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1. Don't focus just on ideas and avoid language engagement.
Language engagement is every bit as important as ideas. Sometimes, when you get stuck in philosophical musings, you might find yourself in a place where you're spouting on and on about solipsism or the intrinsic desire for independence in the 19th century Norwegian working class. Literature essays are all about finding balance, and here, that balance means language engagement. Whether you are writing about literary criticism or a passage analysis, you have to be able to support your interpretations with textual evidence.
Often, this requires some creative thinking. You can have a lot of fun with it and the examiners like you to pick up on small details and connect it to a grander scope.
Here's an example from Jane Eyre.
“my eyes seemed as if they had beheld the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple.”
“I was not surprised...to feel...the breathing of a fresh and fragrant breeze...The rooks cawed, and blither birds sang; but nothing was so merry or so musical as my own rejoicing heart.”
In this passage, Jane is rejoicing over her marriage proposal, but readers are led to understand that this may be a false, idealistic dream of hers. Note the patterns of alliteration – the fricative 'f' shifting to the plosive 'b' in “fount of fruition” and “borrowed beams” then again from “fresh and fragrant breeze” to “blither birds”. What could it possibly mean?
Fricatives tend to indicate freedom, whereas plosives tend to indicate an abruptness – a harsh change. Perhaps, Jane's wild, free joy is immediately followed by plosive alliteration so as to illustrate how her happiness is cut short and her dream is a false one – she will attempt to achieve freedom through this romance, but she will be abruptly and unceremoniously prevented from attaining it.
Regardless, in any passage, there are always things to talk about and little language quirks to exploit to figure out an interpretation. Start from these little details, and build out and out until you tackle your big ideas. All of these ideas should be rooted in language.
2. Don't prioritise complicated language over ideas.
Often, when you think that expressive, complicated writing takes priority over ideas in Literature, you tend to end up with flowery material that becomes more convoluted than it is effective. If you are one of those people (I know it's hard) but kill your darlings. Focus on coming up with original ideas, and express them clearly. Cut out redundancies. Be expressive in a way that is natural and in a way where you know that first and foremost, your language is accurate. Don't go around using metaphors purely for the sake of sounding intellectual when you can express something equally eloquently and beautifully with simpler, fluent text.
Remember: this is not to say that you shouldn't be expressive in Literature. In fact, writing style and the ability to write well is a fundamental component to doing well in this subject. It is just vital that you strike the right balance. This is a good lesson to learn sooner rather than later - and you'll be steering into prime territory for the exam.
3. Don't treat Literature like an English essay. Be free!
Good Literature essays generally tend to be more lively and expressive than English essays. Why? Because Literature just doesn't operate under the same criteria, and it shouldn't be treated as such.
Don't feel like putting in an introduction/conclusion? No need! Don't feel like sticking to a TEEL structure? No problem!
Your focus is creating writing that moves along at a natural, expressive pace, moving through textual evidence to broader ideas. You don't have a structure. You don't have a paragraph quota. You have free reign over a lot of how you write your Literature essays – so find out what works for you.
4. Come up with original interpretations and don't stick with popular readings.
Literature is one of very few subjects in the entirety of VCE that rewards original thinking. You don't need to go with the crowd consensus on how to read your text: as long as you have the evidence to support your reading! The examiners will reward complex, creative, and unique ideas. Every passage analysis you write should be approached with a fresh perspective – base your interpretation around the text in front of you, and not a dogmatic set of ideas that you bring with you.
5. Let the text before you provide you with the ideas, don't force your ideas into the text.
By reading literary criticism and expanding the scope of your ideas, you can apply original readings to each set of passages you have. Your essays stand out when they cover new, uncharted territory.
Literature is all about balance. If you can find it in you to balance language engagement, interpretation, and writing style, I'd say you have yourself a pretty good essay.
Remember not to fall into any of the common traps of the subject, and you'll have put yourself on solid footing to become a true literati.
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So there’s approximately a month to go before the Literature exam. Nervous? Confident? Over it?! You might be thinking that they best way to study up until the exam is to just churn out essays after essays after essays. This is a common misconception, and may even hurt your chances for the exam. You want your essays to be ‘fresh’ with original insight, not stale pieces that sound like you’ve written this a hundred times and you’re getting bored. Here are a few tips on how to study for the exam while still keeping your mind activated about Literature!
Critique critical commentary
Google critical commentary on your text. You might pick up a new insight or perspective that you’ve never thought of. These can help you inform your own original and individual interpretation of the text. It is important to note that while reading critical commentary is incredibly useful in providing ‘clever’ interpretations, examiners are really looking for your own interpretation – not a regurgitated version of other people’s analyses. Rather than passively reading critical commentary, critique it yourself! Acknowledge and file away its good points, but also form your own stance with whether you agree or disagree with that point of view. Ask yourself why that is your perspective. Developing this critical analysis skill is extremely valuable, and will put you in the mindset for the exam to provide your own original interpretation that pushes the boundaries and the envelope.
Choose random passages and annotate
Close your eyes and pick a random a couple of passages from your text. Photocopy them, print them, however you like, but the most important thing is to spend time annotating them in as much detail as possible. Focus on analysing the language for how the author constructs the text to create meaning. Note sentences that can link to the wider text. This really forces you to analyse the most random passage in the text in extreme detail, which you might have skipped over in class or in your own reading, because it might not have seemed important at the time. Who knows, the exam could throw in a surprise passage that students might not have thought to study in great detail, and you have because you’ve been analysing passages at random – not just the major key events!
Examiner reports and word bank
Look through VCAA examiner reports for sample excerpts from high scoring responses. Highlight words and phrases that sound ‘good’ – and adapt them to use yourself! There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration (stealing) from the examiner reports essays… after all they’re there for you to learn from. Key: you’re drawing inspiration from words, not ideas or sentences – otherwise that’s just plagiarism and won’t help at all. Create a word bank of vocabulary that suit your texts, which can be a great prompter when you’re struggling to think of a word that accurately expresses on paper what you want to say in your mind.
Timed conditions
The biggest issue with every literature student in the exam is timing. There’s always so many things you want to write and include, that it is simply not possible to include everything. Time yourself. Practice writing in timed conditions. Be disciplined with your time – going over time for the first essay to include maybe one more good point, is to sacrifice finishing your second essay.
Exams are without a doubt a stressful period of time for all VCE students, and it can be easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with expectations, wanting to prove yourself and balancing the workload of your other exams. Find time to do small things to benefit yourself for the exam without compromising your mental power (after a very long marathon). Good luck and believe in yourself!
Ahhh school holidays. The perfect two weeks to catch up on homework and forget about the stresses of school. Now, this scenario isn’t what the majority of our school holidays actually look like. For some, school holidays present a challenge whereby we don’t have direct access to our teachers to ask for help and we ultimately find ourselves in a bit of a ‘motivation downslide’.
Personally, the school holidays were a great time for me to go through all the concepts that I found tricky during the term. Yet, I always found myself running into a bit of trouble with what I like to call ‘the procrastination jungle’, especially with English. So, here are a few tips that can help you find some sparks of motivation for when you feel like there is simply no road ahead.
1: Write Down/Outline/Revisit Your Goals
Often the best way to figure out how you’re travelling through the year is to pause, breathe and reflect back (cue Disney’s Mulan, Reflection) on what was a busy and hectic term.
I always found it useful to revisit some of my previous goals that I had set for myself and tick them off if I had accomplished them. For instance, a goal that I had for the start of Term 2 was to ask my teachers more questions about concepts that I was still unsure of. When it came to the Term 2 holidays, I revisited this goal and was able to tick it off which gave me an incredible sense of achievement and reassured me that I was on track to finish the year off with a score that I was going to be super proud of in the end.
You might be asking, ‘what if I haven’t written down any goals throughout the year?’ Not to worry! It is never too late to start contemplating what your objectives are for the year. In fact, use this time now during the start of your holidays as a stepping stone to building up a habit of doing just this. This will help you tremendously in defining your journey towards accomplishing your aspirations and offer you perspective on any improvement areas you may need to address in your subjects.
But, how exactly are you supposed to make goals? Some may say that this process is somewhat ‘tedious’, but I’m here to help take the guesswork out of making, revisiting and addressing your goals using the ‘SMART’ technique:
Be specific (S) and measurable(M) with your goal → Maybe your aim is to get a 90+ ATAR by the end of Year 12 or maybe your goal is to improve your grade average from 80% to 85%. No matter what your goal is, be sure to make note of what needs to be accomplished and what steps need to be taken to achieve it. Let’s have a look at an example:
‘My goal before the end of Term 3 is to have written one English Essay for all of my novels every week and have it marked by my teacher’.
Notice how to the point this is? I’ve mentioned exactly what it is that I want to see completed, by when and the frequency - ‘one essay per week’.
