English Standard 2025 HSC exam pack

Question 1

In better responses, students were able to:

• explain effectively how Pippos portrays Lucky’s sense of hope for the future using well-chosen textual references to support their ideas
• clearly explain the link between Lucky’s experiences and his sense of hope.

Areas for students to improve include:

• selecting relevant evidence to support their answer
• explaining what Lucky hopes for rather than recounting events from the text.

Question 2

In better responses, students were able to:

• explain effectively how Fidge explores the impact of role models in her childhood
• support their explanations with well-chosen textual references
• show clear understanding of how these role models shaped Fidge.

Areas for students to improve include:

• selecting more precise and relevant supporting evidence
• moving beyond description or recount to explanation
• identifying clearly what specific traits or lessons Fidge associates with her role models.

Question 3

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 4 

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 5

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 provided 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.

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 the key terms in the question and provide relevant textual evidence, including quotes
• provide an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning, to support their ideas.

In better responses, students were able to:

• explain how the prescribed text reveals an understanding of the benefits and challenges of belonging to specific cultural groups
• develop and maintain a clear line of argument
• organise and express ideas using appropriate language aligned to the module
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the module by exploring how the text’s language, form and features shape culture.

Areas for students to improve include:

• responding to the whole question, including ‘challenges’ and ‘benefits’
• demonstrating an understanding of specific cultures as represented within the prescribed text
• selecting a range of relevant evidence from the prescribed text to support their ideas,
• including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Lawson’s text
• demonstrate an understanding of how Lawson reveals ideas about gender roles, and notions of mateship, larrikinism, and/or the romanticisation of the Australian bush when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Prose Fiction – Andrea Levy, Small Island

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Levy’s text
• demonstrate an understanding of how Levy reveals ideas about stereotypical gender roles and/or class structures when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

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

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in the poetry
• demonstrate an understanding of how the poems reveal ideas about racial prejudice, familial connections, language barriers, and/or conflict in society when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Poetry – Ali Cobby Eckermann, Inside my Mother

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Eckermann's poetry
• demonstrate an understanding of how Eckermann reveals ideas about the intergenerational trauma experienced by First Nations people, connections to country and culture, and/or the impact of Australian historical events when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Drama – Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Lawler’s play
• demonstrate an understanding of how Lawler reveals ideas about stereotypical gender roles and/or class structures when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Drama – Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Shaw's play
• demonstrate an understanding of how Shaw reveals the benefits and challenges of belonging to social classes and/or genders, and/or subscribing to moral principles, when exploring social hierarchies in Edwardian England.

Drama – Alana Valentine, Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups as represented in Valentine’s play
• demonstrate an understanding of how Valentine reveals ideas about racial prejudice, gender stereotypes, and the benefits or challenges of religious and/or cultural practices when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Nonfiction – Alice Pung, Unpolished Gem

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Pung's text
• demonstrate an understanding of how Pung reveals ideas of familial connections, racial prejudice, gender stereotypes, religion and/or cultural practices when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Film – Rachel Perkins, One Night the Moon

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Perkins's film
• demonstrate an understanding of how Perkins reveals ideas of racial prejudice, gender stereotypes, and/or the impact of Australian historical events when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Film – Rob Sitch, The Castle

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Sitch's film
• demonstrate an understanding of how Sitch reveals ideas of class, gender, familial connections, and/or race when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Media – Janet Merewether, Reindeer in my Saami Heart

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and explain the benefits and challenges of individuals who belong to different cultural groups or broader communities as represented in Merewether's documentary
• demonstrate an understanding of how Merewether reveals ideas of social class, ethnicity, gender and/or religious oppression experienced by First Nations people when exploring the impacts of belonging to specific cultures.

Students should:

• specifically address all aspects of the question
• refer closely to the chosen prescribed text to explore the distinctive qualities of the text
• demonstrate an awareness of composer, purpose and form
• demonstrate holistic and detailed understanding of the text
• support the response with well-selected, relevant textual evidence and analysis, demonstrating control of language and ideas. 

In better responses, students were able to:

• explore different values and attitudes represented in their prescribed text
• analyse how key features of the text represents values and attitudes
• compose an organised and sustained response, using clear language appropriate to audience, purpose and form.

Areas for improvement include:

• demonstrating detailed knowledge of the prescribed text to support further development of the student’s ideas
• demonstrating understanding of features specific to the form of the prescribed text
• using clarity and cohesion in the structure and expression of language in the response.
   

In better responses students were able to:

• compose an engaging imaginative or discursive piece of writing that used the ideas presented in the stimulus
• engage with the question and stimulus by exploring the comfort of the fond memory and how it ignites the senses
• craft language to capture the richness of the fond memory through tone, evocative imagery, sensory description, rhetorical and stylistic devices
• demonstrate control of language and structure throughout their response appropriate to audience, purpose, context and selected form
• compose a cohesive piece of writing with considered use of paragraphing, sentence structure, spelling, grammar and punctuation to purposefully create meaning.

Areas for students to improve include:

• responding to all parts of the question and aspects of the stimulus, for example, fond memory, senses, richness, comfort
• creating a believable voice or character to provoke engagement
• developing their response through figurative, rhetorical and other linguistic devices to capture a meaningful and memorable experience
• establishing a strong purpose in their writing that aligns to the question
• demonstrating consistent control of language including sentence structure, spelling, paragraphing, punctuation.