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Exemplar HSC Paper 2 Discursive Essay and Re ection – Carmen

Zhou

The HSC Paper 2 Module C question can require you to write a discursive response and
a re ection statement. In this post, we share Year 12 student Carmen Zhou's exemplary
discursive essay and re ection so that you can see what you need to produce to attain
a Band 6 result.

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HSC Paper 2 Discursive Essay and Re ection – Carmen

Zhou
For Paper 2 in the HSC, you’ll possibly need to do more than just write a discursive essay.
You’ll also have to write a re ection statement or rationale to accompany it. This adds an
additional layer of complexity to Paper 2. After all, you only have 40 minutes and you need
to produce an essay and re ection. But what are they meant to look like? How are you
supposed to write that on the spot?  Below we’ve shared an exemplary HSC paper 2
discursive essay and re ection to an HSC Module C style question.

What sort of question requires an essay and rational?

In the new syllabus, the Module C HSC question can have multiple components. The
sample paper provided by NESA includes the following question:

Example C (20 marks)

(a)

“Then, although it was still the end of the story, I put it at the beginning of the novel, as
if I needed to tell the end rst in order to go on and tell the rest.”

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 Lydia Davis, The End of the Story: A Novel
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Collected Stories by Lydia Davis
© Lydia Davis (Penguin, London)

Use this sentence as a stimulus for the opening of an imaginative, discursive

or persuasive piece of writing that begins with the end.

In your response, you must include at least ONE literary device or stylistic feature that
you have explored during your study of a prescribed text in Module C. (10 marks)

(b) Explain how at least ONE of your prescribed texts from Module C has in uenced
your writing style in part (a). In your response, focus on ONE literary device or stylistic
feature that you have used in part (a). (10 marks)

As you can see, this question requires an imaginative, discursive, or persuasive response
and a rationale. This kind of question poses a few different problems to students:

You can’t preprepare a response

You must produce a response of a reasonable length to an unseen question
You need to produce two related responses: the piece of writing AND the re ection
These need to connect to the Module and one of the texts you’ve studied

So, how do you prepare for something like this?

Practice.

These kinds of questions and responses require you to be comfortable and con dent in
writing in a variety of modes. The sample question above offers you the option of
responding in different modes. However, you can be asked to respond in a particular
mode: for example, a discursive essay.

So, to get con dent with writing in these modes, you need to write practice responses to
practice questions. You should do these to a time limit, so you can be sure you know how
to plan your time and produce a response in the time limit.

For the Year 11 Module C term course, Matrix students face a mock HSC Paper 2
question. This helps them practice and develop their skills before they sit exams in school.

To help you understand how to approach a discursive essay we’ve put together some
resources for you:

This detailed article from our Year 12 Study Guide that unpacks Module C for the new
HSC syllabus
This step-by-step blog post on how to write a discursive response

Let’s take a look at a question and an exemplary response written under exam conditions.

Discursive Essay Task

Instructions

You must complete both questions

You have 5 minutes reading time Bookshop Contact Us Login
 You have 40 minutes writing time (45 minutes total)
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In your answer,  you will be assessed on how well you:
craft language to the demands of the question
use language appropriate to audience, purpose, and context to deliberately shape
meaning.

(A)

Image: Stimulus image

Use the image above to write an imaginative or discursive piece of writing.  (12 marks)

(B)  Explain the decisions that you have made in your writing in part (a).               (8 marks)

Now let’s take a look at an exemplary response from a Year 12 Kingsgrove North student,
Carmen Zhou. You can download the essay with a re ection and annotations after her
response.

Carmen Zhou’s exemplary discursive response

 

The best thing about technology is the worst thing about technology. The ability to
connect with the rest of the world has a sense of awe that is bigger than any individual.
However, the inability to truly connect with people is what is destroying us. We have been
constantly following trends, celebrities and hundreds of our “friends” but how much do we
really know about them? The sense of scale of the internet is overwhelmingly interesting,
but it can be a cruel place. It can provide support from strangers and the joy of constant
stimulation, but it can be addicting. it is a network of people, but not everyone is good. All
this available from the tap of our phones. It’s great but someone can get lost if they don’t
have a map to travel through the great maze that is the internet, shattering their self-
image in the process.

Phones are a form of technology that has no age restriction and are highly addictive.
What’s the difference with from phones when you compare them to alcohol or drugs or
tobacco? These all have restrictions. And there is a reason why these have restrictions:
they can ruin shatter a person’s sense of self and ruin their lives as they fall into addiction.
So, why don’t phones have an age restriction? Why should we let our youth, our friends
and peers, ourselves, be consumed by a device that has been proven links to depression

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 and suicide? Addiction. Addiction. Addiction. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to stop because it’s
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so hard to change course, it’s so much easier to give up. And yet, in the face of this, kids
as young as ten are still allowed to own these things.

The internet is a chaotic mess, you can think of it as the aftermath of a ball thrown
through a window and scattering broken glass across the oor. We all want to look out
that window, but getting to see the view is dangerous, nobody wants to clear up the sharp
mess on the oor. Sometimes the mess isn’t too bad, the glass doesn’t always cut but
re ects light into all sorts of places you never knew existed before. People can learn about
and try to connect through movements – gay rights, feminism, pay equality. The internet
can be a place where people can get truly inspired and join a cause that is important to
them. In this sense, the internet builds self-image and self-worth. Yet, the bad is just as
prevalent as the good. Sexual predators, cat shers, trolls. The bad exists. Unfortunately, it
does. It’s there, and as far as I can tell, it will always be there. People are more cruel when
hiding behind a screen, its a fact of nature: we talk behind people’s backs and gossip. It’s a
normal, if unfortunate, part of humanity. And, so, if we are ill-equipped to deal with these
situations… well the internet isn’t so great, is it?

The rise and fall of trends, the changing faces of celebrity, these are lters we use to make
our self-image. We may not like to admit it but, yes, we craft our self-image out of these
things. Not our actions. Not our words. Not our ability to converse with people. It becomes
about how good the lter is, how good our conformity, how many likes we can get and
how many “friends we have.” It’s a constantly changing place and everyone is just going
with the ow, never nding stability in how they perceive themselves.

The key to resolving this situation is nding a balance. We call the internet our “virtual
reality”. And, as with reality, there is both the good and the bad. The key is learning how to
balance the use of our phones, of social media, and all the wonderfully horrible things that
are so easily accessed with just a tap on the screen. Whether I like it or not, the internet is
now an important part of the world and whether you like it or not it, the internet is now an
important part of how you perceive yourself. What do you do? Find your balance. Does
this mean fty- fty? Probably not, everybody is different. The internet is a huge place, but
if you don’t want to get crushed by the weight that is the internet, you will nd a way to get
balance. Because the best thing about the internet is the worst thing.

Read a marker’s annotations, and ace Mod C

  Written by Guest Author

We have regular contributions to our blog from our Tutor Team and
high performing Matrix Students. Come back regularly for these
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 guest posts to learn their study hacks and insights!
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© Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au, 2018. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from
this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Matrix Education and
www.matrix.edu.au with appropriate and speci c direction to the original content.

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