The English Scholarship Exam

What is the Scholarship exam?

- A monetary award - No credits- Not a qualification- Challenging standards- Most able students in each subject

You must be able to:

- Demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation- Integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations.

• An exam at the end of the year that is seen to be the highest level a secondary school student can achieve

• There are 3 grades for Scholarship: Not Achieved (A), Scholarship (S) and Outstanding Scholarship (O)

• Only about 2-3% of all students entered for NCEA Level 3 will achieve Scholarship; fewer than 1% will achieve Outstanding Scholarship

• There are monetary awards for success- between $500 and $30 000

$$$$ The awards:

Premier Scholars - at least three Scholarships at Outstanding level: $10,000 each year for three years

Outstanding Scholar Award - a minimum of 3 Scholarships (at least 2 at 'Outstanding' level or more than 3 Scholarships with at least 1 at Outstanding level) - $5,000 each year for three years

Top Subject Scholar (multiple awards)- the top performer in each subject : $2,000 each year for three years

Scholarship Award - three or more Scholarships subjects - $2,000 each year for three years

Single Subject Awards - 1 or 2 Scholarships - A 'one-off' award of $500 per subject

WHAT IS IN THE ENGLISH SCHOLARSHIP EXAM?

• SECTION A: a close analysis of two texts, often different in genre, but with a point of commonality

• SECTION B: an in depth analysis of one or a number of texts from one particular genre

• SECTION C: an in depth analysis of a number of texts from a number of genres

• All three sections require essay answers of more than 800 words each

How the paper is marked:

- Constant checks within the marking team - 4 Performance Descriptors - Each essay is out of 8 points- The top two Performance Descriptors

(1 and 2) gain Scholarship

Your record of Scholarship results will show:

- The Performance Descriptor which best fitted your paper- The ‘cut off’

WHAT SKILLS SHOULD YOU HAVE?

• High level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation, and

• Ability to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations.

• Comprehensive content knowledge;

• Effective communication;

• Original or sophisticated solutions, performances or approaches;

• Critical evaluation;

• Flexible thinking in unfamiliar/unexpected contexts.

WHAT SHOULD YOU BE ABLE TO DO?

• Write fluently: excellent vocabulary, structure and style

• Apply a knowledge of English: grammar, literary techniques, syntax, style, structure, effect

• Cross-reference: not just to other texts, but also to other fields of study and to past and present societies

• Apply other knowledge to texts• Be aware of author’s purpose

Outstanding Performance - Performance Descriptor 1

The student will:

• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of texts and methods used in crafting them.

• Respond critically with mature ideas and independent reflection.

• Demonstrate an exceptional level of sustained critical response showing consistent ability to synthesise knowledge, understanding and argument.

Scholarship - Performance Descriptor 2

The student will:

• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of texts and methods used in crafting them.

• Respond critically with mature ideas and independent reflection.

• Sustain coherent, substantiated and engaging argument.

Performance Descriptor 3

The student will:

• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of texts and methods used in crafting them.• Respond critically with mature ideas and independent reflection.• Demonstrate coherent and substantiated argument.

Performance Descriptor 4

The student will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of texts and methods used in crafting them.• Respond critically with some mature ideas and independent reflection.• Demonstrate coherent and substantiated argument.

Demanding text and questions - It is not necessarily the complexity of the text but how you respond that makes it demanding.

Respond critically … initiate an alternative reading or application of theory; take a fresh approach to accepted interpretations; challenge the reader’s understandings; apply or deconstruct theoretical models.

Knowledge of methods used in crafting … such as structure, style, layout, delivery techniques, figurative language, editing, method of narration, rhetorical devices, sound effects, dramatic techniques, characterisation, costume and scripting.

Section A

Close Reading of Unfamiliar Texts

– a technical comparison of two written texts, one poetry, one prose, with an emphasis on content and crafting.

Section A - Tips for success:

- Use the guidelines in the question

- Include wider discussion of the themes/ideas too.

- Avoid listing technique and effect ; look holistically at each piece

- Read the introductory paragraph

- Keep answer balanced across both texts

Section B

Response to Literature and Language

- A response to literature / language which you have studied.

- If you choose short texts, it must involve at least two.

- Genre-based questions

- Do not repeat material across Sections B and C

Shakespeare, novel, film, TV, poetry, short stories, theatre, aspects of language, journalism, non-fiction, online texts…

Section C

Exploring Issues in Literature and Language

- an exploration of issues in literature / language studied.

***Thesis-driven, not text driven

Sections B and C - Tips for Success:

- Focus on the question

- Sustain your response to it throughout

- Don’t skew the question

- Address ALL parts, including quotations

- Draw up parameters for discussion

- Link texts

Revision:

- Practice planning

- Map the links across all your texts

- Use exemplars / models to analyse and compare against your own work

- Practice framing the thesis in introductions

- Text choice – knowledge and personal response

Final advice:

- More than 800 words

-1 hour per essay

- Address the chosen topic throughout

- Central thesis, especially in Section C

- Evidence, quotations…

- Read all questions first

- Enthusiasm, personal engagement, critical response