HSC English Standard Trials Revision Questions

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Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences

How does your prescribed text voice key concerns that shape human experiences?

"Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed." (Abraham Lincoln) To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

“But this too is true: stories can save us.” (Tim O’Brien) To what extent is the role of storytelling important to the representation of individual and shared human experiences in your prescribed text?

How does your prescribed text explore the impact of human emotions on individuals and communities?

Analyse the way form has been manipulated to represent human motivations and desires. Make close reference to your prescribed text.

How do the paradoxes, anomalies and inconsistencies represented in your prescribed text shed light on human experiences?

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (James Baldwin) How does your prescribed text encourage change through representing issues in the human experience?

Evaluate how important is compassion to appreciating human qualities. Make close reference to your prescribed text.

“Serious fiction writers think about moral problems practically. They tell stories. They narrate. They evoke our common humanity in narratives with which we can identify, even though the lives may be remote from our own.” (Susan Sontag) To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

How have the human experiences born from particular lives and cultures been illuminated in your prescribed text?

How significant is representing the human quality of empowerment to your prescribed text?

“The story of humanity can be written as the struggle to acknowledge all human beings as human beings.” (J.S.B. Morse) To what extent you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

Module A: Language, Identity and Culture

To what extent does language comment on cultural issues in contemporary society? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

How has personal identity been represented in your prescribed text?

How important is empathy to understanding distinct cultural perspectives? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

Language provokes a thought. A thought provokes change. How has your prescribed text shaped self-perception in identity and culture?

Assess the role of language in helping you view yourself and the world differently.

Analyse how language is used in your prescribed text to resolve cultural tensions.

“Language shapes the way we think and determines what we can think about.” (Benjamin Lee Whorf) How has language in your prescribed text informed your understanding of cultural identity?

“A different language is a different vision of life.” (Federico Fellini) Explain how a text captures unique cultural perspectives. Make close reference to your prescribed text.

“Our language is a reflection of ourselves.” (Cesar Chavez) To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

Module B: Close Study of Literature

“I’m often asked if there is something I think writers ought to do, and recently in an interview I heard myself say: ‘Several things. Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.’” (Susan Sontag) How has your prescribed text assisted you in better understanding the world?

“To write is to know something. What a pleasure to read a writer who knows a great deal.” (Susan Sontag) How important is knowledge to appreciating your prescribed text?

Analyse how personal voice has been constructed in your prescribed text.

Assess how the value of your prescribed text can be determined from its representation of struggle.

Texts provide a window into the everyday. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make close reference to your prescribed text.

How has the complexity of truth been explored in your prescribed text?

How have genre conventions been employed, reimagined and transformed in your prescribed text?

Module C: Craft of Writing

After that day, there was a voice calling from inside of me that could no longer be silenced.
Use this stimulus for a piece of creative, persuasive, discursive or informative writing. Your piece should explore a personal response to a significant event and must include this statement in it. You must engage with ONE of your prescribed texts from Module A, B or C.   

In the wake of the aftermath, I stood and took a good look at the future that was before me.
Use this stimulus for a piece of creative, persuasive, discursive or informative writing. Your piece should consider the impact of a significant event on a character, persona or speaker and must include this statement in it. You must engage with AT LEAST ONE of your prescribed texts from Module C.

I was alarmed by what I had just witnessed.
Use this stimulus as the opening line of a piece of creative, persuasive, discursive or informative writing. You must engage with AT LEAST ONE of your prescribed texts from Module C.

There was this tension between two things that were as different as could be, but were undeniably compelled to one another.
Using this stimulus as a central idea, write a creative, discursive, persuasive or informative response that explores conflict. You must engage with ONE prescribed text from Module C.

Living in the light made me blind. It was in times of darkness that I truly saw anything.
Using this stimulus as a central idea, write a creative, discursive, persuasive or informative response. Your piece should feature an important realisation made by your character, persona or speaker. You must engage with ONE prescribed text from Module C.

It is one thing to know something well. It is another to understand it.   
Use this stimulus as a central idea in a creative, discursive, persuasive or informative response. Your piece should feature a significant insight, lesson, knowledge or understanding gained by your character, persona or speaker. You must engage with AT LEAST ONE prescribed text from Module C.

Passing moments can leave lasting impressions.
Use this stimulus as a central idea in a creative, discursive, persuasive or informative response. Your piece should feature a significant impression left on your character, persona or speaker. You must engage with ONE prescribed text from Module C.