module a essay questions standard

Paper 1 - Section I - 10 Full-Length Reading Tasks

Paper 1 - Section II - 60 Practice Essay Questions

This article contains several sample HSC questions for all modules of the year 12 Advanced English Course.

5 minute read

Last updated 

September 25, 2024

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Six Second Summary

Introduction.

As regular practice is essential to effective study regimes, students should utilise these questions in the lead up to trial and HSC exams. Questions are best practised under timed conditions to best prepare for the exams in an authentic environment.

These questions have been prepared by top state-ranking tutors at Premier Tutors with several years of experience teaching the new syllabus, including three tutors who have placed 1st in NSW for English Advanced.

Common Questions

“Through the language of emotion, texts may provide timeless and universal portraits of humanity.”

To what extent does this statement relate to your own understanding of your prescribed text? In your response, refer to the quotation and your prescribed text.

“Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it but moulds it to its purpose.” – Oscar Wilde

Assess the effectiveness of your prescribed text in providing an authentic image of reality. In your response, refer to the quotation and your prescribed text.

“It is difficult to maintain individual identity in the face of homogenous collectives.”

To what extent does this statement relate to your own understanding of your prescribed text?

How does your text represent the paradoxical nature of human behaviours and motivations?

Literature’s power comes from its ability to confront the reader’s assumptions by representing new perspectives on the human experience. How does your understanding of your prescribed text reflect this statement?

“One’s identity is a culmination of their individual and collective human experiences.”

To what extent does this statement align with your understanding of your prescribed text? In your response, refer to the quotation and your prescribed text.

How does your text represent the inconsistencies between morality and human behaviours?

“The medium is the message” – Marshall McLuhan

How does the composer of your prescribed text communicate their perspective on the human experience through their form choices? In your response, refer to your prescribed text and the above statement.

“Despite our different behaviours, human motivations are all the same.”

How does your composer respond to their context to represent enduring ideas about the human experience? In your response, make close reference to the given statement and the prescribed text.

Question 10

“If the world were clear, art would not exist.” – Albert Camus

How does your prescribed text use storytelling to clarify the uncertainties and inconsistencies of the human experience? In your response, refer to the given statement and your prescribed text.

Question 11

How does the composer of your prescribed text experiment with form to challenge readers’ perspectives about the human experience?

Question 12

“The only constant within the human experience is change.”

To what extent does this paradoxical statement reflect your understanding of your prescribed text?

Question 13

How does your text use storytelling to deepen the responder’s understanding of the power of human relationships?

Question 14

How does your text develop a strong voice to shape the reader’s perspectives about the nature of individual experiences?

Question 15

“The most powerful and transcendental human experience is love.”

Love can come in many different forms. How does your text represent the impact of this emotion on individual and collective human experiences? In your response, make close reference to the above statement and your prescribed text.

Form Questions

Question 16 - prose fiction.

“The primary purpose of prose to create an authentic representation of the human experience.”

To what extent does the given statement align with your understanding of your prescribed text? In your response, discuss how narrative voice and structure help create this authenticity.

Question 17 - Poetry

“The power of poetry is not so much in the literal meaning of the words, but in the feelings that it evokes through imagery and other creative choices. It is through those feelings that we learn about the human experience.”

To what extent does this statement align with your understanding of your prescribed text?

Question 18 - Drama/ Shakespearean Drama

Analyse your prescribed text’s use of performance devices in representing human emotions.

Question 19 - Nonfiction

Analyse how the narrative voice of your prescribed text deepens your understanding of the individual experience represented.

Question 20 - Film & Media

Analyse how visual techniques work in conjunction with dialogue to accurately portray the interaction between individual and collective human experiences.

The following are all text-specific questions:

All the Light We Cannot See (Doerr, Anthony):

Question 21.

How does Doer represent the impact of adversity on the individual and collective behaviours?

Question 22

“So how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world full of light?”

How has Doer’s representation of hope deepened your understanding of the human experience? In your response, make close reference to the given quotation and your prescribed text.

