English Advanced 2024 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 to help frame their response. 

In better responses, students were able to: 

• clearly articulate personal ‘insights’ from their study of the prescribed text
• develop a well-informed argument that explores the intricate and interrelated nature of ‘qualities, motivations and actions’
• purposefully select evidence from the most appropriate scene, chapter, poem, or section of their prescribed text
• use clear expression and appropriate language to reveal a personal understanding and ensure continuity of response.

Areas for students to improve include:

• identifying the ‘qualities, motivations, and actions’ of the human experience with greater clarity and specificity
• demonstrating an understanding of how the author's choice of specific language, such as the ocean motif in Past the Shallows; the use of film devices in Billy Elliot; or features such as dystopian tropes in Nineteen Eighty-Four, shapes meaning
• moving beyond the interior world of the text to a more conceptual argument about the composer’s purpose
• avoiding the use of verbose, inaccurate, or convoluted language that may detract from the quality of the response.

Students should:

• engage with all aspects of the question
• use appropriate language to engage with a question
• develop a strong and sustained argument that demonstrates 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
• balance and integrate contextual and textual knowledge
• write clear topic sentences and structured paragraphs
• write clearly and legibly
• present a balanced treatment of the two texts.

In better responses, students were able to:

• craft a clear, personal response that explores the author’s intentions through a consideration of how the earlier text affects the interpretation and appreciation of the later text
• evaluate perspective, context and form
• demonstrate and maintain a sustained control of language and argument.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating a conceptual approach to the textual conversation beyond limited thematic discussion
• evaluating how purpose and the use of form, language and context impacts on meaning
• using detailed textual evidence that contributes to the evaluation and that engages with the question beyond superficial description.

General feedback

Students should:

• specifically address all parts of the question using a strong, sustained personal voice
• clearly engage with each element of the question
• demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the text in relation 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:

• provide detailed evaluation of how the Regency context and Austen’s artistry in construction is intensified by the responder’s personal engagement and understanding of literary value and integrity of the text
• skilfully integrate a clear evaluation of the historical context and values of Austen’s world with an exploration of the artistry and intentional crafting of the novel's distinctive stylistic qualities
• demonstrate a perceptive understanding of and engagement with how the flaws of the main character are representative of the flaws within her social milieu
• develop a conceptual thesis and use a strong personal voice to signify personal engagement with Austen’s artistic purpose
• explore Austen’s satirical social critique through the bildungsroman genre as a distinctive tool of her artistry
• analyse a broad range of literary devices distinctive to Austen’s style to provide a breadth and depth of evaluative discussion, well-supported by detailed textual evidence.

Areas for students to improve include:

• analysing features specific to form as central to the artistry of the novel’s construction and integral to how ideas are conveyed
• developing a personal response that incorporates a broad-ranging critique of the values and historical context of Regency England and exploring ideas that enable a judgement of the text’s literary value.

Prose fiction – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations 

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a perceptive understanding of how contextual, political and social values of Dickens’ time impact the artistry and integrity of the text
• consider the bildungsroman genre and tripartite, episodic structure as distinctive elements of the text's construction and integrity
• develop a conceptual thesis by employing a consistently strong personal voice to evaluate the contradictions of Dickens’ social critique explored through his characterisation
• purposefully evaluate using broad-ranging, well-chosen textual evidence
• analyse a wide range of literary devices appropriate to form that lead to broad, aligning with the text’s enduring literary value.

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’ broad authorial purpose and context rather than being limited by a reliance on narrative and character
• discussing the text’s structure, including how Dickens crafted its episodic form, sequencing, setting and characters within the bildungsroman genre.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a perceptive understanding of how contextual values, intergenerational political and social ideologies and hierarchies impact the artistry and integrity of the text
• use well-selected textual evidence to demonstrate their understanding of the postmodern structure of the text and how the main characters represent the complexities of intergenerational perspectives
• show understanding of textual integrity and artistry of the text through perceptive exploration of the novel’s construction, where the deliberate authorial narrative choices and non-linear structure are used to highlight Ono’s unreliable narration, the fallibility of memory and the subjectivity of truth, which informs the readers’ perception of the text’s literary value
• demonstrate contextual 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.

