English Advanced 2023 HSC exam pack

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:

• employ a personal voice to demonstrate their interpretation of the question, text and module
• engage with all components of the question, demonstrating an ability to evaluate how the text enriches our view of the world
• construct a personal and informed line of argument that deliberately responds to the question
• reveal a holistic understanding of the text through purposefully selected evidence
• maintain a confident and controlled command of language.

Areas for students to improve include:

• evaluating, rather than explaining, how meaning is communicated
• incorporating evidence drawn from across the text to reveal understanding of the whole text
• avoiding generalised references to context that do not support their argument
• using metalanguage meaningfully to enhance the specificity of their argument
• moving beyond broad statements about the human experience and into a more specific identification of the ideas and the views of the world ignited by the text.

General feedback

Students should:

• specifically address all parts of the question using a strong personal voice
• clearly engage with each element of the question
• demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the text in relation to the question
• develop a strong, sustained personal response to the question
• apply knowledge of the module to inform their interpretation and shape their response
• 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 considered textual details
• demonstrate sustained control of language and ideas appropriate to purpose, form and audience.

Prose fiction – Jane Austen, Emma 

In better responses, students were able to:

• evaluate in detail how the Regency context of the text and Austen’s construction of characters and plot intensified the responder’s personal and intellectual engagement
• clearly integrate an evaluation of the values and historical context of Austen’s world, evaluating her intentional crafting of the text’s distinctive stylistic qualities
• demonstrate a skilful understanding of and engagement with how the flaws of the main character were representative of the flaws within her social system
• use a strong personal voice to signify personal and intellectual engagement with Austen’s purpose
• focus on Austen’s satirical social critique through the bildungsroman genre and structure
• analyse a broad range of literary devices appropriate to form that provided a breadth and depth of evaluative discussion, well-supported by thoughtfully selected textual evidence.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• demonstrating an understanding of form as central to how ideas are constructed
• moving beyond an examination of characters, themes and plot
• analysing features specific to form and construction of prose fiction
• moving beyond the character of Emma and the world of Highbury to incorporate a broad-ranging critique of the values and historical context of Regency England
• showing understanding of authorial purpose
• demonstrating an understanding of the module when exploring aspects of the text to compose a critical response.

Prose fiction – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

In better responses, students were able to: 

• demonstrate a perceptive emotional and intellectual understanding of how contextual, political and social ideologies, values and hierarchies of Dickens’ time impacted the intensity of the response to the novel
• develop personal and intellectual engagement with the text by focusing on a Dickensian social critique
• consider the bildungsroman genre and tripartite structure as elements of the text's construction
• fully develop a conceptual thesis by employing a consistently strong personal voice
• purposefully evaluate broad-ranging, well-chosen textual evidence
• analyse a wide range of literary devices appropriate to form that provided opportunity for a broad and deep evaluative discussion
• thoughtfully select textual evidence.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• developing a response with explicit links to the question avoiding recount or irrelevant contextual description
• showing a greater awareness of Dickens’ purpose as a composer and his context
• discussing the notion of structure specifically, including episodic form, chronological and flashback sequencing, and how Dickens crafted characters and setting within the bildungsroman genre
• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• limiting reliance on narrative and character, not fully exploring broader authorial purpose
• demonstrating an understanding of the module to compose a critical response.

Prose fiction – Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

In better responses, students were able to: 

• explore their personal voice through their clear intellectual awareness of Ishiguro’s purpose
• use well-selected textual evidence to focus on the postmodern structure of the text and the complexity of the main character
• frame their personal and intellectual engagement within an awareness of historical parallelism between post-war Japan and Thatcher’s Britain and the difficulties of a time of political and economic transition in the dual contexts, both intensified by Ono’s unreliable narration
• integrate an understanding of the construction of the prose fiction form, foregrounding the fallibility of memory and subjectivity of truth, deliberately highlighted by the non-linear structure of the text
• fully develop a conceptual thesis by employing a consistently strong personal voice
• purposefully evaluate broad-ranging, well-chosen, textual evidence.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• including pertinent analysis with detailed textual evidence from all parts of the text
• exploring textual integrity and the ongoing relevance of the values of the text
• using a personal voice to consider the question in relation to the module rubric
• showing greater awareness of self-perception of individual characters
• moving away from responses driven by plot and character
• exploring the role of the artist in greater detail
• demonstrating an understanding of the module to compose a critical response.

