VATE Publications 2017 ENGLISH - Revision guide12englishrevisionpcssc.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/3/5/39356499/2017_u3... · VATE Publications 2017 ENGLISH ... The White Tiger ... 2017

VATE Publications

2017

ENGLISHUnit 3 Written examination sample paper

The scenario in Section C has been prepared for the sole purpose of providing sample material for the VATE English Written examination sample paper. Names of individuals and the characters are fictional, with no comparison with, or comment on, any living individual intended. The views expressed in the scenario are not necessarily those of the writer or publisher.

Reading time: 15 minutes Writing time: 2 hours

TASK BOOK

• Students are to write in blue or black pen.• Students are permitted to bring into the examination room: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners,

rulers and an English and/or bilingual printed dictionary.• Students are NOT permitted to bring into the examination room: blank sheets of paper and/or correction

fluid/tape.• No calculator is allowed in this examination.

Material supplied• Task book of 12 pages, including assessment criteria on page 12.

Instructions• Complete each section of the examination paper.• All written responses must be in English.

Disclaimer: Examination Instructions and the Examination Assessment criteria are taken from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) 2017 sample English Written examination (February 2017). The VCAA does not endorse the content of this exam.

This exam cannot be reproduced whole or part thereof without the permission of the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English.

© Victorian Association for the Teaching of English 20171/134–136 Cambridge Street, Collingwood, VIC, 3066

Students are NOT permitted to bring mobile phones and/or any other unauthorised electronic devices into the examination room.

Section Number of questions

Number of questions to be answered

Marks

A — Analytical interpretation of a text 20 1 20C — Argument and persuasive language 1 1 20

Total 40

VICTORIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH

2017 U3 VATE ENGLISH SAMPLE EXAM 2

Text list

1. All About Eve ......................................................................................................directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz

2. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity .............................. Katherine Boo

3. Burial Rites ......................................................................................................................................... Hannah Kent

4. Cloudstreet ............................................................................................................................................ Tim Winton

5. Frankenstein .......................................................................................................................................Mary Shelley

6. I for Isobel ...........................................................................................................................................Amy Witting

7. Island: Collected Stories ............................................................................................................. Alistair MacLeod

8. Mabo ..............................................................................................................................directed by Rachel Perkins

9. Measure for Measure ..............................................................................................................William Shakespeare

10. Medea ....................................................................................................................................................... Euripides

11. No Sugar ................................................................................................................................................. Jack Davis

12. Old/New World: New & Selected Poems ...................................................................................... Peter Skrzynecki

13. Selected Poems ..................................................................................................................................... John Donne

14. The Complete Maus ........................................................................................................................ Art Spiegelman

15. The Golden Age ...................................................................................................................................Joan London

16. The Left Hand of Darkness ..............................................................................................................Ursula Le Guin

17. The Lieutenant ..................................................................................................................................Kate Grenville

18. The Thing Around Your Neck ...................................................................................... Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

19. The White Tiger ................................................................................................................................Aravind Adiga

20. This Boy’s Life .....................................................................................................................................Tobias Wolff

SECTION A — Analytical interpretation of a text

SECTION A — continued

Instructions for Section ASection A requires students to write an analytical interpretation of a selected text in response to one topic (either i. or ii.) on one text.Your response should be supported by close reference to the selected text.If your selected text is a collection of poetry or short stories, you may write on several poems or stories, or on at least two in close detail.Indicate which text you have chosen to write on and whether you have chosen to answer i. or ii.Your response will be assessed according to the assessment criteria set out on page 12 of this book.Section A is worth one-half of the total marks for this Unit 3 examination.

2017 U3 VATE ENGLISH SAMPLE EXAM3

1. All About Eve directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz

i. ‘How does Mankiewicz’s All About Eve show that fame is fickle?’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘Because they have more to lose, the women in the film prove to be more ruthless.’

Do you agree?

2. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

i. ‘Where it seems that only hopelessness abounds, Boo finds hope.’

Do you agree?

OR

ii. ‘There are no admirable characters in Behind the Beautiful Forevers.’

Discuss.

3. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

i. ‘Kent’s novel shows that even in a judgemental society there can be compassion.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. “Natan … nodded, ‘You don’t belong in this valley, Agnes. You’re different. You’re not scared of everything.’”

‘Kent suggests that for women it’s dangerous to be different.’

Discuss.

4. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

i. “Mum’ll never let him go.”

How does Winton’s novel show that families can be both supportive and oppressive?

OR

ii. ‘The female characters in Cloustreet face life with more resilience and hope than the male

characters.’

To what extent do you agree?

SECTION A — continued TURN OVER


5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

i. ‘It is Victor’s selfishness that brings unhappiness to others.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘Shelley’s novel shows there is more to fear than the monster.’

Discuss.

6. I for Isobel by Amy Witting

i. ‘Isobel struggles to develop healthy relationships with others.’

Do you agree?

OR

ii. “You built a wall around yourself and too late you found yourself walled in.”

‘The novel suggests that with perseverance, it’s possible to overcome life’s difficulties.’

Discuss.

7. Island: Collected Stories by Alistair MacLeod

i. ‘Their forebears were attached to an unforgiving landscape by physical work, but the characters in these stories must adapt to social change.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘The stories are about the relationship of fathers with their children rather than of mothers.’

Discuss.

8. Mabo directed by Rachel Perkins

i. ‘Eddie Mabo’s story shows that ordinary people can achieve something important even if the odds are stacked against them.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘Only their love and resilience enable Eddie and Bonita to persist in their public campaign.’

Do you agree?



9. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare

i. ‘The characters in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure are motivated by self-interest.’


OR

ii. “Hence shall we see ... what our seemers be.”

‘For all his seeming piety, the Duke is as immoral as anyone in the play.’

Discuss.

10. Medea by Euripides

i. ‘Medea has only herself to blame for her misfortunes.’

Do you agree?

OR

ii. ‘Euripides ensures that our sympathies shift as the play unfolds.’

Discuss.

11. No Sugar by Jack Davis

i. ‘The white characters attempt to help the Aboriginal characters in No Sugar, yet all they

deliver is misery.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘Overall, the female characters are far more admirable than the male characters in No Sugar.’

Do you agree?

12. Old/New World: New & Selected Poems by Peter Skrzynecki

i. “My past life was a house / I'd brought along with me”

‘Skrzynecki’s poetry vividly evokes the present, but it also commemorates the past.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘Despite his European identity, Skrzynecki celebrates Australia and its landscapes.’

Discuss.

SECTION A — continued TURN OVER


13. Selected Poems by John Donne

i. ‘Donne’s poems are concerned with a search for meaning and connection.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. “Hope not for mind in women.”

To what extent does Donne challenge social expectations?

14. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

i. ‘Spiegelman suggests that survival depends on an individual’s own ability to adapt to the demands of their circumstances.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘The audience’s sympathy for Vladek is enhanced by his son’s method of storytelling.’

Discuss.

15. The Golden Age by Joan London

i. “Was all happiness just a memory of childhood?”

To what extent do the characters in The Golden Age find happiness?

OR

ii. ‘In The Golden Age, polio affects more people than just its direct victims.’

Discuss.

16. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

i. ‘The Left Hand of Darkness shows that society benefits when people truly understand themselves and each other.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. “What is the first question we ask about a newborn baby?”

‘By moving outside a gender binary, Le Guin suggests that gendered traits are not pre-ordained.’

Discuss.



END OF SECTION A

17. The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville

i. ‘Despite the harshness of their situation, the characters try to understand each other.’


OR

ii. ‘In learning the language of the Cadigal people Dawes learns new things about himself.’

Discuss.

18. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

i. ‘In The Thing Around Your Neck, Adichie demonstrates that in the process of migration, it is not only women who must sacrifice parts of themselves.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. Why does Adichie leave many stories in The Thing Around Your Neck unresolved?

19. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

i. ‘While Balram’s murder of Ashok is brutal, the reader does not condemn him for it.’


OR

ii. ‘Adiga’s novel, The White Tiger, suggests that in a divided society, an individual’s choices are

limited.’

Discuss.

20. This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff

i. ‘This Boy’s Life suggests that the American Dream is unachieveable.’

Discuss.