Is your goal going to be achievable (A) and is it going to be relevant (R)? → While goal setting might encourage you to be ambitious, sometimes we need to take a step back and think to ourselves, is this goal realistic and is it relevant to what you personally want to achieve at the end of an academic year? Let’s have a look at another example:
‘My goal before the end of term is to read all four of my novels three times a week, write 10 essays for each novel every week and complete a three-hour practice exam every second day of every week’
Now I know what you’re thinking, anything is possible if you put your mind to it, but writing 10 essays for each novel and completing a three-hour practice exam every week?! Not only is this goal simply not realistic, but what relevance is this goal going to have when you’ll inevitably feel burnt out and tired from writing all those essays!
And last but not least, when will your goal be completed? This point stresses the importance of ensuring that your goal is realistic and attainable so that you can achieve it within a given time frame (T). We’ve been specifying in our examples that we would like to complete our goals by the end of the term but feel free to critically consider how long your goal may take in reality. Is the goal of wanting to improve your Language Analysis skills really going to be achieved within a matter of days?
2: Look for Gaps in Your Understanding
Pinpointing what you still need to go through and what you’ve already mastered is guaranteed to save you time and effort studying when it comes to SACs and eventually the exam. By doing this, you’ll feel a sense of control and direction when you begin another term, without experiencing the often icky feeling of being lost and unsure.
The way that I went about this was to:
1) Source the study design for each of your subjects (you can do this by going to the VCAA website) and either print them or have them saved onto your desktop. 2) Read through the study design and start to familiarise yourself with the dot points and what you have already covered in class. 3) Go through the study design and, using highlighters or coloured pens, come up with a colour coordinating system. I personally opted for:
Red = areas that you’re still unsure about and need further improvement
Green = areas of mastery
Orange = areas of the study design where you’re in the middle and could do with some polishing up
4) Link your existing notes to the study design dot points and if you haven’t already covered a particular dot point in your notes, take the time to study and add these in.
3: Pomodoro Technique
If you didn’t believe in magic before then you definitely will with the Pomodoro Technique. I used this method religiously back in Year 12 and still do at University. It involves breaking up your study into bite-size chunks whereby you complete intervals of 50 minutes of study followed by a 10-minute break. After every 3-4 cycles, add in a 20-minute break.
Let’s have a look at an example of my typical morning back in Year 12:
11:50am -12:10pm: An extended break! Make some lunch and play with my dog
What I love about this is that it enables you to break up the work into manageable pieces so that you focus solely on one task before taking a well-deserved break. This ensures that you don’t burn out from constantly studying without scheduling time for relaxation, recovery and recharge.
How you use your break time is completely up to you. Do anything to take your mind off your work for a few minutes before diving back into your studies!
4: Prioritise Your Mental and Physical Health
While it may feel productive to be studying and revisiting content covered in previous terms, there is no understating the importance of taking the time to practice good habits that improve your mental and physical health.
Consider taking your dog for a walk while listening to a few songs along the way, or going to your local swimming pool and doing a few laps! Anything to get your body moving will help to ensure that you break your routine up a little bit and experience something different to the often mundane task of studying and completing work. Maybe also get your friends involved too! You can try organising a volleyball game or whatever activity you are all keen on!
5: Don’t Compare Your Motivation Levels to Others
Everyone is sitting somewhere different on the motivation scale. Some may be extremely motivated to reread their texts, write up essay plans, write timed essays, etc. and others may find it difficult to achieve consistent motivation all the time, and that’s okay. To feel motivated all the time is failing to step back and reflect on how far you’ve come as a person in your personal journey.
Often it is when we compare ourselves to others and say ‘but look at how motivated they are’ or ‘they’ve already done so many practice exams and are going to get a really good study score’ that we fall into this trap of finding ‘flaws’ within ourselves. Comparing your diligence and beliefs in terms of your studies to others is only ever going to do you harm. Focus on your own journey and know that it is absolutely necessary to not expect to be motivated to study all the time. It’s simply not realistic.
6: Remind Yourself That This Won’t Go on Forever
The powerful verse ‘this too shall pass’ is something I had to always remind myself of back when I was in Year 12. Months and months of SACs, practice exams and feeling burnt out felt like an eternity and it started to impact my own sense of willingness to continue my personal academic journey. If it gives you any reassurance, however, know that one day you’ll look back on this chapter of your life with nothing but memories and perhaps even have a laugh or two at how young you were in your school photos!
Let’s be honest. Life is crazy right now; everything we know has been completely flipped due to COVID-19 and there’s no denying it. Students studying Station Eleven must be feeling a little creeped out! Everything is changing so quickly as decisions are being made on a daily basis, but as of right this moment, we are in lockdown: schools are shut, gatherings are banned and most of our parents are working from home. Most of us are wondering: how will we be able to reach our teachers? What about my friends? How can I study effectively without being in class? Here are some things to remember whilst enduring the pandemic...
First of all, we are allin the same boat. Nobody in the state will be going to school until at least 13th of April, and between you and me, it’ll probably be longer. You are not alone and certainly we will all get through this together.
For those who are doubting how school will function without physical attendance, remember how far our society has come with technology! Schools across the state are finding ways to optimise your learning. From Zoom to Microsoft Teams and Skype, schools are utilising fantastic platforms to help you learn. All you need is an internet connection and a willingness to learn and you’re all set. Furthermore, teachers are usually available over email and if you’re anything like me, you’re constantly reaching out to teachers for help — and I highly recommend it! Ask for help, ask for more resources, ask for advice and guidance.
Finally, if you feel like you need some extra help, private tuition is also a great way to make sure you’re on the right track and moving towards your dream results. LSG has a great private tuition program where you’ll find amazing help online from dedicated and tech-savvy high achievers. They’ll be your tutor, motivator and mentor all in one! Just because there’s no actual school, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to learn effectively.
If you'd like to learn more about LSG's Private Tutoring program, head over here — we'd love to chat!
I know it’s easy to think,
“I can’t study at home, I always get distracted by my sibling, my cat, my parents, YouTube, games and food I just procrastinate too much!”
For me, Year 12 was full of bursts of intense focus and longer bursts of procrastination. I tried so hard to focus but sometimes, Netflix was just too tempting! However, there are a few tips that kept me in check (especially during the holidays) and helped me to do well in the end. Hopefully, they can help you too!
It’s so important to have a consistent routine. This will help you direct your focus to what matters and form consistent study habits. You can even follow your school timetable if that helps! This will integrate study times for certain subjects and also appropriate break times.
Routines also help with stress. You can wake up every day and not have to think about what you are going to do that day — just follow your routine! This will work wonders in helping you to manage all your subjects, homework and socialising needs.
When building a routine, start small and build your way up. Start your day by waking up at a certain time, or scheduling when you’ll eat or even deciding when you’ll do exercise. Studies have shown that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I know this is a while, but if you can stick with one or two small routine changes in your life, it will make a huge difference!
There are a few things to remember when creating your own routine!
• Don’t plan out every second of every day. This will make you feel like a robot with no freedom and you’ll get bored very quickly.
• Have a basic routine that can be adapted to everyday needs! This kind of links back to the previous point, if you plan every second, you won’t be able to be adaptable and spontaneous
• Have break time, downtime and exercise time!
For some more advice on work/study/life balance, check out Lisa's interview with LSG Content Manager Matt here.
2. Set specific tasks to get done everyday (to-do lists)
If you create a list to get done everyday, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment that will both motivate you to study harder and to stay focussed to reach your goals! This also ensures that you are staying on track and that you’re on top of all subjects and homework. By keeping track of what needs to be done and when, your stress levels will be reduced because everything is written down — so, when you have some time to relax, you can actually relax. Your to-do list will act as your ‘second brain’ that you can return to when you’re refreshed and ready to study.
Ensure that your to-do lists are specific. Rather than writing “study for English”, which really doesn’t tell you anything, write tasks like, “quote sheet for English” and “summary book for circular function for Methods”. Then, you know what each task expects of you and what it will look like when it’s finished.
If you’re following your school timetable, make sure that in your scheduled time to study a particular subject you have a list of things to do, otherwise, you’ll be sitting at your desk thinking about what you should be doing instead of actually studying!
3. Use apps that help with productivity/procrastination
There are hundreds of apps that help with productivity, organisation and procrastination. Here are a list of some of my personal favourites:
Forest (procrastination)
• Forest grows trees when you aren’t using your phone, and everytime you open it, a tree dies. This helps to prevent you from dawdling on social media too much. • Just turn it on before you start studying and you’ll feel a little grief every time you open your phone because trees will die.
Todoist (productivity)
• Todoist helps create to do lists and alerts you with tasks you need to get done. There are plenty of apps that do this, so have a look and find one that suits you and your needs best.
