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March 29, 2024, 05:59:44 am

Author Topic: English Advanced Question Thread  (Read 1231766 times)

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angelahchan

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2805 on: September 18, 2017, 10:28:36 am »
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Hey guys,

Does anyone have any insights as to how the HSC markers deal with shoddy handwriting? I know markers have a subconscious bias towards pieces that are more legible, but how would they deal with sentences or paragraphs that they flat out cannot read? My teacher told me that she and her colleagues skipped parts of my essays in Trials due to this  :P

Also, would you recommend sacrificing speed (and potentially amount of material) in favour of making one's writing neater?

Thanks!
Our creatives were marked externally and the external marker straight up wrote "I could only give marks for what I read". In the HSC I think if they can't read it they''ll bring it to a senior marker (each essay is marked twice?), and if the senior marker can't read it either you're screwed lol. I think a tip for improving handwriting that wasn't mentioned in the article (I think) is to put larger gaps between your words- my handwriting is terrible, but once I started doing that all my teachers told me how much I'd improved my handwriting.

beau77bro

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2806 on: September 18, 2017, 10:42:36 am »
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1. Memorise quotes, techniques and evidence
2. Practice response
3. Get feedback on practice response
4. Repeat Steps 2-3

Just get writing my friend! Don't overcomplicate it - Do some practice, get some feedback, practice more until you improve. Focus on the modules you struggle with most, but still do a bit of everything! ;D
shouldn't i be doing rubric notes first? or soemthing?

Mymy409

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2807 on: September 18, 2017, 11:03:08 am »
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In a short answer, is it wrong to assume stuff? E.g. in Seamus Heaney's poem 'Mid-Term Break', his brother died in a car accident and his parents are grieving.

"Away at school, as my mother held my hand/In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs."

From this, would it be wrong to say that his mother was angry because she couldn't prevent his death?

Also, what would be a technique in this line in "Mid-Term Break"?

"A four-foot box, a foot for every year." Describes a coffin. The child is four years old.

Mod Edit: Post merge :)
« Last Edit: September 18, 2017, 11:15:58 am by jamonwindeyer »

jamonwindeyer

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2808 on: September 18, 2017, 11:19:38 am »
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shouldn't i be doing rubric notes first? or soemthing?

If you think it will help! For me, it sounds pretty useless - Unless you can't remember what the modules require you to do for each essay. Notes are for a quick reference to memorise stuff, they are passive study - Active study (practice, brainstorms, using your knowledge) is far more useful. So if you can say to me right now, "Module A is about _____, Module B is about _____, Module C is about _______," then you are set already and notes will just be a waste of time helping you memorise something you already know and understand - In my opinion at least ;D

jamonwindeyer

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2809 on: September 18, 2017, 11:21:32 am »
+3
In a short answer, is it wrong to assume stuff? E.g. in Seamus Heaney's poem 'Mid-Term Break', his brother died in a car accident and his parents are grieving.

"Away at school, as my mother held my hand/In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs."

From this, would it be wrong to say that his mother was angry because she couldn't prevent his death?

Also, what would be a technique in this line in "Mid-Term Break"?

"A four-foot box, a foot for every year." Describes a coffin. The child is four years old.

Mod Edit: Post merge :)

I'd say that is a fair interpretation!

That line is perhaps a euphemism, calling a coffin a "four foot box"?  Truncated sentences create a harsh tone :)

elysepopplewell

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2810 on: September 18, 2017, 11:50:38 am »
+3
In a short answer, is it wrong to assume stuff? E.g. in Seamus Heaney's poem 'Mid-Term Break', his brother died in a car accident and his parents are grieving.

"Away at school, as my mother held my hand/In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs."

From this, would it be wrong to say that his mother was angry because she couldn't prevent his death?

Also, what would be a technique in this line in "Mid-Term Break"?

"A four-foot box, a foot for every year." Describes a coffin. The child is four years old.

Mod Edit: Post merge :)

Just adding to Jamon's suggestions. I studied this in Year 11, I disliked this poem the most of Heaney's, but I think it's a great poem in general. In terms of your modality when you're assuming things. I don't think the tears are definitely because the mother couldn't prevent the death, although no doubt that comes into it. But I wouldn't say "The tears come from the mother because she couldn't prevent her son's death." When it would be more appropriate to say, "The mother's frustration culminated in "angry tearless sighs", thus the personification of..." because you're still addressing the fact you see the mother is experiencing anger and frustration, but you're not assuming why. It's not necessary to make this assumption about why in order to still write your interpretation of the text :)

Also, add alliteration to the techniques for the coffin description :)
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Mymy409

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2811 on: September 18, 2017, 01:56:06 pm »
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Just adding to Jamon's suggestions. I studied this in Year 11, I disliked this poem the most of Heaney's, but I think it's a great poem in general. In terms of your modality when you're assuming things. I don't think the tears are definitely because the mother couldn't prevent the death, although no doubt that comes into it. But I wouldn't say "The tears come from the mother because she couldn't prevent her son's death." When it would be more appropriate to say, "The mother's frustration culminated in "angry tearless sighs", thus the personification of..." because you're still addressing the fact you see the mother is experiencing anger and frustration, but you're not assuming why. It's not necessary to make this assumption about why in order to still write your interpretation of the text :)

Also, add alliteration to the techniques for the coffin description :)

Cool, thanks Jamon and Elyse! BTW Elyse, what made you dislike it?

