Year 12 students reveal what stumped them in English exam
Fresh from their external English exams, Year 12 students have revealed what stumped them most and how they overcame it.
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Year 12 students who did their English exams on Monday have revealed what stumped them most and how they overcame it.
The exam was a big one – determining 25 per cent of their overall grade – that goes toward an ATAR score.
The QCE English external paper required students to select one out of two unseen questions provided, create a thesis to answer it and write a 800 to 1000 word essay using relevant quotes, concepts and themes to support the thesis.
With English being the most enrolled in subject in Queensland, comprising of 27,428 students, we went to three Brisbane schools and asked 13 students what question they chose, how they answered it and what they found the most challenging.
From developing a strong thesis, to understanding the era the plays were set in to making sure the essay flowed well, students have revealed what had them scratching their heads most.
The books off the list students spoke to The Courier-Mail about were William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Othello, while other questions on the paper were shared by the students.
QCAA is yet to release the official English paper with the exact questions on the exam.
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Principal Jacinda Euler Welsh said teachers began preparing students for the external assessment from year seven and described the exams as an “exit statement” of the student’s education over six years.
“As we get into year 12, we start to focus much more on those external exams. So that means mastering the content and the knowledge and the concepts that they need, developing their exam technique and that they know how to perform well in an exam” she said.
Brisbane Boys’ College Headmaster Andre Casson said they made sure the students had good emotional wellbeing prior to sitting the exams.
“So we talked about nutrition, we talked about sleep and we also talked about, if you’re feeling a bit stressed before exam. Who can you go to?”
BRISBANE STUDENTS REVEAL HOW THEY WENT
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Bridget Ng
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“I selected Question A because I was definitely more prepared for that question. The second one was very narrow and specific. Our classrooms definitely went into depth a lot more about jealousy.”
How did you answer it?
“So I thought about how jealousy was represented in the play through scenes and interactions and then utilised that in my analysis. I also used imageries of how Shakespeare re-presented jealousy as like a trap for a monster that consumes people.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I think the hardest part was making sure the entire essay flowed together, and how I could make all of my points link directly back to my thesis.”
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Darcy Basford
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“Well, it was kind of an obvious choice. I feel like the other one was a lot more complex than A and you could talk about anything that you wanted to because jealousy is one of the main things in Othello.”
How did you answer it?
“I did actually have lots of different points that I could use. So I guess for me, like narrowing it down and finding the best points was a bit difficult. But I used ones that I had, used in other practice essays, and I found that was really useful.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I feel like the tough part about the question is choosing what to talk about, what would be best to argue your point with and also developing your thesis. Also, just making sure the words flow out, and that you’re constantly going back to the point of jealousy.”
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Eliza Forster
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“I just sort of looked at it, and straightaway I was like, this is something I’ve really prepared for.”
How did you answer it?
“I went through and structured my essay in a chronological order to showcase how jealousy impacts the characters through the play and what effect that has.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I think just kind of like sequencing those quotes I had memorised in a way that would be effective is definitely what got me kind of thinking.”
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Katie Buntain
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“I think I just knew more and was more confident and prepared for it, like in my final studies I was like, oh, jealousy is probably one of the biggest things in the play. I also think we focuses on it a lot more than the other one.”
How did you answer it?
“I focused on the metaphor of representing jealousy as a monster and then likening it to poison and then also how that contributes to Othello’s downfall. Then also, there was a lot of biblical allusions to represent Othello’s downfall which I mentioned.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I feel like probably my third point about Othello’s downfall was just really easy to think that the downfall is so significant, but reminding myself I needed to link it back to that jealousy concept and make sure it was tying back to the thesis, that is probably what I had to work on.”
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Vani Ranjan
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“My instincts just told me to go with it. I picked that one because it felt the most easy to approach and immediately ideas started coming up for it.”
How did you answer it?
“I went about talking on jealousy and how it related to the tragedy of the play. So in my essay, I argued that jealousy was the root cause of the tragedy of the play. I think I did also focus on different elements of imagery. I focused quite a lot on religious imagery to showcase that that was the downfall and I did focus on different imagery and shapes being used to construct jealousy, like disease or the monster.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I think because it’s such a prevalent being, I really didn’t expect it to come up. So I think I was a bit stumped initially with the question. But during the planning time I just, let myself, you know, map out all the different visual ideas and I think it came together.”
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Asha Stewart
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“We had, of course, done that practice question quite a lot so I chose it. It was the first thing we did in class, really.”
How did you answer it?
“I just chose the most kind of prominent relationship there is in the play, which is Lago and Othello, the two main protagonists and antagonists and I just showed how the jealousy affects those two and in their secondary relationships in the play.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I think because there’s so many aspects to the theme of jealousy that it’s hard to choose just three. I chose the representation of jealousy in poison and then how it leads to violence in the play, but there’s so many other ways you can answer the question it’s quite open ended in a way.”
Brisbane Girls Grammar School Year 12 Student Dorothy Rae
Chose Question A for Othello: How were readers invited to view the concept of jealousy?
Why did you select the question you did?
“I was sort of hoping that we would get a question on jealousy because it’s one of the concepts that is most prevalent in the play, and it’s one that I understand the most. I had a bunch of really interesting quotes that I wanted to analyse for it as well.”
How did you answer it?
“So what I did is we had the 15 minutes of planning time, yeah, and I started off just by writing all the quotes that I thought were useful, and then I grouped them into what kind of body’s paragraph and arguments I might want to come up with. And then from those I constructed a thesis and a title.”