OR

ii. ‘In a world of poor adult role models, Toby struggles in his search for identity.’

Do you agree?


NOTES


SECTION C — Argument and persuasive language

Instructions for Section CSection C requires students to write an analysis of the ways in which argument and language are used to persuade others to share a point(s) of view.Read the background information on this page and the material on pages 10 and 11, and write an analytical response to the task below.

For the purposes of this task, the term ‘language’ refers to written, spoken and visual language.Your response will be assessed according to the assessment criteria set out on page 12 of this book.Section C is worth one-half of the total marks for this Unit 3 examination.

TaskWrite an analysis of the ways in which argument and written and visual language are used in the material on pages 10 and 11 to try to persuade others to share the points of view presented.

Background informationIn 2016, the Australian Football League (AFL) announced the details of their proposed women’s competition (the AFLW), which held its inaugural season in 2017. The announcement detailed rules, pay and conditions, some of which were controversial because they differed from the men’s AFL competition — this generated much discussion in the media and the wider community.

The Facebook post is from author Mark Station’s blog. Mark posted his opinion in March 2017, after the AFLW season had finished, and received two comments in response.

Glossary

VFL – Victorian Football League SMH – ‘shaking my head’

SECTION C — continued TURN OVER


SECTION C — continued

Mark Station

The dust has settled, the cup has been won and the inaugural Best and Fairest for the AFLW has been awarded, but where does the competition fit with the ideals with which it was so loftily announced? How far has the AFL, and Australia, come in the way we view and support women’s AFL? I delve into some of the issues, social and financial, in a post-AFLW world.

Australian passion for sport is more than a national pastime, more than a stereotype; it is a force which binds together a culture. And, like most forces, it can unite or it can divide.

I’ve no doubt that the AFL aimed (in addition to increasing current marketing opportunities and future profit margins) to use its formidable influence to promote respect for all players regardless of their gender, and unity among all lovers of the game. But last year’s announcement of the inaugural women’s professional season was eclipsed by division and disrespect.

Whether you’re in the ‘equal pay for equal work’ camp, or arguing that these footballers have to show they’re worth their salt before they can expect the pay levels afforded to their professional male counterparts, in the end, it inescapably comes down to one principle: respect. Are these athletes being shown respect? Are their skills, hours of training, and natural talent nurtured by years of dedication, blood, sweat and tears being respected at the same level as their male peers?

Maybe you already resent the huge pay packets of many of our nation’s top footballers, feeling that sportspeople are paid too much. But let me remind you, they’re putting their bodies at risk every game; this is not a lifelong career, but one which could be cut short by injury at any time, and that fact remains, regardless of the sex of the player.

Some early critics of the AFLW competition speculated that it would be nothing more than a spectacle – an opportunity for fans to act as voyeurs to what the critics saw as more of a social, rather than sporting, experiment. But the excitement surrounding the announcement was palpable and the commitment of fans who have rallied around the new teams in their clubs has certainly exceeded the expectations of the aforementioned naysayers. But we need to show this appreciation with more than just banners and words. If this truly is a professional competition, let’s show it with financial compensation, like any other job. We don’t expect male competitors to play ‘just for the love of the game’, yet time and time again, in a variety of arenas, women are expected to do so, and the AFLW is no exception.

March 31st, 2017 at 7:01am

Has the AFLW really kicked a ball through the glass ceiling?


END OF SECTION C TURN OVER

14/03/2016 1:57PM

CommentLike Share

Alex Glass and 147 others

Cat Boxall Another typical bleeding heart blog championing so-called feminism! The pay is fair for what these women do. Station uses the cliché of ‘equal pay for equal work’, but is this equal work? I mean, the women’s teams don’t play as many matches, don’t spend as much time on the field and don’t have the history of proper AFL teams. Those blokes train for months, as well as playing a preseason and full AFL season (and postseason if they’re not Melbourne!). The pay might not be equal, but it IS fair. If this turns out to be more than a flash in the pan, knee-jerk reaction to political pressure, then maybe they can move up the pay scale – just like male footballers have to do as they move from the VFL into the AFL. You think those AFL players started on $200k a year? Of course not! It takes years of training and playing, usually for little or no financial gain, before players make the big bucks. Plus, back in the 1980s, coaches and players often had to supplement their footy income with other jobs – they weren’t full time either! Back off, ‘feminists’, or you risk the AFL deciding it can’t afford to run a women’s comp at all!