Question 23

How does Doer’s complicated portrayal of heroes and villains reveal the universality of our underlying humanity?

Vertigo (Lohrey, Amanda):

Question 24.

How does Lohrey represent the importance of connection with place in shaping the individual human experience?

Question 25

“To awaken human emotion is the highest level of art.” – Isadora Duncan

Discuss how Lohrey’s representation of the range of human emotions has enhanced your understanding of the human experience. In your response, make close reference to the given quote and your prescribed text.

Question 26

How does Lohrey represent the impact of loss and grief on individual human experiences?

Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell, George):

Question 27.

“Don’t let it happen. It depends on you.” – George Orwell

How does the above quotation resonate with your understanding of Orwell’s authorial intent?

Question 28

How does Orwell represent the power of collective narratives to homogenise individual human experiences?

Question 29

How does Orwell represent the nature of human emotions within a totalitarian regime, and how does this representation help support his authorial purpose?

Past the Shallows (Parrett, Favel):

Question 30.

“No man is an island entire of itself.” – John Donne

Does the above quotation affirm or challenge Parrett’s representation of isolation in Past the Shallows?

Question 31

Analyse how Parrett’s representation of fear shapes your understanding of human behaviours and motivations.

Question 32

How does Parrett represent the influence of setting on individual and collective human experiences?

Rosemary Dobson Collect Poems

‘Young Girl at a Window’, ‘Over the Hill’, ‘Summer’s End’, ‘The Conversation’, ‘Cock Crow’, ‘Amy Caroline’, ‘Canberra Morning’

Question 33

How does Dobson experiment with form to examine the impact of internal conflict on the individual human experience? In your response, refer to AT LEAST TWO of Dobson’s prescribed poems.

Question 34

“His eyes lit windows facing west / to the lemon-coloured light.” - Over the Hill, Rosemary Dobson

How does Dobson’s poetry engage with the different human reactions to change? In your response, refer to the above quotation and TWO OR MORE of Dobson’s prescribed poems.

Question 35

How does Dobson use her poetic form to explore the depth of human emotions? In your response, make clear reference to specific FORM choices made by Dobson in NO MORE THAN TWO of her poems.

Kenneth Slessor Selected Poems

‘Wild Grapes’, ‘Gulliver’, ‘Out of Time’, ‘Vesper-Song of the Reverend Samuel Marsden’, ‘William Street’, ‘Beach Burial’

Question 36

How does Slessor use imagery to evoke confronting emotions and experiences? In your response, refer to AT LEAST TWO of Slessor’s prescribed poems.

Question 37

How does Slessor highlight the paradoxes and anomalies inherent within the human experience? In your response, refer to NO MORE THAN TWO of Slessor’s prescribed poems.

Question 38

How does Slessor’s use of poetic personas allow him to shine light on complex aspects of the human experience? In your response, refer to AT LEAST TWO of Slessor’s prescribed poems.

The Crucible (Miller, Arthur)

Question 39.

“Whilst The Crucible is clearly a response to Miller’s context, it also contains enduring messages about human behaviours and motivations.”

How does the above statement reflect your understanding of the human experience represented in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible?

Question 40

How does Miller represent the power of institutional narratives to overwhelm and shape individual and collective human experiences?

Question 41

“Fear is the primary motivator within the human experience.”

To what extent does this statement reflect your understanding of the human experiences represented in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible?

The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare, William)

Question 42.

How does Shakespeare represent differing motivations and their impact on human behaviours?

Question 43

“Life itself, my wife and all the world / Are not with me esteemed above thy life.” (Bassiano to Antonio, IV.i.275-276, The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare)

How does Shakespeare represent the importance of connection with others in providing value to human experiences?

Question 44

How does Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice represent the influence of social laws and norms on both individual and collective human experiences?

The Boy Behind the Curtain (Winton, Tim)

Question 45.

How does Winton’s memoir form invite the reader to reflect upon the impact of past experiences in shaping individual identity? In your response, refer to AT LEAST TWO of Winton’s stories prescribed for study.

