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English Unseen Text Test (1 Viewer)

jilly12

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I have an upcoming year 10 English test which is a mixture of unseen texts and questions about a particular film watched in class.
any tips to do well in this specific test since I know these types of questions will pop up in the HSC? I usually get mid-low Bs in English ever since the middle of last year. So I really want to strive for an A this time. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.
 

jimmysmith560

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The fact that your test will assess your ability to respond to questions targeting unseen texts and questions about a film that you watched in class means that an important step to take in preparation for your test is to familiarise yourself with a range of techniques, including those that you have learned in class, as well as other techniques which you believe would be useful to know and understand. The film will primarily contain visual techniques, which you must be familiar with, that is, understand their general effect and their significance in the film. You may also wish to remember a set of quotes from the film which you believe may be useful. Of course, whether you need to do this depends on the specifications of your test, which you know best. In terms of the unseen component, knowing and being able to interpret both literary and visual techniques will support your ability to analyse such texts, allowing you to provide good-quality responses. Whether you need to familiarise yourself with visual techniques for the unseen component depends on whether stimuli will be in written form only, in which case you would only need to maximise your knowledge of literary techniques.

If applicable, you should also ensure that you understand the main themes/ideas/issues of the film as this will support your ability to establish better connections between your points and the questions (for example, by discussing the optimal technique that highlights a particular theme), therefore strengthening your answers.

A method of preparation for the unseen component would be to analyse a range of relevant texts, which can come from books that you may have read or by performing a Google search. Doing so will allow you to determine instances of particular techniques being used within those texts, enabling you to identify relevant techniques in the actual exam faster. You can also take this a step further by creating your own questions targeting those texts, giving you the opportunity to apply your knowledge of the techniques and, in the case of written stimuli, linking them with relevant quotes from the texts.

I hope this helps! :D
 

Vivienne.W

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I have an upcoming year 10 English test which is a mixture of unseen texts and questions about a particular film watched in class.
any tips to do well in this specific test since I know these types of questions will pop up in the HSC? I usually get mid-low Bs in English ever since the middle of last year. So I really want to strive for an A this time. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.
Have a range of techniques up your sleeve - ones for poetry, prose, visual stimulus etc

Look at exemplars as well (good ones!), puts you in a good place because you know what markers are looking for.
 

moonsuyoung

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The fact that your test will assess your ability to respond to questions targeting unseen texts and questions about a film that you watched in class means that an important step to take in preparation for your test is to familiarise yourself with a range of techniques, including those that you have learned in class, as well as other techniques which you believe would be useful to know and understand. The film will primarily contain visual techniques, which you must be familiar with, that is, understand their general effect and their significance in the film. You may also wish to remember a set of quotes from the film which you believe may be useful. Of course, whether you need to do this depends on the specifications of your test, which you know best. In terms of the unseen component, knowing and being able to interpret both literary and visual techniques will support your ability to analyse such texts, allowing you to provide good-quality responses. Whether you need to familiarise yourself with visual techniques for the unseen component depends on whether stimuli will be in written form only, in which case you would only need to maximise your knowledge of literary techniques.

If applicable, you should also ensure that you understand the main themes/ideas/issues of the film as this will support your ability to establish better connections between your points and the questions (for example, by discussing the optimal technique that highlights a particular theme), therefore strengthening your answers.

A method of preparation for the unseen component would be to analyse a range of relevant texts, which can come from books that you may have read or by performing a Google search. Doing so will allow you to determine instances of particular techniques being used within those texts, enabling you to identify relevant techniques in the actual exam faster. You can also take this a step further by creating your own questions targeting those texts, giving you the opportunity to apply your knowledge of the techniques and, in the case of written stimuli, linking them with relevant quotes from the texts.