Alex Glass Cat Boxall, did you even read the whole article? It’s not just about pay SMH. And even if it was, your arguments are terrible! If a woman entered a role in some other profession which had only ever been filled by males, would we suggest that she should receive the same pay as the men who filled that role forty years ago (like the players and coaches of the 80s), as opposed to her contemporaries? Of course not. Also, ‘proper AFL teams’? Really?!

In terms of affordability, the AFL leadership argues that no sport exists in a vacuum. Just like the AFL, the AFLW must provide entertainment for the television networks that will eventually play a large role in funding the endeavour. The fans watching the game want a show of strength and skill, they want entertainment. Has the AFLW provided this? Yes, I believe it has. The women have shown skill and provided entertainment, so will the AFL step up and pay them their dues? Will the AFL break the glass ceiling it created with its 2016 pay announcement and show these players respect?

And it’s not just the AFL who has to back these women. We, as an Australian sporting community, have to rally around this problem and show our support of a fair go. Let’s not relegate issues of respect, recognition and pay to being solely the AFL’s concern.

As the gender pay-gap gradually closes in other professions, we have allowed it to remain in professional sport. In what other profession would we condone such a discrepancy? Pay and conditions for female professional sports people is not just a ‘women’s issue’, it’s a social issue; one which we all need to deal with.

Other sports with successful women’s teams, such as the Australian Women’s Cricket team and the US National Women’s Ice Hockey team, both ranked more highly than their male counterparts, have recently taken action to secure equal conditions, as well as a level of pay which recognises them as respected, skilled sports people, with top ranked players finally earning something comparable to male players. Not equal pay, but at least by some estimation, ‘fair’ pay.

As it stands, the current AFLW pay deal isn’t fair. And if these women are not treated fairly, then we’re back to square one and the glass ceiling still bars not just the players’ progress, but Australia’s. This is about showing our support for all players of the game. This is about respect.

Mark Station has a degree in Social and Gender Studies from Monash University and is a well-known public commentator on Australian sporting and social issues; he is a regular contributor to several publications including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper.

Like · Reply · 8 · 15mins

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Assessment criteria

Section A will be assessed against the following criteria:• knowledge and understanding of the text, and the ideas and issues it explores• development of a coherent analysis in response to the topic• use of textual evidence to support the interpretation• control and effectiveness of language use, as appropriate to the task

Section C will be assessed against the following criteria:• understanding of the argument(s) presented and point(s) of view expressed• analysis of ways in which language and visual features are used to present an argument and to persuade• control and effectiveness of language use, as appropriate to the task

CONTRIBUTORS

Exam editors: Faye Crossman and Marion White

Section C: Emma Catchpole

Layout: Josephine Smith

Contributors: Annabel Aldous, Nunu Bisogni, Faye Crossman, Brianne Cuthbert, Marcellene D’Menzie, Andrew Doyle, Jill Fitzsimons, Lu’isa Fosita, Amy Haywood, Jodie Howlett, Ross Huggard, Jason Jewell, Dora Kourambas, Karen Lynch, Jan May, David Moore, Daniela Ouzecky, David Pargetter, Sophie Peters, Marissa Pinkas, Anthony Politini, Anthony Quirk, Cameron Sayers, Josephine Smith, Jill Strong, Germana Tendelli, Alice White, Marion White, Cindy Zhou.

© VATE 2017

This publication has been prepared by the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this exam was correct at time of publishing, and to trace and acknowledge copyright and ownership of all material. VATE will be pleased to hear from copyright holders to rectify any errors or omissions.

Sources: Women Aussie Rules Football (Photo by Kerrie - Bond University Women's Football - CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_Aussie_Rules_Football.jpg (p. 10)

END OF TASK BOOK

VICTORIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH

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VATE Publications 2017 ENGLISH - Revision guide12englishrevisionpcssc.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/3/5/39356499/2017_u3... · VATE Publications 2017 ENGLISH ... The White Tiger ... 2017