1. Unfamiliar Texts 1.3 School Exam Feedback 2014

2. Marking Schedule  Achieved  describes, identifies, selects and shows understanding  Merit  explains and refers to a range(3+)of techniques with supporting examples  Excellence  Appreciates – could include reference to theme, target audience and author’s purpose

3. Grade Score Marking Schedule GradeGSM Score Not Achieved0-6 Achieved7-12 Merit13-18 Excellence19-24 The scores for Questions 1, 2 & 3 are added together to get a total score. For example: Question 1 A3, Question 2 M5 and Question 3 A4.... 3+5+4=12...this student gets ACHIEVED.

4. General Feedback  Always provide proof for comments you are making. Proof MUST include techniques and examples.  Whenever providing a technique and example ALWAYS explain how this helps to answer the question.  Always attempt every question. If you don’t know the answer – guess!!! If you leave it blank you are guaranteed not to gain any marks. However, if you attempt the question you might just say something that the marker is looking for.  Don’t forget to read any extra information written above or below the text itself. This may include the name of the author, where it was published, a short glossary etc. that may help you.  Do not repeat examples within a question as it won’t gain you extra marks.  Read the questions carefully. If the question asks for ONE example – provide just ONE!  Think about the text holistically. You may be asked about the setting, the characters. The mood or tone, or ideas.

5. General Feedback  Prove to the marker that you know your techniques.  For instance for emotive vocabulary......EITHER identify particular words eg. ‘destroy’... OR underline the word that is emotive ‘and destroy the souped-up cars’.  In Section C of each question reference to the author’s purpose/target audience/theme, in addition to providing techniques and examples, was needed to obtain Excellence.  Those students who planned their answers, especially in Section C, were more likely to gain Merit and Excellence because they had appropriate evidence and techniques to support their ideas.

6. Question One: ‘Sam’  Section A & B ask for one feature and one example – therefore that is all that should be referred to.  In Section C the bullet points are there to help guide your answer but they aren’t the actual question. Your answer should focus on ‘how the writer helps us to understand Sam throughout the text’ as stated in the question.  Remember not to repeat any information within a question. Therefore an answer for Sections A & B should not be given again in Section C.  Some appropriate techniques to refer to in this questions were:  Abbreviations, Adjectives, compound/complex sentences, Colloquialism/children’s idiom, Superlatives, Monologue, Metaphor, Conjunctions ‘so’ used to start sentences,

7. Question Two: ‘The Years’  Section A & B ask for one feature and one example – therefore that is all that should be referred to.  In Section C the bullet points are there to help guide your answer but they aren’t the actual question. Your answer should focus on ‘how the writer helps you to imagine the back and the activity around it’ as stated in the question.  Remember not to repeat any information within a question. Therefore an answer for Sections A & B should not be given again in Section C.  You MUST refer to the way techniques were used by the writer, including language techniques and structural techniques.  Some appropriate techniques to refer to in this questions were:  Personification, Onomatopoeia, Internal rhyme, Rhythm and rhyme, Alliteration, Irony, Repetition, Assonance, minor sentences

8. Question Three: Journey  Section A & B ask for one feature and one example – therefore that is all that should be referred to.  Section C  the bullet points are there to help guide your answer but they aren’t the actual question. Your answer should focus on ‘how the writer helps us to understand hi ideas about soldiers killed in war ‘  Remember to keep relating your points back to the question  Some appropriate techniques to refer to in this questions were:  Quotations, Proper nouns, Personification, Maori, Abstract nouns, Imperative,. Alliteration, Interrogative, Repetition, Phrasal sentence, First person narration,