VCE taking both lit and language, any tips please!

cynopoly

Hi! I'm a year 11 in 2023 and starting VCE english literature and language at once next year. I love english, but I do recognise how difficult the workload may get. I'm not planning on dropping either as of now, and I know people have taken 2 englishes before. Please let me know if you have any tips! Goodluck to all vce takers out there this year 🙂))

bluebird

Hey Cynopoly,

So I did English Language 3/4 this year and am going to do the Literature 3/4 exam (my last one!!) in about 6 hours. I did 1/2 for both of them last year.

My main tips for EngLang especially as I understand you are starting them both at 1/2 is to really immerse yourself in the metalanguage and content. The style of answering questions and metalanguage is a huge learning curve and very difficult in the first term but after 1/2, 3/4 will really be a breeze as for me it was. Ask lots of questions to your teachers, tutors and definitely ATARNotes. You definitely can’t be perfect but try your level best to pick out metalanguage in your everyday! For example just then used an exclamation point for added emphasis of my enthuasiasm about EngLang. There are 3 sections in the exam with 2 hours in year 12 so you really have to work on writing in year 11 (mainly just doing the assigned class work) to make it a bit easier. If by the end of th year you feel you understand what and AC, Essay and SAQ entails, you’ll be fine. 3/4 is really where the hard yakka (colloquialism) is put in with submitting writing for feedback but the earlier the better. I was also very lucky to have 2 very good teachers. I loved the content so much and EngLang was one of my favourite subjects even though I thought about dropping it numerous times in year 11, I just enjoyed the content but felt that I sucked. If you like it definitely stick with it.

Now, lit. Oh literature. It really is not as hard and difficult and streunous as some people make it iut to be. If you enjoy analysis and discussion dw you’ll fit right in. You have to read your books without a doubt on each holidays for the next 2 years and do the required writing. Alas I lost motivation in lockdown and did not submit 1/2 lit homework which I will pay for in today’s exam. However, if you have a passionate teacher like I did and like most literature classes do you will truly engage with the content at a deeper level. The thing is imposter syndrome sometimes kicks in for some people like “omg what everyone says is so smart compared to mine”. I felt I slayed lang but not lit yet but I had to understand that doing both of these subjects gives you an edge and unique flavour. The learning curve for me was the writing style. The content is relatively easy, you discuss texts in class with smart people like yourself and then you use a very open ended structure to write. I found this a bit difficult shift balancing lang and lit yet once you get the hang of it you can really appreciate how cool it is to do this. The thing I recommend for lit is to build vocabulary. Create a or section in your notes where you regularly add flowery phrases and sentences such as the “ephemerality of joy” the “profound mundanity of the domestic” I usually just note it down when the teacher classmate or internet says something cool. It’s really ok if you don’t speak like that flowery though as long as you develop interpretations of your text and can write about you’re fine.

Sorry that was very long hope it helps! Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.
bluebird

edit: removed an emoji because it didn’t look the way I wanted.

cynopoly

God

Only thing I’d say, from watching others do the same - is remember they are two different subjects.

You can’t write like you do in lit, in english.

Hope ur year goes well!

BriMT

I didn't study them both at the same time but I did lit 12 then eng lang 34, with eng lang being through distance ed / VSV. Literature has more of a broad focus whereas eng lang is about having an unseen text and picking apart how the details are used to create it.

Metalanguage is very important for eng lang and I benefited a lot from studying this over the holidays. I feel that the assessments and content for each are distinct enough that it should be fairly easy to keep them separated in your mind.

Hope this helps 🙂

cynopoly

BriMT Thank you so much!

beep_boop

BriMT Metalanguage is very important for eng lang and I benefited a lot from studying this over the holidays.
i cant stress how important metalangauge is!!!

BriMT I feel that the assessments and content for each are distinct enough that it should be fairly easy to keep them separated in your mind.
this!!!

Joseph41

beep_boop Yeah - I can't speak for Lit, but getting sorted with metalanguage is one of the best things EngLang students for next year could do right now IMO. It's useful for pretty much the whole course.

cynopoly

bluebird THANK YOU SO SO MUCH

cynopoly

bluebird
second reply, and again, thank you. I do feel a lot better since I have been in 'enrichment' english classes since Year 8, and this year (year 10) I have proved myself as 'carrying' our class on discussion and I pride myself on knowing all the metalanguage in our analyses. Vocabulary wise, I love learning, but struggle to remember a lot of words I come in contact with. It is a great relief to know that Lit isn't that hard, especially as I am a chronic reader and read huge piles of books and studied texts in holidays anyways. Thank you so much for the advice and I wish you the best of luck for your results this year!!