Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the prior lit exams were 2 close analysis with 3 passages provided.
"Students will be required to complete one piece of writing in response to one topic on one text from the VCE Literature Text List for the year in question. There will be one topic for each of the 30 texts."
The above is a new description for part A, however it doesn't mention any accompanying text which part B has. My intepretation is that there is only one close analysis with passages provided and the new part A is pretty much a text response (becoz prompt) with no material. Please, please tell me I'm wrong on this
Yeah, I believe it's now:
Part A: Literary Perspectives, so kind of like English T.R. or a 'Views & Values' essay from the old SD with an emphasis on different interpretations and substantiating 'readings' of a text.
Part B: Close Analysis, as before: three passages and you have to use at least two to support your analytical interpretation.
Also, they've kept the 'you-have-to-write-on-texts-of-two-different-genres' rule, meaning you can't write both parts on the one text (obvs.) More info
here, though I'm hoping they'll publish the sample exam really soon so we all have a better idea of Part A. It sounds like it will still involve you discussing your own interpretation but also making reference to literary theories or schools of thought (e.g. Marxist, Feminist, Post-colonialist, etc.) So both components of the exam will still be heavily interpretation-based, it's just that Part A will involve contrasting a variety of views and unpacking their approaches, whereas Part B is more 'from the ground up' analysis of language which eventually leads to an overall reading.