Latin Continuers 2018 HSC exam papers

Prescribed Text

Question 2

In better responses, students were able to:

• recognise that amplissimi viri refers to only one man (Q2 a ii)
• make a clear contrast between the two poets (Q2 c ii)
• convey the significance of the anecdote when making the contrast between the poets (Q2 c ii).

Areas for students to improve include:

• adhering to the requirements of the question: discussing a number of stylistic devices when the question asks for only one leads to overly lengthy responses and wastes time (Q2 b ii)
• knowing the context of an extract and any cultural or historical references in it: for example, students stated incorrectly that the Gallos and Hispanos were actually poets.

Question 3

In better responses, students were able to:

• identify and focus on a few specific Roman values referred to in each extract
• make judicious, selective use of stylistic devices and rhetorical techniques to support their response rather than writing about them as separate points.

Areas for students to improve include:

• focusing on the extracts provided and not making generalised statements about the remainder of the text
• analysing the extracts provided rather than quoting secondary literature as evidence
• avoiding overly long, rehearsed and largely irrelevant introductions and conclusions.

Prescribed Text

Question 5

In better responses, students were able to:

• make a clear link between the language techniques identified and Aeneas’ emotions (Q5 a iii)
• focus on the key word inevitability, rather than writing generally about the tragic irony or the foreshadowing of the destruction of Troy (Q5 b ii).

Areas for students to improve include:

• writing about the prescribed areas, for example, pathos in a manner which is relevant to the question (Q5 a iii)
• checking for elisions when scanning a line of verse (Q5 b i).

Question 6

In better responses, students were able to:

• differentiate between the varied responses of Aeneas across the extracts and within the one extract
• take into account Aeneas’ responses as a participant in the narrated scenes and as narrator of those scenes
• consider the character development reflected in Aeneas’ responses, taking into account the chronological order of the extracts.

Areas for students to improve include:

• not writing extensively about the prescribed focus areas (for example, pathos) without effective links to the question
• not making stylistic analysis the focus of their response, regardless of the question
• avoiding irrelevant references to secondary literature.

Unseen Texts

In better responses, students were able to:

• translate correctly necessarius as a noun and not as an adjective (Q8)
• recognise the grammatical function of the three nouns splendore, fructus and iucunditatis, and translate accordingly (Q8)
• show in their translation the connection between games delighting men and the verbs dissimulant and fatentur (Q8)
• recognise that me at the beginning of the extract is the object of admonet and terret two lines below (Q9)
• recognise that celeris agrees with auras in line 357 (Q9)
• recognise the grammatical function of the pronouns me, tuis and te in line 360 and translate accordingly (Q9).

Areas for students to improve include:

• adhering to the requirements of the question: for example, quoting in Latin if asked to do so (Q7 e)
• knowing the difference between a gerund and a gerundive (Q7 b)
• knowledge of vocabulary: differentiating between words which look similar, for example, iucunditatis and iuvenis, patris and patria, auras and auris (Q8, Q9)
• examining carefully the context of a Latin word in the extract before determining its grammatical function (Q10 a)
• recognising common alternative endings: for example, divum as genitive plural (Q9).