Mindly (organisation)
• Mindly helps organise your internal thoughts! You can do pretty much anything from structuring thoughts, explore ideas, plan a speech and take notes! • This particularly works well for subjects like English and Lit that requires a lot of idea generation
4. Get dressed!
This may sound like a strange piece of advice, but it’s so tempting to stay in your pyjamas all day and lounge around. But, if you don’t change, you’ll constantly feel like you’re ready to sleep. Getting dressed in proper clothes helps change your mindset and make you feel ready for the day ahead: conquering every task that you set yourself! It sounds silly, but try it — it actually works.
Not to mention, the little things in life right now are the ones that matter the most. If you can’t do the little things, imagine tackling the bigger tasks in the world. So, start your day off well by doing the things you would normally do when preparing to leave the house.
5. Take breaks and exercise
It’s easy to become a sloth when you’re forced to stay home all day and just eat junk food all day, but remember: a healthy body = a healthy mind. It’s so important to take a break from intense studying period and get moving again. Whether that is doing some yoga, going for a run or just playing with your sibling/pet, it’s up to you. All of this is integral in maintaining your ability to concentrate and prevents burnout!
Doing exercise isn’t easy so if you have a particular routine where you schedule it in, you’ll build a great habit. If that’s not enough to get you up and moving, try incentivising yourself with a particular treat like an episode of your favourite TV show or a snack (a healthy one)! Do exercise that you enjoy.
6. Eat healthily
Eating healthily doesn't always mean eating clean 24/7. Rather, it means simply maintaining a balanced diet. Eat chocolate when you crave chocolate — but don’t go overboard. Try the 80/20 rule, 80% of the time you eat as healthily as possible and the other 20% of the time, you can treat yourself. If you eat healthily, you’ll feel great and be ready to tackle the day's work!
7. Physical distancing not social distancing
With all this talk of social distancing in the media, it’s hard to remember that this really means physical distancing. Please don’t forget to communicate with your friends and family. Use technology to your advantage! Facetime your friends and come up with activities you guys can do together virtually. Gaming is a great idea but as I’m not a gamer myself, my friends and I had a virtual baking challenge (not to brag but I definitely won!) Keep in virtual contact! This will help keep you sane in such crazy times.
8. Use your friends to your advantage
Whilst you might not have the in-person classroom interaction, you can still generate discussion with your friends online and even ask them for help. Remember that a group of minds will always be better than just one. Everyone is trying to stay on top of their learning anyway, so why not do it together?
Hopefully these tips will help you learn to be the best student you can be in this rough time! Remember to stay safe, stay home and stay dedicated to being the best version of yourself.
To quote a professor from one of the most famous schools ever:
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” — Albus Dumbledore
I’m sure a lot of you are sitting at home right now, excited but nervous about the year ahead. Let me be honest with you: year 12 is going to be tough. You’re only going to get out what you put in. There’s going to be stress and drama and unexpected turns. There’ll be long hours at the library and even more hours locked away in your room. But there’s also going to be fun and craziness and excitement. I know it’s a cliché, but this year truly is a marathon rather than a sprint, and you have to pace yourself. I know kids who went out way too hard and way too fast and by the middle of the year were completely burnt out. You want to be feeling fresh and ready by the time September comes around. There were a few things that really helped me to stay focused and sane during my final year of school, and I’d like to share them here with you. For me, these 6 factors were essential for staying happy and healthy, and they undoubtedly helped me to fulfil my potential during the VCE.
1. Routine – Have a solid, planned-out routine set up early in the year. Work out how much time you have outside of school and extra-curricular commitments. Schedule time each day for homework, study, revision. Schedule exercise, time with friends, and relaxation time for yourself. And after all that make sure you have still have time for a solid 8 hours of sleep! It’s important to make adjustments and revise your schedule if you find that it isn’t working out. I would suggest that sleep and relaxation time are two of the most important things on your timetable, so try not to cut them out! A regular routine will help keep you on track and make it easier to hit deadlines with minimal stress. It will also assist you in cutting out procrastination! If you’re ever overly stressed or feel like you need time off, it’s alright to take a night off! Just commit to it and really take the whole night off. Don’t think about work at all. Otherwise you’ll still be stressing and you won’t be able to properly relax.
2. Exercise – I cannot stress enough how important regular exercise can be for a VCE student. Given all the time spent on homework and study, I know it can sometimes seem difficult to squeeze anything else in. Trust me though, if you just find 30 minutes a day to go for a run, ride your bike, have a swim, play footy or whatever you like to do, you’ll be so much better for it. Your head will be clearer, you’ll have more focus, and you’ll be so much more productive in your study time. Exercise allows you to just shut your brain off and take some time out for yourself. It allows you to spend all that pent up energy that comes from sitting in the classroom all day. A tired body will mean a much better sleep too! It’s just 30 minutes. Drag yourself out of bed a little earlier in the morning, or schedule some time as soon as you get home from school. I promise you won’t regret it!
3. Sleep – Sleep is one of the key factors in having a good final school year. I know it can be tempting to pull all-nighters, cramming as much information into your head before SACs, exams and the like. This kind of thing can actually be counter-productive though. I’ll concede that sometimes it might be necessary to stay up late to get things done, but if you manage your time well there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to get a decent amount of sleep each night. I needed at least 8 hours a night to function properly; whatever your number is, make it a priority to get a solid sleep. Give yourself a cut-off point and stick to it. Just put your books away once it gets to a certain time. Studying on late into the night when you’re super tired can be a waste of time – the information is probably not really sticking in your head. Just stop and continue on the next day when you’re fresh and ready to learn again. I found it useful to take about 30 minutes before bed, just to chill out and unwind before you sleep. Watch TV, read a book, whatever you like to do to relax. Your head will be clear, and you’ll be able to get to sleep a lot quicker.
4. Socialising – Make sure you still find time to hang out with your friends during the year. Remember that you’re all going through the same thing, and you help each other out just by chatting and sharing your problems and stresses. Try to spend time outside during recess and lunch; don’t go to the library to cram in extra study unless you really need to! Taking time out to talk to your mates will be a lot more beneficial in the long run. Organise to catch up with friends outside of school too. There should be plenty of eighteenth birthday parties this year, so take the night off and go have fun. Don’t worry, you definitely have the time!
5. Family – It’s also important to communicate with your family during this year. Don’t shut them out! It’s easy to get angry or frustrated with family members during your VCE. It will be a lot more beneficial for you (and for them) if you let them in rather than pushing them away. Sit down for half an hour each night to have a family dinner and just chat about what you’re studying. Try explaining a concept or an idea or book you’re working with. Give your parents, siblings, grandparents (anyone!) copies of your essay drafts to read. Even if they’re just proof-reading, it’ll have a positive impact on your work and will allow your family to better understand what VCE is all about. Put your timetable and after-school schedule up on the fridge so that everyone knows when you need to be left alone and when they can chat with you. The support of your family can be invaluable, especially when it comes down to the crunch at the end of the year. You might be surprised just how much your family can help.
6. Fun – Just try to enjoy it! When you look back on your VCE, it will hopefully be filled with fond memories. I can honestly say that year 12 was one of the best years of my life so far, despite a lot of stress and drama and everything else that came with it. Get involved with school sport, music, drama, whatever you love to do. Those extra-curricular activities are where you’ll make some of the best memories. I don’t know what it is about year 12, but everyone just seems to become closer. It’s like the VCE is this common enemy, and students band together to take it down. Cliques and groups don’t seem to matter so much; the whole year level is just brought together by this shared experience. The year is going to go so fast. If you can, try to just stop from time to time and let it all sink in. There’ll be so much going on – both good and bad. Try to just enjoy this challenging and rewarding year!
Motivation
Ok, let’s be honest here. I’m not one to be easily motivated to do things. I’m what you call a part-time-verging-on-full-time procrastinator. Hell, if procrastinating was a career, I’d be rich by now!
But alas, there’s no time left in these last critical months of high school to sit back while you put even the smallest of tasks off because you can’t be stuffed. There’s always that one project, that one piece of writing, that one homework task that you just can’t bring yourself to sit down and do. That’s when you soon discover that you’ve got to find a teensy-tiny ounce of hope and drive in you to complete the unwanted task. Oh, what’s that called again? Ah yes!
M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N.
So how does one find that motivation to plough through lists of work, practice SACs and exam papers, and write yet another language analysis without going insane?
Well, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I’ve always thought admirably of those top 99+ ATAR achievers in my school, the students that score 50s in each subject and the brightest kids in the state that appear on the front of newspapers come mid-December each year. It baffled me for so long that they appeared SO motivated to do all this work! How do they keep pushing themselves? How do they not lose confidence along the way? How do they stay focused for the entire Year 12? And I’ll let you in on a little secret… you can be one of them! Just find the motivation technique that empowers and energises YOU!
Motivation is SUCH a personal matter. It is 110% crucial if you plan on doing well for your final years of school, and once you discover what gets your engine roaring, it’s an invaluable tool you’ll need and keep for life.
