Preparing for

HSC Advanced
English
Knox Grammar School
Karen Yager

‘I hear and I forget; I see and I

remember; I write and I understand.’
 Paper 1: Common Module Human Experiences
 Human qualities, flaws and emotions that arise from these experiences
 The role of storytelling to express and reflect particular lives and cultures
 How personal reflection can help us to see the world differently
 Complex nature of humanity: The anomalies, paradoxes and
inconsistencies in human behaviour and motivations
Key Questions
1. What is the composer’s context, purpose and perspective?
2. What individual and/or collective human experiences are represented?
3. How do individuals respond and why?
4. How have your assumptions been challenged enabling you to gain any
new insights?

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 Key concepts and terms in English

representation The way ideas are portrayed and represented in texts,

using language devices, forms, features and structures
of texts to create specific views about characters, events
and ideas. Representation embeds attitudes, beliefs and
values and reinforces or challenges existing values and
ways of thinking or may attempt to reshape them.
context The personal, social, historical, cultural and workplace
conditions in which a text is responded to and
composed
appropriation Taking a text from one context and using it in another
context. The process can allow new insights into the

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 original text and emphasise contextual differences.
Appropriation also gives extra insight into the newly
created or used text
assumptions Preconceived beliefs and ideas
perspective Ways of seeing and evaluating the world and others
shaped by context, values, attitudes and assumptions. It
is a culturally learnt position that shapes the reader’s
view of a text. It creates a position of preferred reading.
style How writers combine purposefully language, form,
structure and ideas.
values Core beliefs of society and individuals
medium/media The form and its distinctive features
of production
construction The deliberate crafting of a text based on purpose
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textual integrity The unity of a text - coherent use of form, ideas &
language
discursive Writing without the direct intention of presenting a
writing persuasive single point of view. Discursive texts can be
humorous or serious in tone and can have a formal or
informal register. Examples include personal essays and
creative non-fiction.
persuasive Primary purpose is to put forward a point of view and
writing persuade, such as speeches, arguments, discussions,
polemics, advertising, propaganda, influential essays
and articles.
informative Primary purpose is to provide information through
texts explanation, description, argument, analysis, ordering
and presentation of evidence and procedures. These
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 texts include reports, explanations and descriptions of
natural phenomena, recounts of events, instructions
and directions, rules and laws, news bulletins and
articles, websites and text analyses. 
imaginative Texts that represent ideas, feelings and mental images
texts in words or visual images. 
reflective Discuss and analyse the ideas and how and why
writing meaning was constructed through form, structure and
language. It could include how the prescribed text
influenced your writing. Reflect on the complex and
recursive processes of writing to further develop their
self-expression.

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Paper 1: Section 1
 There will be four or five short-answer questions in Section I adding
up to 20 marks.
 45 minutes for this section
 Series of unseen texts exploring a specific aspects of the Human
Experience
 Questions may contain parts
 At least two items will be common to English Standard.

Your answer will be assessed on how well you:

 demonstrate understanding of human experiences in texts
 analyse, explain and assess the ways human experiences are
represented in texts
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 Responding to questions

1. What is being said conceptually about the human experience?

2. How do the people feel about or respond to their experiences?
3. How is it being said?
4. Why is it being said?
5. What meaning is conveyed?

Thesis + textual evidence + analysis + meaning

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Examples of Questions

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 Analysing texts in Paper 1 Human Experiences Part A
Ask what the text is saying about human experiences or an aspect of it
Begin analytical sentences with the meaning being conveyed first and then
follow with the language or visual technique and the example.
Find the emotive words or salient images first to uncover the meaning, the
tone and the concept related to the aspect of the human experience.
IDENTIFY language feature, EXEMPLIFY, EXPLAIN and EXTRAPOLATE by
discussing the meaning conveyed by the textual details about the aspect of
the human experiences
Make sure you know the features of various forms of text so that you can
comment on how the form of the text reflects the aspect of the human
experiences.

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 Key visual terms
composition What is included in a visual is usually deliberately placed
there or included or omitted deliberately.
framing Angles: tilted up or down, canted (tilted on axis)
rule of thirds An object in the top third is usually empowered whereas
anything in the bottom third is disempowered. Can be
subverted.
vectors The line that our eyes take when we look at a visual.
Composers deliberately direct our reading path.
salience The part that your eyes are first drawn to in the visual –
visual weighting. Colour, image and layout determine
what the salient image is in a visual.
body Examine facial expressions, gestures, stance or position.
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language/gaze Take note of the direction of the subject’s eyes.