Poetry – T S Eliot, T S Eliot: Selected Poems 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• sustain a conceptual or theological thesis using a vigorous personal voice
• frame their personal and intellectual engagement with contextual existential concerns of the individual against the backdrop of a post-industrialised world, as well as the shift from a romantic to modernist creative perspective
• meaningfully explore ‘intensified’ as a reader experience, often through discussion of sharing the persona’s journey and/or poet’s personal transition
• confidently specify both personal and intellectual areas of engagement
• skilfully discuss how features of form distinctive to the construction of the poems impact the audience, including such devices as motifs, lineation, rhetoric and Imagist collaging
• seamlessly integrate relevant links to specific contextual information, informing an understanding of conceptual ideas as well as stylistic approaches
• fluently embed textual references from across several poems to develop a cohesive argument
• reflect deeply on the textual integrity of Eliot’s body of work, and how this challenges contemporary audiences to consider their own and collective sense of identity in an increasingly fragmented world
• use appropriate synonyms to evaluate textual integrity such as ‘synthesis’ and ‘unity’.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• developing a clear thesis to answer the question by fusing the intense impact of features of construction with aspects of the text that were personally and intellectually engaging
• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• sustaining meaningful links with key aspects of the question, ensuring that the textual evidence selected supports the ideas and argument
• integrating discussion of relevant context, language, form and ideas
• developing a clear sense of Eliot’s purpose by linking all elements of the module to the overall sense of meaning in the text
• broadening awareness and understanding of distinctive features of form
• developing a more meaningful understanding of Modernism
• exploring ideas across poems rather than poems singularly
• focusing on the depth of argument through judicious choice of poems
• exploring detailed textual evidence that is linked to their argument rather than writing a technique-driven response.

Poetry – David Malouf, Earth Hour 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• critically evaluate their personal and intellectual engagement resulting from Malouf’s crafting and construction of his poems
• develop an authentic personal voice to explore how their understanding of the work was intensified
• demonstrate understanding of the module by exploring the poems as a suite, using ideas such as the fragility of the natural world, spirituality, the duality of humankind, alternative ways of thinking or worldviews, connections to the past and present to frame their personal evaluation
• skilfully analyse form and construction
• fluently link analysis of language forms and features of thoughtfully chosen textual examples to a perceptive understanding of Malouf’s context and purpose
• provide an integrated analysis based on a discerning selection of textual evidence from a range of Malouf’s poems
• use language skilfully to discuss and evaluate their response to the poems.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• answering all elements of the question conceptually and holistically by developing an insightful thesis, embedded throughout the response
• moving away from thematic ideas and developing insightful, conceptual ideas to frame their response
• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• avoiding memorised, pre-prepared responses which are not shaped to the question as this limits students’ ability to effectively address the question and demonstrate an understanding of the module.

Drama – Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• develop a conceptual thesis to frame their personal and intellectual engagement with Ibsen’s play, and how the exploration of these ideas intensifies their response to the play
• demonstrate a detailed understanding of the conventions of drama and how Ibsen’s construction supports audience engagement with the contrasting characters, values and complications within the text
• evaluate the complexity of characters and the economic constraints of 19th century Europe in limiting their opportunities for self-actualisation
• use their understanding of characterisation and context to explore the continuing relevance of Ibsen’s ideas in modern society through a sense of personal voice and engagement with the text.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• developing a clear thesis to answer the question by addressing the intense impact of dramatic features of construction with aspects of the text that are personally and intellectually engaging
• understanding the context and milieu of the play’s construction
• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• examining the complexities within the characters and plot
• demonstrating an understanding of the module and the question, specifically with reference to personal engagement, values and meaning.

