English Advanced 2025 HSC exam pack

Question 1

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify how Jansson celebrates the process of creativity through the text's focus on searching for and discovering various materials, emphasising the ways these could be crafted into a range of items
• explain how specific examples in the text are used to celebrate the process of creativity
• explain the effect of the examples from the text to show the process of creativity.

Areas for students to improve include:

• providing a response that goes beyond identifying the process of creativity and engages with Jansson's positive portrayal of this process
• explaining the effect of examples from the text, rather than paraphrasing the examples
• ensuring there is a clear link between the evidence they present and the idea of hope for the future.

Question 2

In better responses, students were able to:

• show a clear understanding of the text by explaining how the character's identity is shaped by her interaction with family and her time in Italy, leading her to acknowledge how this 'miraculously brought forth … another person'
• support their response with well-chosen evidence.

Areas for students to improve include:

• ensuring explanations are supported by well-chosen evidence, rather than describing or paraphrasing events from the text.

Question 3

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify the insights Kooser shares about the enduring and unpredictable nature of change through an exploration of the seasonal changes witnessed in October
• provide well-chosen textual evidence that clearly highlights Kooser’s insights about the experience of change
• explore the significance of the events in the poem.

Areas for students to improve include:

• ensuring evidence clearly relates to the experience of change
• analysing rather than describing or paraphrasing evidence from the text
• ensuring that the evidence is well-chosen and analysed to support their response.

Question 4

In better responses, students were able to:

• explain effectively how Kingsolver expands the reader's understanding of the relationship between past and present
• identify a connection between past and present. For example, ‘the inextricable link between the past and the present is an emotional experience for the individual’
• use well-chosen evidence to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between past and present as represented in the text. For example, ‘People keep the customs of their own day and time for good reason’.

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing all parts of the question
• using well-chosen supporting evidence which supports their explanation.

Question 5

In better responses, students were able to:

• use the language of evaluation skilfully to articulate how Macfarlane has represented the connection between humans and the landscape. For example, ‘Macfarlane insightfully represents the connection between humans and the landscape capturing both the beauty and darkness within these two worlds’
• make specific connections between the representation of aspects/ideas/areas of humans and the landscape
• present a well-supported judgement of Macfarlane’s representation of the connections between humans and the landscape with detailed and well-chosen evidence. For example, ‘The prints will survive for more than 35,000 years. Signs of what? Of joy? Of art? Of life in the darkness?’.

Areas for students to improve include:

• presenting a judgement about the ways Macfarlane represents connections between humans and the landscape
• using detailed and well-chosen evidence to support their response.

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:

• present a perceptive interpretation of how the representation of particular lives in the text enriches understanding of the endurance of the human spirit
• address all aspects of the question throughout their response
• sustain a confident and personal voice revealing how their own understanding of the endurance of the human spirit has been enriched by the prescribed text
• select and integrate a range of evidence purposefully to support their ideas
• develop a cohesive response by establishing and maintaining a clear line of argument.

Areas for students to improve include:

• drawing on their prescribed text to articulate their personal understanding of the endurance of the human spirit
• referring to specific parts of the prescribed text to support their ideas, rather than restating the question
• refining the clarity and control of their expression by avoiding overly complex or wordy language
• using accurate technical language to analyse how ideas are represented in the text. For example, the form, genre and style of their prescribed text.

General feedback

Students should:

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

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an appreciation of textual connections by showing how composers use ideas such as strategy, conformity, alienation, humility, creativity, reinvention, and artistry to respond to another text’s concepts and values
• evaluating the relationships between texts by considering how purpose, form, language, and context influence meaning and connections in the texts studied
• using detailed textual evidence that contributes to evaluation and engages with the question beyond superficial description
• organising, developing, and expressing ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose, and form.