What would be the effects of euphemism and alliteration? I have trouble relating techniques to discovery.

winstondarmawan

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2812 on: September 19, 2017, 06:41:53 pm »
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Hello!
I took the approach of writing a generic essay for each Module and AOS in preparation for the HSC.
What would be the best way to ensure that I don't end up writing exactly what I prepared? Should I leave gaps in the essay where I can answer the question?
TIA

jamonwindeyer

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2813 on: September 19, 2017, 11:38:48 pm »
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What would be the effects of euphemism and alliteration? I have trouble relating techniques to discovery.

Alliteration draws the readers attention to something, much like rhyme or assonance would ;D

Euphemism allows the composer to portray a heavy theme without using an offensive term/language, it lessens the load of difficult topics on responders and allows more people to access the ideas :)

jamonwindeyer

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2814 on: September 19, 2017, 11:40:12 pm »
+3
Hello!
I took the approach of writing a generic essay for each Module and AOS in preparation for the HSC.
What would be the best way to ensure that I don't end up writing exactly what I prepared? Should I leave gaps in the essay where I can answer the question?
TIA

This would be a good idea!! You could also try preparing additional paragraphs, so you have the choice of which paragraphs you can use to best answer the question :)

Elyse wrote a good guide on how to use memorised essays, you can read it here ;D

justwannawish

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2815 on: September 20, 2017, 09:12:53 pm »
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Hey there! I can't answer the first, but someone else might be able to!
2. I'd get your hands on as many discovery ones as possible first, and also go through the rubric picking out the things you would struggle to talk about (maybe spiritual discoveries is tricky for you, or the unplanned nature of discoveries, for example) and use them to formulate your own essay questions.
3. With the quote - this is interesting because I haven't seen it before for AOS. My inclination is to say you should be talking about the quote in every paragraph, although some paragraphs maybe focus on the essence of the metaphor more than the actual quote. The wording of this question doesn't say "With reference to the quote..." it's almost like the quote is there to inspire you!
4. I prefer staying away from "I" because I find students don't have a lot of training in how to do it well. I'm a uni student and I tried to write an alternative-style essay this semester using "I" for an academic topic and realised I didn't know how to do it either. For this reason I personally have always preferred to use the inclusive pronouns, like "we", or embody myself in the third person of, "A contemporary reader can understand..." to take a step back and universalise it beyond my experience, despite also being quite personal. I hope this makes sense!

Yep, thank you so much. Does anyone have any suggestions for speeches? Jamon haha?
Another query. For my advanced trials, I wrote the same creative writing I did for extension (set in the Cold War era) and the marker who happened to be an extension teacher took marks off because it was a sign of laziness, even though it had a clear discovery in it -____-  wouldn't be so cut if it didn't mean I dropped from first in advanced...
Would that be the same in the actual HSC?

jamonwindeyer

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2816 on: September 20, 2017, 09:49:14 pm »
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Yep, thank you so much. Does anyone have any suggestions for speeches? Jamon haha?
Another query. For my advanced trials, I wrote the same creative writing I did for extension (set in the Cold War era) and the marker who happened to be an extension teacher took marks off because it was a sign of laziness, even though it had a clear discovery in it -____-  wouldn't be so cut if it didn't mean I dropped from first in advanced...
Would that be the same in the actual HSC?

Nah, in the HSC they wouldn't even know you'd done it - It'll get marked on its merits ;D

As for good speech pairings, they all work quite well together in honesty. You should do whatever seems good. Some things I found when I studied speeches (not all of yours were on my list when I did the HSC):

- Atwood worked well with anything - Best speech of the bunch imo (given it is Atwood, unsurprising, aha). But, from looking at your prescribed, it would probably work really nicely with Brooks (as well as Lessing). Coincidentally, all female speakers as well.
- People put Keating and Pearson together because they are two Australian political speeches (and for YOU, it is about the same topic too). Fair enough - I actually think Sadat is a better play off for either of them, because it introduces variety (in terms of content and style), while still keeping things fairly similar. All also work well with Deane as an expression of grief.
- Atwood works well with Pearson as they both explore history

Ultimately though, any combination you can logically justify is going to work - Definitely don't lock yourself into 'typical' arrangements ;D

mjorfian

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2817 on: September 21, 2017, 12:20:30 am »
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Heyyo. I was just wondering, is it necessary to learn / prepare for all 6 of the robert frost poems? I currently know 3/6 plus my related- as i did for trials - and I'm not sure if it'd leave me too confused as I'll be going in with a semi - prepared essay (just a scaffold kind of thing)

angelahchan

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2818 on: September 21, 2017, 01:51:29 pm »
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Heyyo. I was just wondering, is it necessary to learn / prepare for all 6 of the robert frost poems? I currently know 3/6 plus my related- as i did for trials - and I'm not sure if it'd leave me too confused as I'll be going in with a semi - prepared essay (just a scaffold kind of thing)
Hi, I'm not a mod but I've discussed this with my teachers before so I thought I'd reply
There's never been a requirement for all 6 Frost poems yet in the question, but my teachers said that it's better to have a general understanding of all 6. In the case of advanced I think for Yeats they have specified which poems to use before, but I don't think it's likely for discovery. My teachers said it's likely that if they specify the poems they'll give you extracts, so at least you have something to start off with.  I'd say knowing 3 poems extensively is already safer than knowing 2.

justwannawish

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Re: English Advanced Question Thread
« Reply #2819 on: September 21, 2017, 03:27:32 pm »
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Heyyo. I was just wondering, is it necessary to learn / prepare for all 6 of the robert frost poems? I currently know 3/6 plus my related- as i did for trials - and I'm not sure if it'd leave me too confused as I'll be going in with a semi - prepared essay (just a scaffold kind of thing)

My teacher believes that they won't do it for discovery, as it's the only module they have for both standard and advanced and historically there has only been one question for all the texts. So it's v unlucky imo