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March 28, 2024, 07:36:16 pm

Author Topic: english lang or lit OR BOTH?  (Read 4651 times)  Share 

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twinklehello

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english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« on: June 22, 2021, 07:39:52 pm »
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Hi guys!!!

I am in year 10 right now and I need to choose which subjects I'm going to do. Currently, I have chosen Methods, Chem, Psych and need to do an English but I don't know if I should fo language or lit or both.
I haven't got my exam results back but I have a b+ avg in English right now.  I enjoy reading books and love annotating texts and am a very creative person, however, I am not sure if I should do language as people say lit is very hard to get a good score in. I want to get a high ATAR to get in my preferred course and uni but I don't know what I should do, should I do both or will that be too much stress for me? Thank you guys for answering !!!
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ConFinCMC

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Re: english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2021, 07:49:04 pm »
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Hey Twinkle.
If you're interested in reading and annotation, I'd have to recommend Lit. I did Lang (big mistake, it's not for everyone), and I heard from friends that Lit had more chance to be creative, and you could choose your own books to write about.
Some people I know also did Lit and Normie English, and they were able to do quite well overall for their ATAR. Talk to other older students at your school, especially any who are doing Lit and/or Lang and see what they think.
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mabajas76

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Re: english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2021, 09:20:08 pm »
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Little known secret, Eng lan is hard. Even if it is for you, it is a lot of new skills and a lot of reading, but it is just reading lots of articles. It is very interesting personally, u look at the development of English and the Australian culture and how it is expressed through words and it is really cool for me but not for everyone, u even study swear words in year 12! There r like 100-200 new meta language terms u have to learn and learn well (on study design). U will need to learn to write an analytical commentary, not that hard but entirely new and very procedural to do. I love reading but did Lan cause I thought it would be easier + it just fit more with my subjects of math and science. Whilst it def is not easy, it did end up being fun for me. Just take a look at the teacher and other students in the course and maybe schools past results to get a good indication.
"Don't give up, and don't put too much effort into things that don't matter"-Albert Einstein, probably.

twinklehello

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Re: english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2021, 09:36:09 pm »
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REPLYING YOU GUYS ARE INCREDIBLE
i have definitely got a new outlook on it and I this has made my choice a bit clearer, thank you guys you really did help so much, thanks for all your input 😁😁😁
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colline

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Re: english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2021, 10:52:18 pm »
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Hey! I didn't do eng lang but I did 3/4 Lit, so hopefully I can give you some insights into the lit side of things.

Lit is definitely a difficult subject as it is very different from mainstream English and the sort of assessments you do in lit are also very different from the assessments you would've done from year 7 to year 10 - but I would say that is the main reason behind its difficulty. For lit assessments, in unit 3 you will do a creative piece and an essay comparing between a text and an adaptation of the text (eg. a book + a film). In unit 4, the two assessments are literary perspectives and close passage analysis. Most students find Lit Perspectives to be incredibly challenging as it's actually more on the edge of the sort of assessments lit majors do in uni. Close analysis can also throw some people off at first as the structure is very different to the usual english essay. Finally for the exam, it's two essays (one literary perspectives, one close passage analysis).

I would say that lit is actually pretty easy to score well in if you understand the criteria well. The reason most people find it hard is that most people who choose lit are those who previously cruised through year 7-10 English. Then they go into lit and write the same sort of essays they've been writing for the past 4 years, only to get mediocre scores because they don't realise the criteria is completely different. So if you are able to grasp the differences between english and lit and write according to the actual criteria, you're pretty much set for a good score.

I hope this gives you a bit more context in terms of what to expect if you do lit! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Lit was definitely an incredibly challenging subject for me but it was also super rewarding and it definitely gave me a different outlook on a lot of texts I've read before.

ETA - you mentioned that you're aiming for a high ATAR. Many people choose 2 English subjects to try and maximise their ATAR since an English subject must be in your top 4.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2021, 11:03:33 pm by colline »

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twinklehello

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Re: english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2021, 09:42:29 am »
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Hey! I didn't do eng lang but I did 3/4 Lit, so hopefully I can give you some insights into the lit side of things.

Lit is definitely a difficult subject as it is very different from mainstream English and the sort of assessments you do in lit are also very different from the assessments you would've done from year 7 to year 10 - but I would say that is the main reason behind its difficulty. For lit assessments, in unit 3 you will do a creative piece and an essay comparing between a text and an adaptation of the text (eg. a book + a film). In unit 4, the two assessments are literary perspectives and close passage analysis. Most students find Lit Perspectives to be incredibly challenging as it's actually more on the edge of the sort of assessments lit majors do in uni. Close analysis can also throw some people off at first as the structure is very different to the usual english essay. Finally for the exam, it's two essays (one literary perspectives, one close passage analysis).

I would say that lit is actually pretty easy to score well in if you understand the criteria well. The reason most people find it hard is that most people who choose lit are those who previously cruised through year 7-10 English. Then they go into lit and write the same sort of essays they've been writing for the past 4 years, only to get mediocre scores because they don't realise the criteria is completely different. So if you are able to grasp the differences between english and lit and write according to the actual criteria, you're pretty much set for a good score.

I hope this gives you a bit more context in terms of what to expect if you do lit! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Lit was definitely an incredibly challenging subject for me but it was also super rewarding and it definitely gave me a different outlook on a lot of texts I've read before.

ETA - you mentioned that you're aiming for a high ATAR. Many people choose 2 English subjects to try and maximise their ATAR since an English subject must be in your top 4.

would it be a good idea for me to do mainstream English and lit together? or would that be too much work and stress with my other subjects? Thank you   8) :)
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colline

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Re: english lang or lit OR BOTH?
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2021, 10:12:22 am »
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would it be a good idea for me to do mainstream English and lit together? or would that be too much work and stress with my other subjects? Thank you   8) :)

Lit + mainstream is a very common combo especially among people who are generally strong writers. It's absolutely doable.

As I mentioned in my first post though it's important to know the distinction between the two subjects (many people doing Eng + Lit ends up treating it as one giant English subject) to make sure you can also do well in Lit.

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