Question 46

To what extent does Winton engage with the tensions between individual motivations and collective expectations? In your response, refer to NO MORE THAN TWO of Winton’s stories prescribed for study.

Question 47

“For many, certainty has become the new normal, but it’s an illusion…We’ll forever be vulnerable to havoc.” – Havoc, Tim Winton

How does Winton represent the illusions within the human experience? In your response, make specific reference to above quotation and AT LEAST TWO of Winton’s stories prescribed for study.

I Am Malala (Yousafzai, Malala & Lamb)

Question 48.

“We realise the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.” – I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai

How does Yousafzai represent the importance of storytelling to empower individuals and collectives? In your response, make close reference to the above quotation and your prescribed text.

Question 49

How does Yousafzai represent the importance of maintaining individual values in the face of challenging individual and collective human experiences?

Question 50

How does Yousafzai in I am Malala represent the emotions and behaviours associated with experiences of inequality?

Question 51

How does Yousafzai in I am Malala represent our underlying, universal humanity despite our different beliefs and backgrounds?

Billy Elliot (Daldry, Stephen)

Question 52.

“We cannot change who we are, no more than we can change the rising of the sun or the coming of the tides.”

Does the above statement affirm or challenge your understanding of the representation of individual identity in Daldry’s Billy Elliot?

Question 53

How does Billy Elliot use visual techniques to engage with the difficulty of overcoming social expectations?

Question 54

How does Daldry in Billy Elliot represent the importance of acceptance to the human experience?

Go Back to Where You Came From (O’Mahony, Ivan)

Question 55.

How does Go Back to Where You Came From use documentary techniques which confront the viewer’s expectations to reveal the range of human experiences?

Question 56

How does Go Back to Where You Came From represent the power of new experiences to change existing perspectives?

Question 57

How does Go Back to Where You Came From represent our underlying, universal humanity despite our different beliefs and backgrounds?

Waste Land (Walker, Lucy)

Question 58.

“A powerful artistic vision is undeniable.”

Does the above quote affirm or challenge your understanding of Waste Land’s representation of the importance of artistic purpose for individual identity?

Question 59

How has your study of Waste Land enhanced your understanding of the power of creative expression to unite communities?

Question 60

How does Waste Land use visual techniques to shape our understanding of the timelessness and universality of human concerns and challenges?

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About the Author

Fionn is a humanities tutor at Premier Tutors. Fionn attended Cranbrook School on a full academic Academic Scholarship and graduated as Dux with a perfect ATAR of 99.95.

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20 Paper 1 Practice Essay Questions to Get Ready for the English Adv HSC

Want to prepare for HSC English Advanced Paper 1? Write practice essays with these 20 Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences practice questions!

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Vce english units 3 & 4.

Need help preparing for HSC English Advanced Paper 1? Well, Matrix has your back, again! In this post, we’ve got 20 Common Module practice essay questions for you to get HSC ready with.

20 Paper 1 practice essay questions to get ready for the English Adv HSC | Common Module: Text and Human Experiences

Below are 20 practice questions for the Common Module Paper 1. Some of these questions are general questions and others are specific to form.

We recommend that you use these practice questions to either:

• Write practice essays to gain essay confidence
• Do mock exams to a 40-minute timer (Yes, that’s right, not 45 minutes. Get used to responding in less than the allotted time!)
• Practise scaffolding drills where you plan out an essay in 5 minutes and write a practice introduction and three topic sentences!
• All of the above

Note: Some of these questions asks you to discuss a specific text. Feel free to adapt these to your own prescribed texts!

Remember, it is always a good idea to practice a wide range of questions. You must not rely on a prepared response.

Simulate the HSC experience with our Mock Paper 1!

20 Common Module practice essay questions

Inevitable conflict invites individuals to see the world differently and bring anomalies to light.

Evaluate this statement with close references to your prescribed text.

Evaluate how composers use evocative imagery to represent the power of human desires and their effect on individuals.

