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Year 12 HSC Module B : Critical Study of Literature Practice Questions

Need help preparing for your HSC Module B exam? Here are 10 brand new questions for you!

TutorTime would like to help you prepare for the HSC English Advanced Module B (paper 2). 

A great place to start is to understand the rubric – you can find it here straight from NESA:

Module B Advanced English: Critical Study of Literature

“In this module, students develop detailed analytical and critical knowledge, understanding and appreciation of a substantial literary text. Through increasingly informed and personal responses to the text in its entirety, students understand the distinctive qualities of the text, notions of textual integrity and significance. 

Students study one prescribed text. Central to this study is the close analysis of the text’s construction, content and language to develop students’ own rich interpretation of the text, basing their judgements on detailed evidence drawn from their research and reading. In doing so, they evaluate notions of context with regard to the text’s composition and reception; investigate and evaluate the perspectives of others; and explore the ideas in the text, further strengthening their informed personal perspective. 

Students have opportunities to appreciate and express views about the aesthetic and imaginative aspects of the text by composing creative and critical texts of their own. Through reading, viewing or listening they critically analyse, evaluate and comment on the text’s specific language features and form. They express complex ideas precisely and cohesively using appropriate register, structure and modality. They draft, appraise and refine their own texts, applying the conventions of syntax, spelling and grammar appropriately. 

Opportunities for students to engage deeply with the text as a responder and composer further develops personal and intellectual connections with the text, enabling them to express their considered perspective of its value and meaning.”

Read more about the NESA English syllabus here:

https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/f2ef71a2-ea7c-4b96-92f6-398fe141925c/english-stage-6-prescriptions-2019-2023.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=

Here are some general essay tips:

  1. Time your essays. You should allow 40 minutes to write the essay and don’t forget to add in the rubric words.
  2. Hand write your essay, get writing fit, you won’t be able to type your essay in the HSC!
  3. Don’t forget to answer the question in your introduction.
  4. Write in clear paragraphs with obvious spacing. 
  5. Edit your work. 
  6. Good luck!

Free English Advanced Module B Questions

(a) T S Eliot, T S Eliot: Selected Poems

‘T. S. Eliot’s unique voice forces his audience to recognise the fragility of the human psyche’.

Evaluate the above statement with reference to at least two of Eliot’s poems.  The prescribed poems are:

 * The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

 * Preludes

 * Rhapsody on a Windy Night

 * The Hollow Men

 * Journey of the Magi

(b) David Malouf, Earth Hour

‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience’.

To what extent does this view align with your understanding of Malouf’s poetry?

In your response, make close reference to at least two of Malouf’s poem.

The prescribed poems are:

 * Aquarius

 * Radiance

 * Ladybird

 * A Recollection of Starlings: Rome ’84

 * Eternal Moment at Poggia Madonna

 * Towards Midnight

 * Earth Hour

 * Aquarius II

(c) George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck 

‘We are doomed to repeat our mistakes; history is inevitably on a loop’. 

To what extent does this view align with your understanding of Good Night, and Good Luck? 

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(d) William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 1

‘Perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it’.

To what extent does this view align with your understanding of King Henry IV, Part 1?

 In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(e) Charles Dickens, Great Expectations 

‘We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy’.

To what extent does this view align with your understanding of Great Expectations

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(f) Jane Austen, Emma 

‘The secret to a happy life is to talk plainly and live boldly’

To what extent is the above statement subverted in Emma?

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(g) Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

‘Two people can live the same life, see the same things and yet tell you completely different stories’. 

To what extent do the ideas in the above statement align with your understanding of An Artist of the Floating World?

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(h) Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House

‘The Meek shall inherit the earth’.

To what extent does the above quote, along with your own understanding of the feminist tones of the play, align with your view of A Doll’s House?

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(i) Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes

‘A generation which ignores history has no past and no future’.

To what extent does this statement, and your own understanding of the importance of story, align with your interpretation of The Hare with Amber Eyes

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(j) Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory

‘You will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory’.

To what extent does this view align with your understanding of Speak, Memory

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(k) Gillian Armstrong, Unfolding Florence

‘Art collides with life in unexpected and wonderful ways’.

To what extent does this view align with your understanding of Unfolding Florence

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

(l) Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood 

‘It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live’

To what extent does this view confirm or subvert your understanding of Under Milk Wood

In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

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