Year 12 English Exam Revision
You should have a study timetable based on your exam timetable. As English is the
first exam English revision should be included in the early part of your exam revision.
Ch 15 of your Insight text is on exam preparation and you should read it carefully.
Studying for English-You can plan different activities that will form revision
activities for different periods of time. These could include:10-15 minutes Plan a text response from Reading and Responding topics for Dear America:
Letters Home From Vietnam or On The Waterfront
 Select one of the Context prompts provided during the year and brainstorm or
complete a concept map showing the key ideas you would use in responding
to the prompt. Remember to include links to the set texts.
 Read the text/s provided for analysis in sample tasks in the Using Language to
Persuade section (practice for Reading Time-Sample articles, Ch 13, Insight.)
 Write a character profile of main characters in one of your reading and
responding texts (in point form)
 Write a list of main quotes to learn for each Reading and Responding text
30 minutes Plan 2 text responses, one for each Reading and Responding text. Your plan
should include main points to be included in the introduction, topic sentences
for each paragraph and main points to be included in the conclusion.
 Re-read key sections of your written texts.(The whole text should be re-read
during revision time).
 View key scenes of the film text; for example, vignettes. Take notes as you
view. (The whole text should be re-viewed during revision time – access
on clickview).
 Conference with a friend – swap essays, read and edit them, you will discuss
the topic content and work to improve your writing ability at the same time
1 hour Complete a full analysis of a text/s.
 Plan and write a full Reading and Responding response.
 Plan and write a full Creating and Presenting response.
 Re-read key sections of your text.
 Go through all your notes on one of the texts you are revising
2 hours Watch the film text again, pausing to check key scenes and write down quotes.
 Plan and write a Reading and Responding response followed by a Creating
and Presenting response. Spend an hour on each.
 Prepare a set of study notes on each Reading and Responding text, using subheadings: Plot, Characters, Setting, Structure, Language, Themes,
Metalanguage
 Prepare a set of study notes on each Creating and Presenting text, using
subheadings to show how they reflect the Context, Encountering Conflict.
3 hours 15 minutes- go to VCAA website for practice exams and do a full exam
15 minutes reading time- no writing in this time
Read all questions thoroughly and check back to the question frequently.
Plan your time and keep to it.
Use a dictionary to check shades of meaning in key words in topics.
Plan all responses- allow 5-10 mins maximum
Make sure you proofread all responses.
_____________________________________________________________________
You can also use the following websites to aid your revision:
http://mssibios12english.wikispaces.com/
http://vceconflict.blogspot.com/
http://vcedearamerica.blogspot.com/
http://vceonthewaterfront.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/VCE-English-On-The-Waterfront/191544920871719
http://www.englishforyear12.com.au/
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/englishexams.html
Use them to:






Review information on the texts and Areas of Study
Access the Insight study guides for texts
View past exam papers and assessor’s comments
Look at advice for good writing
Access web tools for study and study activities
View SACs of various ranges from students:
– read them as an editor, looking for ways they work well
and ways they could be improved.
- use diigo, if you know how, to highlight and leave
constructive comments
- use diigo to present alternative ways of structuring
sentences in the examples, how could they be improved?
- use the comments function at the bottom of a post to
leave a comment
Planning your writing in the exam:
When you step into the exam you have limited time to think through and plan the structure of
your essays and/or other written responses. Advice is to take no more than 5-8 mins doing this
for each response. Therefore, you need to practise responding quickly to text response essay
questions and prompts for writing.
In the case of Encountering Conflict prompts for writing, make use of FLAP+C to plan a
response quickly.
This tool below might help some of you plan for writing about Dear America and On the
Waterfront:
Interactive essay map
Some of you might find using this interactive essay map tool helps you practise planning out
essays quickly and effectively. It sets you up to create a visual in your mind of the things you need
to think about for each part of your essay.
- Remember to always include quotes and examples to support your ideas in the supporting details
section of your plan.
- Our aim in the exam and SAC is to write four body paragraphs, so plan for a fourth main idea.
- You can plan for a number of different topics using this tool and print them off to review in the
lead up to the exam.