Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

March 29, 2024, 10:58:36 pm

Author Topic: VCE English Question Thread  (Read 847596 times)  Share 

0 Members and 4 Guests are viewing this topic.

literally lauren

  • Administrator
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1699
  • Resident English/Lit Nerd
  • Respect: +1423
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #150 on: February 26, 2015, 04:29:47 pm »
+1
Lit 1&2 is of some benefit, but you don't need it to do 3&4.

Simply put, English consists of 3 essay types (and an oral) and each of these three essays will be tested in the exam. It's 3 essays in 3 hours, but there's a bigger, more evenly spread cohort, so it's technically not as hard to score well.

Literature is 5 different essay types, only one of which you'll have to do in the exam. The exam is 2 essays in 2 hours, but a higher standard is expected, and the cohort is more competitive.

Essentially if you're English-inclined, you'll enjoy Lit more, but English objectively easier to score well in, especially if you consider yourself more maths/science-y. Lit is a little trickier to get a handle on unless you enjoy the idea of analysing texts and language.

In terms of assessment, I'm assuming you're at least a little familiar with mainstream English (exam = 1 Text Response, 1 Context piece, 1 Language Analysis.) Literature is a whole other kettle of fish: you have to do what's called a 'Passage Analysis' where you're given three extracts from the text you studied (you can see the VCAA Past Exams website for examples) and your task is to discuss how the language of the text is used to create meaning. So it's essentially the opposite of a Text Response essay:
TR: you're given a prompt/focal point and told to find evidence to back yourself up
Lit: you're given the evidence, and have to impose your own focus, analysing as you go.

There's a breakdown of Lit assessment with some comparison between how you'd approach English as well here. I know this is a pretty broad overview, let me know if you need any more clarification :)
 

Callum@1373

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 498
  • National Youth Science Forum Session C 2016!
  • Respect: +26
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #151 on: February 26, 2015, 05:50:18 pm »
0
Can someone guide me on how I write expository pieces? I'm spending hours staring at a prompt trying to make 'ideas' but they are always so weak. I have the sac on monday, my teacher can't help me the slightest. I have a very high level of understanding of my set text, I have external references up my sleeve - plato's cave, anecdotes, stanford prison experiment, etc and etc. I understand the context whose reality but I can't get anyone to tell me what the hell you have to do with the prompt. I've been told to agree/disagree, generate ideas (although i have no clue what it means to generate ideas from a prompt), and when i do come up with something and try to write on it nothing comes to mind. Like i study for methods and I got 100%, studied for chem and got 99% but i'm spending freaking ages on this silly context expository practice and am getting literally nowhere  ::)

EDIT: Looking at my english book now i have 8 prompts to which I have tried to explore and create a piece on but all I have to show for it is a bunch of shitty comments i have made about the prompt
« Last Edit: February 26, 2015, 05:54:03 pm by Callum@1373 »
2015: Business Management [48]
2016: English [43] Specialist Mathematics [43] Methods [46] Chemistry [45] Biology [45]

ATAR: 99.65
NYSF Session C 2016

Recipient of ANU National Scholars Program

http://www.callum-lowe.weebly.com

Cogglesnatch Cuttlefish

  • Victorian
  • Forum Regular
  • **
  • Posts: 90
  • Respect: +2
  • School Grad Year: 2015
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #152 on: February 26, 2015, 09:12:42 pm »
0
Regarding prompts, what's the difference between a "do you agree?" and "discuss"?
Science at uom

literally lauren

  • Administrator
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1699
  • Resident English/Lit Nerd
  • Respect: +1423
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #153 on: February 26, 2015, 09:38:19 pm »
+1
Can someone guide me on how I write expository pieces? I'm spending hours staring at a prompt trying to make 'ideas' but they are always so weak. I have the sac on monday, my teacher can't help me the slightest. I have a very high level of understanding of my set text, I have external references up my sleeve - plato's cave, anecdotes, stanford prison experiment, etc and etc. I understand the context whose reality but I can't get anyone to tell me what the hell you have to do with the prompt. I've been told to agree/disagree, generate ideas (although i have no clue what it means to generate ideas from a prompt), and when i do come up with something and try to write on it nothing comes to mind. Like i study for methods and I got 100%, studied for chem and got 99% but i'm spending freaking ages on this silly context expository practice and am getting literally nowhere  ::)

EDIT: Looking at my english book now i have 8 prompts to which I have tried to explore and create a piece on but all I have to show for it is a bunch of shitty comments i have made about the prompt

In half-joking defense of English: yes you can get 100% on the methods test you study for, but that doesn't mean you'd necessarily get 100% every time. Nor does it mean you're going to get 100% on every other test.