Areas for students to improve include:

• developing a conceptual thesis that incorporates the key words of the questions as the drivers of their argument to explore notions of artistry, integrity and the enduring literary values of the text, moving away from responses driven by plot and character
• supporting analysis of detailed textual evidence from all parts of the text.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• meaningfully explore artistry and integrity with an in-depth analysis of the stylistic and technical devices used by Eliot, and confidently specify how this influenced a personal understanding of the text’s literary value
• frame their textual analysis with contextual existential concerns of the individual against the backdrop of a post-industrialised world, as well as the shift from a romantic to a modernist perspective
• skilfully discuss how features of form distinctive to the construction of the poems impact the audience
• seamlessly integrate relevant links to specific contextual information, informing an understanding of conceptual ideas as well as fluently embedding textual references from across several poems to develop a cohesive argument that reflects different phases of Eliot’s life
• reflect deeply on the artistry and integrity of Eliot’s body of work, and how literary value is attained by challenging contemporary audiences to consider their individual and collective sense of identity in an increasingly fragmented world.

Areas for students to improve include:

• sustaining meaningful links with key terms and aspects of the question, ensuring that the techniques and textual evidence selected support the ideas and argument
• developing an idea-driven sustained response exploring ideas across Eliot’s poetic suite rather than poems singularly
• integrating a clear sense of Eliot’s purpose by discussing the Modernist context, ideas, language and distinctive features of form
• focusing on depth of argument through judicious choice of poems and textual support.

Poetry – David Malouf, Earth Hour

In better responses, students were able to: 

• 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 of Malouf’s artistry
• convey a perceptive understanding of Malouf’s context and purpose by succinctly linking analysis of language forms and features
• use well-selected textual examples to skilfully evaluate their understanding that the artistry and enduring relevance of the ideas in Malouf’s suite of poetry that underpins its literary value
• cohesively address all components of the question in a sustained and insightful response to meaningfully explore artistry and integrity through an in-depth analysis of Malouf’s stylistic and technical devices
• confidently specify how Malouf’s artistry and integrity influenced a personal understanding of the text’s literary value.

Areas for students to improve include:

• having an awareness of the requirements of the module and Malouf’s purpose to convey understanding of enduring literary value
• developing a conceptual response embedding all elements of the question and exploring ideas across Malouf’s poetic suite rather than poems singularly
• exploring detailed textual evidence that is linked to the argument rather than writing a technique-driven response, using examples that do not support the response.

Drama – Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House

In better responses, students were able to:

• frame a response that explores the artistry and integrity of the play through a detailed understanding of the conventions of drama
• convey deep understanding of how the rigid societal and economic constraints and gendered expectations of the 19th century European context is reflected in Ibsen’s complex characterisation, and is reflected in the characters’ limited opportunities for self-actualisation
• evaluate how Ibsen’s construction of contrasting characters, values and complications intensifies their personal engagement with the play
• demonstrate strong personal engagement with and understanding of characterisation and context to explore the continuing relevance of Ibsen’s ideas in modern society, correlating with its literary value.

Areas for students to improve include:

• developing a clear response that examines the complexities of the characters and plot and how that intensifies the text’s enduring literary value
• addressing the impact of dramatic features of construction upon their personal response to the text
• understanding the context and milieu of the play’s construction
• reflecting explicitly upon both the artistry and integrity of the text to align with the intentional choices by the composer to craft the text.

Drama – Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood 

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate understanding of the unusual and deliberate artistic and stylistic choices made by Thomas in his construction of the radio play form and how this represents his context, reflecting the literary development from modernism to post modernism
• demonstrate personal engagement by skilfully exploring the artistic nuances of the characters’ experiences, circumstances and voices to represent the individual in a changing, fragmented world, with specific attention to Thomas’ post Second World War context
• show insight into the purpose of the text
• 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 artistic construction
• highlight how the challenging and confronting ideas posed have enduring personal relevance and contribute to the integrity of the text.

Areas for students to improve include:

• developing a conceptual thesis that embeds the key aspects of the question which drives their line of argument and helps to convey personal engagement with the ideas and details of the text
• embedding an understanding of the text’s contextual concerns, authorial purpose and structural choices to guide discussion about the significance of Thomas’ artistry
• reflecting explicitly upon the artistry and construction of the radio play and how this contributes to its integrity and literary value
• moving away from a plot-driven recount and explanation to structure a response
• 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 understanding of artistry and integrity through understanding the complexity and the unifying nature of the human condition, contrasted against a backdrop of the fracturing nature of anti-Semitism
• explore literary value by acknowledging 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 and align this with the idea of literary value.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reflecting explicitly upon the author’s artistry and integrity with specific reference to the technical devices, including recurring motif, complex historical context and structural devices to demonstrate appreciation of the text
• moving outside of a plot-driven, descriptive recount of historical perspective
• exploring all elements of the text in greater detail. For example, personal stories in contrast to the collective identity of cultural groups aligning to its continuing literary value.

