Scoring well in Literature

[clarke54321]

Hi everyone,

I have some questions about scoring well in Literature, which I would really appreciate some answers on.

1) Does your vocabulary need to be excessively good?

2) Do you have to write an essay each week to keep up your writing skills?

3) Do you need to read lots throughout the year (things which aren't related to your texts)?

4) For those who have also studied Literature alongside English, is the amount of essays written overwhelming?

Thanks in advance to those who can provide me with answers! 

[MightyBeh]

1) Does your vocabulary need to be excessively good?

It certainly wouldn't hurt; generally though you don't need to go out of your way to learn 'fancy' words. Instead of increasing your vocabulary in a general sense in hopes of finding words that might be relevant, you'll probably just pick up words that suit your text as you read it, and support material related to it. Really all you need to do is avoid colloquialisms (and idioms, if you can) because they tend to detract from the overall 'professional' vibe you want. 'Exuberant' is great, but hard to fit in comfortably, 'happy' is more broadly applicable but weak, 'pretty alright tbh fam'  - probably not. It's mostly about choosing a word or phrase that suits what you're writing as opposed to showing off how many words you know. Bonus points if you spell them right.

2) Do you have to write an essay each week to keep up your writing skills?

Nah probs not. Honestly I only wrote extra imediately after reading the text (to get a feel for what I would write about in the future) and in the time approaching SACs. I didn't write very much extra before the exam; partly because I was a bit starved for time, but also with literature you don't need to memorise anything - because all the material you need to do well on the exam is present on the exam, and you will have been studying your texts extensively over the year, the extra work then probably isn't worth it. That being said, if you feel like writing an essay every week, go ahead. I'd only caution you that you might tend to fall into patterns, or write the same things every time as a result; I found personally that writing too many practice pieces took the fun out of writing an original piece for the SAC. Then again, most people probably wouldn't find it fun to begin with, so it's really up to you. You certainly don't need to, imo, though. Just smash out a paragraph when you hear something interesting and/or a new idea that you haven't thought about and you'll be golden.

3) Do you need to read lots throughout the year (things which aren't related to your texts)?

I ceraintly did, but mostly for fun. Read my texts periodically throughout the year (+ texts for Classics) and essays, criticisms, other people's notes, context, etc., but otherwise I would just read what I felt like reading. If you don't like to read, or don't want to read in lieu of doing something else, don't worry. Given that you've picked literature, the extra reading probably won't really improve your skill that noticeably.

4) For those who have also studied Literature alongside English, is the amount of essays written overwhelming?

Didn't do English, but I did Classical Studies, which is another essay class with lots of extra reading. Sometimes it could be overwhelming; the last thing I wanted to do on my hand-earned weekend or scant afternoon free time was to write essays or even short practice paragraphs because it's so tedious. With non-essay classes, it's pretty easy to sit down and do a set number of questions, but in my experience, essays require a lot of extra thought and effort. At the start of the year I tried it anyway, but as things went on a bit I just settled for 'this time I'll do literature, next time I'll do classics'. It certainly didn't hurt the quality of my writing, and it was a lot less mind-numbingly boring/anxiety inducing/generally unpleasant than trying to keep up. Keeping in mind that Literature is less work than English towards the exam period (and you get some extra time), it shouldn't be overwhelming if you're confident with your writing ability. Probably worth waiting for someone who did do English/Lit for a more relevant response, though.

[clarke54321]

Thanks for your response Mightybeh! 

[peterpiper]

I think Mightybeh pretty much covered it. Mind-maps, visual aids and little plans work wonders especially when you don't feel quite up to the task. Throughout the whole of this year for 1/2 I only really wrote six polished essays (non-SAC essays) and like 12ish scraps of unintelligible paragraphs. Still something almost as good as writing practice essays that I'd say is worth considering.

However, due to the changes in the exam structure, the lit exam has increased its difficulty exponentially. So you might want to focus on English exam prep early on before you get on to Lit exam prep. Otherwise you'll run the risk of catching the most feared plague amongst lit students across Victoria and die from lit-I-forgot-you-exist-fluenza.

Best of luck!

[clarke54321]

Thanks peterpiper. Yes, I also agree that the Lit exam will be considerably harder. Should be a good challenge! 

[gfet]

I would say that in order to score extremely well, a sophisticated and impressive vocabulary is important in Literature. That being said, this does not mean throw in as many big words as you can; the examiners are looking for students who can use language to express ideas about and meaning within someone else's language. Lit is all about proving your own interpretation, and if the examiner can't understand what you are saying, you won't score highly. It is also true that an advanced vocabulary is something that needs compiling over a long period of time, so it's unlikely you'll have the time to increase yours tenfold in the space of a year, particularly with the other demands of VCE. As long as you are clearly demonstrating how meaning is being created, you'll do well.

My advice is to hone your writing as it is; make sure you are using words correctly and expressing yourself in the most cohesive and coherent manner. That being said, there is no harm in using new words if you come across them. I did find it useful to compile a list of words that I though might be relevant to the texts I studied and attempted to incorporate them into my writing. But make sure you only do this if you are certain of what the word means and how to use it in a sentence, or else the examiner's might judge you poorly for it.

In regards to reading throughout the year, this is a good idea to keep yourself reminded of the text. A lot of my classmates who chose to write on the text we had studied at the beginning of the year struggled to remember the finer details of discussion, let alone the plot of the stories. And the more times you read the text, the better. I also found it really helpful to read through books and scholarly articles (such as can be found on Google Scholar) and take note of some of the ways those writers expressed themselves, as well as noting any unusual interpretations they had that might be relevant to me. Again, only use these if you feel you understand it and can incorporate it into the exam with the given passages.

Writing practice essays is of course helpful, but due to the fluid structure of expected responses, don't kill yourself trying to churn out fully formed essays every week. I found writing small paragraphs here and there about a wide range of passages much more useful. For me, freeing myself from the constraints of structure was the best thing I could do. My exam really had no structure at all, it was more of a long rambling chain of thoughts. I'm not sure how this advice will translate with the new exam format, though.