English Advanced 2021 HSC exam pack

Question 1  

In better responses, students were able to:

• clearly explain how the experience of reading books was also a sensory experience that provided an escape into literary worlds, and the power of literature generally
• support the identification of the experience with textual references rather than description of the text.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding generic terms such as ‘this reveals Gray’s human experience’
• developing more effective explanations that go beyond general statements such as ‘this shows Gray likes books’ or, ‘he likes reading’
• avoiding listing techniques without linking them to the question.

Question 2

In better responses, students were able to:

• consider the human experience, moving beyond simple recount to the larger conceptual meanings
• suitably integrate ideas about human experiences with detailed explanation of how meaning was shaped through language
• provide a balance between the human experience they considered and how ideas were represented
• use aptly chosen evidence to support their response.

Areas for students to improve include:

• responding to the question
• clearly defining the human experience rather than writing in general terms
• avoiding recounting the examples from the text such as “he holds a rock in his hand” and instead consider how imagery brings us to a larger understanding of the experience of reflection, awe, contemplation, etc.
• ensuring that explanations align to any textual references.

Question 3

In better responses, students were able to:

• insightfully explore the relationship between the characters, going beyond that they were ‘close’, and between grandparent and grandson
• provide textual evidence that is accurate and strongly aligned to the relationship being explored
• consider the multifaceted nature of the relationship
• recognise the cultural aspects of the relationship
• identify and explain the representation of ideas with clarity and understanding.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding listing techniques without explaining how they address the relationship being explored
• avoiding describing or recounting events in the extract.

Question 4

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the text
• provide insight into Caia’s purposeful crafting of language through carefully selected literary devices to reveal the speaker’s transformative experience
• skilfully select evidence to support their analysis.

Areas for students to improve include:

• providing sufficient textual evidence to support their ideas
• developing a better understanding of a range of effective literary devices to support the response.

Question 5

In better responses, students were able to:

• provide a sustained evaluation of how multiple language forms and features created the narrative voice that constructed the character of Katherine O’Dell
• demonstrate a clear understanding of how the author crafts character using relevant textual evidence
• address all aspects of the question.

Areas for students to improve include:

• using evaluative language to answer the question
• using well-chosen textual evidence to support their ideas.

Students should:

• demonstrate an understanding of how texts represent human experiences
• develop a line of argument that addresses the question
• demonstrate a deep understanding of their prescribed text through a range of textual evidence
• compose an organised response with a logical sequence of arguments
• consider using a plan.

In better responses, students were able to:

• purposefully analyse, not just explain, why the composer has employed specific language forms and structural features
• employ and maintain a controlled voice
• purposefully structure their response with a line of argument that was sustained through clear topic sentences, considerate analysis and deliberate links to the question
• analyse the text according to medium; for example, I am Malala and The Boy Behind the Curtain were analysed with a conscious awareness of the memoir form.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an awareness of the text’s construction and form
• analysing, rather than just explaining, how the responses to challenges were represented
• avoiding vague and general comments
• using the metalanguage appropriate to the form; for example, students should employ the language appropriate to drama when discussing Merchant of Venice, Rainbow’s End and The Crucible.

General feedback

Students should:

• engage with all aspects of the question
• develop a strong and sustained thesis that applies their knowledge of the module
• demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the texts through detailed and well-chosen textual references and effective and accurate contextual examples
• engage with the texts on a personal level
• use clear and effective topic sentences and paragraphs
• write clearly and legibly.

In better responses, students were able to:

• use the extracts to explore the wider textual conversations between the texts
• demonstrate a detailed understanding of context that differentiates between the social, historical and cultural, including where composers may have criticised or rejected aspects of their own context
• reveal a strong understanding of the connections between the texts
• use evaluative language in a confident and authoritative manner to consolidate their argument
• demonstrate a skilful command of language and structure.

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing all elements of the question and explicitly referring to the extracts
• planning their response
• demonstrating detailed knowledge of their texts
• avoiding generalised statements about context that do not contribute to the development of the discussion
• discussing the texts in an evaluative and analytical way, rather than a descriptive way
• analysing how meaning is shaped across the whole text, rather than dealing with text references at sentence/scene/stanza level
• developing an integrated response which deals with the textual conversation, rather than dealing with the texts independently without making appropriate links
• providing a balanced treatment of the two texts
• sustaining a unified argument
• using metalanguage appropriately to enhance their argument
• demonstrating control of register and sophisticated vocabulary. 

Shakespearean drama and film – William Shakespeare, King Richard III and Al Pacino, Looking for Richard

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of postmodernism and how it relates to Pacino’s approach to form
• understanding the complexities of Shakespeare’s context, rather than referencing elements in a superficial manner, for example, Tudor Myth.