Shakespearean Drama and Film – William Shakespeare, King Richard III and Al Pacino, Looking for Richard

In better responses, students were able to:

• use detailed knowledge of King Richard III and Looking for Richard to answer the question, including but not limited to, how Pacino uses interviews and casting to explore Richard’s character, how both texts show Richard using language to influence people, and how key scenes highlight Richard’s careful planning
• express insight about the role of strategy in shaping personal appreciation of the connections between King Richard III and Looking for Richard
• articulate a clear and balanced argument that reflects the complexity of the textual conversation between King Richard III and Looking for Richard
• demonstrate a well-informed understanding of the two texts, supported by a thoughtful consideration of language forms and features and the context which shaped the construction of each text.

Prose Fiction and Film – Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway and Stephen Daldry, The Hours

In better responses, students were able to:

• respond to the question by evaluating connections between Woolf’s and Daldry’s textual representations of the repressive impacts of conformity through rigid social expectations, pertaining to, but not limited to, gender, sexuality, life purpose, individual identity and mental health
• discuss textual form, structure, language and contexts in a synthesised manner, using textual references meaningfully to develop a well-informed and personal response to the texts and the question
• demonstrate understanding of the complexity of the contexts of the texts, for example, Daldry’s specific context of composition or Daldry’s engagement with various historical periods, or articulating how Daldry’s film continues the conversation begun with the concerns raised by Woolf in relation to her post-WWI context.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• evaluate the question through considering characterisation in both texts, where existential thinking reflects the indifference of the character’s place in the world
• evaluate the idea of alienation skilfully, incorporating a range of well-selected textual references integrated throughout the response.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• address and frame a response to the question explicitly by defining the role of humility as an intertextual and/or metatextual focus
• offer an insightful evaluation of humility as both a conceptual and strategic device, recognising its influence on character, structure and form, and its role as a driving force in the textual conversation between Donne and Edson
• demonstrate an awareness of how literature invites audiences to reflect on ideas such as mortality, pride and their relationship to humility, enhancing appreciation of the texts’ impact
• support their argument with thoughtful textual references, drawing meaningful connections between the texts and their contexts, and showing how these contribute to the construction of meaning
• demonstrate and sustain a clear personal voice throughout an evaluative response.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate insightful analysis of the role of creativity in both Keats’ poetry and Campion’s film
• present a balanced response that reflects depth and breadth of textual knowledge and a judicious selection of evidence to support insightful argumentation
• provide an insightful thesis in response to the question and sustain a meaningful connection with the question throughout the response
• offer a balance between academic register and an engaging personal voice that reflects genuine engagement with the texts and the module.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• explore how meaning is re-shaped through altered form, tone and voice, pertaining to, but not limited to, contrasting Plath’s confessional immediacy with Hughes’s restrained retrospection
• evaluate how the later text reclaims or reframes concepts of power dynamics, for example, gender, authorship or morality, revealing the ethical implications of rewriting another’s story
• recognise that reinvention is a conversation between texts across time and experience
• provide examples of textual features like motifs, imagery and structure to support the response
• discuss the metatextual nature of reinvention, where the newer composer consciously positions their work as response, critique or reconciliation
• develop a personal and reflective authorial voice and sustain an evaluative thesis on why reinvention matters as an artistic, emotional or moral act that reframes audience perception
• show awareness that reinvention involves both homage and resistance, balancing empathy and control, memory and authorship.

Shakespearean Drama and Prose Fiction – William Shakespeare, The Tempest and Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed

In better responses, students were able to:

• respond to the question by centralising the concept of artistry in their thesis and evaluation of the texts, rather than integrating the concept into prepared material in a superficial manner
• evaluate the connections between the texts skilfully through the lens of the question, including with a focus on, but not limited to, the metatextuality of both texts, the values and attitudes conveyed about art and artistry within the texts, and specific aspects of the artistry of the two composers
• integrate an evaluation of the different text forms, unique features and contexts in their response in a clear and organised way, with relevant textual references
• demonstrate a clear understanding of the historical and cultural contexts for Shakespeare and Atwood and how these contribute to shaping each text.