Perhaps the most ‘obvious’ motivation for doing well in Year 12 is to get acceptance into your preferred University course, TAFE course, or other career or study pathway. But that’s not enough, in my humble opinion. Plenty of students start off Year 12 with such a great mind frame for the first few weeks or months, and then struggle to keep up the good work. You need to keep your goal as close to mind as possible. Don’t just have a 4-digit figure in the back of your mind or glued onto a pin board. Visualise what it looks like when you’re walking into your dream course, discovering your passion, meeting new people that feel as passionate about what they’re learning as you. Where will your dreams take you? Hold on to those images in your mind. They are pure gold.
If you feel like everything in Year 12 isn’t worth the stress and the effort, think of the holiday that greets you after finishing high school. For some, you might be trekking off overseas for 4 months or even spending a few days at Schoolies! Imagine where you could be in only a few months’ time. What will you be doing, where will you be relaxing, who will you be socialising with, how far will you be travelling? If you give your final year all you got, that break will feel even more rewarding.
Another technique I tried isn’t for everyone, and those that exercise it should do so with caution… but I motivated myself using the big fat F-word: FAILURE. I was emotionally invested in my subjects, so that if I felt that I wasn’t improving my scales, my oral comprehension, or my writing to the standard that I desired, then I would feel like I had failed my teachers. I respected them not only for their expertise, but for their faith and constant encouragement they showed for their students. A healthy dose of nerves and stress is okay, as it can spur you on even more to work harder, persevere and impress.
Year 12 is not a sprint, it is truly a marathon. The best part is, you’re almost there! But if you keep your eyes on the prize and let your friends, family and teachers hand you those water bottles and towels, you can take each part as it comes. It’s not going to be easy, but if you stick to a plan and give it all you’ve got with no regrets, reaching that finish line will be the best feeling in the world!
I’d like to leave you with this. Make the most of year 12. Know that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get the marks you were hoping for. But don’t come out at the end thinking that you could’ve done more. Give it your all, remember the points above, and you’ll be satisfied in the fact that you couldn’t have done any better. Honestly, no matter how important your ATAR seems right now, it won’t matter at all once you get to uni. What really matters is knowing that you gave it all you could, and that you filled your year with fun memories alongside all that study. You won’t remember the hours in the library or those spent locked away in your room. You’ll remember chatting with your mates in the library during free period, or mucking around on the oval at lunchtime. Remember to make time for the important things!
The big trap students doing both English and Literature fall into is the habit of writing Close Readings like a Language Analysis essay. In essence, the two of these essays must tick the same boxes. But, here’s why analysing texts in Literature is a whole different ball game – in English, you want to be focusing on the methods that the author utilises to get their message across, whereas Literature is all about finding your own message in the writing.
In a Language Analysis essay, the chances are that most students will interpret the contention of the writer in a similar fashion and that will usually be stated in the introduction of the essay. Whereas in Literature, it is the formulation of your interpretation of the author’s message that is what really counts. In a typical Language Analysis essay, the introduction is almost like a summary of what’s going to be talked about in the next few paragraphs whereas in a close reading, it is the fresh ideas beyond the introduction that the markers are interested in.
For this reason, every Close Reading that you do in Literature will be unique. The overarching themes of the text you are writing from may be recurring, but for every passage from the text that you are given, what you derive from that will be specific to it.
From my experience, this is what stumps a lot of students because of the tendency is to pick up on the first few poetic techniques used in the passages and create the basis for the essay from that. This usually means that the student will pick up on alliteration (or another technique that they find easy to identify) used by the author and then try and match it to an idea that they have discussed in class. Whilst this can be an effective way to structure paragraphs, many students aren’t consciously utilising this approach and instead are doing it ‘by accident’ under time pressure, or a lack of understanding of other ways to get a point across.
In general, there are two main approaches that can be followed for body paragraphs in a literature close reading analysis:
1. Start wide and narrow down.
What does this mean? So, as I mentioned before, each of your close readings should be very specific to the passages in front of you and not rehearsed. However, it’s inevitable that you are going to find some ideas coming back more often. So, after reading through the passage, you will usually get a general understanding of the tone that the author has utilised. This will indicate whether the author is criticising or commending a certain character or social idea. Using this general overview to start your paragraph, you can then move closer and closer into the passage until you have developed your general statement into a very unique and clear opinion of the author’s message (with the support of textual evidence of course).
This is the essay approach that is generally preferred by students but is often used poorly, as without practice and under the pressure of writing essays in exam conditions, many students revert back to the old technique of finding a literary device that they are comfortable with and pushing forth with that.
The good thing about this approach is that when you understand the general themes that the author covers, you will become better and better at using that lens to identify the most impactful parts of the passage to unpack as you scrutinise the subtle nuances of the writer’s tone.
2. Start narrow and go wide.
You guessed it - it’s basically the opposite of the approach above. However, this is a more refined way of setting out your exploration of the author’s message as opposed to what was discussed earlier (finding random literary devices and trying to go from there). Using this approach does not mean that you have no direction of where your paragraph might end, it just means that you think the subtle ideas of the author can be used in culmination to prove their wider opinion. For example, if you get a passage where the author describes a character in great detail (Charlotte Brontë students, you might be familiar!) and you think there is a lot of underlying hints that the author is getting at through such an intricate use of words, then you might want to begin your paragraphs with these examples and then move wider to state how this affects the total persona built around this character and then maybe even a step further to describe how the writer’s attitude towards this character is actually a representation of how they feel towards the social ideas that the character represents.
The benefit of this approach is that if you are a student that finds that when you try and specify on a couple of key points within a large theme, you end up getting muddled up with the potential number of avenues you could be writing about, this style gives a bit of direction to your writing. This approach is also helpful when you are trying to link your broader themes together.
The main thing to remember in the structure of your body paragraphs – the link between your examples and the broader themes that you bring up should be very much evident to the marker. They should not have to work to find the link between the examples you are bringing up and the points that you are making. Remember, a Close Reading is all about the passage that is right in front of you and its relation in the context of the whole text and the writer’s message. Be clear about your opinion, it matters!
Written expression is often overlooked in our essays. Often, if we are made aware of clunky or awkward expression, we are also not quite sure how to go about improving it. Although sophisticated and pertinent ideas serve as the foundation of a successful essay, how we construct our sentences and express these ideas may be what distinguishes a good essay from a great essay.
These differences can be rather subtle, but the small things can and do matter.
1) USE YOUR VOCAL CHORDS
(to read out loud, not sing… unless you really want to)
Take your essay and read it out loud. Let your own conscience guide you in terms of whether a particular sentence flows well, is complete and makes sense. Keep your eye out for these small errors in particular: Grammar:Does your sentence actually make sense? Let’s have a look at an example:Although Funder suggests that the act of telling one’s story, especially one of victimisation, can catalyse the internal confrontation and healing required to move on.
?!?
(This is not grammatically correct! This is because this example only contains a subordinate clause and is lacking a main clause.)
But wait… what is this ‘subordinate clause’ and ‘main clause’?
A clause includes a subject and a verb.
Melissa ate an apple.After Wendy ate an apple.
What is the difference between the two clauses above?
‘Melissa ate an apple’ makes grammatical sense on its own. This is what we call a main clause (or an independent clause). On the other hand, ‘After Wendy ate an apple’ is an incomplete sentence as it does not make sense. What happened after Wendy ate her apple? This is the information that is missing from the latter clause, making this a subordinate clause (or a dependent clause).
So now let’s try again…
Although Funder suggests that the act of telling one’s story, especially one of victimisation, can catalyse the internal confrontation and healing required to move on, ultimately, these individuals can never be truly free from the past that has irrevocably defined them.
(Hooray! This is a complete sentence now.)
Spelling: Are the title of the text, the author or director’s name, characters’ names, publisher’s name, etc. all spelt correctly (and capitalised, underlined, and italicised appropriately)?
Did you use the correct there, their and they’re? How about it’s and its? (and so on).
Sentence length: Did that sentence just go on for 5 lines on a page and you are out of breath now? You can most probably split that overloaded sentence into two or more sentences that make much more sense. Check whether you have a clear subject in your sentence. If you have three different ideas in one sentence, give each idea its own opportunity (ie. sentence) to shine. The opposite also applies: if it is for a very short sentence, did that sentence pack enough content or analysis?
One spelling error or half-finished sentence in an essay will not severely affect your mark, but they can easily add up if they occur often enough. Consequently, this will distract the reader from engaging with your ideas fully and thus disrupt the flow of your essay.
By being aware of these aspects, you are now able to easily fix them and boost your writing.
2) BE SUBTLE
Try not to be casual or overt in your writing as it can be quite jarring to read and unfortunately give readers a potentially negative impression of your piece.
