English Standard 2020 HSC exam pack

Question 1

In better responses, students were able to:

• explain effectively how Look Alive encourages the responder to view the world.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding describing or recounting elements of the text without explanation of how these contribute to a view of the world.

Question 2

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate a strong understanding of both individual and collective human experiences
• select relevant textual evidence to support ideas
• analyse effectively.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding describing the general human experiences explored in the text
• using relevant examples that support specific aspects of the collective or individual experiences, such as contrasting emotions of loss, grief and happiness.

Question 3

In better responses, students were able to:

• clearly explain how the texts communicated ideas about being creative using detailed textual evidence from both texts
• demonstrate an understanding of storytelling, creativity and the construction of creative texts.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an understanding of the ways in which the specific language forms and features of each text convey ideas about being creative
• providing relevant and judiciously selected textual references that support the ideas about being creative
• ensuring that both texts are addressed in a reasonably balanced manner.

Question 4

In better responses, students were able to:

• provide an effective explanation about how the poem explores the power of storytelling using relevant textual evidence
• demonstrate an understanding of how the power of storytelling involves a movement from dislocation to connection.

Areas for students to improve include:

• addressing how the power of storytelling is explored through the use of specific language forms and features
• considering the complexities of the text in terms of emotions that emerge from shared and personal experiences
• demonstrating an understanding of the broad range of human experiences explored in the poem.

Students should:

• respond explicitly to the question, ensuring that all elements are addressed in a balanced and consistent manner
• develop a deep understanding of their prescribed text
• demonstrate understanding of the prescribed text through evidence and examples from across the text, judiciously selected to support their argument
• organise and structure a cohesive argument
• compose a sustained, cohesive and structured response with controlled expression, purposeful and evaluative language and an authentic voice.    

In better responses, students were able to:

• purposefully address the key terms of the question in a consistent and balanced way
• build a convincing thesis that evaluated how stories effectively reveal the shared and personal nature of experiences
• consider how the textual form, features and language of the prescribed text are used to tell stories and reveal meaning
• explain how the audience is positioned by the text’s construction, with particular consideration of form and genre.

Areas for students to improve include: 

• ensuring they respond to the full scope of the question
• developing a line of argument that deliberately addresses the specific elements of the question without relying on generic statements from the module description
• evaluating the author’s intent and the effect of their compositional choices on the audience
• analysing, rather than describing, how the text has been composed
• using the metalanguage of form.  

General feedback

Students should:

• engage with all the key terms in the question and provide relevant textual evidence, including quotes and technical analysis, to support their ideas

In better responses, students were able to:

• acknowledge ‘to what extent’ they agreed or disagreed with the statement
• establish a clear line of argument (or thesis) in response to the question
• identify specific cultural assumptions being disrupted in the text and make a judgement about the nature of these assumptions
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the module by exploring how the text’s language, form and features disrupt the chosen cultural assumptions.

Areas for students to improve include:

• responding to the whole question, including the ‘to what extent’ aspect
• establishing a clear line of argument throughout the whole response
• demonstrating accurate and relevant knowledge of the prescribed text and the techniques used
• evaluating the extent to which their prescribed text disrupts the specified cultural assumption(s)
• express themselves in a coherent manner with sustained and effective control of language and ideas.

Prose fiction – Henry Lawson, The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on the ideas of the romanticised bush, stereotypical gender roles and/or class structures of Australian society are being disrupted by the text
• demonstrate how cultural assumptions are created through the setting of the text and analyse how the setting disrupts cultural assumptions based on notions of gender, class and idealised experiences of the Australian bush
• demonstrate how characterisation is used by Lawson to disrupt cultural assumptions of the reader in both Lawson’s context and the contemporary context.

Prose fiction – Andrea Levy, Small Island

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on ideas of race, class and/or gender are being disrupted
• demonstrate how characterisation is used by Levy to disrupt cultural assumptions based on racial stereotypes in Britain
• explore how the oppression faced by characters in the text challenges the cultural assumptions of the characters as well as the reader.

Poetry – Adam Aitken, Boey Kim Cheng and Michelle Cahill (eds), Contemporary Asian Australian Poets

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions relating to the migrant experience, including racial prejudice and cultural conflict, are disrupted by the text
• demonstrate how poetic devices disrupt cultural assumptions by challenging racial stereotypes
• explore how the text disrupts assumptions of cultural identity, both individually and collectively.