Film – George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck 

In better responses, students were able to:

• meaningfully explore artistry and integrity by providing a well-informed understanding of the film’s concepts and Clooney’s directorial choices using detailed textual references, and confidently specify how this influenced a personal understanding of the text’s literary value
• reflect upon Clooney’s deliberate choices in construction and use of filmic features to critique the interplay between the media, government and the individual and the enduring relevance of this relationship in a modern context
• skilfully explore the differing and contrasting contexts inside and outside the text and demonstrate insight into how this remains personally relevant to the student's own context.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reflecting on the difference between the concept of integrity and textual integrity
• creating a sustained response with detailed, well-selected analysis reflecting and understanding of the filmic form
• evaluating the film’s artistry and integrity, rather than the events within the text
• fully addressing all aspects of the question, with clear reference to the student’s own understanding and personal engagement.

Media – Gillian Armstrong, Unfolding Florence 

In better responses, students were able to:

• evaluate how the artistry and integrity of the text was intensified through the subversion of documentary construction as a hybridised and multilayered form
• explore the tensions between the identity of the individual and the public persona considering contextual values
• deliberately examine Armstrong’s purpose in exploring aspects of Florence Broadhurst’s life and evaluating social identity as it relates to the ability of the individual to share themselves with others
• reference contextual information that relates to Broadhurst and/or Armstrong’s worlds thoughtfully by selecting elements of the documentary form
• evaluate literary value by exploring the layering of interviews, discussing the quality of the voices, analysis of re-enactment, editing, and how these elements shape meaning and position audiences.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reflecting explicitly upon artistry and integrity of the text with evidence of personal understanding using detailed analysis of the form of the text and its intentional crafting to determine literary value
• using an informed and articulate personal voice
• responding to and developing a sustained response that clearly connects to all elements of the question.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• reflect their understanding of the module by presenting a skilful response that uses and synthesises the key terms of the question in a meaningful conceptual discussion
• evaluate how the construction and reception of the text contributes to strong personal engagement with the text and notions of enduring literary value
• identify Shakespeare’s contextual concerns supported by fluently embedded, relevant and discerningly chosen textual examples
• foreground the dramatic features of form as a means of intensifying audience engagement with Shakespeare’s artistry and understanding of the integrity of the text
• refer to multiple characters as evidence to support a response that explores the textual integrity and the significance of the text.

Areas for students to improve include:

• analysing the dramatic features specific to form and construction as central to the artistry of the play’s construction and integral to how ideas are conveyed
• sustaining a conceptual response that moves outside the text, and incorporates the key words of the question, expanding their line of argument beyond character and superficial exploration of themes
• developing awareness of context and dramatic features of a Shakespearean play and how audiences respond differently in different contexts, reflecting an understanding of literary value.

Students should:

• demonstrate their understanding of Module C and use it in a way that is relevant to the question
• address the question when crafting a response, paying particular attention to the stimulus and to the specific parts of the question
• avoid creating, rewriting or appropriating a response linked to the prescribed texts
• note the mark value for the question and consider the implications of this in drafting the response in terms of structure and complexity
• carefully consider audience, purpose, context and form when crafting a voice, setting, character, and/or event or a position regarding a topic
• use effective time management in responding to the question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• deliberately craft language that demonstrates their study and engagement with the Module
• sustain communication of their knowledge and understanding of Module C through the development of their ideas
• develop their own ideas with insightful use of the stimulus to persuade or enlighten their audience
• respond critically to the stimulus provided, drawing on more than one idea arising from the stimulus
• develop and sustain a purposeful structure in their piece of writing
• demonstrate genuine engagement with the ideas in the stimulus and display originality in interpreting and incorporating these ideas into a cohesive piece of writing.

Areas for students to improve include:

• approaching the stimulus in a more thoughtful and considered way by planning their response
• establishing a strong awareness of the purpose and intent of their writing
• focusing on their craft of writing by using a range of crafting techniques
• adhering to the specified form as instructed in the question
• using the appropriate modality and register for the type of text they write.