Try not to use phrases such as:
- In my opinion… (You do not need it as your entire essay should be your implicit opinion!)
- This quote shows that… (Embed the quote and link to its implication instead)
- This technique is designed to… (Identify the technique and be specific, especially in Language Analysis)
- I think that…, I believe… (Avoid using first person in a formal essay. Use of first person in creative writing is fine though if required)
They are redundant and do not add much to your ideas and analysis. Try omitting them and see whether that helps your sentence flow better and seem more formal.
3) LINK ‘EM UP
Sentences that seem disjointed or a clear connection can make it difficult for your teacher or the assessor to join the dots between an idea and an implication or consequence. Use linking words as they are fantastic for explicitly showing the reader how your ideas are related and thus allow your writing to proceed smoothly.
Therefore, hence, thus, thereby, consequently, subsequently, in addition, additionally, furthermore, moreover, on the other hand, on the contrary, however, henceforth, and so on… The list is endless!
4) ADD OOMPH (through vocabulary)
In general, having a wide vocabulary will allow you to express your ideas and analysis more accurately as you are likely to have access to a precise word that can capture the essence of your idea. Make a vocabulary list for a particular text or for Language Analysis (such as tone words) and aim to use varied language to convey yourself well.
If you’d like to see a list of sentence starters and essay phrases to help you get a headstart on expanding your vocabulary, check out this blog.
Focus on verbs and expanding your list of synonyms for words such as shows, demonstrates, highlights, emphasises, suggests and so on. An individual, character, author or director may not only be conveying but also denigrating or remonstrating or bolstering or glorifying or insinuating. Adding precision to your writing through careful vocabulary choice will distinguish your writing and also add complexity.
BEWARE! There is a fine line to tread with sophisticated vocabulary - do not overload your writing as you can risk writing convoluted sentences that hinder the reader’s ability to understand your piece. Also make sure that you understand the nuances of each synonym and that they are used in the correct context! (They are synonyms after all - not the same word!)
If you are debating whether to use a word, ask yourself: do you know what it means?
If yes: Go for it!
If no: Do not use it until you know what it means.
5) READ
Reading sample essays, The Age Text Talks, reviews and more of the texts you are currently studying will expose you to not only a multitude of interpretations of your text, but also to different sentence structures, writing styles or vocabulary that you could incorporate into your own writing.
I would also highly recommend that you read outside of the texts you are studying if you have time, whether that may be novels by the same author or even newspapers. Your written expression will only benefit from this exposure as the ways you can express yourself through writing continue to increase upon seeing others’ eloquence.
6) GET WRITING
If you do not write, you will never be able to improve your written expression. Put pen to paper (or hands to keyboard) and start constructing that essay. You can only fix your writing once you have writing to fix.
The idea of critical lenses in literary perspective essays can often be tough to fully grasp. Is sticking to just one ok? Are there enough examples in the text to support a purely feminist viewpoint? Or a Marxist one? What about post-colonialism? Sometimes it’s difficult to find a clear through line, especially when the concepts you’re attempting to discuss are so complex.
Luckily when it comes to Shakespearean texts, Twelfth Night in particular, a lot of people throughout history have already studied these ideas and critical lenses, and there are many more resources out there for you to utilize than you might think.
Thus, we are faced with the extremely helpful nature of published critical readings. These critical essays are pieces often published by university professors or scholars which offer an in-depth analysis and examination of a given text. While much of the language is complicated and a bit overwrought at times, the content within the essays can give you helpful ideas and can help you gather a repertoire of vocabulary and evidence for your own literary perspectives essay. In fact, if you type in “Twelfth Night critical readings” into your google search tab, there will be pages of valuable content at your disposal.
Literary perspectives
For instance, the critical essay Rethinking Sexuality and Class in Twelfth Night by Nancy Lindhiem, gives insight into both the Marxist and the queer lens.
Here is an extract from Lindhiem’s reading in which she discusses the idea of “androgyny” and sexuality (noted specifically in the bolded words):
“While Viola is barely male except in attire, the dual aspect of Sebastian’s androgyny is carefully explored. The Elizabethan audience’s first, external, impression – he looks like his sister! – is reinforced ‘internally’ in his conversation with Antonio. His exquisite sensitivity to the quality of his friend’s feelings and the obligation it lays upon him might well be seen as a woman’s trait.”
After reading Lindhiem’s discussion of the “androgynous” twins within the play and how this displays a disparity between gender identity, this student then decided to expand on in a similar idea in a part of their paragraph below (queer lens). In the first part of the sentence, the student outlines the idea of androgyny (shown in bold)specific to the character of Viola. Later on, the student also explores the idea of different behaviours contributing to certain gender traits much like Lindhiem’s notation of it in the above paragraph (shown in bold in the last sentence), however concludes on a broader outline of sexuality as a whole, rather than focussing on just female traits.
Viola’s mediatory role between Olivia and Orsino’s households, coupled with her androgynous performance as a woman playing a man (adding further confusion to the Elizabethan stage convention of a male actors playing women on stage) evokes a form of genderbending and identity perplexity that pervades the play’s dramatic trajectory and opens up what is possible, if not overtly permissible, on a spectrum of sexuality.
Vocabulary
Another way of making use of these critical readings is to draw from some of their sophisticated vocabulary. The following is an example of how a student was able to adjust and expand her vocabulary specific to their chosen lens by reading critical essays.
After studying a couple of feminist and queer critical essays to Twelfth Night, the student highlighted some repetitive language and terms used within the essays, and was able to use them within their own essay.
Casey Charles’ Theatre Journal exert Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night uses the phrasing
“the phenomenon of love itself operates as a mechanism that destabilizes gender binarism and its concomitant hierarchies”.
The student went on to use the term gender binarism in one of her essay’s sentences:
In all, Twelfth Night delineates the true fluidity within gender binarisms as well as the way in which societal structures are enforced and reiterated…
Alternatively, the critical essay Gender Ambiguity and Desire in Twelfth Night by Maria Del Rosario Arias Doblas makes use of the terms “homoerotic” and “heterosexual” throughout its text - “homoeroticism residing in theatrical transvestitism… and homosexual allusions and so on pervade the play to create the “most highly intricate misunderstandings”’ - thus outlining the type of high-level language specific to a queer reading of the play that the student was able to implement in their own work:
In fact, Shakespeare oscillates between reinforcing patriarchal ideology and heterosexual language, and the deconstruction of such romantic ideals, simultaneously closeting and disclosing the queer possibilities typical to conservative societies that use violence to repress homosociality and police the safe expression of homosexual exploration within heterosexual norms.
As you can see, the student’s language is now specified to the type of lens they are using in their literary perspectives essay, and is also of a high register.
External or Contextual references
Another benefit of going through critical readings is the external or contextual references they make. An example of this is in Rethinking Sexuality and Class in Twelfth Night by Nancy Lindhiem, where the author makes reference to Narcissus, a character from Metamorphoses – a Latin narrative poem from 8 AD:
“For all the likelihood that both Olivia and Sebastian are seduced by a visual perception, we probably feel that Olivia succumbs mainly to Cesario’s way with words.9 Several critics have commented on the allusion to Ovid’s Echo in Cesario’s ‘babbling gossip of the air’ (1.5.277)”
Noticing this reference as a motif in many other critical readings too, this student decided to insert it into their own essay here:
These central relationships therefore reapply the idea of self-reflexivity while blurring the structured boundaries of identity stability, central to the Narcissus myth of which Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphosis forms a part; “a very echo to the seat/ where love is throned” invokes a doubling motif, as well as the troubling foundation of representation over reality.
See how the student was able to discuss it in their own way? Referencing external texts in your literary perspectives essay can prove very useful if done once or twice, as it demonstrates that you are able to apply the values within the chosen text to wider elements of society and culture.
Getting started
One of the most efficient ways of going through these sorts of essays (which are often quite elaborate and at times difficult to understand fully) is to print them out, grab a highlighter and pen and skim through as much as possible. Highlight words, terms or phrases which spark your intrigue, or ones you feel you may be able to manipulate as evidence to support your own essay.
Overall, reading as many of these expert-written critical essays as possible can be extremely beneficial in developing a greater understanding of the critical lenses, the ideals and context of the Elizabethan theatre, and the way both dialogue and staging can be used as evidence in your own essays.
The more you know about the play, the more you’ll be able to write about it. So, get reading!
So there’s approximately a month to go before the Literature exam. Nervous? Confident? Over it?! You might be thinking that they best way to study up until the exam is to just churn out essays after essays after essays. This is a common misconception, and may even hurt your chances for the exam. You want your essays to be ‘fresh’ with original insight, not stale pieces that sound like you’ve written this a hundred times and you’re getting bored. Here are a few tips on how to study for the exam while still keeping your mind activated about Literature!