In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Storytelling is simply a metaphor that helps people deal with the harsh truth of the human condition.

How does the text you studied affirm or challenge this statement? In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Humans need to embrace every aspect of the human experience – including the goods and bads – to undergo pleasantly surprising changes in life.

Critically evaluate this statement with references to at least 2 of Rosemary Dobson’s poems. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Composers use features unique to their media and form to offer insightful perspectives on human experiences that forces audiences to self-reflect.

“ Living a good life is like flipping pancakes. If you hesitate, it splatters all over the place .” – Matt Simpson.

Evaluate how George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four  reflects this statement by functioning as a cautionary tale. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Composers document their personal experiences in stories to reflect and learn. As such, their personal and wider contexts are usually interwoven in these stories.

Explain how the use of narrative voice in non-fiction texts reflect the above statement. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

To what extent does Shakespeare’s  Merchant of Venice challenge audiences to reflect on the complexities and tensions of human experiences throughout time.

Texts are known to explore human flaws that are uncomfortable, yet simultaneously, wonderful.

Evaluate how Arthur Miller’s use of representation in  The Crucible  explores the above statement. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

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Question 10

How does Tim Winton’s innovative representation of the landscape present an insightful vision of the human experience?

In your response, make detailed reference to at least 2 stories from  The Boy Behind the Curtain .

Question 11

Stories often invite audiences to appreciate the power of human interactions and relationships to offer new insights into the world and oneself.

How does your text affirm or challenge the above statement? In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 12

Evaluate how George Orwell uses metaphors to represent the weaknesses and strengths of human qualities within a turbulent political zeitgeist. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 13

Humans have an innate desire to judge others.

Discuss the effects of stereotypes and judgement on an individual’s sense of self in Ivan O’Mahoney’s  Go Back to Where You Came From . In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 14

Evaluate how composers use evocative imagery to explore the similarities and differences between individual and collective human experiences.

Make close reference to your prescribed text.

Question 15

One’s identity is ultimately shaped by their experiences and interaction with the wider world.

To what extent does your prescribed text explore this statement. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 16

Human emotions and desires have the power to move mountains.

Discuss how your prescribed text uses its media and form to explore the above statement. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 17

Society and their perspectives may change over time, but the human condition remains constant.

To what extent does Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb’s  I am Malala  explore the above statement. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 18

An exploration of the human experience offers new insight on the world and of oneself.

Discuss how the composer of your prescribed text represented different experiences and attitudes to explore the above statement. In your response, make detailed reference to the text.

Question 19

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” – Franz Kafka

Explore the above statement with close references to your prescribed text.

Question 20

Composers represent relatable experiences to encourage audiences to recognise the connection between themselves and the wider world.

Evaluate the above statement and explore the importance of connections and relationships with detailed references to your prescribed text.

Written by Matrix English Team

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Year 12 HSC Module A : Textual Conversations Practice Questions

Feeling stuck with your HSC Module A study? We have got you covered with 10 amazing new questions! 

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

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

“In this module, students explore the ways in which the comparative study of texts can reveal resonances and dissonances between and within texts. Students consider the ways that a reimagining or reframing of an aspect of a text might mirror, align or collide with the details of another text. In their textual studies, they also explore common or disparate issues, values, assumptions or perspectives and how these are depicted. By comparing two texts students understand how composers (authors, poets, playwrights, directors, designers and so on) are influenced by other texts, contexts and values, and how this shapes meaning. 

Students identify, interpret, analyse and evaluate the textual features, conventions, contexts, values and purpose of two prescribed texts. As students engage with the texts they consider how their understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of both texts has been enhanced through the comparative study and how the personal, social, cultural and historical contextual knowledge that they bring to the texts influences their perspectives and shapes their own compositions. 

By responding imaginatively, interpretively and critically students explore and evaluate individual and common textual features, concepts and values. They further develop skills in analysing the ways that various language concepts, for example motif, allusion and intertextuality, connect and distinguish texts and how innovating with language concepts, form and style can shape new meaning. They develop appropriate analytical and evaluative language required to compose informed, cohesive responses using appropriate terminology, grammar, syntax and structure. By composing critical and creative texts in a range of modes and media, students develop the confidence, skills and appreciation to express a considered personal perspective.”