General feedback                    

Students should:

• engage clearly with each element of the question, and avoid reproducing a prepared response
• demonstrate a conceptual understanding of the text in relation to the question
• develop a sustained personal response to the question
• demonstrate an understanding of how context, form and language contribute to the value of their prescribed text
• support their argument and evaluation with detailed and considered textual examples
• demonstrate control of language and ideas appropriate to purpose, form and audience.

Prose Fiction – Jane Austen, Emma  

In better responses, students were able to:   

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways the closing paragraphs resolve specific narrative tensions, using detailed textual evidence from both the extract and the novel. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • it resolves tensions associated with marriage, social expectations and Emma’s growth
  • it symbolically completes Emma’s development. Her marriage to Mr Knightley reflects maturity and emotional clarity rather than her previous meddling
  • it ties back to the novel’s recurring tension between authentic affection and social performance. Examples from the extract include the contrast between the wedding’s ‘simplicity’ and Regency materialism, represented by Mrs Elton, the extract’s tonal contrast between the ‘small band of true friends’ and Mrs Elton’s snobbery
• develop a conceptual argument that explores contextual values as relevant to the resolution of the narrative tensions of the novel. For example, Regency social order, class expectations
• explore Austen’s distinctive language and stylistic qualities. For example, irony, understatement, tonal contrast, third person subjective and objective narration, free indirect discourse
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Austen’s ideas and values.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• moving beyond paraphrasing or summarising the extract to respond to how the ending resolves tensions represented in the novel
• analysing the ideas and purpose of the text, rather than describing or retelling plot events
• developing a personal response that incorporates an understanding of the contextual values and historical context of Regency England, rather than limiting the response to examining characters, setting, themes and plot.

Prose Fiction – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations   

In better responses, students were able to:  

• integrate an exploration of contextual values as relevant to the resolution of the narrative tensions of the novel
• demonstrate understanding of the ways the closing paragraphs resolve specific narrative tensions, using detailed textual evidence from both the extract and the novel. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • it resolves tensions associated with identity, class, ambition and emotional blindness
  • it reframes the whole bildungsroman through Pip’s forgiveness, humility and moral clarity
  • it signals the long-running conflict between emotional repression and human connection through Estella’s being ‘bent and broken into a better shape’
  • it uses the imagery of rising mists to provide symbolic closure to Pip’s lifelong search for clarity
• develop a conceptual argument that explores Dickens’s representations in questioning and reinforcing the social values of his time. For example, class mobility and moral education explored in the character arcs of multiple characters
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Dickens’s ideas, values and distinctive style.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• analysing Dickens’s ideas as represented by the characters, rather than describing or retelling plot events in Pip and Estella’s characterisation
• paraphrasing or summarising the extract
• developing a personal voice to demonstrate understanding of the extract, text and module, moving past generic or formulaic expression
• demonstrating authentic engagement with how the novel concludes its earlier narrative tensions
• developing a personal response that incorporates an understanding of the contextual values and historical context of Dickensian England, rather than limiting the response to examining characters, setting, themes and plot.

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

In better responses, students were able to:  

• demonstrate understanding of the ways the closing paragraphs resolve specific narrative tensions, using detailed textual evidence from both the extract and the novel. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • Ono’s unreliable self-presentation in the face of a different reality
  • Japan’s ideological shift from imperialism to reconstruction
  • intergenerational tension between guilt, denial and renewal
  • the novel’s looping, self-correcting narrative structure
  • how Ishiguro uses cheerful imagery to counterpoint the weight of memory
  • its suggestion of a tentative acceptance of change (whether Ono fully believes it or not)
  • its evaluation of the ambiguity of whether Ono’s ‘gladness’ is acceptance or another self-protective story
• present a response that demonstrates close engagement with the question, the text and the extract
• demonstrate understanding of the novel’s ideas as they relate to the closing passage
• use textual evidence judiciously from across the novel and from the extract to support their understanding of Ishiguro’s distinctive narrative style
• demonstrate an understanding of the contextual influences that shape tension in the text. For example, linking post-war Japan and Thatcher’s Britain to Ishiguro’s treatment of memory, guilt, and generational change
• explore Ishiguro’s distinctive language and stylistic features. For example, narrative voice, symbolism, non-linear structure, and Ishiguro’s postmodern style
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Ishiguro’s representation of memory, art, and moral responsibility.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• moving beyond describing or summarising Ono’s wartime influence
• examining the distinctive qualities of the text. For example, narrative structure, motif, and tone
• demonstrating understanding of how Ishiguro uses narrative perspective and structure to explore broader social and moral accountability to resolve tensions
• using well-selected textual evidence to illuminate Ishiguro’s key concerns and to demonstrate deep knowledge of the novel. 

