Hey Geoo! I don’t know too much about VCE English (I did unit 2 last year but that’s about it) but I just want to first address a misconception that being an avid reader instantly makes you better suited for literature. I know students who can barely make it through Harry Potter scoring 45+ in lit, and also students who spend their days buried in books only to get mid 30s. While enjoying reading is no detriment, I must really warn you (and anyone else in the same boat) of choosing lit just because you like books. It’s not that simple.
Of course, liking reading would help in both English and Literature. But fundamentally the two are different subjects with different marking criteria and literature is NOT just ‘hard English’ or ‘English for people who like reading’.
In lit there are 4 assessments:
1. Adaptations and Transformations; 2. Creative Response; 3. Literary Perspectives; 4. Close Passage Analysis. Adaptations (Unit 3 Outcome 1) is kind of similar to a comparative essay in English, except that you are comparing the same text in two different formats (for example, a play and a film). The creative response (Unit 3 Outcome 2) is just like creative tasks from English - the main creative is worth 90% and your statement of intention is worth 10%. The major differences come in Unit 4.
Literary Perspectives (Unit 4 Outcome 1) requires you to analyse a text from two different lenses (or perspectives) — the common ones are Marxist, postcolonial, feminist, and psychoanalyst. This assessment would require a lot of extensive reading of much more challenging and academic sources.
Close Passage Analysis (Unit 4 Outcome 2) is basically close analysing the language of three short excerpts. After close analysis, you must zoom out and comment on how your findings link to the broader social, political, economic, cultural, or even religious context of the time period. CPA is particularly “trippy” when you first start writing, as it basically chucks all the habits you’ve gained from year 7-10 English out the window. CPAs do not follow the ‘English’ structure of writing and this is one point which a lot of students find hard to get around.
Generally, Literature is a good choice for students who not only enjoy reading and writing, but also writing with a scope of creative freedom, and don’t mind doing a lot of reading on more academic sources. (Highly recommend borrowing a friend’s Jstor account if your school does not use it).
Some differences I can think of between English and Lit in terms of assessments:
- The English exam is 3 hours long and requires you to write 3 essays (Text Response, Comparative, Argument Analysis); the Literature exam is 2 hours long and requires you to write 2 essays (Literary Perspectives, Close Passage Analysis)
- English has an oral assessment. While literature also has an oral component it’s a highly negligible part of the subject (at my school, it counted 10% towards a SAC worth 12.5%. For a lot of schools, it’s not even assessed).
- Both English and Lit has 5 SACs, however for English that’s 5 different assessments (the three you get in exams, plus creative and the oral); in Literature, there are only 4 different assessments (CPA gets two SACs). Both English and Lit exams are worth 50% of your study score, with your SACs making up the other 50%. Unit 3 and Unit 4 are both 25% each.
There are two reviews for Literature in the VCE Subject Reviews and Ratings thread (from 2018 and 2019) which might also help you in making your decision!
Also, which assessments were your best and worst in English 1/2 this year? This would also be something worth considering!
I hope this gives you a better idea of the types of assessment in literature, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!