English Revision Classes for Year 12 Mainstream English to Prepare for the English Exam on October 29, 2024

From Term 4 Monday October 7 to Monday October 28, 2024 I am running one-on-one revision classes for Year 12 Mainstream English to prepare for the October 29 English Exam in Week 4 of Term 4.

All Classes are online using Zoom

The texts I will be covering are for Section A in the Exam:

  • Sunset Boulevard film by Director Billy Wilder
  • Oedipus the King play by Sophocles
  • Chronicle of a Death Foretold novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • Much Ado About Nothing play by William Shakespeare
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle novel by Shirley Jackson
  • The Memory Police novel by Yoko Ogawa
  • Go Went Gone novel by Jenny Erpenbeck
  • Bad Dreams short stories by Tessa Hadley
  • False Claims of Colonial Thieves poetry by Kinsella & Papertalk Green

Fees for one-on-one Lessons = $80 per 1 hour

Lessons include notes on the texts with essay scaffolding of prompts

Contact me to discuss a revision class tailor-made just for you:

Via email = margaretnmorris@gmail.com

Revision for the VCE English Exams Year 12 for 2024

This Resource is for Year 12 Students studying the VCE Curriculum in Victoria and who are preparing revision for the Year 12 English Exam on Tuesday 29th October, 2024.

Revision Strategies

There is no doubt that everyone learns and studies differently and the best revision plan is to find what works for you and not anyone else.  The important element in revision is to start planning on the September school holidays from 21 Sept to 6 Oct and your revision then should continue when you return to school for Term 4 on Monday 7th October, 2024 for the last 3 weeks of Term 4. 

Don’t leave your revision until the week before the English Exam. Unless you have a photographic memory, and not many people do, you will be just cramming knowledge into your head and possibly confusing yourself instead of using a sustained revision plan.

My Suggested Revision Plan is:

  1. Re-read the texts again from Reading & Creating Texts – if one of your texts is a film, then watch the film again
  2. Read past exam papers from VCAA with the Assessor’s comments for Sections A & C and look carefully at the high-level essays and what the Assessors said about why they were of a high standard. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Page
  3. Hand-write your notes, don’t type them, then you can practice writing as the Exam is 3 hours of writing so you need to build up your hand writing skills.
  4. For each text or film start with summarising the plot / characters / themes / ideas / values of the authors/directors / narrative structure / language / symbols & motifs / film techniques / memorise at least 10 quotes from each text.
  5. Look at as many prompts for essays as possible.  I suggest you look at resources such as Insight / VATE / NEAP for prompts on topics you have not written essays on before.
  6. Plan an essay topic – then walk away and come back later to hand-write the essay without looking at your plan.  Make sure you stick to the 1-hour time limit.  Put your mobile phone timer on and keep to the time.  Then get your Plan out and see if you missed important issues in your essay.  That means you need to learn those elements carefully (self-assessment).
  7. Don’t try to write several 3-hour exams – it is better to break the essays up into 3 separate hours – if you keep on sitting 3 hours exams you can burn out by the time the exam takes place.  Please don’t do this.  Think more holistically about your own brain and body and then you will not stress or burn out before the exams.

The English Exam

Consists of 3 Sections that takes 3 hours to complete (plus 15 minutes reading time at the start of the exam).  Make sure you have a watch that you can put on the table and note the times you will use for each essay – 1 hour each.  To score well in the exam you need to demonstrate your skills and knowledge in each of the Sections.  Section A will be knowledge and understanding with analysis of the topic prompt for your single text studied.  Section B will be writing a creative piece that meets the criteria for your specific Crafting & Creating Texts Frameworks. Section C will be understanding of the arguments presented and language and visual features presented to persuade.

