The Area of Study is a common module between English and English. It involves examining how a selection of prescribed texts provided by the NSW Board of Studies, and other related materials chosen by the student, portray and represent specific themes and ideas. English and English also consists of their own three modules of study in addition to the Area of Study:
Module A - Experience Through Contexts / Comparative Study of Texts and Contexts
Module B - Close Study of Text / Critical Study of Text
Module C - Texts and Society / Representation and Text
As of the updated 2018 syllabus, the Area of Study has been replaced with the common module Texts and Human Experiences for English, English and English Studies. The modules of English and English have also been replaced:
Module A - Language, Identity and Culture / Textual Conversations
Module B remains unchanged aside from new prescribed texts.
Module C has been changed into a Creative Writing module: The Craft of Writing. Both Advanced and Standard students study this module, but their prescribed texts for basis and analysis are different.
English Extension 1
The English Extension 1 course is for candidates that wish to undergo further study of English in their Higher School Certificate. The English course and Preliminary English Extension course are a prerequisite. There are three modules in the English Extension 1 course, each with separate electives. Candidates study one elective, choosing three prescribed texts to study. The course is divided into three separate elective studies, with students studying a single module within these elective units: 1.) Genre Study 2.) Texts and Ways of Thinking 3.) Language and Values As of the 2018 syllabus, Extension 1 now only consists of one common module, Literary Worlds, with five separate electives with their own subjects of study and sets of prescribed texts.
English Extension 2
The English Extension 2 course is for candidates that wish to undergo further study of English in their Higher School Certificate. Both the English and English Extension 1 courses are a prerequisite. Students submit a Major Work that may either be under the print medium, the sound medium, or the visual medium. Candidates write a 1500-word Reflection Statement to accompany their Major Work. The Major Work is marked internally as a process and draft, and externally as a product. Unlike the English Advanced and English Extension 1 courses, there is no HSC exam for English Extension 2, with the final HSC mark determined solely by the external marking of the Major Work.
Examinations
English Paper 1 is a two-hour examination usually conducted on the first day of the HSC exams. The paper is common to both English and English students and is thus the most widely sat HSC exam. English Paper 1 tests the Area of Study through three questions:
Question 1 ): unseen texts - requires students to deconstruct and analyse a number of unseen texts of a variety of forms. There are a number of short questions, building up to a longer answer.
Question 3 : extended response. Students usually answer on their core text, one text from the Board of Studies stimulus booklet and one or more texts of their own choice. It is usually written in essay form.
English Paper 2 is a two-hour examination usually conducted on the second day of the HSC exams. The paper is different between English and English. The response form of these questions may be specified or liberal but is normally in essay form, although other forms may occasionally be appropriate. English Paper 2 tests the English Modules through three questions, on the individual modules, all worth 20 marks with 40 minutes recommended writing time. As of the 2018 syllabus, Paper 1 has been reduced to two questions - unseen texts and extended response. Creative writing has been shifted to Paper 2 with the new Module C - The Craft of Writing. English Extension 1 has a two-hour examination. Students answer two questions relating to the module or elective they have studied, each marked out of 25 and allocated approximately one hour of writing. English Extension 2 has no examination but students submit a Major Work at the end of the course.