I hope this helps! :D
dam nice pfp 💅
 

jilly12

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The fact that your test will assess your ability to respond to questions targeting unseen texts and questions about a film that you watched in class means that an important step to take in preparation for your test is to familiarise yourself with a range of techniques, including those that you have learned in class, as well as other techniques which you believe would be useful to know and understand. The film will primarily contain visual techniques, which you must be familiar with, that is, understand their general effect and their significance in the film. You may also wish to remember a set of quotes from the film which you believe may be useful. Of course, whether you need to do this depends on the specifications of your test, which you know best. In terms of the unseen component, knowing and being able to interpret both literary and visual techniques will support your ability to analyse such texts, allowing you to provide good-quality responses. Whether you need to familiarise yourself with visual techniques for the unseen component depends on whether stimuli will be in written form only, in which case you would only need to maximise your knowledge of literary techniques.

If applicable, you should also ensure that you understand the main themes/ideas/issues of the film as this will support your ability to establish better connections between your points and the questions (for example, by discussing the optimal technique that highlights a particular theme), therefore strengthening your answers.

A method of preparation for the unseen component would be to analyse a range of relevant texts, which can come from books that you may have read or by performing a Google search. Doing so will allow you to determine instances of particular techniques being used within those texts, enabling you to identify relevant techniques in the actual exam faster. You can also take this a step further by creating your own questions targeting those texts, giving you the opportunity to apply your knowledge of the techniques and, in the case of written stimuli, linking them with relevant quotes from the texts.

I hope this helps! :D
Thank you very much. Also, I believe the concept for the Unseen Texts will be about discovery. Unfortunately, the teacher wasn't present at class when we had to learn about discovery but instead gave a worksheet that was rather hard to decipher so any advice on Discovery would be greatly appreciated.
 

jimmysmith560

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Thank you very much. Also, I believe the concept for the Unseen Texts will be about discovery. Unfortunately, the teacher wasn't present at class when we had to learn about discovery but instead gave a worksheet that was rather hard to decipher so any advice on Discovery would be greatly appreciated.
No worries. This concept is very reminiscent of the previous HSC English syllabus, within which there was an "Area of Study" component that was common to both English Standard and English Advanced. Discovery was the focus of that Area of Study and was described as follows:

"Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time or rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed. Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected, or they can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder."

The description extends beyond this but I would assume that this constitutes sufficient knowledge of the concept for you as a year 10 student.

The fact that discovery was a significant part of the previous HSC English syllabus means that there is a range of texts targeting this concept. You can therefore access those texts and use them as practice stimuli in preparation for your exam. A list of those texts can be found on page 10 of this document.
 

jilly12

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Also, any advice on how to memorise language techniques and visual techniques?
 

jimmysmith560

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Also, any advice on how to memorise language techniques and visual techniques?
You could create a set of notes that covers a range of literary and visual techniques. Your notes would cover the following:
  • The name of the technique
  • The effect that the technique generally has
  • An example of the technique being used
  • An explanation of the technique's significance in terms of the particular example
You can then study your notes, allowing you to learn, understand and remember multiple techniques.

To support your preparations, you can also attempt to complete practice material while using your notes as a guide. For example, if you are reading a text and are looking for a technique to support your answer, you can look through the list to help you find one in the text and subsequently discuss it in your answer. Once you become confident that you can remember a range of techniques, comfortable with identifying them from a range of texts and discussing them, you can stop using your notes, allowing you to mirror exam conditions.
 

jilly12

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Thank you, also what are the common literary and visual techniques that are used and relatively easy to pick out?
 

jimmysmith560

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No worries. While I think that different students may find particular techniques easier to identify and discuss than other techniques, it would be reasonable to assume that the following sets of techniques are generally relatively easy to understand and identify within texts:
  • Literary techniques
    • Simile
    • Metaphor
    • Alliteration and assonance
    • Connotation
    • Euphemism
    • Hyperbole
    • Irony
    • Modality
    • Onomatopoeia
    • Oxymoron
    • Personification
    • Rhetorical question
    • Syntax
  • Visual techniques:
    • Angle
    • Distance (for example, close-up shot)
    • Colour
    • Salience
    • Symbolism
 

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