50 in English, available for queries :)

[literally lauren]

Edward Elric:
If you're having structural issues, take a look through some of the sample essays on the English boards, most of them are very high scoring responses that tackle context in many different ways. There's no rule about what can or can't be in your intro. You can keep it theoretical and just unpack the prompt in relation to the context, or you can kick it off with an example and dive right in to telling a story. Read some other students' work then see if you can modify their style, or create your own.

Rod:
Questioning the prompt is the best method of brainstorming, I find. For instance:
‘It is the victims of conflict who show us what is really important’
-What is important?
-^Is this the same for everyone?
-Who are the victims? Is it always clear-cut?
-Do we only learn lessons from the victims?
-How do the victims show us the truth? Is it voluntarily?
-Can we only know what is important after the conflict?
-Once we know what is important, what changes?
This might be a bit tricky at first. You can apply some common questions to pretty much every prompt type, like 'Is this the case for everyone?' or 'What are the exceptions and what do they tell us?' but generally it pays to be more focused in your brainstorming so that your ideas are easier to articulate. After awhile this should become almost automatic. That list took me less than two minutes, and hopefully by the end of the year you'll be in a similar situation no matter what prompt they throw at you.
With regards to memorising and regurgitating responses: this shouldn't be your first resort. Sometimes you'll get lucky and the prompt will be something you've worked on before (if this happens in the exam then fist-pump the air, mentally, and go for it) but it's better to let ideas come naturally to you than to force them in where they don't belong. You should definitely develop a whole range of ideas and examples in practice essays to give yourself the best chance in assessment tasks, but be flexible. You might have 20 examples that you never got to discuss, but the 5 that you use in the SAC will be ones that fit the prompt and your discussion perfectly. Even if you don't end up using or reusing ideas, writing about them has still informed your ability, so it's never a wasted effort.
Overall I'd say don't come into the SAC with a prewritten idea of what you're going to write, but don't go in blind either. Do as much as you can beforehand; if it's relevant, great. If not, brainstorm away

hyunah:
Like I said, if you can justify it, then it's a right answer. It sounds like you're on the right track with character motivations, just be prepared to acknowledge multiple interpretations as well. The Quiet American invites a lot of contrary opinions, and good essays can take this into account rather than dictating what each character does/means too rigidly. For context it's more about the abstract ideas anyway, and how these can be generalised to humanity as a whole.

T-Infinite:
Try to do the above demonstration of dissecting/questioning the prompt yourself, let me know if you have trouble.
I'm in the process at the moment of compiling a list of possible examples to use as external evidence in a context essay. I'll post it here when I'm done, but in the meantime, revisit what you've gone over in class, and try to investigate some of your own interest areas and tie those to conflict (eg. stories in the media, movies, historical examples, esp. for Paradise Rd.)

[Rod]

Thanks so much Lauren!

Yeah definitely won't be doing that.

I've been doing these idea banks on word document and scrapbook, so putting in ideas throughout the term, I'm trying to get as much in so when it comes to exam time I'll be ready for any prompt. Ideas > practise essays

Is this what you did? Or were you just able to remember everything throughout the year?

And one more thing, did you come up with all your ideas? With mine I have, but a lot of them have been from my teacher + study guides.

[Edward Elric]

Thanks Lauren, but I couldn't find any relevant essays in regards to my context of identity and belonging, and still confused about where to start and how I should be studying for this. I have watched the movie once already and have made my own notes, and read through some that my teacher gave me. Now I am eager to start writing essays. Thanks.

[RazzMeTazz]

Hi,

I only recently realised that teachers find a conclusion that begins with 'To conclude' cringe-worthy, but what about the other typical concluding words such as 'Therefore' 'Hence' 'Thus'.

Should you not use such words to start a conclusion either? But instead just start writing the conclusion without such words at the beginning?

Thanks!

[Yacoubb]

Hi,

I only recently realised that teachers find a conclusion that begins with 'To conclude' cringe-worthy, but what about the other typical concluding words such as 'Therefore' 'Hence' 'Thus'.

Should you not use such words to start a conclusion either? But instead just start writing the conclusion without such words at the beginning?

Thanks!

I use 'In essence, ____' for my conclusion starters.

[RazzMeTazz]

I use 'In essence, ____' for my conclusion starters.

Thanks for the tip!

