English Teachers Association
Students
How to do English
Area of Study - The Journey
Studying for the Examination
- Make sure you can do what the syllabus requires.
For example the Area of Study requires you to show that you
- understand the events, people, ideas and societies portrayed in the texts (eg. What are the different ways journeys are represented in your texts?)
- recognise the assumptions underlying the representations of the idea of The Journey (eg. Are those who journey considered heroic or are they seen as avoiding some kind of responsibility at home? Why is The Journey so often described in terms of hardship? Does The Journey broaden the mind or confirm prejudices?)
- think about the ways you see the world through texts (eg. What techniques are used to represent the events, people, attitudes, ideas etc. in the text. Do you always believe what you read? What makes you trust the view presented in a text? How do the different texts you have studied enable you to perceive a more detailed, complex (even contradictory?) view of The Journey.)
- have used the texts you have studied to think about your own personal journeys.
- Identify the main ideas and be able to express these succinctly and in sophisticated language.
Go to the description of your elective and use the requirements and as headings for your ideas. For example:
Note: You will need to do this with each text before synthesising your ideas under such headings about all the texts you intend to refer to in the examination. This is a very important step as it is the elegance of your synthesis that will enable you to cover a large number of ideas in the limited time you have.
- Summarise your ideas using examples from the texts you have studied.
The most compact way is through a table. Possible heading (for physical Journeys) are offered below.
Text Movement from-to Obstacles Challenges Knowledge gained How represented Assumptions Prescribed Stimulus Booklet My own text 1 My own text 2 My own text 3 My own text 4 Make sure you:
- Include all texts from the Stimulus Booklet in your table.
- illustrate all your points with a reference to the text or a quotation. The most efficient way of doing this with verbal texts is to embed the quotation in the point you are making. This not only saves time but also means that you don't have to think of synonyms, the writer/ speaker is doing your thinking for you. eg. In contrast to Toad's enthusiasm for the journey and Mole's "eagerly" following, Rat 'snorted 'remaining where he was'.