My suggested plan to attack the Exam is:

  1. During the 15 minutes reading time:
    1. Go to Section A and look at the 2 prompts.  Pick one that you are familiar with the topic and in a brief 2 minutes plan what you will write for the essay in your head.
    2. Go next to Section B and look at the titles and stimulus statements relevant to your Crafting Text Framework.  In a brief 2 minutes plan in your head how you will incorporate the title and stimulus statement into your creative writing you have pre-prepared for the exam.
    3. Go lastly to Section C and read the ‘Background Box’ on the first page and then read the articles for a first reading.  Next reading look at where the Main Contention is and the arguments and language around the arguments.  Pay attention to the author and the title, tone and if it changes, persuasive techniques and how they are used by the author to position readers.  If there are visuals look at where they are placed in the article and what argument are they next to.  Establish the main contention of the visual and how it aligns with the author’s article.
  2. When the 15 minutes reading time is up and you can ‘pick up your pens’:
    1. Go to Section A and pick that prompt you decided on – take 3 minutes to write a brief plan (which you had thought of in your head in the reading time and now you can write the plan properly) that includes your 3 ideas from the prompt – at least at this stage the plan will still be in your head and will definitely help when you get to Section A – don’t write anything else or waste too much time at this stage
    2. Go to Section B and note the title and pick the stimulus statement you decided on – take 3 minutes to write a brief plan how you will incorporate the title and stimulus statement into your pre-prepared piece (which you had thought of in your head in the reading time and now you can write the plan properly) – at least at this stage the plan will still be in your head and will definitely help when you get to Section B – don’t write anything else or waste too much time at this stage
    3. Go back to Section C and read the article again, this time with your pen, annotating the arguments (MC= Main Contention / A1 = Argument 1 etc), language, techniques and how the author positions the readers to Think (Logos) / Feel (Pathos) / Do (Ethos) something.
    4. Keep to the time for each essay and try to not go ‘overboard’ with Section C first and cut yourself short for the other 2 essays.  Check your watch, have you stayed within the first hour so you can then go on to Section A and write that essay, check your watch again, then go on to Section B and write that creative piece. 
    5. If you finish ahead of the 3 hours, go back to each piece of writing and make sure you have written a proper Conclusion for Section A.  If you are short of time when writing the essay in Section A then dot point your Conclusion.  At least the Assessors will know what you wanted to say for your Conclusion.  If you have an empty space, the Assessors can’t mind read what you wanted to conclude.

TO ALL MY YEAR 12 STUDENTS I HAVE TUTORED THIS YEAR

ALL THE VERY BEST FOR THE EXAMS

IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE TO TEACH YOU

All Resources created by englishtutorlessons.com.au Online Tutoring using Zoom for Year 12 VCE Mainstream English Students in the Victorian Curriculum

Sentence Starters & Other Useful Words for Analytical Essays

This Resource is for Mainstream English Year 12 Students writing Analytical Essays for Reading and Responding to Texts AOS1 Units 3 & 4 in the SAC and VCE English Exam Section A.

It is a good idea to vary the type of words you use to write an analytical essay for Section A in the VCE English Exam. Below are helpful ways to introduce your essays, body paragraphs, conclusions and other alternative words so that your essay flows with a higher level metalanguage.

To introduce
This essay discusses … … is explored … … is defined …
The definition of … will be given … is briefly outlined … … is explored …
The issue focused on …. … is demonstrated … … is included …
In this essay ….. … is explained … … are identified …
The key aspect discussed … … are presented … … is justified …
Views on …. range from …. … is evaluated … … is examined …
The central theme … … is described … … is analysed …
Emphasised are … … is explained and illustrated with examples …  

Introduction Starters Lines
In (title), (author) explores the idea of (theme/idea) through (technique/character/setting) (title) by (author) contends/argues/suggests that
Set in … (title) examines/explores/questions
The central idea of (concept/idea) is the tension/conflict between
At the centre of (title) is the tension/conflict between
The viewpoint/perspective of (character) reveals to the reader/audience that
Throughout (title), (author) utilises/exploits/employs (technique) in order to (character) embodies the qualities of … through their (character) demonstrates this idea/these values by
Similar/opposing qualities are displayed by (character) who
The relationship between (character) and (character) can be seen as representing the tension between While the actions of most of the characters suggest that … the behaviour of (character) demonstrates The journey/transformation from … to … highlights the values of
Ultimately (title) highlights/reveals/exposes  

Body Paragraphs
As shown by (textual evidence), (what the textual evidence suggests or implies)
This is significant/revealing because …
Furthermore/Moreover, (textual evidence) also supports the idea that …
In contrast/However, (textual evidence) implies/reveals that …
Although, (counterargument), (argument)
The sense of … pervades the opening of the text, suggesting that …
The image/motif of … symbolises the idea of …
It is at this point that the tension between … and … becomes explicit, showing the need for …
This is seen most clearly when …, highlighting …      