Key language terms

Sound devices
Alliteration Repetition of consonants at the start of words
Consonance Repetition of consonants throughout a
sentence or phrase
Assonance Repetition of vowels in a series of words
Sibilance Repetition of the ‘s’ sound
Onomatopoeia The word echoes the sound it represents
Fricative sounds Soft and gentle consonants, such as ‘l’ and ‘f’
and long vowel sounds
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Plosive sounds Harsh sounds that demand attention such as ‘p’
or ‘b’ or ‘k’
Imagery
Visceral imagery We can see what is being described – painterly
Auditory imagery We can hear what is being described
Olfactory imagery We can smell what is being described
Gustatory imagery We can taste what is being described
Metaphor Comparison where one things becomes the
other
Simile Comparison between two objects using ‘like’ or
‘as
Personification Ascribing human qualities to a non-human
Metonymy
Apostrophe A dead person or object is addressed as if it is a
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 person
Zoomorphism Humans are given animal qualities or features
Anthropomorphism Animals are given human qualities
Symbolism When an object represents something
conceptually
Pathetic fallacy Feelings reflected in nature
Synecdoche Part of an object stands for a whole
Motif Recurrent image or symbol
Dramatic effect
Hyperbole Exaggeration
Meiosis Understatement
Verbal irony Saying something but intending to mean the
opposite
Juxtaposition Placing two things together for the purpose of
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 developing comparisons and contrasts
Parody Conscious imitation for dramatic purpose
Oxymoron Combination of contradictory words for
dramatic effect
Accumulation Listing of things to make a point or build an
image

Paper 1: Section 2 – Extended Response

 The question may include stimulus and/or unseen texts.

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  20 marks – 45 minutes

Your answer will be assessed on how well you:

 demonstrate understanding of human experiences in texts
 analyse, explain and assess the ways human experiences are
represented in texts
 organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to
audience, purpose and context

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Sample Questions

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Marking Guidelines

The extended response in Paper 1 Human Experiences and

Paper 2 Modules A & B
High-range responses use the key terms of the question to create a thesis.
In the introduction present the thesis in response to the question and then
provide two key reasons or ideas to support your thesis.
The two key ideas or mini-thesis statements shape the body of the essay.
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1st half – idea 1 and 2nd half – idea 2.
Each topic sentence should build your argument and connect to the ideas.
Link to sentence in previous paragraph for cohesion.
Use connecting words and active verbs.
Focus on the act of representation and how a text shapes meaning through
form, structure and language.
Select judiciously your textual evidence.
Paper 2: Module A Textual Conversations
The comparative study means that students must evaluate the following
features of both prescribed texts:
 personal, social, cultural and historical contexts
 values
 perspectives and purpose
 textual features and conventions
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  key concepts/ideas
Your answer will be assessed on how well you:
 demonstrate understanding of how composers are influenced by
another text’s concepts and values
 evaluate the relationships between texts and contexts
 organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to
audience, purpose and form
Key concepts:
 Context: The times and experiences - personal, social, cultural and
historical - when a text is composed and the values of the composer
shape language, forms and features of texts.
 Perspective: The way we see the world is shaped by our values,
attitudes and assumptions. It is a culturally learnt position that shapes
the reader’s view of a text. It creates a position of preferred reading.

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  Adaptation: Taking a text from one context and using it in another
context. The process can allow new insights into the original text and
emphasise contextual differences. Adaptation also gives extra insight
into the newly created or used text.
 Intertextuality: The associations or connections between one text
and other texts. Intertextual references can be explicit and self-
conscious. They can take the form of direct quotation, parody,
allusion or structural borrowing. Being able to discuss how ideology is
constructed in the former text through its intertextual dialogue lifts
the quality of the response to the texts.

Checklist

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 I present a perceptive understanding of the role that context and the
composer’s purpose, perspective and values play.
 My contextual references are meaningful and connect directly to
Atwood’s appropriation of the relevant aspects of the original play.
These references are woven through the essay.
 I am able to move between the texts dialectically.
 I use textual evidence that includes a discussion of how and why
there is consonance and dissonance.
 I analyse critically HOW it is being said: genre, form, structure and
language.
 I use the textual conversation to illuminate the key ideas that I have
gleaned.

Paper 2: Module A Sample Questions

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1. Even with the retelling of The Tempest in modern times, Hag-Seed
echoes Shakespeare’s message that we need to live our lives with
compassion and empathy, and learn to forgive the self and others.
In your response, refer to your two prescribed texts The Tempest and
Hag-Seed.
2. Despite appropriating The Tempest for Hogarth Shakespeare, Hag-
Seed is very much a product of Atwood’s perspectives, values and
context. Select two major changes that have occurred to the
adaptation because of different perspectives, values and context.
3. How has Atwood’s innovating with form and style brought new
meaning to the concepts of ambition and betrayal in The Tempest? In
your response, refer to Antonio in The Tempest and Tony in Hag-
Seed.