[literally lauren]

Rod:
You're definitely better off writing notes on all your ideas. Most schools cover context in Terms 2 and 4. By the time you revisit this stuff at the end of the year, for a while you won't know what the hell is going on, so keep it all in your notes and look over it from time to time so that you don't lose track completely. Anyone who tells you they remembered all their ideas is either a liar, or a person with pretty shit ideas.
What I wrote had its foundations in study guides and articles I read, but most of my essays went beyond all that, since I was hyper aware of the fact that if I was reading something freely accessible to anyone with google, I don't want my ideas pre-empted by someone who read the same stuff. It's all excellent groundwork though, and it's kind of foolish not to read all that stuff, or partake in class discussion. Just know that your analysis must go beyond, so question as much as you can.

Edward Elric:
This link will take you to some sample essays for context if you're still struggling with the structure. Don't rush into the essay writing process though; develop your ideas first. Maybe write up a viewing log of the film, do some character analyses or look at some major quotes, then move into paragraphs, then start fully fledged essays. Writing practice pieces this soon is like attempting a methods exam before learning the content and just expecting you'll pick it up along the way. Some talented people might, but you're better off learning the process, or formula, so you can apply it yourself.

RazzMeTazz:
'In essence...' is a good one, thanks Yacoubb
Therfore... Hence... and Thus... are all good too. I often used Essentially... and Fundamentally... but these were kind of throwaway lines without the ideas behind them, so use whatever is suited to your discussion.
I also had a terrible habit of beginning paragraphs with Although... or In spite of... because it was an easy way to acknowledge multiple interpretations. Just don't overuse it like I did

[scandin9]

Hi Lauren,
What would you advise an english student do when they are not confident with writing essays in one hour?How does one overcome time issues in the english examination?
Thanks in advance!

[RazzMeTazz]

Thanks so much for the help!

[Jono_CP]

Hey Lauren,

I am unsure as to what preparation I should be doing in these last few days for Whose Reality...

E.g. I know my publication, know the audience, know the form and have a fair idea of outside sources...

What should I be doing?

[literally lauren]

scandin 9
Gradually work your way down, rather than aiming to write something in an hour at this stage of the year. I know a lot of you will be doing practice exam preparation right about now, and depending on your school, they may be throwing you in the deep end with an essay per hour. If this is the case, start with what you're currently doing (let's say, it takes you three hours, with notes in front of you.) Get yourself down to about a 2 hour average, then enforce SAC conditions. Write without the aid of books or notes and see if you can wittle the time down to something more manageable. Ideally you'll be doing this gradually throughout the year rather than going cold turkey.
Most importantly though, you can overcome time issues the same way you overcome every other problem in English; know what you're doing wrong! Does it take you too long because you don't have enough ideas? If so, then go back and revisit the key concepts, build up your repository of notes and try again. Or is progress slow because you can't work out how to articulate your ideas? If that's the case, work on your vocabulary and expression throughout the year. Working out what, specifically, is your weakness will be half the battle.

Jono_CP:
ditto^ I can give you a general checklist of what you should have covered at this stage, but a more effective way of going about this is knowing what your common pitfalls are. If you have a preconceived idea of what you'll be writing, are there any prompts that could surprise you? Do you have a backup plan? Or if you already know the prompt, are there any angles you haven't considered yet that could stand out as gaping holes in your essay? Do you have enough textual links, implicit and explicit? Do your external examples compliment your focus? Is your vocab up to scratch?
I cannot emphasise this enough, know where you're at, and what areas can be improved. It will make actually improving a lot easier.

[Jono_CP]

Jono_CP:
ditto^ I can give you a general checklist of what you should have covered at this stage, but a more effective way of going about this is knowing what your common pitfalls are. If you have a preconceived idea of what you'll be writing, are there any prompts that could surprise you? Do you have a backup plan? Or if you already know the prompt, are there any angles you haven't considered yet that could stand out as gaping holes in your essay? Do you have enough textual links, implicit and explicit? Do your external examples compliment your focus? Is your vocab up to scratch?
I cannot emphasise this enough, know where you're at, and what areas can be improved. It will make actually improving a lot easier.
[/quote]

Thanks Lauren!

I completely take heed of your advice - I just seem to be lacking motivation for some odd reason... E.g. I feel like this is to a certain degree based on fortune and what you have echoed to me: relevance & quantity. All that is based on the prompt, for which I do not know yet. I feel like I have done enough practice SACs with enough feedback, probably looking over potential prompts is a good idea.

If I am doing a sophisticated magazine report on philosophical ideas questioning reality, what would you be looking for as an assessor?