Poetry – Ali Cobby Eckermann, Inside my Mother

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions, including racist and dominant values and attitudes, are disrupted by the text
• demonstrate how poetic techniques expose and disrupt cultural assumptions due to past and present prejudicial stereotypes of Indigenous Australians
• expose how loss of cultural identity is explored in the text to challenge misconceptions of the value of Indigenous heritage.

Drama – Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on stereotypical gender roles and class structures in Australia in the 1950s are disrupted in the text
• demonstrate how dramatic techniques, including setting, characterisation, dialogue, register, stage directions and costuming, are used to disrupt conflicting cultural assumptions and values of the time
• analyse how the characterisation disrupts and challenges conservative cultural assumptions in Australia in the 1950s.

Drama – Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on ideas of the stereotypical gender roles and class structures of Edwardian England are being disrupted
• demonstrate how dramatic techniques, including characterisation, dialogue, diction, stage directions and costuming, are used to disrupt cultural assumptions
• analyse how characterisation disrupts and challenges conservative Edwardian cultural assumptions in the text.

Drama – Alana Valentine, Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on ideas of race, gender, religion, context and media manipulation are being disrupted in the text
• explore the prejudicial cultural assumptions faced by characters in the text, including racial and intergenerational tensions
• demonstrate how dramatic techniques, including characterisation, dialogue, cultural allusions, symbolism and costuming, are used to disrupt prejudicial cultural assumptions about the Islamic faith.

Nonfiction – Alice Pung, Unpolished Gem

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions challenge familial expectations and racial stereotypes in Australian society
• demonstrate how literary techniques, including anecdotes and characterisation, are used as part of the narrative of the text to disrupt cultural assumptions
• explore the cultural assumptions held by characters in the text around notions of parental expectations, socio-economic status and racial tension.

Film – Rachel Perkins, One Night the Moon

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on racial stereotypes are being disrupted by the film
• demonstrate how the cinematography of the film exposes cultural assumptions which challenge notions of racial prejudice and gender expectations of Australia in the 1930s
• demonstrate how film techniques, including songs, minimal dialogue, voiceovers and shot types, are used in the text to challenge cultural assumptions of individual and societal norms of Australia in the 1930s
• recognise the importance of an Indigenous perspective informing context and purpose.

Film – Rob Sitch, The Castle

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on social class, multiculturalism, gender and/or racial stereotypes are being disrupted by the film
• explore the cultural assumptions of Australian society to expose racial and socio-economic tensions faced by characters in the text
• identify and analyse the film’s characters as being satirical in nature rather than stereotypes of the working class, thus demonstrating understanding of the director’s purpose.

Media – Janet Merewether, Reindeer in my Saami Heart

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and articulate the ways in which cultural assumptions based on social class, ethnicity, gender and religious oppression are being disrupted by the text
• demonstrate how the form of the text, including archival footage, photographs, voiceovers and film shots, is used to disrupt cultural assumptions
• demonstrate how the poetry and anecdotal stories expose the cultural differences of the Saami people in order to challenge cultural assumptions based on racial prejudice.

General feedback

Students should:

• specifically address all aspects of the question, rather than present a prepared response which is not relevant
• understand that there are multiple pathways into a question
• take time to plan and define the key terms in relation to their prescribed text
• develop a strong, sustained argument in response to the question
• demonstrate a strong awareness of composer, form and representation
• demonstrate an informed, holistic and detailed understanding of the prescribed text
• support their response with carefully selected, detailed and relevant textual evidence and analysis
• express themselves in a coherent manner with sustained and effective control of language and ideas.

Prose fiction – M T Anderson, Feed

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how the novel invites questions about resistance and conformity
• engage with the key terms by defining resistance and conformity in the context of the novel, including resistance to corporations, the influence of technology and consumerism on conformity, and the importance of language in resisting conformity
• use relevant, carefully selected textual evidence to present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s satirical purpose and genre.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an informed and detailed understanding of the novel
• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the novel form, including but not limited to characterisation, narratorial perspective and narrative structure.

Prose fiction – Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Haddon invites questions about acceptance and prejudice
• engage with the key terms by defining acceptance and prejudice in the context of the novel, including but not limited to the marginalisation of neurodivergent individuals due to prejudice, the power of acceptance to empower individuals, and the impact of discrimination on families
• use relevant, carefully selected textual evidence to present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s empathetic purpose, structural composition and narrative style.