Prose fiction and film – Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway and Stephen Daldry, The Hours

In better responses, students were able to:

• go beyond a general discussion of the themes of mental health, the role of women and mortality.

Prose fiction and prose fiction – Albert Camus, The Stranger and Kamel Daoud, The Meursault Investigation

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the archetypal outsider to unravel reductive binary thinking surrounding social institutions
• demonstrate an understanding of how The Meursault Investigation distances itself from the apathy of existentialism
• make consistent integrated references to the Algerian background and associated colonisation problems without lapsing into an historical account.

Poetry and drama – John Donne, John Donne: A Selection of His Poetry and Margaret Edson, W;t

In better responses, students were able to:

• explore key ideas, including mortality, the facade of intellectualism, religion and human connection, in relation to the question.

Poetry and film – John Keats, The Complete Poems and Jane Campion, Bright Star

In better responses, students were able to:

• explore key concepts including love, human transience, representations of gender, Romantic privileging of nature and the imagination. 

Poetry and poetry – Sylvia Plath, Ariel and Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters

In better responses, students were able to:

• recognise the expansive political and philosophical insights regarding the post-WWII milieu of Plath and Hughes’s poetry rather than limiting discussion to gender roles
• avoid presenting reductive or limited readings based on assumptions about the circumstances of Plath’s death
• recognise the complexity and humanity expressed in Hughes’ poems rather than limiting them to a simplistic defence of his actions. 

Shakespearean drama and prose fiction – William Shakespeare, The Tempest and Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the political and ethical questions relating to authority, power and captivity raised by the textual conversation, particularly in relation to post-colonialism.

General feedback

Students should:

• demonstrate engagement with the text and use a strong personal voice in the response
• respond to the question in a conceptual fashion by addressing the bigger ideas of their text
• directly address all parts of the question by explicitly engaging with the key words of the question
• evaluate the extent to which the statement is true of their prescribed text
• demonstrate an understanding of the module informed by a deep knowledge and understanding of the text as literature and evaluate why this gives it enduring relevance/integrity
• demonstrate an understanding of how context, form and language contribute to the critical value of their prescribed text
• support their argument and evaluation with detailed and relevant textual details/references
• demonstrate sustained control of language and ideas
• avoid pre-prepared responses that do not engage properly with the question.

Jane Austen, Emma

In better responses, students were able to:

• explore the questions and answers Austen poses to the reader through an understanding of her satiric purpose
• show understanding of how Austen develops Emma's characterisation to comment on social attitudes of Regency England
• show insights into the contemporary relevance of Austen’s ideas and how this helps readers reflect on universal concepts like influence, power and values in a modern context
• thoughtfully discuss Austen's ability to create and control her satire, situational irony and other distinctive stylistic features.

Areas for students to improve include:

• showing an awareness of the module by moving from literal explanation within the text to the broader critical implications of Austen’s ideas to the modern responder
• understanding how Austen uses language, for example, repetition of ‘indirect discourse’ showing an understanding of what it means, giving an example and evaluating the effect.

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

In better responses, students were able to:

• explore how Dickens prompts specific questions regarding social justice, rigid class structures and social responsibilities
• offer specific insights connecting ideas explored in the novel to the question
• link context and purpose to the question in a meaningful way
• explore features of prose writing in a balanced manner and reveal how the analysis contributes to meaning through personal interpretation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• considering the nuances of questions raised in the text and the answers Dickens offers
• moving beyond a reliance on plot and character recount and explanation
• demonstrating a greater awareness of distinctive features of the prose fiction form
• avoiding a general discussion of themes
• addressing the statement ‘to what extent’ was true through evaluative language.

Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

In better responses, students were able to:

• use Postmodernism as a lens through which to explore how objective truth is relevant to the 'asking of questions'
• demonstrate an understanding of the multiple levels of context, both inside and outside the text, which convey a deep understanding of the author’s purpose
• provide a sustained and layered textual evaluation that examines overarching features such as motif, structure and representation
• link Ishiguro's key techniques of unreliable narration / fluid time / multiple perspectives / historical allusion to notions of context and style
• demonstrate an understanding of the contemporary relevance of Ishiguro’s ideas such as Thatcherism and the Americanisation of Japan.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating understanding beyond a literal text level
• exploring other characters, apart from Ono, to broaden depth of engagement with the novel
• balancing understanding of context, at times there was an over exaggeration of the contemporary context, painting Thatcher as highly extreme, clouding the significance of the Japanese social environment in which the novel is situated
• selecting succinct, relevant and detailed textual examples.

