Term 3 for High School and Spring Semester for Uni

And now the holidays are over again!

For Year 12 students, the Trials are coming up in most schools in about a week. This is an important time because:

1. The Trials are included in your internal HSC mark.
2. Your Trials result is usually a good estimation of how you’ll do in the actual HSC exams.

For uni students, it’s the beginning of another 3 months of assessments and readings!

My subjects this semester are pretty relaxed I think:

1. Resolving Disputes
2. Music and Popular Culture
3. Ficto-Critical Writing

Good luck to everyone commencing Term 3 and Spring Semester!

English Terminology – Part 4

This is Part 4 of the English Terminology series!

1. Antithesis

Refers to something that is the direct opposite.

For example, love/hate are antithetical opposites.

Keating’s speech juxtaposes antithetical opposites of war and peace, soldiers and civilians, and loss and gain.

English Terminology – Part 3

This is Part 3 of the English Terminology series!

1. Anthropomorphism

Refers to the technique where human characteristics are given to animals. You can contrast this to personification, where you give human characteristics to inanimate objects. Animated films often use anthropomorphism.

For example, the characters in Ice Age are anthropomorphised.

The relationships developed upon the journey is portrayed through the anthropomorphised characters of Manny and Sid.

Past HSC and Practice Questions for Advanced Module B: Hamlet

There are 2 important changes that should be notes, before we have a look at the past HSC questions for the English Advanced Module B: Critical Study of Texts:

1. The text is no longer King Lear, but Hamlet – I’ve changed the past HSC questions below to be about Hamlet.
2. From 2009, the examination rubrics for Module B have changed. To read how this affects your use of past HSC questions and future HSC questions, read this post.

Nevertheless, here are the past HSC questions for King Lear, which have been adapted for Hamlet. There are also some practice questions used by high schools.

Past HSC and Practise Questions for Area of Study: Belonging

Here is a loooong list of questions for the Area of Study: Belonging (Paper 1, Section 3).

I’ve grouped them according to the “type” of question they are. If you are able to confidently answer each “type” of question – you should be fine.

It’s important to be aware of the variety of questions that may be chosen for your HSC! The question may be very different to the ones given to you by your school for assessments or practice.

I will add more as I find them – otherwise, feel free to contribute, by commenting below.

Past HSC

2009:

‘Understanding nourishes belonging. A lack of understanding prevents it.’

Demonstrate how your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing represent this interpretation of belonging.

General

1. You have been invited to speak at the book launch of a new collection of texts entitled belonging in our society. In your speech, explain and assess the ways in which belonging is represented in the texts in the collection
2. You have been invited to write an article for a teenage magazine called youth and belonging.
   In your article, analyse the ways in which belonging is represented in the texts you have studied.