + Consequence (how some characters resist and what are the consequences)
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can we see your comparative essay(s), on the longest memory and the 7 stages of grieving?
also thanks for the thread <3
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can we see your comparative essay(s), on the longest memory and the 7 stages of grieving?
also thanks for the thread <3
Thanks,
of course :)))) I going to upload some essays this weekend, with me analysing them, that way you can understand them better - they are structured slightly differently. (I'll attach the link on this thread in a day or two). And don't worry, I'll be posting a lot of sample essays in the lead up to the exams for all three sections.
*** sorry I lied, I attached one if you want to read ahead :)
All the best, and let me know if you want some clarification.
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For those wanting to know how I memorised my essays and found success here is a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzFu5_WYNo&ab_channel=JLTutoring
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hey julian,
for section B, i was wondering (because i’m also doing the same comparative) what you did for the introductions? and what was the best way to talk about changes in history.
for section c, would you mind sharing common ways you’d analyse images for the exam and specifically ways you analysed the authors intent for the audience? i’m pretty good at analysing authorial intent but not great at analysing in depth what the writers decisions would do to the reader
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hey julian,
for section B, i was wondering (because i’m also doing the same comparative) what you did for the introductions? and what was the best way to talk about changes in history.
for section c, would you mind sharing common ways you’d analyse images for the exam and specifically ways you analysed the authors intent for the audience? i’m pretty good at analysing authorial intent but not great at analysing in depth what the writers decisions would do to the reader
Hi, thanks for your questions.
1) For introductions I have sample intros (essays) attached in the description in the below link. And basically, it's just a brief one-sentence contextualising sentence about the historical context of the two texts e.g. "the colonies of Australia and the cottonfields of the American South" - there are other ways you can talk about it e.g. "transatlantic slave trade and colonisation of Australia" but I liked the alliteration. And to be honest, it is very flexible, different schools will teach it different ways so just go with a way that you find comfortable because its optimal to not spend too much time on the intro :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IymGo4NveDo&t=77s&ab_channel=JLTutoring
2) Here is my general structure (again here is a supporting video if you want to listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYgf0YewWvI&t=10s&ab_channel=JLTutoring)
But basically you usually have 3 sentences for a visual analysis - insert the blanks (again dependent on the article / how much room you have but as a general case). And so after you understand what the author's intent is, consider how this effects the reader i.e. how does this make the reader THINK, FEEL, RESPOND (or in other words, how does it make you think, feel, respond and then write this down as the effect, that is how the delve deeper in your analysis by considering the effect on audience)
Sentence 1: (fairly consistent) To visually highlight (something), A deliberately includes an image showcasing / of / revealing / conveying
Sentence 2: (varies) This (focal point) may symbolise + creating a sense that + evokes a sense of concern/ outrage/ sympathy/ alarm/ anger/ remorse
Sentence 3: As such, the cumulative power of author's visual and textual information seeks to reinforce the notion that...
In terms of what you need to talk about, it depends on the purpose of the author's article, but try and use the 'BS method' - yes it stands for what you think it stands for, so even for the tiny detail, you can exaggerate your analysis (so focus on color, magnifcation, text)
e.g. (Vcaa exam)
This powerful photograph features mountains upon mountains of garbage bags stacked high in the centre foreground as well as far off into the background, suggesting that this issue is vast in nature. The dark and oppressive smog, coupled with the monochromatic colour scheme, further accentuates the encompassed by a scene overwhelmed by filth engendering feelings of disgust in readers regarding the “devastating” impact non-biodegradable rubbish is having on the environment.
Hope this helps
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Hi Julian
Sorry to be asking this question so late!
But I am also doing wordsworth and I am struggling a bit with some of the central ideas. Could you possibly explain your 'urban,natural and internal world' in a bit more depth?
And just out of curiosity- how many poems did you learn/use in your essay ?
Thanks in advance :)
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Hi Julian
Sorry to be asking this question so late!
But I am also doing wordsworth and I am struggling a bit with some of the central ideas. Could you possibly explain your 'urban,natural and internal world' in a bit more depth?
And just out of curiosity- how many poems did you learn/use in your essay ?