Drama – Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• demonstrate personal and intellectual engagement by skilfully exploring the nuances of the experiences, circumstances and voices of the characters to represent the individual in a fragmented world, with specific attention to Thomas’ post Second World War context
• demonstrate understanding of the unusual and deliberate construction of the radio play form and how this reflects a changing post Second World War world and literary development from modernism to post modernism
• show insight into the purpose of the text as an affectionate appreciation of the extraordinary lives of ordinary people
• evaluate contextual concerns through the lens of the sensitive individuals’ inner world and how their response is intensified by focusing on the intricacies of human relationships with attention to the notion of the complex within the ordinary
• evaluate the humorous nuances and paradoxes as elements of the text’s construction.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• demonstrating personal engagement with the text and all aspects of the question
• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• embedding an understanding of significant contextual concerns, authorial purpose and structural choices so that a fragmented discussion of character does not become confusing and unconvincing
• moving away from a plot-driven essay structure
• identifying literary devices unique to the textual form.

Nonfiction – Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• evaluate their personal and intellectual engagement, intensified within the unifying nature of the human condition, contrasted against a backdrop of the fracturing nature of anti-Semitism
• acknowledge the interplay between the individual experience and its relativity to wider humanity, focusing on the significance of symbolic objects as representative of generational links and their associated significance to the individual
• evaluate the composer’s ability to explore concerns that transcend his own context to be meaningful to other audiences and contexts.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• moving outside of a plot-driven, descriptive, historical perspective
• exploring all elements of the text in greater detail, for example, personal stories versus the collective identity of cultural groups.

Film – George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the question
• develop personal and intellectual engagement that is intensified by reflections on the tension between the potentially manipulative role of the media and the challenge to the individual to overcome socio-political power structures through personal integrity
• create a detailed understanding of filmic choices and how this drives personal and intellectual engagement of the text
• use analysis purposefully, drawing out the ideas of the film and the full implication of these ideas, often juxtaposing the two time periods and contexts
• provide insightful connections between the composer and the film’s context and how this is still relevant to a student’s personal context
• explore evidence of societal capitulation through an exploration of historical parallelism across changing contexts, and link this directly to the composer’s purpose to achieve awareness of textual integrity.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reflecting explicit upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• creating a sustained responseexploring a variety of well-chosen, relevant scenes to create a cohesive response
• moving beyond an understanding of lighting and music
• being less literal in nature by developing a conceptual discussion that moves beyond an evaluation of events within the text
• relying on a broader scope of textual references with more detailed discussion to fully address all aspects of the question
• developing a response that demonstrates understanding of the module rubric.

Media – Gillian Armstrong, Unfolding Florence 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• evaluate how their personal and intellectual engagement was intensified through the subversion of documentary construction as a hybridised and multilayered form.
• respond within a feminist perspective that explored the tensions between the true identity of the individual and the public persona
• deliberately examined Armstrong’s purpose in exploring Florence Broadhurst with an evaluative reflection of social identity as it relates to the ability of the individual to share themselves with others
• reference contextual information that related to Broadhurst and/or Armstrong’s worlds thoughtfully select elements of the documentary form to analyse the text within the framework of the module rubric, for example, exploring the layering of interviews, discussing the quality of the voices, analysis of re-enactment, editing, and how these elements position audiences and shape meaning.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• demonstrating an understanding of the module when exploring aspects of the text to compose a critical response
• engaging in a more detailed discussion of form and how it impacts the central ideas of the question
• using an informed and articulate personal voice
• responding to the whole question
• developing a response that clearly connects to the question.

Shakespearean drama – William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 1 

In better responses, students were able to:

• use the key aspects of the question to formulate a meaningful thesis
• detail personal and intellectual engagement, framed in philosophical reflections on the nature of honour and leadership, linked to the responsiveness of individuals to the social and moral structures of their associated societies
• make thoughtful statements about elements of Renaissance humanism, considering the influence of powerful individuals in framing social structures in a changing world
• observe Shakespeare’s exploration of contemporaneous contextual concerns about the future of the monarchy through insightful reflection on the ways in which leadership reflects commonalities of the human experience
• foreground the dramatic features of form as the means of intensifying audience engagement
• use multiple characters in providing evidence to develop an argument in relation to the question
• fluently embed textual references into conceptual discussion.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• reflecting explicitly upon both personal and intellectual engagement with delineation between the terms
• clearly delineating between values of Renaissance and medieval contexts
• expanding the line of argument beyond character exploration to move outside the text
• broadening understanding of the text beyond notions of honour and leadership
• demonstrating a deeper understanding of how context influences both character and audience perceptions
• developing awareness of dramatic features of a Shakespearean play
• increasing awareness of how an audience can be impacted by a play.