Students relieved VCE English exam finally over
STUDENTS gave their VCE English exam provisional pass marks yesterday as they emerged from 3¼ hours of focused toil, branding it taxing but manageable.
They also expressed relief to have a big one out of the way, for most of them launching a fortnight of exams proper.
The three-part exam asked for response to a studied text, pieces of imaginative or persuasive writing and language analysis.
There appeared to be no repeat of questions deemed controversial last year.
Geelong High School captain Chris Janse van Vuuren rated the exam as attainable.
Belmont High School year 12 leader John McAndrew said the feedback was that is was fair.
“The general consensus was that it was really good, they were really happy with the questions on the text and they felt very relieved to get the first one over with,” he said.
“We didn’t have tears, we didn’t have anyone leave and they pretty much worked the whole three hours. I think English has the biggest trepidation for a lot of students.” WHAT GEELONG HIGH STUDENTS SAID: HAMISH Whitten, 18, aiming for a Bachelor of Commerce: “I’m glad it’s over, one less exam I have to worry about now.” JORDAN Deneka, 17, aiming for teaching: “It was pretty decent, I don’t think of it as too stressful ... I got through it. It was challenging, manageable, draining.” CHRIS Janse van Vuuren, 18, school captain, aiming for a science or physics PhD: “It was a lot better than I dreamt it to be, a lot more attainable. If you prepared well through the year it was quite a reasonable exam to do well. TAYLAH Arnold, 17, aiming for nursing at Deakin. “To be honest, I found it really difficult. I got ill in the first half-hour and had to get up and go to the bathroom. I reckon I lost 30 to 45 minutes. I will get a derived score. I just wanted to finish it and I did, the examiners were all so helpful.” GRACE Clissold, 18, aiming for law/arts. “It was difficult at first then it seemed to kind of slowly make more sense. There was actually plenty of time.