Critique critical commentary
Google critical commentary on your text. You might pick up a new insight or perspective that you’ve never thought of. These can help you inform your own original and individual interpretation of the text. It is important to note that while reading critical commentary is incredibly useful in providing ‘clever’ interpretations, examiners are really looking for your own interpretation – not a regurgitated version of other people’s analyses. Rather than passively reading critical commentary, critique it yourself! Acknowledge and file away its good points, but also form your own stance with whether you agree or disagree with that point of view. Ask yourself why that is your perspective. Developing this critical analysis skill is extremely valuable, and will put you in the mindset for the exam to provide your own original interpretation that pushes the boundaries and the envelope.
Choose random passages and annotate
Close your eyes and pick a random a couple of passages from your text. Photocopy them, print them, however you like, but the most important thing is to spend time annotating them in as much detail as possible. Focus on analysing the language for how the author constructs the text to create meaning. Note sentences that can link to the wider text. This really forces you to analyse the most random passage in the text in extreme detail, which you might have skipped over in class or in your own reading, because it might not have seemed important at the time. Who knows, the exam could throw in a surprise passage that students might not have thought to study in great detail, and you have because you’ve been analysing passages at random – not just the major key events!
Examiner reports and word bank
Look through VCAA examiner reports for sample excerpts from high scoring responses. Highlight words and phrases that sound ‘good’ – and adapt them to use yourself! There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration (stealing) from the examiner reports essays… after all they’re there for you to learn from. Key: you’re drawing inspiration from words, not ideas or sentences – otherwise that’s just plagiarism and won’t help at all. Create a word bank of vocabulary that suit your texts, which can be a great prompter when you’re struggling to think of a word that accurately expresses on paper what you want to say in your mind.
Timed conditions
The biggest issue with every literature student in the exam is timing. There’s always so many things you want to write and include, that it is simply not possible to include everything. Time yourself. Practice writing in timed conditions. Be disciplined with your time – going over time for the first essay to include maybe one more good point, is to sacrifice finishing your second essay.
Exams are without a doubt a stressful period of time for all VCE students, and it can be easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with expectations, wanting to prove yourself and balancing the workload of your other exams. Find time to do small things to benefit yourself for the exam without compromising your mental power (after a very long marathon). Good luck and believe in yourself!
Once you have finished all your Literature SACs for the year, all that is left is a 2 hour and 15 minute exam that will play a major part in determining your end of year study score. It seems extremely daunting, and because many of the SACs differ from the exam task, you may be feeling a bit nervous or confused about what exactly the exam entails.
In describing the task, the exam paper states:
For each of your selected texts, you must use one or more of the passages as the basis for a discussion of that text.
In your pieces of writing, refer in detail to the passage or passages and the texts. You may include minor references to other texts.
Therefore, you must write two close analysis pieces on the exam, one on each of your chosen texts. You must use the three passages included on the exam to explore and analyse the text as a whole. Most of your piece should be analysis of what is in front of you in the exam, but you must also use evidence from outside the passages, to demonstrate your knowledge and connection with the text.
The exam will be marked against a criterion that differs from any of your SACs (although it is quite similar to your close analysis SAC). Therefore it is imperative to understand the criteria you will be marked on before beginning to study for the Literature exam, and especially before you try some practice exams. They are as follows, and can be found on the VCAA Literature exam page.
Understanding of the text demonstrated in a relevant and plausible interpretation
This criteria relates to your ability to show your comprehension of the text. The examiner will be noting whether the concepts, ideas and themes in the text are understood. They will assess your interpretation of the text, and whether it is relevant and fair in relation to the meaning in the text
Ability to write expressively and coherently to present an interpretation
Literature is a writing subject, therefore this criteria asks that you write with fluency, an expressive vocabulary and clarity. Your piece must also be a coherent, unified work that clearly articulates your discussion and interpretation of the passages and text as a whole. This criteria can also relate to your use of grammar, punctuation and spelling as the clarity of your piece can be threatened if these are not used correctly.
Understanding of how views and values may be suggested in the text
You must demonstrate an ability to identify, discuss and analyze the views and values within the text. You must be able to support your discussion with evidence from the text
Analysis of how key passages and/or moments in the text contribute to an interpretation
Your ability to analyse the three passages, as well as the text as a whole, and draw an interpretation from them. Examiners will be looking to see that you can use set material and the whole text as a basis for discussion.
Analysis of the features of a text and how they contribute to an interpretation
This criteria determines that you must identify factors including metalanguage, specific language and authorial techniques, and discuss how they create meaning. Remember that this is literature, so discussing the different elements used to construct a text (character, plot, setting, motifs, symbols” is imperative.
Analysis and close reading of textual details to support a coherent and detailed interpretation of the text
This criteria determines that you need to use evidence from the text (including quotes) in order to aid a logical and comprehensive interpretation of the text. Examiners will be looking at your ability to look deeply into smaller authorial choices, and how they create meaning.
Imagine a friend tells you eerie accounts of her witnessing a ghostly presence in her home. You scoff and condescendingly humour her. But as her stories begin to manifest itself in her gaunt appearance, you alarmingly notice how she truly believes in the apparitions she recounts. You begin to doubt her sanity, you begin to doubt the certainty with which you dismissed her supernatural visions and now, you begin to doubt yourself. THE SUSPENSE BUILDS.
But let’s say this friend filmed the ghostly apparitions and showed them to you. Sure – the evidence of this ghost is frighteningly scary. But the suspense that was built in the doubt, uncertainty and ambiguity of your friend’s tale is now lost. The ghosts caught in film acts as another eyewitness and another medium to validate your friend’s narrative. Your friend is no longer the only person who sees these ghosts, shattering all doubt within you of the ghost’s existence. THE SUSPENSE – is gone.
Notice how the form and genre of the spoken word in the first example was meaningful in its the effect on the reader? But when the form changed to a film, the meaningful suspense and ambiguity that was unique and crucial in the original text, changed, and was no longer as pronounced. Yes – the film itself may be terrifying. But the very doubt and suspense around not knowing if your friend was a lunatic for seeing ghosts or if she was telling the truth all contributes to the meaning derived from the form of the ‘text’ in an unreliable first person narrative. This is the crux of adaptations and transformations, and what you need to identify and analyse – how the meaning is changed/altered when the form of the text is changed.
Here are 7 lucky tips for how to tackle the SAC:
Identify the unique conventions in the construction of the original text – characterisation, genre, tone, style, structure, point of view/narration (or any devices employed in constructing the text e.g. cinematic devices in a film such as camera angles, framing, lighting, costumes, interior/exterior settings, sound)
Now do step 1 with the adapted/transformed text
How do the two text forms differ? How are they the same? However, be sure you do not simply compare and contrast. The most crucial step is what meaning can be derived from the similarities and differences? How does the meaning change?
Note additions and omissions (and even silences) – do they change how readers/viewers perceive the narrative and alter your opinions and perceptions of the text?
Historical context and setting – what significance does the context have on the narrative? Has the adaptation/transformation been re-contextualised? Does that alter the meaning of the original text?
How does the change in form impact you as the reader/viewer? Analyse your own reactions and feelings towards each text form. Do you sympathise with a character more in the original text? How are we positioned to feel this way? Why do you lack the same level of sympathy for the adapted/transformed text?
Incorporate pertinent quotations from both forms of text to substantiate and support your ideas and key points.
Final questions to ponder
Most importantly is to share your original interpretation of what meaning and significance you can extract from the text, and how you believe it changes once the form alters.
What makes the text in its original form interesting or unique?
Is that quality captured in its adaptation/transformation?
As always with Literature, this task is designed for you to critically analyse and actively engage with the text, understanding its nuances inside and out in order to decipher its meaning. Be individual in comparing and contrasting the two texts – avoid the obvious similarities/differences everyone in your class will also notice. It is the insightful analysis of the subtleties of how meaning is altered that will help you stand out!
2. What are you expected to cover? (Literary Perspectives criteria)
3. Approaching the Task
4. SACs, Exams, and Allocated Marks
5. How to Prepare/Improve?
What are Literary Perspectives?
This is the task that takes the longest time for all lit students to wrap their heads around. Not only is it difficult to understand what a literary perspective is but also what the essay requires you to do, so hopefully this article can help clear it all up for you!
Put simply, literary perspectives are various different lenses used for looking at all texts. Different lenses reveal, highlight and emphasise different notions in each text. To take a simple example, a Marxist might look at ‘The Great Gatsby’ how our capitalistic system underscores the motivations of Gatsby? A feminist might look towards the role of women in the text; are they only supporting characters, or do they challenge traditional gender roles? Perhaps an experienced literature student might think this is an oversimplification, but it’s a good way to start thinking about perspectives. We will explore a little more of how to integrate and research different literary perspectives in our ‘Approaching the Task’ section.
In short, literary perspectives wants you to consider:
How does a text change, to the reader and the writer, when we examine it through different backgrounds/perspectives?