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 Paper 2: MOD B Critical Study of Literature
This critical study requires you to:
 develop detailed analytical and critical knowledge, understanding and
appreciation of a substantial literary text
 understand the distinctive qualities of the text, notions of textual
integrity and significance
 closely analyse the text’s construction, content and language to
develop your own rich interpretation of the text
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  evaluate notions of context with regard to the text’s composition and
reception
 investigate and evaluate the perspectives of others
 explore the ideas in the text
 express complex ideas precisely and cohesively using appropriate
register, structure and modality
Paper 2: MOD B Sample Questions
Your answer will be assessed on how well you:
 demonstrate an informed understanding of the ideas expressed in
the text
 evaluate the text’s distinctive language and stylistic qualities
 organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to
audience, purpose and form

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Checklist

Introduction

My thesis addresses the key elements of the question through two

ideas or more.

My opening paragraph includes:

- An overview of how Eliot’s oeuvre reflects the question.

- Your two ideas that can be introduced through the two or three
poems.

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 - A final sentence that adds another dimension in response to the
question or addresses the second part of the question or adds a
“however…’ sentence.
Body

I present a holistic understanding of the poetry and how they are

connected through the modernist context.

I analyse in detail at least two poems to address the question.

I address through a critical analysis of the poetry what is being said:

the content and ideas through well-chosen detailed textual evidence.

I include why it is being said: Eliot’s context and perspective.

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 I analyse critically how it is being said: form (free verse, stream of
consciousness, voice of a persona), structure (stanzas, line lengths,
syntax, rhythm and rhyme) and language (images, motifs, poetic
devices and word choice)

I use connecting words, such as ‘Furthermore’, ‘Similarly’, ‘In

contrast’… and my paragraphs are cohesively linked.

I use strong verbs to direct the response.

Conclusion

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 I return to the question with a strong concluding statement that also
reflects my last sentence in the introduction.

MOD C: The craft of writing

You could be asked to write a discursive, persuasive, imaginative or
explanatory text. There could be two parts to the examination question in
Paper 2.
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You need to be able to evaluate and able to replicate the style, form,
structure and language of your prescribed texts.
Write for a range of audiences and purposes using language to convey
ideas and emotions with power and precision
Evaluate how writers use language creatively and imaginatively for a range
of purposes - insights, emotion and vision to shape perspectives
Appreciate, analyse and evaluate the power of language
Consider purpose, audience and context to deliberately shape meaning

HSC Examination

 One question that may contain up to two parts.

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  The question will require an imaginative, discursive, persuasive,
informative or reflective response.

Your answer will be assessed on how well you:

 craft language to address the demands of the question
 use language appropriate to audience, purpose and context to
deliberately shape meaning

Sample Questions

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1. “Someday we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they
are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get
in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to
you” (Maya Angelou).
a. Use this statement as a stimulus for the opening of a piece of
persuasive, discursive or imaginative writing that expresses your
perspective about the power of words. (10 marks)
b. Explain how one or more of your prescribed texts from Module C
reinforced your understanding of the importance of the power and
precision of language. (10 marks)
2. “The opening of text should immediately hook the responder if they
are going to be engaged emotionally and intellectually.”
a. Write the opening for a persuasive, discursive or imaginative text that
engages the reader emotionally and intellectually. (12 marks)

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b. Select the opening of one of your prescribed texts from either
Module A, B or C, and evaluate how this opening informed your
understanding of how to ‘hook’ the responder? (8 marks)
3. “Composers use unique voices to convey their key concerns.”
a. Compose an excerpt from a persuasive, discursive or imaginative text
that reflects the unique voice of one of your Module C prescribed
texts by using the same person and tense to convey a key concern.
(12 marks)
b. Explain how you have appropriated the unique voice of one of the
Module C prescribed texts. Ensure that you refer to the use of person
and tense. (8 marks)
4. “The context, perspective and purpose of a composer influence the
choices they make when constructing their texts and the insights they
wish to provoke.”

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a. Compose an excerpt from a persuasive, discursive or imaginative text
that conveys a significant insight that you gained from studying one
of your prescribed texts in Module C and reflects an intended
purpose and your perspective and context. (12 marks)
b. Justify your choice of text form and insight, and explain how they
reflect your purpose, perspective and context? (8 marks)
5. “Graffiti or street art is often designed to express a concern or
question what is happening in society.”

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a. Create the setting for an
imaginative piece of writing
that incorporates graffiti or
street art as a central focus.
Ensure that a key concern is
evident. You must use two key
language techniques from one
of your Module C prescribed
texts. (10 marks)
b. Explain how you used the
graffiti as a central focus and
why you chose the two key

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 language techniques from one of your Module C prescribed texts. (10
marks)

Marking
Guidelines

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 Marking
Guidelines

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 Imaginative responses

Show don’t tell. Focus on appealing to the senses through imagery.