You have to think of English essays (especially Context) as an entire area of study; you'll be gradually developing your abilities in a variety of ways; writing essays is only one of them.

In my experience, as much as Methods practice exams are an excellent way to assess your knowledge, 'spamming' them wouldn't actually help you learn new concepts; you'f have to make the effort to use sample answers or text book explanations etc. in order to refine your approach. Similarly, even if you understand the content, taking the test and actually demonstrating your knowledge is an entirely different skillset.

So in English terms, you can memorise the formulae, but you need to know how they work. And you can break this question this up between 'what is the purpose of a Context piece' and 'what does a good essay look like?'

For the first question, your aim is to conduct an interesting discussion using the prompt as your foundation. Be interesting, get marks.
There are a whole lot of other finicky criteria that teachers recommend, but what it comes down to is your ability to demonstrate an understanding of the implications of the prompt, drawing upon a variety of evidence and ideas to do so.

What might help at the moment (if you're not doing it already) is to focus on getting a contention together. Your piece must have an argument; it doesn't have to be overly persuasive, but it has to be concise and complex. With regards to agreeing/disagreeing, don't do either. No good context piece will 100% agree or disagree, and you're also not meant to fence-sit, (ie. two paragraphs = agree, two paragraphs = disagree) since that makes your discussion seem really weak. Ideally you'll be ~75% one way or the other (ie. either 'Yes, I mostly agree with the prompt, but I think there are important exceptions' or 'No, not necessarily, I think >this< is the case instead.') Only then can you hope to tie together your understanding of the text, your examples, and your sub-arguments.

Regarding what your essay should actually look like, consult some of the sample high-scoring responses in the Resource thread, or the colourful paragraphs in the previous page or two. But there are a hundred ways to do this right, so don't be disheartened if it takes some experimentation for you to find an approach that works for you; it's worth it in the end :)


Regarding prompts, what's the difference between a "do you agree?" and "discuss"?
There is no difference :) In every essay you will be discussing whether or not you agree, so it's just a way of VCAA to change up the questions slightly.
You could argue 'Do you agree'-type prompts invite contrary opinions more often (eg. things like 'This text is from the '70s and has no relevance to today's society' - you'd kinda be expected to say no) but there are massive exceptions, so focus on the ideas in the prompt rather than the framing.

Apink!

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 396
  • ~just keep swimming
  • Respect: +9
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #154 on: February 27, 2015, 07:43:23 am »
0
Hello!
If anyone has the time, could you please have a look at my context essay I uploaded yesterday on the marking thread?
I need to improve, but am not sure which areas I need to.

Thank you! :) :)
2015: Mathematical Methods CAS [42]

2016: English [46], Chemistry [42], Biology [37], Psychology [48], Specialist Mathematics [32]
ATAR: 99.20

kimmytaaa

  • Victorian
  • Trendsetter
  • **
  • Posts: 108
  • Respect: +2
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #155 on: February 27, 2015, 10:41:25 am »
0
Lit 1&2 is of some benefit, but you don't need it to do 3&4.

Simply put, English consists of 3 essay types (and an oral) and each of these three essays will be tested in the exam. It's 3 essays in 3 hours, but there's a bigger, more evenly spread cohort, so it's technically not as hard to score well.

Literature is 5 different essay types, only one of which you'll have to do in the exam. The exam is 2 essays in 2 hours, but a higher standard is expected, and the cohort is more competitive.

Essentially if you're English-inclined, you'll enjoy Lit more, but English objectively easier to score well in, especially if you consider yourself more maths/science-y. Lit is a little trickier to get a handle on unless you enjoy the idea of analysing texts and language.

In terms of assessment, I'm assuming you're at least a little familiar with mainstream English (exam = 1 Text Response, 1 Context piece, 1 Language Analysis.) Literature is a whole other kettle of fish: you have to do what's called a 'Passage Analysis' where you're given three extracts from the text you studied (you can see the VCAA Past Exams website for examples) and your task is to discuss how the language of the text is used to create meaning. So it's essentially the opposite of a Text Response essay:
TR: you're given a prompt/focal point and told to find evidence to back yourself up
Lit: you're given the evidence, and have to impose your own focus, analysing as you go.

