As inevitable as breakfast, you’ll encounter five SAC English text responses in VCE English, altogether worth 50% of your end-of-year study score.
Luckily, we’re here to get you ready for each of them and we’ve got a breakdown of each text response criteria — from your essays, argument analysis and everything in between!
Let’s dive in!
What is a Text Response SAC?
What’s the VCE English Text Response for the Unit 3 SAC?
What’s the VCE English Text Response for the Unit 4 SAC?
What is a Text Response SAC?
Throughout your exploration and learning within Units 3 and 4 of VCE English, you will be assessed on your understanding and skills through various analytical assessments in the form of school-assessed coursework (SAC).
The results from your SACs informs 50% of your end-of-year study score and your end-of-year VCE English examination will account for the remaining 50%.
Check out our top tip to acing your end-of-year English exams for VCE here!
The Unit 3 SACs will contribute to 25% of your study score. The SACs in Unit 4 will make up another 25%.
Whilst the VCE English SACs are much smaller than the end of year examination in terms of scale, they add up and we are here to outline the tasks ahead!
Need some help preparing for your VCE English SACs? Get in touch with our expert English tutors in Melbourne!
What’s the VCE English Text Response for the Unit 3 SAC?
Unit 3 involves the completion of three different SACs combining to a total of 100 marks. This will go towards the overall 25% of the Unit.
Let’s get cracking and see what’s in store!
Outcome 1: Reading and Creating Texts
There will be two SACs in which assess your ability to read and create texts, each will be worth 30 marks.
The first SAC will evaluate your analytical interpretation skills on a specific text. The second SAC will be a creative task in which is evident of your cognisance of the form, ideas and values of the studied text.
The analytical interpretation response in the Unit 3 centres around a prompt in which you’ll formulate an essay, incorporating your reading of the studied text, explanation, analysis of literary techniques and textual evidence in order to substantiate your contention.
Worth 30 marks, the SAC will be a culmination of your work throughout the first term of Unit 3.
You will draw on planning techniques, key themes and a rich understanding of the text in order to affirm your own stance through analytical interpretation.
Tip #1: Create a table of themes and motifs
Create a table of themes and motifs within the studied text, combining overarching ideas and quote combinations.
This ‘TEE table‘ will allow you to group your ideas and establish pockets of knowledge that will come in handy when approaching an essay question. In order to maximise your analysis, it is useful to think about both explicit and implicit ideas within the text.
Finding your niche through analysis of a more obscure concept could really elevate your work.
The creative response SAC is also worth 30 marks and can be a curve-ball for some students.
The task requires a depth of understanding of the text in which allows one to extrapolate themes, motifs and techniques into their own creative response.
The creative response is a true test of how well you understand the text as it should be a celebration of your ability to reinterpret.
It should build upon how the author uses language, structure or motifs in the studied text in order to enhance the voice and style of your own writing.
Moreover, the SAC will require you to validate the creative choices you have made through a written explanation. Therefore, it can be helpful to form potential ideas and thoughtful justification of your decisions in preparation for the SAC.
This will help with executing your creative response with clarity and well-established justification in avoiding a scramble for ideas and shallow evaluation.
Tip #2: Practise under exam-like conditions
Utilise the exam-like conditions when completing your SACs and remember the more practise, the better! Each time you complete an essay within a time restraint, you are amplifying your ability to perform analytically under pressure. A skill to be proud of in preparation for the end of year VCE English examination and life after school!
Outcome 2: Argument analysis
The third and final SAC in Unit 3 will be worth the remaining 40 marks for the Unit.
The text response for the third SAC is an Argument Analysis piece. Here, you’ll be required to analyse and compare topic texts that present a point of view within the current media age.
Your VCE Argument Analysis will forms a cohesive essay in which interprets the use of language, statistics, imagery and how these aspects intend to affect the identified target audience.
You’ll identify the arguments presented in the excerpt and employ a thorough analysis of the persuasive techniques.
Tip #3: Annotate, annotate and annotate your Argument Analysis text!
Scribble all over the page of the text you are provided with.
Write down what you see, highlight repetition and circle inclusive language, so on and so forth! This will be especially helpful if you’re a visual learner, the annotations may allow you to draw additional correlations and establish a deeper analysis.
It might feel nit-picky, but mentioning even smallest detail can further demonstrate a unique and thorough analysis that’ll impress your examiner!
