No boom as the exams start with an English test with...

It was pens (and face masks) a step and a half as an estimated 41,690 students took the exams in 521 locations across the state.

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COVID safety protocols, including seat spacing and a limit of one student per four meters, were in place.

The exam is divided into three sections – an analytical interpretation of a text, a comparative analysis of two texts, and an analysis of the use of arguments and language in an invisible text.

The analytical written exercise in Section C is known to throw curveballs in the way of students. Topics include a mountain of garbage bags, a posh grocer’s decision to ditch cash transactions, and a cartoon watermelon in recent years.

That year, however, it was straightforward as students were asked to analyze the speech made by the fictional young Victorian farmer Warwick Bandle at a meeting of the Byways Shire Council and to call for a ban on the use of drones by tourists in the area if they did not License.

“It is time our council began to defend the farmers, not the tourists,” Warwick said, arguing that while drones had their advantages, their growing popularity made them a threat to the safety and livelihood of farmers in the hands of recreational users.

Teresa Hayes, a VCE English teacher at Cranbourne Secondary College, said students at the school were happy with the accessibility of the exam.

For Section A, which requires an analytical interpretation of a text, most VCE students chose Kate Grenville’s novel First Fleet The lieutenant about the Alfred Hitchcock film rear windowSaid Mrs. Hayes.

“You’ve had an incredibly difficult year,” she said The lieutenant was carried out remotely, which is associated with its own challenges. ”

Dr. Frawley said students seeking a higher exam grade would have to work to find the nuance in the fictional farmer’s arguments in Section C.

“A less complex exam may mean that more students may find it easier to get into this middle group. As a result, aspiring students may have had to really look for those moments when they could show that they could broaden their knowledge, ”she said.

The speech transcript was accompanied by two black and white images, the first of two fallen drones lying in a field and a woman in a flowing coat walking towards them, the second a simpler image of a flying drone marked with a medical cross.

Now an annual tradition, a number of disrespectful memes flooded social media within minutes of students leaving the exam rooms, including video footage of an angry farmer shooting a drone from the sky and a link to CASA’s application form for a remote pilot’s license.

A collective sigh of relief emanated from Auburn High School as 12th grade students took the English and English as an Additional Language (EAL) exams.

Headmistress Maria Karvouni said the students had taken more practice exams this year and were well prepared.

The teachers had also spent additional hours on one-on-one assistance while their students studied remotely.

“I know that the English teachers in particular have made a lot of extra effort,” said Ms. Karvouni. “The boundaries between work and life are sometimes blurred this year due to distance learning.”

Student Ethan Ngo said his pre-exam nerves were drained when he entered the exam room.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, that’s for sure,” he said. “But I felt completely calm when I went into the exam room because everyone else was freaking out and that only calmed me down.”

Sasha Matthews said she was relieved and would sleep well tonight.

“The teachers were pretty amazing. Of course nobody expected it, but this year it was amazing how quickly the teachers adapted. ”

International student Beatrice Chen took the exam for English as an Additional Language and said the teachers’ good support and plenty of practice made her feel like she did well.

When the school year is over, she hopes to go home.

“I hope to return to China, back to my home country,” said Beatrice.