There's a breakdown of Lit assessment with some comparison between how you'd approach English as well here. I know this is a pretty broad overview, let me know if you need any more clarification :)
 


Thanks Lauren

scarletmoon

  • Victorian
  • Trendsetter
  • **
  • Posts: 171
  • Respect: 0
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #156 on: February 27, 2015, 10:15:26 pm »
0
What are some websites that are similar to "The Conversation" and "The Age" ?
2016-2019 Bachelor of Science @ UoM

Apink!

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 396
  • ~just keep swimming
  • Respect: +9
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #157 on: February 28, 2015, 08:34:37 am »
0
Hello!
I have a sac on Lit next week and I have no idea how to approach it. I know the structure in general terms: make language your central focus. I learn through examples and I tried reading them but I can't understand it (yes, that's how bad I am)
Please help me. The lit thread doesn't have the Q & A thread like here so I'm posting it here. Hopefully someone can help me? By the way, the text we are studying is Kinglake 350

Thank you!
2015: Mathematical Methods CAS [42]

2016: English [46], Chemistry [42], Biology [37], Psychology [48], Specialist Mathematics [32]
ATAR: 99.20

AllG_

  • Victorian
  • Forum Regular
  • **
  • Posts: 61
  • Respect: 0
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #158 on: February 28, 2015, 09:46:59 pm »
0
Hi guys,
In terms of study guides, which companies produce the best ones? I'm stuck on getting either Insight or VATE. Also, are study guides for context theme useful? I'm doing Whose Reality if that helps.
Thanks!

literally lauren

  • Administrator
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1699
  • Resident English/Lit Nerd
  • Respect: +1423
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #159 on: March 01, 2015, 12:21:06 pm »
+2
What are some websites that are similar to "The Conversation" and "The Age" ?
What do you mean by 'similar to?' If you're just looking for general news sites, the Google News browser feature is a good way of comparing sources. Or if you're looking for similar opinions/ biaises, perhaps googling similar issues covered by these papers would be useful. Sorry, not entirely sure what you're looking for, but Google is probably better than me here :)

Hello!
I have a sac on Lit next week and I have no idea how to approach it. I know the structure in general terms: make language your central focus. I learn through examples and I tried reading them but I can't understand it (yes, that's how bad I am)
Please help me. The lit thread doesn't have the Q & A thread like here so I'm posting it here. Hopefully someone can help me? By the way, the text we are studying is Kinglake 350
You can make a new thread on the Lit boards if you need to ask something specific. I'm guessing your first SAC is the Adaptations and Transformations one? Make sure you're clear what the task is asking you to do first, and then it'll be easier to determine what you need to work on.

Hi guys,
In terms of study guides, which companies produce the best ones? I'm stuck on getting either Insight or VATE. Also, are study guides for context theme useful? I'm doing Whose Reality if that helps.
Thanks!
Definitely VATE, 100%. Insight is marginally helpful with the really basic textual stuff (plot, character maps/development, sometimes themes) but VATE is basically all analysis. Even their summaries are filled with good analysis, so unless you're struggling with the comprehension of your text, you''ll get much more use out of a VATE guide than Insight or NEAP or TSSM if they're still running.
(^That said, some of these companies produce the odd good guide every so often, it just depends on the text. Maybe suss out a sample first, or get a bunch of friends from school to pitch in $2 and you can share it around like clever cheapskates ;) )

Tbh my first resort would just be to google 'text name vce english resources/analysis/prompts' and you should get a fair few bits and pieces to use. If you're doing some of the more popular texts, then sites like English Works should have some good discussion. Otherwise you might have to rely on all those wonderful schools who upload resources and don't require you to have a school login to access them.
<3 Mentone Grammar and Brunswick Secondary ;D

In my experience, the Context guides are less helpful just because of the sheer enormity involved in Context studies. The published materials are either too rigidly diagnostic (if you're not doing a straight expository essay with the exact textual/external examples they're using, you're on your own,) or they try to cover everything and end up being too broad (eg. a single A5 page devoted to each different form and style, meaning you'll have about 30 pages that are fairly useless to you, and only ~400 words that you'll use form that section.)
Context is very much about originality, and although observing and adapting other people's approaches is important, you're better off working out where you sit first, and then using resources to build up your weaknesses, rather than starting someone else's method from scratch. More than any other essay in English, Context is really a matter of individual strengths, and you could attempt the exact same approach as someone else, but fall flat because it simply doesn't suit you.
If you've been dependent on study guides in previous years, and money is no issue, then these might help give you some groundwork in the early months. But if you're using them properly, guides will overstay their welcome before long, and you'll need to go beyond and develop your own interpretation and approach.