Sorry, if this is such a pointless question. I have to be productive and at the moment I am not doing anything

[Cheddar Cheese]

Hey Lauren,

I'm currently in year 10 right now and I have a TERRIBLE english teacher. We literally have not written an essay all year, and I can safely say that I did about ten times more work in year 7 for english than I am doing this year. It's soooo frustrating, because I know I'm good at English, and I know I have potential to do really well in VCE - how am I meant to cope when being thrown in the deep end next year? I'm so afraid that this is going to be detrimental to my study score. The other classes are all doing in-class essays, and we've spent the whole term reading seven chapters of the book - today we started watching the movie of the book. I am honestly trying to do some work outside of school (as crazy as it sounds, I try to write an essay per week on any of the books I read for pleasure, since I know them much better than anything we learn at school SINCE MY TEACHER IS TERRIBLE). There's only so far I can improve myself, though, so I was wondering if you had any tips? How did you prepare for VCE english in years 9 and 10?

Also, in year 11, do you start learning context and language analysis, or is it just text response? thanks

Lastly, would you be able to estimate how many sac marks could be lost to achieve a fifty, provided one does well on the exam? What about a 49? Sorry if I'm asking too much of you haha, but I'm just wondering (I know I'm only in year 10, but I like thinking ahead).

Thanks heaps!! xx

[literally lauren]

Don't worry, my year 10 teacher wasn't much better. Fingers crossed you get someone good for year 12

Regarding essay writing, sometimes that's not the most effective way to learn. It's certainly the best way to apply your knowledge, and it's a major part of studying, but often (especially at the beginning of the year or at the start of a new unit) you're better off reading widely, researching, discussing and thinking before you go writing essays for the sake of it.
Don't get me wrong, if what you're doing now feels like effective study then go for it, but don't feel you should be performing under year 12 type conditions. That said, a lot of students wait until their last year (or last term) to actually pay attention to english, so it's great that you're putting the effort in early.

My biggest tip would be to read heaps. It'll give you a massive edge in year 12, and picking up new vocab is always good. My preparation in years 9, 10 and even 11 wasn't really exam-oriented. I didn't fully understand the format of the course or the marking criteria until the start of year 12, but I read a lot, which helped me develop and articulate ideas anyway. If you're looking for inspiration, I've put together a list of helpful tidbits I've come across that tie in well with context studies, but are also just worth reading, watching, or researching anyway:

CONTEXT: EXTERNAL EXAMPLES POST link
[/selfpromotion]

Also, in case you're not aware, and for everyone else's benefit, the current VCE English Study Design will end at the end of next year, so class of 2016 will be the first under the new regime.
There are some interesting changes: Language Analysis and Text Response seem largely unchanged, though one of the TR SACS has to be a creative piece. The oral is now worth more, and there are some major differences to the EAL course.
And they've abolished context, replacing it with a sort of literary comparison from what I gather. You're assigned (or choose?) two texts, then write an essay contrasting them in terms of theme, character, values, messages etc.

So while I admire your ambition, don't go learning any context stuff. Hopefully they'll go easy on you for the first year

Re: SAC marks, the actualy number doesn't mean anything, aside from giving you a general indication of where you're at. What matters is your ranking in relation to everyone else in your cohort. Provided you maintain an A/A+ average and ace the exam, there's little stopping you from getting a 50. Personally, I would have dropped a few marks on the first few SACs, but I fought my way back to rank 1 and was in the very top bunch of 50s in the end (as was the rank 2 in my class). Normally I'd say focus on the content for now anyway, but since context is gone, your TR texts will change, I suppose you could familiarise yourself with LA so you'll have an easier time? But I think concentrating on your own writing style will help the most, and like I keep saying, know where your weakspots are.

All the best

[Cheddar Cheese]

Oh wow!!! I never knew that. Thanks so much for telling me hahaha....I'm happy that the oral's worth more now since that's one of my assets, but pretty sad that I can't write a creative in the exam (but at least I can write one for a sac haha).


When reading and meeting a foreign word, would you try to memorise it on the spot, or did you have a special book or something that you wrote it in? Do you mean reading stuff like the hunger games or stuff like jayne eyre?


Also I have another question (lol sorry): how long would you get in sacs? And would they vary (if a sac is worth 30 marks, did you get the same amount of time to complete it that you did in unit 4, when they are worth much more?) Thanks!!!!!!!