Welcome to the
Society and Culture
Association
eTutorials
for students of
Society and Culture.
Introduction
Welcome to the Society and Culture Association website eTutorial service for students.
Navigating your way through this introduction will find material designed to support you as a
student of Society and Culture. By the time you reach the HSC examination period you should
have a thorough knowledge of the Stage 6 Society and Culture syllabus and be ready to apply
your new knowledge to unseen questions developed by the Board of Studies.
The tutorials in Society and Culture on our website are intended to extend and support your
knowledge by guiding you through specific examples for some of the syllabus content.
This introduction section contains study tips to help support you as you prepare for the HSC
examination. You will find ideas for organising and summarising your class notes, activities to
check your knowledge of examination key terms and web links to help you prepare for the
examination.
To assist the process of completing your Personal Interest project you will also find web links to
support your planning and writing.
The Personal Interest Project:
1. The requirements for writing your PIP can be found at
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/society-culture-assessmentreporting.pdf
2. The marking guidelines for the PIP can be found at
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/2009-marking-guidelines-society-andculture-pip.pdf
3. The State Library of New South Wales has in its care exemplary Personal Interest
Projects for past HSC students. Read about some of these wonderful examples of student
work found at http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/learning_at_the_Library/pip_extract_index.html
4 The Society and Culture web site also has interesting information about PIPs. Click here to
read article written specifically about preparing the PIP
http://scansw.com.au/sc_pages/sc_pip.html
To read extracts from past award winning PIPs click here
http://scansw.com.au/sc_pages/sc_awards.html
5. Examples of Personal Interest Projects from students judged at band achievement levels can
be found at http://arc2.bos.nsw.edu.au/view/byarea/course/15350/question/2582
SIX Study Suggestions to prepare for the exam:
1. Have a thorough understanding of the syllabus which is available from the NSW
Board of Studies
o To gain a thorough knowledge of the Society and Culture content and to be exam
ready, an understanding of the syllabus is needed.
o You need to be very familiar with each bullet point of the syllabus. If you don't
have a copy of the syllabus, download one.
o
Click here to find the syllabus
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/society-culture.html)
2. Have a good understanding of the layout of the exam paper for Society and
Culture:
Understanding the layout of the examination for Society and Culture helps to prepare you
for the exam. You will need to follow the recommended times for completing each of the
three sections of paper e.g.
o
o
o
o
Section 1 allow about 40 minutes
Section 2 allow about 40 minutes
Section 3 allow about 40 minutes
For section 3 construct an answer of around about 800 words
Past examination papers (LINK to
( http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/hsc2012exams/ ) are available from the
NSW Board of Studies.
3. Organise and summarise your class notes:
To help organise, summarise and revise your class notes select the following links to
download a table for the core and depth studies.
o Core Summary table
o Popular Culture
o Belief systems
o Equality and Difference
o Work and Leisure or…….
o
Each table contains syllabus bullet points for that area of study.
o
Summarise your class notes for each bullet point in the table.
o
Remember examination questions are generated to assess your level of
understanding of these bullet points.
4. Practice answering multiple choice questions:
Be very familiar with answering multiple choice questions as this will help you prepare for
the examination.
o
o
o
o
o
o
All answers for multiple choice questions are usually plausible however; there is
only ONE correct answer.
In each question you must select the most appropriate response from a list of
alternatives.
Incorrect answers are usually based on common student misconceptions or
misunderstandings.
For information of answering multiple choice questions select Academictips.org
To practice answering multiple choice questions for Society and Culture, go to
the past papers and ………Board of Studies website.
Access to the ARC web site also helps with understanding multiple choice
questions http://arc2.bos.nsw.edu.au/statistical/default/course/15350/band/5 or
http://arc2.bos.nsw.edu.au/view/default/course/15350
4. Familiarise yourself with the Board of Studies glossary of key terms
o
o
For success in the Society and Culture examination you will be required to apply
your knowledge to answer any combination of syllabus bullet points selected.