Body Paragraphs to explain effects of language
affects / illustrates / reinforces / characterises / impacts on / reveals / demonstrates / implies / subverts / exemplifies / portrays / underscores  

To conclude
In summary, … To review, … In conclusion, …
In brief, … To summarise, … To sum up, …
To conclude, … Thus, it is evident that … Hence, …
It has been shown that, … In short, … Therefore, …
As a result, … In light of … Consequently, …
Clearly, … On the whole,… This demonstrates …
Finally, … Overall … Given these points …
Ultimately, … The evidence supports … Taken together …
In conclusion, it is clear that (restate contention)
Overall, the evidence supports the idea that (contention)
Given these points, it is evident that …
Taken together, the arguments presented demonstrate that …
Thus, it is evident that … 

Alternatives to presents
conveys / explores / implies / demonstrates / illustrates / indicates / signals / suggests        

Alternatives to presents positively
advocates / endorses / promotes / recommends / supports

Alternatives to presents negatively
challenges / condemns / critiques / exposes / questions

To compare and contrast
Similarly, … In the same way … Likewise, …
In comparison … Complementary to this … Then again, …
However, … This is in contrast to … In contrast, …
And yet … Nevertheless, … Conversely, …
On the contrary, … On the other hand, … Notwithstanding …
Whereas … In contrast to … That aside, …
While this is the case … … disputes … Despite this, …        

To add ideas
Also, … Equally important … Subsequently, …
Furthermore, … Moreover, … As well as ….
Next… Another essential point… Additionally, …
More importantly, … In the same way … Another …
Then, … In addition, … Besides, … Then again, …
Firstly, … secondly, … thirdly, … finally, … To elaborate, …  

To present uncommon or rare ideas
Seldom … Few … Not many …
A few … … is uncommon … is scarce …
Rarely … … is rare … … is unusual …  

To present common or widespread ideas
Numerous … Many … More than …
Several … Almost all … The majority …
Most … Commonly … Significant … …
Is prevalent … is usual … Usually …  

To present inconclusive ideas
Perhaps … may be … … might be …
There is limited evidence for … … is debated … … is possibly …
Could … may include …    

To give examples
For example, … … as can be seen in … … supports …
An illustration of … … as demonstrated by … … is observed …
Specifically, … is shown … exemplifies …
Such as … As an example … To illustrate, …
For instance, …      

To show relationships or outcome
Therefore … As a result … For that reason …
Hence, … Otherwise, … Consequently, …
The evidence suggests/shows … It can be seen that … With regard to …
After examining …. These factors contribute to … It is apparent that …
Considering … it can be concluded … Subsequently, …. The effect is …
The outcome is … The result … The correlation …
The relationship … The link … The convergence …
The connection … interacts with … Both ….
affects … Thus it is … … causes …
influences … predicts … … leads to …
informs … presupposes … emphasises …
demonstrates … impacts on … supports …  

To present prior or background ideas
In the past, … Historically, … Traditionally, …
Customarily, … Beforehand, … Originally, …
Prior to this, … Earlier, … Formerly, …
Previously, … Over time, … At the time of …
Conventionally, … Foundational to this is … In earlier …
Initially, … At first, … Recently …
Until now, … The traditional interpretation …    

To present others’ ideas
According to … Based on the findings of … it can be argued… … proposed that …
As explained by … … states that … … claims that …
However, … stated that … … suggested … … concluded that …
Similarly, … stated that …. … for example, … … agreed that …
Based on the ideas of … … defined …. as …. … relates …
As identified by … … disputed that … … contrasts …
With regard to … argued that … … concluded that … … confirmed that …
argues …. highlights … demonstrates …
found that … identifies … wrote that … demonstrated …
also … reported …. pointed out that …
maintained that … hypothesised that … … expressed the opinion that …
also mentioned …. asserts that …. identified …
goes on to state/suggest/say … emphasises … challenges the idea ….
showed that … explored the idea …
 

All Resources created by englishtutorlessons.com.au Online Tutoring using Zoom for Mainstream English students in the Victorian VCE Curriculum