Thanks in advance :)
Hi, thanks for your question. The urban, natural and internal world structure is based on the VCAA description of the text and I quite well breaks Wordsworth's poetry into 3 main 'scopes' that you can use to approach almost any topic - these 3 main 'scopes' aren't themes but I like to view them as 'super themes, so ideas that are almost always present in his poetry.
And just before I go further, here is a sample essay that uses this exact structure for your reference (it contains the actual analytical sentences that I used, so I will not include them in the discussion on this forum otherwise it will be too long:)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdvVG5F-3TA&t=302s&ab_channel=JLTutoring
Let's look at last year's VCAA 2020 Exam, Wordsworth Essay Topic: "What does Wordsworth's poetry teach us". I used 2 poems per paragraph, so 2 x 3 paragraphs = 6 poems in total (I learnt about 8-10 which I would interchange based off the topic)
The way I answered the prompt was:
P1: Wordsworth's teaches us to abstain from the meaningless pursuits of the urban world (here I am using the 'scope' of the urban world to answer this prompt by answering the prompt in relation to what he thinks about the urban world, so poems such as London 1802 or the World is Too much with us, are great examples. Bascically here, the urban world = big cities, they are all the evil in the world from Wordsworth's perspective, so the industrial revolution, the bustling cities where people only cared about wealth and were driven by greed etc.
P2: Wordsworth teaches us that true education and healing comes from nature (here, the natural world is the OPPOSITE of the urban world - and here you can talk about any poem that praises Nature e.g. Tables Turned, TIntern, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud etc). So natural world = natural landscape (so very broad place, but anywhere in Nature counts as the natural world)
P3: Wordsworth teaches us that we need to combine our experiences with frequent reflection in order to live a meaningful life (the internal world = the MIND of the poet - so how does the poet develop individually as a person? e,g. In the Two-Part Prelude, the poet realises that Nature is extremely powerful, more powerful than humanity, and his reflection upon these experiences is what lead to his "fulfilled identity" (Heaney quote from the Introduction) - this is probably the hardest concept to grasp but its also the area that will make your essay stand out so if you find it helpful, you can use my sample essay (in the link) as a guide.
So basically these three worlds (urban, natural, internal) shape Wordsworth's poetry and that's why it's a good idea to at least explore a topic from these three perspectives. All the best with your exams!
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Hi Julian, how did you go about memorising quotes? I've probably left it a bit too late but if you have any tips that'd be great :)
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Hi Julian, how did you go about memorising quotes? I've probably left it a bit too late but if you have any tips that'd be great :)
Hi, its definitely not too late haha, still time to improve your marks:) I tended not to memorise quotes in isolation (i.e. having a list of 100 quotes and memorise them starting from 1 to 100) and instead, I memorised quotes with analysis or context. This is effective for many reasons:
1) It makes memorising much easier because you have text around it to help you memorise and understand the quote.
2) It makes using these quotes much easier because you already have the analysis with it (now you don't have to memorise the analysis but it probably will be stuck in your head if you try and commit the quote to memory)
As for actually memorising here are a few tips:
- I used flashcards
- I tried to make the quotes as short as possible (see example below, the actual text is unimportant) - you can see how its only 2 words - that's right, most of my quotes were only a couple of words because the important thing is the idea. Let your ideas run through your essay NOT quotes - this should make it easier to memorise because if you already have the main idea for a theme down, then all you need are a few supporting quotes to analyse and that's a paragraph done.
e.g. [This shows a quote that I would memorise completely (the two words :))+ the associated context that I would be familiar with]
Carrying the same racist ethos beneath their veneer of civility, the Virginian editorials erroneously equated slaves with “chattel” and “stock”, highlighting their callous prioritisation of profit over human dignity. Through commodifying slaves through cold economic rationale, plantation owners were able to have significant physical and psychological control of those that were treated like an investment.
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Hi everyone,
Hope everyone is going well, I just released my 'Creative Text Response' Essay that achieved 30/30 - FREE of charge - to hopefully (fingers crossed:)) help those who have their Creative SAC coming up!
Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE_ZPgUd6jk&ab_channel=JLTutoring
All the best and Enjoy!