Each question asked may have an instructional verb chosen from the Board of
Studies glossary of key terms.
To check your understanding for some of the key terms complete the Click and Drag
activity.
5. Practice answering exam type questions – short, structured and extended:
o Once you have revised sections of your work then choose a syllabus bullet point
and practice how you would apply this knowledge using your understanding of a
key word from the Board of Studies glossary.
o After completing this type of activity you will notice how you are beginning to
apply your knowledge of the syllabus content.
o
In the extended response section of the paper you will be assesses on how well
you have achieved the rubric. To check your understanding of the rubric click here
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/society-culture-examrubrics.html
o
o
Practise planning your response and writing around 800 words or about six
examination booklet pages for responses in section III.
An important part of your revision routine should be looking at the marking
guidelines for any past question and heeding the advice of the marking centre.
Go to the Board of Studies
marking guidelines.
for past Society and Culture HSC papers and their
6. Look closely at samples of student work judged at the performance band
standards. Students responses to past examination questions and tasks are found
on the Assessment and Resource Centre website. Go to the ARC web site and explore
examples of student work judged against the standards of performance bands.
http://arc2.bos.nsw.edu.au/view/default/course/15350
To read more about standards referenced assessment go to “frequently asked questions”
http://arc2.bos.nsw.edu.au/page/faq/course/15350
Student performance in the Higher School Certificate examinations is reported according
to standards (or levels of achievement). HSC marks for non-extension courses are divided
into 6 performance bands to understand more about the standards go to
http://arc2.bos.nsw.edu.au/page/about-the-standards/course/15350
Now you are well on your way to being exam ready!
Suggested tutorial scaffold
Syllabus area
Title
Targeted
Outcome
Introduction
Bullet
point/s
Activity
Web link
Exam type
questions
Suggested
answers ?
An example of a tutorial:
HSC Belief systems Depth Study:
BELIEF SYSTEMS Concept revision:
In this tutorial you will check your understanding of the some of the depth study

concepts and then apply them to examples in order to understand the relationship
concepts have with your focus study in the depth study.
Check your thinking for the definition of the concept below:
Click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35UUVs5t60.
and view the short
film.\
1. Identify an example of each concept in the film.
2. Record your example in the scaffold below and then revise the definition of the concept.
3. Outline the relationship ‘symbols and rituals’ have in your focus study.
Concept
Customs
Beliefs
Continuity
Norms
Symbols
Rituals
Globalisation
Myths
Philosophy
Definition
Example from the film
Relationship between the concept
and your focus study
Another example:
Of what an eTutorial may look like
Preliminary Course: The social and cultural world
Title: Understanding the interactions between the fundamental course concepts


In this tutorial you will check your understanding of the fundamental course concepts and then
apply them to examples in order to understand the relationship concepts have with each other.
Syllabus bullet point: apply the fundamental concepts to TWO of the following: School,
family, media and a group of which the student is a member.
The fundamental course concepts and the interaction between them
are important in understanding the society in which we live.
To check your understanding of the definition of these important
concepts click on the following link and scroll to page 15
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/societyculture-st6-syl-from2010.pdf
Now that you have checked your understanding of the five fundamental course concepts choose any
two examples from the following and complete the activity.
o
school
o
family
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/
abs@.nsf/Lookup/4125.0main+fe
atures2110Jan%202013
http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/thefa
mily/watchonlineplaylist/page/i/1/h/
Watch-Online/vid/539403
Click on the link, read
the information on
education
retention
rates and outline the
relationship between
- person and culture
OR
- Personal and society
Click on the link and view
the short film the outline
the relationship between
- culture and time
OR
- society and culture
o
the media
http://www.news.com.au/tech
nology/facebook-is-taking-overaustralian-teenagerspsychologists-say/storye6frfro0-1226208648857
Click on the following link,
read the article and
outline the relationship
either
– time and culture
OR
– Person and culture
o
a group
belong to
you
Example: sport, leisure
Choose a group you
belong to and outline
an interaction between
culture and society.