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

 In better responses, students were able to:  

• demonstrate understanding of the ways the final stanza of Journey of the Magi resolve specific tensions, using detailed textual evidence from both the extract and at least one other poem. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the final stanza of Journey of the Magi:
  • insight into tensions explored across Eliot’s poetry, such as spiritual dislocation, fragmentation, modern malaise
  • awareness that the Magus’s alienation mirrors Eliot’s broader poetic voice
  • analysis of how paradox, bleak imagery and repetitive structure intensify the poem’s final crisis of faith
  • its clear connections to another poem showing Eliot’s recurring exploration of decay, identity and meaning
• develop a conceptual thesis that explores ideas and values of the text, informed by the extract and at least one other poem. For example, Eliot’s personal search for meaning
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Eliot’s ideas, values and poetic style across the suite of poetry, rather than treating each poem separately
• demonstrate an understanding of how the concerns of Eliot’s modernist context inform his work. For example, spiritual, philosophical, emotional, physical tensions.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• demonstrating understanding of the ending of Journey of the Magi and linking the resolution to an overarching concern of the poetry. For example, spiritual uncertainty or demonstrating conceptual understanding of the poetry by moving beyond describing themes such as the paradox of ‘birth and death’
• using textual references from across the poems to support an explanation of tensions, rather than explaining selected quotes in isolation
• integrating an understanding of the contextual concerns of the poet as the arc of philosophical development of the suite of poems, rather than describing the contextual concerns.

Poetry – David Malouf, Earth Hour  

In better responses, students were able to:  

• demonstrate understanding of the ways the final stanza of Earth Hour resolves specific poetic tensions, using detailed textual evidence from both the extract and at least one other poem. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the final stanza of Earth Hour:
  • it explores notions of duality between man and nature, nature and culture, spirit and body, memory and presence as driving tensions throughout the suite
  • it foregrounds that the metaphor of counting the hour down signals recognition of mortality and belonging
  • it provides strong comparison to another poem, such as Towards Midnight, Radiance, or Aquarius, to show continuity of ideas
  • it explores Malouf’s focus on introspection and the sacred within the ordinary
  • it explains how Malouf uses the stanza’s expansive syntax and imagery to create contemplative closure
• consider the question and the extract and use this to develop a conceptual argument about the text’s ideas, for example, Malouf’s philosophical concern with transience and human connection
• write about the ideas from the suite of poems, linking at least one other poem with how the specified extract provides a resolution to poetic tensions and concerns.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• demonstrating knowledge of the suite of poems, using analytical language to develop their response
• incorporating the extract throughout their response, rather than listing techniques and examples.

Drama – Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House  

In better responses, students were able to:   

• demonstrate understanding of the ways the concluding scene resolved specific dramatic tensions, using detailed textual evidence from both the extract and the play. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the final scene:
  • it resolves tensions around dependency, control and social constraints
  • it demonstrates Ibsen’s use of dramatic tension, silence and physical movement to reinforce Nora’s autonomy, using well-chosen evidence. For example, the symbolic force of the door slam
  • it finalises the central conflict about truth and illusion through strong analysis of how the ‘miracle’ motif collapses
  • it reflects Ibsen’s critique of 19th-century social norms by evaluating the ending’s shocking challenge to contextual gender expectations
• develop a conceptual thesis focused on dramatic tensions, using well-selected textual evidence. For example, how the features of dramatic form are used to create meaning
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Ibsen’s ideas, values and style. For example, the experimental nature of Ibsen’s movement to dramatic and domestic realism on the stage and how his controversial ideas were received in his context
• demonstrate an understanding of dramatic form and the impact of a range of dramatic techniques to create meaning and position the audience to consider tensions that come from the text.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• exploring dramatic conventions to strengthen their response, rather than retelling the scene without reference to the features of the form. For example, stage directions, tone, dialogue fragmentation
• demonstrating an understanding of Ibsen’s context, using textual evidence and contextual knowledge to develop a response.