T S Eliot, T S Eliot: Selected Poems

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of Eliot’s Modernist context and its relationship to “forcing us to ask questions and look for answers”, providing meaningful links to the reader’s contemporary context
• explore Modernism as a literary and artistic movement, with discussion of Eliot’s purposeful manipulation of form in expressing his ideas in a Modernist style rather than using the style to only comment on social concerns
• move beyond repetitive references to bleakness, modernity and nihilism
• provide a balanced discussion across multiple poems showing a deep understanding of the relationship between them
• discuss forms and features such as intertextuality, recurring motifs throughout the poems, control of rhyme/pararhyme
• demonstrate a sense of how motifs within and across poems comment on Eliot’s major questions
• explore how Eliot’s ideas and approach engages audiences beyond his own time. 

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing poems in greater depth and detail to avoid superficial commentary. This can be achieved by focusing on no more than three poems
• using detailed textual evidence linked to argument rather than techniques
• discussing Eliot’s stylistic approach beyond techniques to explore distinctive features of form and Modernism
• developing discussion beyond generalised statements and literal meanings of the text
• incorporating links to context to connect the composer’s purpose to the question
• developing an understanding of higher order terminology
• considering the poems as a suite rather than separate entities by identifying similar or contrasting ideas between the poems.

David Malouf, Earth Hour

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of Malouf’s purpose in prompting audiences to consider unique perspectives and re-evaluating assumptions, especially in relation to nature, place, people and ourselves
• demonstrate an appreciation of how Malouf’s style and voice impacts audiences in unexpected ways
• incorporate a detailed, authentic knowledge of the text by linking to personal interpretation and relevance
• identify Malouf’s deep philosophical, metaphysical and spiritual concerns.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an awareness of Malouf’s central concerns and an understanding of Malouf’s poetic approach
• incorporating context and purpose to move beyond a thematic approach
• providing detailed textual evidence linked to the ideas presented in the response.

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House

In better responses, students were able to:

• focus on an evaluation of how Ibsen uses particular dramatic techniques to further his social commentary, making connections to how questions of class, gender equality and repression still resonate or require “answers” today
• demonstrate an understanding of a variety of dramatic features of 'A Doll's House' reflected in the costuming, setting and stage directions, and look beyond an analysis of dialogue. 

Areas for students to improve include:

• explaining the roles of characters and key events in the plot rather than relying on descriptive recount
• focusing on language features, rather than exploring dramatic techniques
• providing an exploration of Ibsen’s context and examining the complexity of the main relationship.

Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood

In better responses, students were able to:

• convey an understanding of Thomas’s Welsh context with insight into the era and the nature of Welsh community life, including discussion of dreams, temporal spaces, death and community
• demonstrate an awareness of the relationship between context and Thomas’s purpose, including how the play asks audiences to question what is important in a post-war, post-atomic bomb world
• describe Thomas’s distinct style of auditory poetry, his unique characterisation and account for the differences in character traits
• incorporate the use of distinctive features of the radio play form, linking to the impact on the audience.

Areas for students to improve include:

• explaining the roles of characters and events in the plot, rather than relying on descriptive recount
• connecting to the social and cultural context
• using detailed, specific textual references, rather than relying on a study of themes or character
• relying on language features rather than the dramatic features of a radio play.

Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes

In better responses, students were able to:

• integrate contextual analysis of the Viennese historical setting and anti-Semitism in 19^th Century France
• evaluate the extent to which his memoir explores questions and answers, with an assessment of the implications in a modern context
• explore the significance of connecting art, history and family across time and how these “answer” questions today
• analyse features specific to the hybridised memoir form with well-selected textual support.

Areas for students to improve include:

• understanding the features and nature of the memoir form
• incorporating detailed and specific textual evidence, including analysis of the symbolic meaning of the ‘netsuke’, and how they link the past to the present
• avoiding formulaic responses.

Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory

In better responses, students were able to: n/a

Areas for students to improve include: n/a

George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of Clooney’s multi-level use of textual form, including documentary, drama and film noir, to portray the dysfunction of the media and politics
• demonstrate an understanding of how the dual context of the 1950s and the 21^st Century reinforces the idea that unanswered questions of the past continue to be of concern by discussing elements of the contemporary world, such as social media misinformation, Trumpian post-truth and media ethics
• analyse the docu-drama form and its pseudo-realism with a choice of key scenes.

Areas for students to improve include:

• broadening their focus beyond concerns of the role of media, “TV” and fear of political control within the context of the 1950s
• using quotes or simple scenes to drive the argument
• providing textual analysis that develops an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of the docu-drama form
• a greater understanding of context
• expanding ideas beyond an explanation of character.