And in my incredibly un-biased opinion, you can get way better stuff from ATAR Notes anyway :)

Callum@1373

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 498
  • National Youth Science Forum Session C 2016!
  • Respect: +26
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #160 on: March 01, 2015, 12:37:20 pm »
0
Hey Lauren, I don't want to come across rude but could you take a look at my expository piece I posted in the work submission and marking board? I'm saying this because I've tried to use your advice to get my head around context and prompts, and I think i'm getting the grasp of it...

BTW, the teaching of context so far at my school was:

2 lessons on prep for english speech
1 lesson on whose reality
1 lesson on whose reality in relation to our text
1 lesson on expository writing
1 lesson on collecting examples

and wait for it.....

3 bloody useless lessons listening to damn speeches...........  ::)
2015: Business Management [48]
2016: English [43] Specialist Mathematics [43] Methods [46] Chemistry [45] Biology [45]

ATAR: 99.65
NYSF Session C 2016

Recipient of ANU National Scholars Program

http://www.callum-lowe.weebly.com

Callum@1373

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 498
  • National Youth Science Forum Session C 2016!
  • Respect: +26
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #161 on: March 01, 2015, 04:22:57 pm »
0
Does anyone know an example in real life where because someone had been lured into believing a false memory, that it led to that person getting a false version of reality?
2015: Business Management [48]
2016: English [43] Specialist Mathematics [43] Methods [46] Chemistry [45] Biology [45]

ATAR: 99.65
NYSF Session C 2016

Recipient of ANU National Scholars Program

http://www.callum-lowe.weebly.com

Joseph41

  • Administrator
  • Great Wonder of ATAR Notes
  • *****
  • Posts: 10823
  • Respect: +7477
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #162 on: March 01, 2015, 07:56:53 pm »
+1
Does anyone know an example in real life where because someone had been lured into believing a false memory, that it led to that person getting a false version of reality?

Hi Callum,

Have you come across Loftus and Palmer's studies on reconstructed memory? I didn't do English, so I'm not sure if it will be relevant, but it seems to fit the bill.

P.S. Grouse school!

Oxford comma, Garamond, Avett Brothers, Orla Gartland enthusiast.

Callum@1373

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 498
  • National Youth Science Forum Session C 2016!
  • Respect: +26
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #163 on: March 01, 2015, 08:19:04 pm »
+1
Hi Callum,

Have you come across Loftus and Palmer's studies on reconstructed memory? I didn't do English, so I'm not sure if it will be relevant, but it seems to fit the bill.

P.S. Grouse school!
Oh wow, that's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for! Thank you very much for finding it!  ;D
2015: Business Management [48]
2016: English [43] Specialist Mathematics [43] Methods [46] Chemistry [45] Biology [45]

ATAR: 99.65
NYSF Session C 2016

Recipient of ANU National Scholars Program

http://www.callum-lowe.weebly.com

literally lauren

  • Administrator
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1699
  • Resident English/Lit Nerd
  • Respect: +1423
Re: VCE English Question Thread
« Reply #164 on: March 01, 2015, 10:04:02 pm »
+2
Does anyone know an example in real life where because someone had been lured into believing a false memory, that it led to that person getting a false version of reality?

See also:
- Confirmation bias though this can occur in many forms and isn't necessarily 'luring' someone into falsehoods. Perhaps this could lead into talking about journalism ethics and the idea of 'leading questions' (the most extreme versions being things like 'Have you stopped beating your wife?')
- Drinking the Kool-Aid - best to just read up on this whole saga, but it makes for some interesting studies in group delusion and psychological manipulation.
- For a less sinister discussion, perhaps consider how we ourselves can alter memories, intentionally (suppression) or unconsciously (repression) which in turn affects how we view the past, present, and future.