Drama – Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood  

In better responses, students were able to:  

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways the scene of the radio play resolved specific dramatic tensions, using well-selected textual evidence from both the extract and the play. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • the ending reframes the chaotic, affectionate portrait of Llareggub
  • it resolves tensions between such contrasts as desire and reality, community and isolation, innocence and experience, romantic idealism and absurd human behaviour
  • the cyclic nature of the day, reinforcing continuity and community spirit
• demonstrate understanding of the poetic and dramatic hybridity of the form. For example, the humour, ironies and satire and Thomas’s blend of wit, pathos and cosmic imagery and lyrical and musical language
• integrate the concerns of the extract throughout the response while demonstrating an understanding of the text as a whole, and its dramatic tensions, to make a personal judgement as to the effectiveness of the resolution of the text
• explore how Thomas manipulates the form and reflects the influence of his post-modern context in his work.

 Areas for students to improve include:

• presenting a response that moves beyond a character analysis and plot recount
• integrating references from the extract into their response, rather than listing or providing examples at the beginning or end of a paragraph
• incorporating contextual understanding into their analysis to demonstrate personal engagement with the text and connection to the module. 

Nonfiction – Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes  

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways the closing paragraphs resolve specific narrative tensions, using well-selected textual evidence from both the extract and the text. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • how the ending resolves tensions between personal memory and collective history, loss and recovery, fragility and endurance, and private stories and public narratives
  • the symbolism of the vitrine as continuity, curation and inheritance
  • how the children’s rearranging of objects reframes the text’s concern with renewal
  • the understated return to the ordinary (‘I have pots to make’) as grounding the emotional arc
• develop a conceptual thesis that explores contextual values as relevant to the resolution of the narrative tensions of the text. For example, the complexity and the unifying nature of the human condition set against the backdrop of the fracturing nature of anti-Semitism
• demonstrate an understanding of the distinctive qualities of the text. For example, 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
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about de Waal’s ideas.

Areas for students to improve include:

• identifying and analysing symbolic details in the extract, rather than summarising the family history
• explaining the distinctive features of the extract. For example, the structural significance of the ending to the text, its cyclical movement through time and memory and other technical devices, including motif
• demonstrating an understanding of the complex historical context and perspective of de Waal’s text, rather than limiting their response to a descriptive recount. 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:  

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways the final scene resolved specific dramatic tensions, using well-selected textual evidence from both the screen shot, extract and the film. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • how the final scene explores tensions around media power and public accountability
  • the role of journalism in democracy, issues such as truth and fear, integrity and political pressure and the contrast between idealism and institutional reality
  • how this scene resolves conflicting dramatic tensions by evaluating the forms and features of the docudrama in the extract and relevant aspects of the film
• develop a conceptual thesis that explores Clooney’s ideas. For example, the role of the media, tensions between past and present, notions of democracy and the implicit call for individual accountability
• demonstrate an understanding of how connections between contextual concerns and historical influences support the tensions in the film. For example, 1950s McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and Cold War
• use film terminology in their analysis, using techniques as evidence to explore tensions, not as description. For example, Murrow’s rhetoric, the significance of direct address, the symbolic meaning of ‘wires and lights in a box’, how Clooney uses framing, monochrome visuals, and sound to represent tensions
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Clooney’s ideas and the distinctive qualities of the film.