Gillian Armstrong, Unfolding Florence

In better responses, students were able to:

• understand Armstrong’s purpose in exploring and celebrating Broadhurst as an individual challenging the values of her context
• analyse how Armstrong innovatively uses features of the documentary form to represent her ideas
• provide insights into how questioning the status quo can lead to philosophical answers about being “true” to ourselves, both within and beyond Broadhurst’s context.

Areas for students to improve include:

• using textual support specific to the media form
• demonstrating an awareness of the module by moving from literal explanation within the text to broader critical implications of Armstrong’s ideas in her context and the 21st century.

William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 1

In better responses, students were able to:

• show an understanding of Shakespeare’s world, audience, political structure and personal agenda and how it influences characterisation, and how the characters of Hal, Hotspur, King Henry IV and Falstaff represent honour and leadership
• demonstrate an understanding of the contemporary relevance and significance of Shakespeare’s exploration of leadership, honour and rebellion
• show an understanding of how Shakespeare’s concerns are universal ideas with enduring relevance
• analyse how dramatic techniques and theatrical metalanguage relevant to Shakespearean theatre, as well as Shakespeare’s construction of characterisation, is used to provide comments on Elizabethan society.

Areas for students to improve include:

• understanding the revisionist history holistically, rather than focusing on only leadership or honour
• using contextual references, rather than stating historical facts
• avoiding integration of quotes into sentences, for example, “the line says”, “the quote says”
• understanding the complexity of Shakespeare’s characterisation
• selecting detailed, textual support in a logical and cohesive order
• avoiding memorised responses.

General feedback

Students should:

• address the examination question, paying particular attention to the stimulus and to the specific parts of the question
• be aware of the mark value for the question and the implications for the structure and complexity of the response
• carefully consider their audience, purpose, context and form when crafting a voice, setting, character, and/or event or a position regarding a topic
• use clear, legible handwriting.

Question 3(a)

In better responses, students were able to:

• craft a central metaphor in a highly engaging piece of imaginative, discursive or persuasive writing, effectively using an aspect(s) of the image
• sustain the metaphor created, keeping it central to the piece of writing
• develop credible voices and/or characters that derived from the concept of the metaphor
• evoke and sustain ideas and emotions in the reader through engaging figurative, rhetorical and linguistic devices, particularly imagery, authentic narrative voice, characterisation and tone
• experiment with structure, making use of flashbacks and memories to further shape and develop their pieces
• demonstrate skilful and highly effective control of language and structure throughout their response, appropriate to audience, purpose, context and form.

Areas for students to improve include:

• engaging closely with the question and image
• crafting and sustaining a central metaphor from the image
• avoiding cliché or (overly) literal interpretations of the image. While concepts of entrapment, barriers, escape, writing, artistic endeavours, freedom etc were certainly used, better responses explored these ideas in engaging and compelling ways
• using figurative, rhetorical and linguistic devices to shape meaning
• creating a believable, original and engaging voice or character that draws the reader into the world of the piece
• avoiding a straight linear structure
• avoiding overly grotesque and/or disturbing imagery or content
• developing clarity, cohesion and skilful control of language to engage the reader
• structuring a response, using one or more of the writing styles, with an emphasis on ‘crafting’ their writing for a specific audience, purpose, context and form.

Question 3(b)

In better responses, students were able to:

• provide a considered and skilful evaluation of the creative decisions and stylistic choices made in their own piece of writing in Part (a), with relevant textual references
• clearly articulate the central metaphor they employed and the purpose of their piece
• differentiate between an ‘evaluation’ and an ‘explanation’
• provide a considered evaluation of how the study of figurative language in The Craft of Writing influenced their own writing, making well-selected references to one or more prescribed texts. The prescribed texts were not limited to the Module C texts only, but could include any set text in any other English Advanced Module
• draw meaningful connections between their response and a prescribed text(s), evaluating how their own creative decisions were inspired or informed by the studied text
• demonstrate an understanding of the NESA English Glossary’s definition of figurative language – that skilful use of figurative language is not simply a checklist of figurative devices
• demonstrate a skilful control of language in a sustained reflection and evaluation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reflecting more deeply through a considered evaluation of their own creative decisions, using relevant textual references from their piece
• evaluating rather than explaining their creative choices and showing a clear understanding of ‘crafting’ a piece
• providing a more considered evaluation of how the study of figurative language in one or more of their prescribed texts influenced their own writing, making well-selected references to the set text(s) as well as to their own
• appreciating, analysing and evaluating the versatility, power and aesthetics of language through various figurative, rhetorical and linguistic devices
• considering the purpose, audience and context of both their own piece and of the prescribed text(s)
• using a strong personal voice
• avoiding cliched descriptions and stereotypical characters
• improving control of language, including syntax, spelling, punctuation and grammar.