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:

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

English Advanced Module A Questions

1. ‘There has no such thing as originality. It has all been said before, suffered before’. 

To what extent is this statement true of the texts you have studied in this module?

2. ‘Literature is one continued conversation, regardless of time or context. People die, texts are immortal.’

Evaluate the above statement with reference to your prescribed texts.

3. To what extent has your understanding of how your texts interact with each other confirmed or rebutted the influence of a creator’s context?

4. ‘If you want to be original, be ready to be copied’.

With reference to the above statement and your prescribed texts, to what extent do modern creators recycle the textual features of their predecessors?

5. ‘Original minds are not distinguished by being the first to see a new thing, but instead by seeing the old, familiar thing that is over-looked as something new’

Evaluate the above statement with reference to your prescribed texts and the manner in which they interact with each other. 

6. Creators cater to their audiences above all else. With reference to the two texts you have studied, to what extent to do agree with this idea?

7. ‘Regardless of societal progression, some things are immortal. Love, fear, power: these things never change’

Evaluate this statement by assessing the extent that the themes in your texts have been reimagined for a modern audience. 

English Standard Questions Module A: Society and Culture

“Language has the power to both reflect and shape individual and collective identity. In this module, students consider how their responses to written, spoken, audio and visual texts can shape their self-perception. They also consider the impact texts have on shaping a sense of identity for individuals and/or communities. Through their responding and composing students deepen their understanding of how language can be used to affirm, ignore, reveal, challenge or disrupt prevailing assumptions and beliefs about themselves, individuals and cultural groups. 

Students study one prescribed text in detail, as well as a range of textual material to explore, analyse and assess the ways in which meaning about individual and community identity, as well as cultural perspectives, is shaped in and through texts. They investigate how textual forms and conventions, as well as language structures and features, are used to communicate information, ideas, values and attitudes which inform and influence perceptions of ourselves and other people and various cultural perspectives. Through reading, viewing and listening, students analyse, assess and critique the specific language features and form of texts. In their responding and composing students develop increasingly complex arguments and express their ideas clearly and cohesively using appropriate register, structure and modality. 

Students also experiment with language and form to compose imaginative texts that explore representations of identity and culture, including their own. Students draft, appraise and refine their own texts, applying the conventions of syntax, spelling and grammar appropriately and for particular effects.”

Practice questions:

1. ‘Language is a powerful tool. It represents our collective identity.’

Evaluate the above statement with reference to your prescribed text. 

2. How do texts use voice and other cultural signifiers to inform self-perception? 

Use your understanding of your prescribed text to respond. 

3. How has your prescribed text explored the impact of change on both individual and group identity? 

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Exam Q&A for HSC English Standard - Module A

Highly accomplished English teacher, Jowen Hillyer, answers questions from students studying for their HSC in the lead up to the exams.

Those words are there so that all the texts on the HSC list for Module A are covered.

Yes – at least as a springboard into discussing ideas. Remember, this module is not a study of texts by themselves but how those texts illuminate ideas in the module.

Yes – you can and it is absolutely better than leaving it blank.

The markers want to give you marks not 'deduct' them. It will preclude you from the higher bands because one criteria in the marking is about structure and cohesion. 

Synonyms will be your friend. If the question asks you to write about division within culture and you have only ever studied themes like mateship and a fair go, what arguments can be saved? 

In standard you are not comparing poems. You are picking a few big ideas on culture and identity and matching parts of the poems to those ideas.

You can write as many body paragraphs as you need to answer the question on the day.

Absolutely. A whole quote is not always needed to convey the idea.

Clear and concise is always better.

It’s not about the amount of words but about the quality of your argument.

Back to HSC English

Other pages in this section

• Exam Q&A for HSC texts and human experiences
• Exam Q&A for HSC English Advanced - Module A