Can we understand the assumptions and ideas about the views and values of the text?
What are you expected to cover/do? (Literary Perspectives Criteria)
1. Structure and Cohesion
The structure of the essay and the task itself is more familiar than the close analysis essay. You respond to a topic (yes, there is only one) and you have a more “typical” essay structure with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion.
Cohesion comes from how well you can develop your overall argument. The way I like to think about it is: do my paragraphs build/relate to each other or do they have nothing to do with each other? Providing a cohesive argument and interpretation is essential, and not just for literature, this is something that will definitely be enhanced as you continue your literature journey!
2. Develop an overall Interpretation/perspective for each text
This requires a lot of research and critical readings of the wealth of criticism around the text. When you read the text, a few notable themes and ideas should be jumping out at you right away, this will be the springboard into understanding the perspectives around the text.
For example, in ‘The Great Gatsby’, Gatsby and Buchanan are greedy and money-hungry in a world of excess and economic prosperity. Fitzgerald asks readers to consider the backbone that drives a blind devotion to the accumulation of wealth. This should remind you of Karl Marx and his comments on capitalism and communism which will then open up a large wealth of research on Marxism!
Remember, that whilst VCAA specifies that one must analyse and respond to one underlying literary perspective of the text in Section A of the exam, this isn’t as narrow as you might think. So I lied a little, sunglasses as perspectives might be a bit misleading. Because whilst you can’t wear multiple sunglasses, you can have multiple interpretations that form one perspective. It’s important to remember that what constitutes a perspective is not just one school of thought, it is your understanding, perspective and ideas. Which means that if you want to blend a Marxist and Psychoanalytic perspective, you absolutely can, BUT you need to make sure they are incorporated well together. This is because perspectives and literary ideas don’t exist in a vacuum, they work together, bounce off each other and grow over time. Greed could be something that is perpetuated by a capitalistic, market centered system but it could also be something ingrained in the human psyche. See! You’ve now turned two perspectives into one blended idea, of course it needs a lot of cultivation but you can see how these ideas begin to coexist.
Furthermore, if you begin to understand how your text through multiple coexisting lenses’, you’ll broaden your horizon so you’ll be ready to approach any topic. In 2017, VCAA gave the topic: “To what extent is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness an indictment of colonialism?”. What happens if you didn’t choose colonialism/post-colonialism as your perspective and chose feminism instead? You would probably be freaking out in the exam. But if you understood that colonialism was motivated by the need for economic dominance (Marxist ideas) or the West’s hunger for power (psychoanalytical notions), the topic isn’t so daunting after all.
In sum, developing an interpretation is a rocky, complex and difficult ride but have patience, it will all pay off in the end. Stick around and we will give you a few tips below on how to interpret and continue to develop your interpretation! PS. Here’s a video that might be helpful if you need the extra advice: What are literary perspectives.
3. Understanding and analysis of the text through textual evidence
This should be self-explanatory at this point; everyone has been taught this since year 7: never say anything if you can’t back it up! It’s easy to get lost in your perspective when your writing, this is just a gentle reminder to never forget to use quotes and actual evidence from the text. Here’s a helpful video on how to incorporate quotes.
4. Control and effectiveness of language
Having control and effective use of language is a criteria present in both sections of Literature (and in English)! I won’t go into too much depth, but this video provides 6 great tips on improving your expression!
Approaching the Task
So how do you best tackle the exam and the SAC?
Aforementioned, the exam will only give you one topic to respond to and your SACs will do something similar (we’ll get into this later). Here are some tips on handling lit perspectives on the exam and SAC.
When you first see the topic, there are a few things you can do to help approach the task.
1. Highlight key words!
Again, pretty self-explanatory. It absolutely essential that you respond to the whole topic. It’s so easy to get caught up in the first half of the topic when you see a key word that you like/don’t like. But pay attention to what the topic is actually asking you to do, not just the central theme/idea that is contained within the topic.
2. Plan!
Find all the key close textual examples that you’d like to use. Make sure to choose ones that enhance your overall interpretation. Remember, that just because it isn’t a close analysis essay doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include close textual examples.
Planning is a very individual task so it’s up to you to find out what works for you, but it is an essential part of the writing process. If you want a coherent interpretation, you need to know where you’re going as you write. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
3. Develop/Establish your interpretation in your introduction
By now, you know the importance of establishing a strong interpretation of your text. This needs to be established in your introduction (and that includes all the buzzwords of your interpretation).
What I mean is, a lot of perspectives have a lot of jargon that is not always easy to read… Part of your job in your introduction is precisely to clarify some of these key jargons, it does not have to be super detailed, just give a simple definition of some of the key terms you are working with.
SACs, Exams, and Allocated Marks
This SAC comprises 50% of Unit 4 and in my opinion, was the most difficult to wrap my head around. The breakdown is as follows:
To simplify, it’s essentially like the literary perspective essay in the final exam; however, you need to “compare and analyse two pieces of literary criticism reflecting different perspectives”. Remember how I mentioned that one perspective can be a mix and blend of two different perspectives? Well this SAC is trying to teach you just that. You’ll be tasked with finding two different perspectives, but that doesn’t mean they have to be opposing at all. The example from before: “Greed could be something that is perpetuated by a capitalistic, market centered system but it could also be something ingrained in the human psyche” is just one way in which you can take two different pieces of literary criticism reflecting different ideas and bring them together in this SAC.
This SAC also asks you to research rigorously the literary discourse around the text, so that will be your first starting point. Find what you want to talk about and then figure out how to talk about it!
This may be classified as ‘Section A’ on the exam, but it does not have to be completed first, this is up to you! Each essay in the exam is worth 20 marks and will be double marked. The score that each examiner gives you will be added together, so both your final essays will be out of 40.
How to Prepare (and Improve!) for your Close Analysis SAC and Exam
Everyone’s heard the phrase “practice makes perfect”, but nobody really tells you how to practice? What does practicing mean in a Lit Perspectives context? Here are a few recommendations and guidelines about how to ACE your next lit perspectives essay:
1. Read and Re-read your text (or re-watch your film)
You’ll have heard this hundreds of times but it’s absolutely essential, who knows, you might change your mind? Meanwhile you can find good quotes you like and potentially spot techniques or language devices you might have missed on the first or even second read!
Each time you re-read, go in with fresh ideas and perspectives and search for examples that either contradict or support your interpretation. Critical reading is what us lit kids do!
2. Find buzzwords for your text or your perspective
Aforementioned, jargon and buzzwords populate the modern literature discourse for any text and perspective. It’s important that you have a firm grasp of these words and phrases. Here are some examples of a few:
Marxism:
Communism/capitalism
Greed
Superstructure
Institutions
Psychoanalysis:
The unconscious
Desire
ID, ego and superego
3. Talk to your friends and teachers, bounce ideas off each other!!!
Two minds are better than one. Not revolutionary, but unequivocally true. Whenever you are stuck in a rut, talk to your friends about what you think and maybe they can help challenge your ideas. Don’t be afraid to argue your point and be open to criticism, challenging your ideas will only help refine and enhance it. It’ll also make you consider some ideas you might not have thought about it.
4. Write specific examples
This is the same advice for close analysis (and any other essay for that essays). Practice writing doesn’t mean you have to write a full essay every time, this can be both draining for you and your teacher to mark. Plus, most of the time, you’ll make the same mistakes/the feedback will be same throughout the entire essay. Try little snippets of examples, paragraphs or introductions instead.
5. Utilise all available resources
Teachers are a hub of intelligence, ask them for questions, advice and feedback. Have a look at online resources including critical articles on your texts (not just lit charts articles). There are a bunch of different articles linked throughout this article but here are a summary of a few more articles written by some very smart LSG tutors!
Here, we’ll take a deep look into the SAC for Unit 3.2: Developing Interpretations. We’ll be using Margaret Atwood’s 1996 Alias Grace to demonstrate parts A and B of the SAC criteria so you can see the thinking process behind developing interpretations.
The SAC has two parts:
Part A: An initial interpretation of the text’s views and values within its historical, social and cultural context.
Part B: A written response that compares/interweaves and analyses an initial interpretation with a subsequent interpretation, using a key moment from the text.
Your teacher may decide to do them in two separate SACs, Part A after considering the text, and Part B after considering the supplementary reading. Or they may do them together, having you analyse a passage and answer a question just based on your own understanding of the text, and then continuing that analysis by adding the supplementary reading.
Understanding Context
Part A of the Developing Interpretations SAC task involves the text’s 'historical, social and cultural context’, so it is imperative we have an understanding of firstly, the author and their world, and the text and its world.