What did you find most challenging?
“In my third body paragraph, which was about irrationality, it was a little bit tricky. I mean, I just hadn’t put those two quotes together before. Yeah, I’ve done them both individually, but I hadn’t tried to analyse it together.”
Brisbane Boys' College Student Cartaar Westerberg
Chose Question B for Macbeth: Analyse the significance of the supernatural in the play.
Why did you select the question you did?
“Our mock exam concept was supernatural as well so it was very easy and we had also done a lot of work on supernatural as well in the lead up to this exam. It was just the question that stood out to me as something that I could answer easily.”
How did you answer it?
“I said that the supernatural had a large impact on the play. I said that the witches and their whole purpose was to drive the plot and to create Macbeth’s downfall. But I also said that ultimately, Shakespeare made it Macbeth’s fault, and we see that there was soliloquies, and the guilt is on him.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I find it takes a lot of thinking to relate it back to the period where Shakespeare was in. I find it really hard to relate to something from that long ago.”
Brisbane Boys’ College Student Joshua Parcell
Chose Question B for Macbeth: Analyse the significance of the supernatural in the play.
Why did you select the question you did?
“I kind of looked at both questions, and I weighed off between what I can talk about for each one, I could get a lot more out of the argument for the supernatural than what I could get for leadership.”
How did you answer it?
“I chose to look at three different aspects of the play. So I looked at the interaction between the witches and Macbeth, how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience hallucinations throughout the play, and the concept of appearance versus reality aspects from the play through different scenes and acts and quotes. I also showed how the supernatural had a significant impact on the play, and how it was the driving force that really pushed the play along and achieved what it intended to show the audience.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I feel like the most difficult part of the exam for me was trying not to repeat myself, so I was constantly looking back throughout my answers. Also, just making sure I was being really succinct as well, and had a nice flow throughout my response.”
Brisbane Boys’ College Student Ari Bottomer
Chose Question B for Macbeth: Analyse the significance of the supernatural in the play.
Why did you select the question you did?
“I did the supernatural question because we had it for our mock but I also tried to think about what I’d write for both of them and I just thought that the one about leadership, I would struggle to sort of structure well.”
How did you answer it?
“I looked at what it achieved for the audience at the time and for the Jacobean audience, I thought that Shakespeare was using the supernatural as a warning to basically go and say, you know, don’t go around killing the king, because that’s gonna happen to you.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I think for my thesis, especially, it took me a while to come up with a thesis that I was happy with, because that sort of set up my whole response as best as possible. I probably spent more time than I should have on it.”
Brisbane Boy’s College Student Andrew Hyun
Chose Question B for Macbeth: Analyse the significance of the supernatural in the play.
Why did you select the question you did?
“Because it was in the mock exam, that helped a bit. But I felt that the supernatural was a very prevalent theme in the book and it’s quite a broad theme. There was just a lot of I could talk about and I could relate a lot of different aspects, from the book to the supernatural.”
How did you answer it?
“I talked about the comparison between Banquo and Macbeth and how Banquo acts like a, kind of like a role model, and then when Macbeth decides to commit regicide, and all of his crimes, the guilt and like turmoil contributes to all the hallucinations which were all punishments by God. It was a very common belief of the time so I also spoke about how the great chain of being, which was also like the hierarchy chosen by God came through in the play for the audience.”
What did you find most challenging?
“Probably just because the theme is quite broad, just making sure I was making my answer quite specific with my answers, and just really linking my evidence and my quotes, to actually answering the question.”
Brisbane Grammar School Year 12 Student Angus Ellerman
Chose Question A for Macbeth relating to leadership in the play
Why did you select the question you did?
“It took me about two seconds to think which one I wanted, because I’d done a lot more looking at leadership, and I just had plenty of things to talk about with all the figures which was quite obvious as opposed to having to sit there and think about the supernatural, like trying to come up with a clever interpretation of that. Leadership was a really obvious choice of talking about good leaders, illegitimate kings and bad leaders.”
How did you answer it?
“I basically dumped down all the evidence I could think of, and then looked at like the patterns in that. And then I just brought that together to answer the question.”
What did you find most challenging?
“I felt really well prepared.”
Brisbane Grammar School Year 12 Student Angus Ellerman
Chose Question A for Macbeth relating to leadership in the play
Why did you select the question you did?
“I mean, that’s kind of what we’re taught. You look at, sort of like, you know, your representation of different concepts and how they come through the different characters and the different ways they act and the different things that they say, yeah. And so, you know, you think about, okay, yeah so you’ve got Macbeth this really sort of terrible, tyrannical king and he kind of represents all these terrible things. And then you’ve got, you know, the King Duncan, the king that he killed, who’s sort of this virtuous guy.”
How did you answer it?
“The bulk of my essay was contrasting the natural imagery, like the natural imagery of the world under King Duncan. So, as you know, there was mention of happy eating birds, and there’s all these beautiful things the air is sweet and all those sorts of description. And then, you know, contrasting that with straight after he kills Duncan.”
What did you find most challenging?
“How to phrase certain things. Also how to answer the question, but at the same time it sometimes it feels a bit clunky when it’s just like, Shakespeare says it’s about leadership, whereas, you know, I think I might say something to the effect of like, Shakespeare suggests that rightful leadership is God ordained.”
Originally published as Year 12 students reveal what stumped them in English exam
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