Areas for students to improve include:

• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the novel form, including but not limited to characterisation, narratorial perspective and narrative structure.

Poetry – Robert Gray, Coast Road

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Gray invites questions about appreciation and indifference
• engage with the key terms by defining appreciation and indifference in the context of the poetry, including but not limited to how humans appreciate and engage with the sublime and spiritual dimensions of the natural environment, and the apathy of humanity towards the world
• use relevant, carefully selected textual evidence to present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s purpose, poetic form and imagist style.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an informed and detailed understanding of the poems by evaluating and selecting the poems which best suit the question
• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the poetic form.

Poetry – Oodgeroo Noonuccal

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Oodgeroo invites questions about loss and discovery
• engage with the key terms by defining loss and discovery in the context of the poetry, including but not limited to the simultaneous loss of one culture and the discovery of another, an appreciation of discovering new landscapes, and the emergence of cultural plurality
• use relevant, carefully selected textual evidence to present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s didactic purpose, poetic form and figurative style.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an informed and detailed understanding of the poems by evaluating and selecting the poems which best suit the question, including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the poetic form.

Drama – Scott Rankin, Namatjira

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Rankin invites questions about creativity and conformity
• engage with the key terms by defining creativity and conformity in the context of the play, including but not limited to the power of creative expression in the face of oppression, using the arts to manage cultural change, and the dangers of monocultural conformity
• use relevant, carefully selected textual evidence to present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s didactic purpose and dramatic representation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• demonstrating an informed and detailed understanding of the play by evaluating and selecting the scenes which best suit the question
• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the dramatic form.

Drama – William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Shakespeare invites questions about conflict and reconciliation
• engage with the key terms by defining conflict and reconciliation in the context of the play, including but not limited to patriarchal values in conflict with empowered gender perspectives, managing relationships in the face of tradition, and the power of love, the imagination and the ethereal to resolve tensions
• present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s social commentary, dramatic representation and comedic genre.

Areas for students to improve include:

• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the dramatic form.

Nonfiction – Anna Funder, Stasiland

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Funder invites questions about resentment and forgiveness
• engage with the key terms by defining resentment and forgiveness in the context of the text, including but not limited to social conformity within a totalitarian state; managing anxiety, fears and resentment in the face of oppression; and retrospective justice amid moral relativity
• present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s didactic purpose and representation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the nonfiction form.

Film – Peter Weir, The Truman Show

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how Weir invites questions about resistance and acceptance
• engage with the key terms by defining resistance and acceptance in the context of the film, including but not limited to accepting a constructed reality, the role of the media in repressing individuals, and individual agency in a consumerist world
• present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s satirical purpose and cinematic representation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• including discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the film form.

Media – Simon Nasht, Frank Hurley: The Man Who Made History

In better responses, students were able to:

• effectively discuss how the documentary invites questions about perception and truth
• engage with the key terms by defining perception and truth in the context of the text, including but not limited to the subjective nature of representation and truth, the role of nonfiction in documenting historical events, and the contrasting representation of Hurley
• present a cogent response and a discussion of the text’s social commentary, didactic purpose and mode of representation.

Areas for students to improve include:

• integrating discussion of a broad range of textual features, especially features specific to the media form.

General feedback

Students should:

• apply their learning from the module to their writing
• ensure that they understand the specific requirements of the question and respond to them
• be aware that the style and/or format of questions may vary from year to year
• be aware of the real and imagined audiences of the question.

Question 8

In better responses, students were able to:

• continue the provided extract in an integrated manner
• use aspects of the extract to ‘tell a story’ in a variety of ways
• use words from the extract throughout their response to enhance cohesion
• use the provided extract in interesting ways, including metaphorically
• write with authenticity about a significant place
• sustain the engagement of the reader
• use a range of language devices and stylistic features to shape their response
• demonstrate confident and sustained control of language with some variety
• use a strong narrative voice to create effective characterisation and point of view
• demonstrate an awareness of their imagined audience.

Areas for students to improve include:

• using the provided extract in a way that is cohesive
• using a variety of language and stylistic techniques appropriate to the form
• writing creatively rather than predictably
• ensuring that their response has a clear purpose, consistent context, sense of audience and relevant tone
• addressing the requirements of the question, rather than spending time writing a reflection which was not required in this examination
• using appropriate content and subject matter for an examination context
• using correct spelling, punctuation and grammar.