Listen to the sound and rhythm of your language.
Verbs are the muscles of writing.
Employ a variety of sentence beginnings and sentence lengths.
Use a range of poetic devices to craft evocative imagery.
Create tension and contrast – think about how you can introduce paradox,
inconsistencies or anomalies.
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Practice composing settings, a key incident, an opening or closing, a
moment that introduces a character.
Verbal cinema: Open with an extreme close-up and then draw back to a
medium shot…use mise-en-scene to create a room or a place.
Synaesthesia: colour, sound, smell…
Discursive responses

Can use personal anecdotes

Can present multiple or different perspectives of an idea or experience
Discusses an issue or an idea
Draws upon real life experiences
Uses engaging imagery and language features
Could begin with an event, an anecdote or relevant quote that is then used

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to explore the idea
Can end with a reflective resolution

Persuasive responses
Cohesive and focused line of argument
Deliberate choice of form, structure and language
Rhetoric: repetition, tricolon, emotive language, allusions, rhetorical
questions, collective pronouns…
Factual references and supporting evidence, such as references to experts
or statistics
Appeals to reason and emotions
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 Explanatory responses

Requires you to describe or explain, analyse, justify and evaluate

Retrospective and personal
Supported by clear analytical examples
Makes connections between what you have learned and your practice
Conveys a deep understanding and appreciation of what, why and how you
have written
Demonstrates a deep understanding of how the prescribed texts have
shaped your writing.

Informative responses
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Primary purpose is to provide information
Include reports, explanations and descriptions
Features specific factual evidence
Usually in the present tense
Vocabulary
Verbs: Elevate the style of your writing through the verbs!

conveys proffers ascribes promulgates evinces

represents advances affirms validates opines
posits substantiates challenges confirms predicates
expounds clarifies amplifies espouses enlightens

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Connectives: Create cohesion through connectors!

In contrast alternatively furthermore moreover

Is analogous In comparison similarly correspondingly
conversely nevertheless additionally
Syntax – sentence structure
Simple Basic elements of a sentence - a subject, a verb, and an
sentence object. E.g. ‘You will always be in the dark.’
Compound A sentence made up of two independent clauses (or
sentence complete sentences) connected to one another with
a coordinating conjunction, such as ‘but’, ‘and’, ‘or’, ’yet’,
‘so’,’ for’- E.g. ‘The tiny interior of the shop was in fact
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 uncomfortably full, but there was almost nothing in it of
the slightest value.’
Complex A sentence made up of an independent clause and
sentence one or more dependent clauses connected to it. A
dependent clause is similar to an independent clause,
or complete sentence, but it lacks one of the elements
that would make it a complete sentence. E.g. ‘He was
going to buy some beer when the old man suddenly
got up.’ Common subordinating conjunctions: ‘after’,
‘although’, ‘as’, ‘because’, ‘before’, ‘even though’, ‘if’,
‘since’, ‘though’, ‘unless’, ‘until’, ‘when’, ‘whenever’,
‘whereas’, ‘wherever’, ‘while’
Declarative Makes a statement - E.g. ‘We are the dead!’
sentence

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Truncated or An incomplete sentence – E.g. ‘Of all the horrors in the
fractured world – a rat!’
sentence
Exclamatory Expresses a strong feeling –E.g. ‘I am correct!’
sentence
Rhetorical A question that is designed to provoke thought rather
question than require an answer.
Imperative Gives a command. The sentence begins with a verb. E.g.
sentence ‘Do your work!’
Anastrophe An inversion of the normal word order, where elements
of a sentence are completely back to front from
convention
Disjunction Beginning a sentence with ‘yet’ or ‘but’ to shift the mood
or provoke thought by dramatically disrupting the
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 sentence
Hyperbaton Words placed in a sentence in an unconventional order
Ellipsis A dramatic pause or suggesting that there is more that
has been left unsaid …
Anaphora Repetition of a word at the start of more than one
sentence
Anadiplosis Repetition of a word at the end of more than one
sentence
Polysyndeton Repetition of a conjunction or connecting word such as
‘and’ to join a series of sentences
Epizeuxis The repetition of a word with no others between
Conduplicatio The repetition of a word or words in adjacent phrases or
clauses, either to amplify the thought or to express
emotion.
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Epistrophe Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences
with the same word or words. The opposite of anaphora.

NESA glossary

describe To provide characteristics or features

explain To state what is said and provide why and/or how
analyse To explain how and why meaning is represented
express To convey original ideas about Discovery
evaluate To justify the merits of a statement or judge the value
of a text
discuss Identify issues and provide points for and/or against
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appreciate Make a judgement about the value of
interpret Draw meaning from a text
assess Make a judgement of value or quality
identify Recognise and name

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