In dissecting how the techniques used within the text intend to create an effect upon the reader, you will develop the skills to describe the influence of methods such as calls to action and emotive language.
Through establishing a contention, each paragraph of your argument analysis will serve to unpack the author’s persuasive union of language and argument.
Tip #4: Analyse Texts in your Daily Life
The skills needed to create balance and a thorough Argument Analysis piece can be conjured on your way to school or through your reading of the newspaper.
Think about the intention of the author, how the colours are magnified or muted in order to support the contention and identify the audience you think is being targeted through the piece.
What’s the VCE English Text Response for Unit 4 SAC?
Unit 4 is composed of two different SACs, combined to a total of 100 marks and adding up to the 25% of your study score.
Now that you’re well versed in the concept of VCE English SACs, let’s continue through to the final stretch!
Outcome 1: Reading and Comparing Texts
The first SAC in Unit 4 is a comparative text response, incorporating the two texts you have studied throughout the Unit in order to compare and contrast ideas and values within a cohesive essay analysis.
Worth 60 marks, it is worth just over half of Unit 4 and the grandest VCE English SAC you will complete in terms of marks.
The first step in preparing for the comparative SAC is ensuring you have a deep and multifaceted understanding of each text on its own. From here, you can begin to explore how they intertwine or differ from each other and start to formulate your essay approach!
Tip #5: Brainstorm your ideas
It can be useful to brainstorm themes, motifs and ideas explored throughout each text and highlight concepts in which relate to each other.
This will provide a base for your analysis whereby you can now identify evidence such as key quotes and symbolism in order to support complementary or contrasting points between the two texts. Creating a table can be a straightforward mode of organising your thoughts into themes and quotes for each text and is a good source to have at your disposal.
Don’t be frightened by the daunting thought of writing about two texts — the aim of this comparative response is to establish meaningful connections between the work of each author.
You can draw from endless facets of the authors’ development of setting, characterisation, structure, voice, ideas and themes in order to justify the connections made through your analysis.
Through exploring both texts yourself, you will be able to draw conclusions and fundamentally form a comparative analysis that is both thoughtful and sensitive in regards to the connections you make.
Outcome 2: Oral Argument Presentation
The final SAC in VCE English is an oral presentation whereby the presentation will be worth 30 marks and a written statement of intention will be worth an additional 10 marks.
The aim of executing the oral presentation is to present your own persuasive and reasoned argument on an issue that has appeared in the media since September 1st of the previous year within the suggested time allotment of 4-6 minutes.
Additionally, in support of your verbal presentation, you will provide a statement of intention to clarify your decisions made throughout planning, illustrating your understanding of chosen arguments and language choices.
Tip #6: Think back to Argument Analysis
In Unit 3 Outcome 2, you completed the first step in understanding argument analysis and persuasive techniques, now it’s your chance to have a stance on a topic of your choice. Think about some of the techniques you have explored and which ones may aid in elevating your own presentation.
In addition to formulating a concise contention and well developed arguments, it is important to think about your use of tone, intonation and body language such as eye contact when delivering your oral presentation.
Tip #7: Rehearse Your Speech Script
Public speaking can be daunting for some and we suggest that being prepared ahead of time will allow you to become more comfortable with sharing your argument.
By completing the writing of your oral presentation in advance, you can practise delivering the speech in different climates such as in front of the mirror, for your younger sibling or a friend.
This way you can adjust sentences that might sound a bit clunky and acquire confidence in the work you have created. You should be proud and ready to use your arguments to persuade!
Check out what you need to include in VCE Oral Argument presentation here!
And that’s it, preparing for VCE Text Responses has never been easier!
Check out more of our VCE English resources here:
- How VCE Subject Scaling Works and How It Can Impact Your ATAR
- The Essential List of High Modality Words for Persuasive Writing
- What to Do the Night Before Your VCE English Exam
- The Definitive Guide to Understanding VCE English SAC Text Responses
- The Comprehensive Guide to Analysing ‘Rear Window’ for English: Summary, Context & Themes
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Are you looking for some extra help with preparing for your VCE English text responses?
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We can help you prepare for your Unit 4 SACs with our expert VCE tutors in Glen Waverley!
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Evie Warnes is a Content Writer for Art of Smart and a current undergraduate student, completing her final year at the University of Melbourne. She studies a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Criminology and minoring in Indigenous Studies. In her free time she loves to walk, create videos and hang out with friends. After graduating, Evie hopes to do a Post-Grad in Film and Television and travel overseas.
