“I’m writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.” In a maximum of 600 words, write an extract of a piece which responds to this stimulus, in an imaginative or discursive way. * Here’s the thing, I said to Alice, who was ignoring me again and writing in the notebook. She shoved... Continue Reading →
Practice Advanced Mod C from Baulkham Hills High
Use the image provided as a stimulus to craft a central metaphor in a piece of imaginative writing of 700-800 words that evokes a particular emotional response in the reader. * Your chest rises and falls: can you hear me? I will only talk if you can't hear me. I had to go to your... Continue Reading →
Free your mind – an end of term writing exercise
Usually at the end of term I like to play short films for my classes, because I foolishly trust that they've worked hard and need a break. Good short films are also excellent related texts, and are much easier to work with than 2+-hour megamovies. Unfortunately, no one seems to share my taste in short... Continue Reading →
A Mod C about Mrs Dalloway
In the 2018 sample paper which was published to give people an idea of what this mysterious new 'Craft of Writing' Module might be about, one question suggested that students could be asked to draw on the OTHER modules - i.e. not Module C. So if you had done Mrs Dalloway and The Hours for... Continue Reading →
Transformed Outlooks: Discursive
See my comments on this question from James Ruse High here : Use the image below as the inspiration for an imaginative OR discursive piece which explores the result of a transformed outlook on individuals and/or society. * A few chapters after the world's creation, a man is standing in his house at night having... Continue Reading →
Transformed Outlook: Imaginative
This task is from James Ruse Agricultural High School, the (ooh-err) toppest state school in the HSC ranklings. I tutor a few of their Year 12s and they were kind enough to show me their Module C task, which I've had a go at here. Here's the question: Use the image below as the inspiration... Continue Reading →
Development
No action or event is really complete until you’ve told the story of it. By putting it in some kind of order you develop an understanding of what it meant, as well as what happened. (a) Use this statement as the stimulus for a piece which concludes with a new understanding of a problem. You... Continue Reading →
Some freebie practice questions
Try to keep all your answers to 40mins max, since this is all you'll have in the exam. If you want to imagine there's a (b) part asking for a reflection statement, then imagine that the (a) part is worth 12 marks and the (b) part 8 marks. Good luck! * Compose a piece of... Continue Reading →
Reflection Statements
Look, we know they're mostly BS, but it's your teachers' last chance to believe that you learned something from all the quality literature they've been ladling down your throats. The thing to remember about reflection statements - and writing for school generally - is that this is not how writing happens in the real world.... Continue Reading →
A sample reflection
Only the characters that we love to hate exist outside the story. Their strength allows them to breach the walls of their text and enter our world. a) use this statement as a stimulus for a character, persona, or speaker who is hateful in some way. You must include at least one literary device or... Continue Reading →