HSC English Standard - Module A – Q&A | State Library of New South Wales

How do we know what quotes to memorise if there are many different possible aspects they could ask including: affirm, ignore, reveal, challenge or disrupt prevailing assumptions?

Those words are there so that all the texts on the HSC list for Module A are covered.

Find a few quotes which show more than one thing and could be used in different ways depending on how you shape the argument.

Here’s an example from the short story ‘Shooting the Moon’ by Henry Lawson. Here's the full quote:

'Look here, mate, why didn’t you come straight to me, and tell me how you was fixed, instead of sneaking round the trouble in that fashion? There’s no occasion for it.' (This is where someone is trying to sneak off without paying for his accommodation but the pub owner catches him and is kind.)

I could take parts of the quote to say different things:

The idea of egalitarianism as a foundation for Australian identity challenges contemporary ideas. Apart from the government, in Lawson's Australia and in Lawson's characters, equality and understanding are aspects of what it means to belong to the newly formed Australian culture.
When characters are caught doing a moonlight flit, or 'shooting the moon', the publican is kind, insisting that 'There's no occasion for it.' The idea of no reason (occasion) for having to sneak away challenges our assumptions, as we expect the perpetrator to be in trouble with the law.
The Australian language, idiomatic phrases and ideas used by Lawson are firmly embedded in our national psyche.
The distinction between friend and mate, especially, affirms Australian ideas about our culture. While 'Look here, mate' aligns to contemporary views of mateship, language such as 'in that fashion' reveals that Lawson’s Australia was still firmly tied to colonial roots.

One quote, used two ways and in two different arguments. BUNDLE quotes under headings and see if you can use them more than once.

Can we be asked to write an essay on a specific poem?

Yes – at least as a springboard into discussing ideas. Remember, this module is not a study of texts by themselves but how those texts illuminate ideas in the module.

If we are running out of time at the end of the exam, can we dot point the ideas we wanted to elaborate on?

Yes – you can and it is absolutely better than leaving it blank.

The markers want to give you marks not 'deduct' them. It will preclude you from the higher bands because one criteria in the marking is about structure and cohesion.

What should we do if we get thrown off by the essay question? What if it asks us to discuss a theme we had no previous experience with?

Synonyms will be your friend. If the question asks you to write about division within culture and you have only ever studied themes like mateship and a fair go, what arguments can be saved?

Mateship always implies someone who is not a mate – that's your cultural division right there. If you studied 'a fair go', look at who is not getting a fair go and that’s your cultural division. Culture is not always 'other cultures' but 'other groups with different beliefs'.

If the question asks about language and how it demonstrates cultural ideals but you studied a film, don't panic – it just means ‘What film techniques were used to show the ideas about culture that the composer wanted you to know?.’

What is similar to what you have studied? Keep your cool and know that you will be able to do this.

How do you effectively answer a comparison between two or more poems?

In standard you are not comparing poems. You are picking a few big ideas on culture and identity and matching parts of the poems to those ideas.

I learnt Pygmalion at school – is it recommended for us to write three body paragraphs, or two in greater depth? I tend to run out of time if I attempt to write three body paragraphs in the exam.