Alias Grace was published in 1996, close enough to our modern times that we can consider it contemporary literature. On the surface, there is not much to link it directly to the big global events of the 1990s - like the Gulf Wars, the Monica Lewinsky scandal or the uncertainty of the new millennium. Margaret Atwood is Canadian, and the events of Alias Grace also take place in Canada; any criticism of government or cultural issues in the text can then be considered criticisms of Canadian culture, but may also be of Western or Anglo societies at large. It’s also worth keeping in mind Atwood’s track record as a feminist activist who became famous for the feminist intentions in texts like The Handmaid’s Tale(1985) and Cat’s Eye (1988).
The world of Alias Grace is about 150 years prior to the text’s publication. The murder that put Grace in prison occurred in 1843, and Grace died sometime around 1873. Feminism as a socio-political movement did not exist at this time, so any ‘feminist bent’ that Grace or Mary Whitney display is the result of independent dissatisfaction, not the influence of wider cultural forces. The role of psychology is strong in Alias Grace and in the afterword, Atwood notes the increasing academic interest in the mind and subconscious. Whilst we could venture into the specific who’s who of 1850s new world psychological history, it is most important to recognise that there were disparate ideas of how memory is formed and recalled, and that defiant or mentally ill women were often stigmatised and categorised as 'insane', when we would now acknowledge the range of mental health diagnoses and traumatic backgrounds that would better explain certain behaviours. Note also that mental health institutions were tools of a patriarchal system that viewed the internment of women as a means of control over women, regardless of mental illness, leading to the regular and indiscriminate use of procedures like lobotomy or Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) to keep women 'in check'.
Part A of the SAC: An Initial Interpretation
When forming an interpretation of the text, it is necessary to first decide two things. Firstly, you need to recognise the author’s intention and what you think are the primary views and values. Then, you need to find aspects of the text that support your understanding of the text’s primary meaning.
Of all the concepts and ideas in Alias Grace, two are particularly pertinent and stick out to me as a reader. One is memory, the other is sexuality. There are of course other ideas, but these two were the big ones I noted reading the text. Thinking about what you find interesting or core to the text will help you to form an initial interpretation. Once you have the initial ideas, try to expand them into full sentences. To use memory as our example:
Atwood explores the fallibility and role of memory in our understandings of ourselves and our actions, in particular, noting how people subconsciously decide which memories to keep or forget.
See how meaty this sentence is? Even if I can’t quite touch on all of these ideas in a full essay, I have so much I can talk about that it basically makes it impossible to fall short. Now, I want some aspects of the text that help provide through-lines. By this, I mean that I want a smaller part of the text that helps to exemplify my interpretation and that, preferably, would be evident in a passage analysis. I’m someone who finds structure really interesting in texts, so I look at things like form, genre and plot very closely. Alias Grace is really interesting for its use of ‘primary source’ quotes at the start of sections, as well as the fact it has basically no quotation marks to delineate dialogue. Moreover, the fact that Grace’s narration is first-person and that Jordan’s narration is third-person provides ripe territory for analysis. I need to link this to memory, and put it in a sentence:
Atwood’s use of Grace’s first-person narration without quoted dialogue, thus structuring the plot around her speech and remembering, provides a long-form case study in how the psychological process of remembering helps provide understandings of the self.
So, just based on my understanding of the context (1850s psychology and its impact on women) and the world of the text, I am able to determine my initial interpretation: that Alias Grace is about memory and forgetting in the face of trauma and an indeterminate sense of self. This idea is displayed in the structure of the text which relies heavily on displaying thought processes.
Part B of the SAC: The Supplementary Reading
The supplementary reading can be a number of pieces of writing given to you by your teacher. This could be something written by your teacher, an explainer of a literary theory (like Marxism or feminism), or as I’ll be using here, an academic article. Check out our blog on Developing Interpretations which goes into how to read academic articles.
The article I’ve chosen is Margaret Rogerson’s ‘Reading the Patchworks in Alias Grace’ (1998). At the core of Rogerson’s argument is that the recurring motif of sewing and patchwork is a significant indicator of Grace’s identity and her self-expression and that Atwood uses the symbolism of various quilting patterns to reflect the ambiguity of Grace’s character and our understanding of her (since quilting symbols are heavily subjective). Just based on this brief summary of Rogerson’s interpretation, we can start to see how it is somewhat at odds with my initial interpretation (from Part A) - Rogerson isn’t as concerned with memory and psychology, nor am I concerned with symbolism because I focus on structures and narrative.
Rogerson’s article doesn’t necessarily disagree with my interpretation, in fact, both exist alongside each other quite nicely. I would phrase Rogerson’s interpretation as 'running parallel' to my own because they don’t always touch on the same ideas. Recognising where the supplementary reading sits in relation to your own interpretation is important because it helps to break down how to respond to its position and enhance your own interpretation. Try to place it on a scale of ‘total disagreement’ to ‘total agreement’. It will probably be somewhere in the middle.
Self-Reflection and Reinterpretation
Now that I’ve read my supplementary reading and placed it in relation to my initial interpretation, I need to ask myself a few questions, and be honest with myself:
What new information have I learnt from the reading?
What ideas/themes/motifs did I initially ignore?
How do these new ideas and pieces of information challenge my interpretation?
How do these new ideas and pieces of information support my interpretation?
Can I find links between the seemingly challenging aspects of the reading and link them to my initial interpretation?
Can I link specific aspects of my initial interpretation to the theories and ideas presented in the supplementary reading?
Rogerson’s article contained a lot of ideas and information that I had previously glossed over. Significantly, I learnt that 'quilt patterns [...] appear with their names as section headings throughout the text' (p. 8), a theme I hadn’t noticed. Moreover, Rogerson explains the literary and political significance of quilting and patchwork symbolism, drawing attention to the role it played in women’s lives and the inaccessibility of this symbolism to men.
Do these new ideas challenge my interpretation? Not really. Do they fully support my interpretation? Not really, BUT, they do provide a new way of thinking about my initial interpretation. I can link the quilting symbolism to the idea of Grace’s narrative style because Rogerson emphasises that when Grace discusses quilting, she is discussing her own life. In addition, Rogerson notes that 'sections of the novel [are] separate patterns that are to be fitted into a whole quilt' (p. 8) so that 'the reader becomes a quilt maker in the process of interpreting the text' (p.9). The concept of the physical book being a ‘quilt’ supports and extends on my understanding of structure, thus allowing me to further investigate how that structure functions.
The notion of the reader as a ‘quilt maker’ interpreting the text also allows me to consider something else I have ignored in my initial interpretation: self-presentation. I initially took for granted Grace’s investigation into her own mind, and that her novel-length yarn reflects the burgeoning field of psychology. Rogerson emphasises through the quilting work, however, that Grace’s motivations are entirely ambiguous to Jordan, the reader and others, so we have to try to decide if she is actually remembering events, or simply telling a story. At the end of the text, Grace makes her own quilt using cloth given to her or taken from the women of her past, Rogerson posing the question 'does the quilt represent memory, amnesia, or madness?' (p. 21). The result, therefore, is that my initial interpretation does make sense, but with some important new additions to be made.
Atwood’s Alias Grace investigates how individuals relate to their memories through the use of Grace Marks’ speech and interactions with medical psychology, which intend to force her to remember (1). This process of remembering, however, is simultaneously hindered and deepened by Grace’s presentation of self, which wonders into utter performativity, amnesia, and potentially disingenuous motivations for her continued speech (2). Rogerson emphasises Grace’s relationship with the language of patchwork and how this relationship influences her narrative style and remembering, and thus the reader’s ability to fit separate patterns 'into a whole quilt' (p. 8) (3).
This interpretation is significantly more chunky, but that’s because I’m trying to make the nuance of the argument incredibly clear. The first sentence (1) is a reworded version of my initial interpretation with slightly less detail. The second sentence (2) is an elaboration of my previous interpretation that includes ideas gleaned from Rogerson’s article. The final sentence (3) is a brief summary of Rogerson’s method that introduces her work as well as some extra details about Grace’s story-telling and the analysis of readers’ responses.
The key to developing interpretations is self-reflection. Constantly question why you think the things you do, and it will force you to reconsider your interpretation. The supplementary reading is to provide you with a way to self-reflect and another interpretation to respond to. I strongly encourage those looking to do exceptionally in developing interpretations to read widely and around the text you’ve been set. Some of those texts for Alias Grace are in the resources section below.
Margaret Atwood’s other texts including: Cat’s Eye, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Oryx and Crake.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. 1916. Available here. A play cited in Rogerson’s article, featuring an accused murderess and a quilt. Sound familiar?
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. 1899. Available Via Gutenburg A very dense text on the psychoanalysis of dreams. Useful for its discussions of symbolism as a signifier of psychology
Atwood cites a number of texts in her acknowledgements (p. 543), the most interesting appear as follows:
Moodie, Susanna. Life in the Clearings. 1853
Crabtree, Adam. From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing. 1993.
Brandon, Ruth. The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. 1983.
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