Areas for students to improve include:    

• developing a thesis that demonstrates personal engagement with the resolution of tensions in the film and explores the role of the final scene in relation to larger tensions throughout the film
• exploring how the world within the film connects to enduring contextual and social issues and how this reflects Clooney’s representations. For example, the role of truth-telling in media
• analysing a broader range of filmic features and techniques to demonstrate their understanding of how meaning is constructed in the film
• using an informed personal voice to explore Clooney’s ideas by linking the text to the contemporary world.

Media – Gillian Armstrong, Unfolding Florence  

In better responses, students were able to:  

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways the final scene of the film resolved key dramatic and narrative tensions, using well-selected textual evidence from both the screen shots and the film. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • visibility for women in artistic fields and the difference between the public persona and the private self
  • reinvention and constraint, creativity and commercial reality and how the ending positions audiences to reassess Florence’s complexity
  • Armstrong’s purpose in exploring aspects of Florence Broadhurst’s life and the significance of success being reframed through perspective, rather than fact
• develop a conceptual thesis that explores Armstrong’s ideas by integrating contextual information that relates to Broadhurst and Armstrong’s worlds
• analyse Armstrong’s hybrid construction of the documentary. For example, her stylistic blend of documentary conventions, re-enactment and montage and how the upbeat tone provides ironic or celebratory closure to the film
• explore how distinctive features of the film shape tensions. For example, layering of interviews, the quality of the voices, inclusion of archival footage, analysis of re-enactment, editing.

Areas for students to improve include:  

• analysing form, rather than recounting Florence’s life story
• providing an understanding of the text’s ideas and making reference to contextual concerns throughout the response
• developing a response that connects all elements of the question and the closing scene of the film to an analysis of the film as a whole.

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

In better responses, students were able to:   

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways the closing scene of the play resolves specific dramatic and narrative tensions, using well-selected textual evidence from both the extract and the play. For example, focusing on the following aspects of the ending:
  • honour and political legitimacy in the context of the play’s broader political instability
  • power, loyalty and rebellion
  • Hal’s emerging leadership and moral growth, but how the ending confirms Hal’s transformation without perfect closure
  • how dramatic action shifts to future conflict rather than neat resolution and the strategic forward movement (‘divide our power’), suggesting unfinished business
• develop a conceptual argument that explores Shakespeare’s ideas and context, reinforced by how the extract reflects specific tensions. For example, Elizabethan contextual values represented through the king’s dialogue
• demonstrate an understanding of dramatic form and the effect of a range of dramatic techniques to create meaning and position the audience, linking these to the way tensions are resolved at the end of the play
• write with a confident personal voice, articulating informed judgements about Shakespeare’s ideas, values and dramatic style.

Areas for students to improve include:   

• constructing a clear thesis about tensions in the text to develop their response
• developing a personal voice to demonstrate understanding of the text, the extract and the module
• integrating Shakespeare’s contextual concerns and values into the response to expand on the tensions represented in the text.

General feedback

Students should:

• apply their understanding of The Craft of Writing to the 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 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.

Question 3 (a)

In better responses, students were able to:

• incorporate the image skilfully through both structural and language choices, creating complexity in the response, relevant to the demands of the question
• craft an authentic and sustained voice with deliberate control and awareness of audience, purpose, context and narrative style
• use a range of stylistic choices to establish and sustain tone.

Areas for students to improve include:

• write in the form stated in the question
• using the image as a meaningful part of their response, aligned to the question
• providing clear and meaningful links between the stimulus extract and the question.

Question 3 (b)

In better responses, students were able to:

• draw succinct connections between their response to the image, their crafting of part (a) and the meaning they intended to shape
• explain a clear intent or purpose for their piece of writing in part (a)
• clearly articulate the relationship between purpose and effect through the judicious use of textual evidence from part (a).

Areas for students to improve include:

• using the stimulus in the manner indicated by the question
• demonstrating control of language in their response
• ensuring that quotes and textual references from their writing in part (a) are supported by meaningful links to the focus of the question.