Working towards a Band 6 in HSC Visual Arts can feel really daunting!
Writing study notes and preparing for exams is quite different to how you might study for other subjects. There’s also the major work to think about.
Not sure how to get started? Not to worry! We’ve got you covered with our ultimate guide to get a Band 6 in Visual Arts.
What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!
Part 1: How to Study for HSC Visual Arts
Part 2: Writing Study Notes
Part 3: Working on Your HSC Visual Arts Major Work
Part 4: Preparing for Your Exams
Part 1: How to Study for HSC Visual Arts
One of the trickiest things is figuring out how to study for HSC Visual Arts. It’s a little different from other subjects, which might leave you feeling a bit unclear about how to approach studying for it.
#1: Know what to expect
As you start Year 12 Visual Arts, make sure you’re familiar with the syllabus and assessments.
Here’s an overall breakup of your Visual Arts assessments:
School-Based Visual Arts Assessments:
- Development of the body of work (50%)
- Art criticism and art history (50%)
External Examination:
- Submission of a body of work (50%)
- Written paper (50%)
Your HSC Visual Arts assessments assess your understanding of art criticism and history, and will be based on Practice, Conceptual Framework and the Frames. The syllabus requires you to explore this content through at least 5 case studies but these will vary from school to school.
The body of work (major work) is another significant component of the Visual Arts syllabus. Your development and submission of a major work will be assessed based on criteria including:
- Conceptual strength and meaning
- Resolution
- Practice
- Conceptual framework
- Frames
- Representation
Once you’re familiar with the syllabus, you’ll know what to expect during assessments, which will make Band 6 feel a lot more achievable!
Finding it a little daunting to read a 40-page syllabus? Check out a guide to Visual Arts assessments here!
#2: Memorise content
Now that you know what to expect from HSC Visual Arts, you might be wondering what to focus on while you prepare for these assessments. The key to acing your exams is to memorise content relating to the Big 3 theoretic elements of the subject!
These Big 3 elements, as we’ve already listed above, are:
- The Elements and Principles of Design
- The Frames
- The Conceptual Framework
The Elements and Principles of Design
Elements and Principles of Design help with identifying particular pieces of an artwork and how they contribute to the broader effect of the work. These might include:
- Line
- Shape
- Direction
- Size
- Balance
- Gradation
- Repetition
- Contrast
The best way to memorise elements and principles of design is to practise using them! When you’re studying for Visual Arts, spend some time annotating artworks by picking out some relevant elements and principles of design and briefly note how they impact the artwork overall.
The Frames
The Frames are basically four different categories of perspectives, ideas and questions that you can ask yourself when analysing artworks. These frames help you develop different points of analysis and will make your thesis/writing stronger.
Once again, the best way to memorise this is to practise! Ask yourself questions based on each frame and to find which of the frames is most relevant to your artwork.
Make sure to use a range of different artworks and answer questions for all the frames to gain a solid, well-rounded knowledge! Here’s a table of questions for the frames to help you practice:
| Structural - What does it look like? - How has the artwork been made? - What techniques have been used? - What materials have been used? - What is the composition like? | Subjective - How does it make you feel? - What is the mood of the work? - How is the mood created? - What do you think the artist felt? - What does the audience feel? |
| Cultural - What is its context? - When and where was the work made? - How has this influenced it? - Who was the artist? - How did their context influence the work? | Postmodern - Is it a new take on something? - Does the work appropriate another artist? - Does it appropriate another artwork? - Why does it appropriate them/it? - How has it changed the original meaning? |
The Conceptual Framework
The Conceptual Framework may seem confusing at first but it’s really important for providing context! It essentially breaks down how artworks interact with the artist, the audience and the world.
Use the Conceptual Framework by answering at least one or two of these six big questions:
- How does the artist relate to the artwork?
- What does the artwork show about the artist?
- How does the audience react to the artwork?
- What does the artwork show about the audience?
- How has the world influenced the artwork?
- What does the artwork show about the world?
In order to memorise the framework the best thing to do is to really get the mind map shown below stuck in your head! You can do this by drawing it out repeatedly and sticking it somewhere where you’ll see it all the time.
Looking for more help with memorising core content? Check out our guide here!
Part 2: Writing Study Notes
Closely related to the point above, one of the key steps involved in studying for HSC Visual Arts is writing your study notes!
The Big 3
Make sure you’ve covered the Big 3 theoretic elements in your study notes. These are super important and will help you analyse all your artworks.
Keep this core content towards the beginning of your study notes because you’ll come back to them throughout your course and you want to make sure they’re easy to find!
Glossary
Another important thing to include in your study notes is a glossary! Visual Arts often uses a lot of technical terminology and you’ll find yourself coming across heaps of interesting words you might not know or understand.
As you learn a new term or just find a word that might be useful later on, add it to your glossary towards the end of your study notes.
If your word bank’s getting too long, you can remove ones you already know and ones that you’ve memorised off by heart so that you’re left with a tidy and extensive glossary to help you ace those essays!
Writing Your Study Notes As You Go
One of the most crucial things to keep in mind when writing HSC Visual Arts study notes is to write as you go. The last thing you want to do is ignore your study notes until the week before an exam!
Every time you cover new content in class, condense it in your study notes with mind maps, dot points and flow charts.
Since this is Visual Arts, including artworks, drawings, diagrams and images is recommended! Most people like to do this at the end of each week but you can also do it fortnightly or at the end of each topic.
There are a few more important steps when it comes to writing study notes, you can check them out here!
Part 3: Working on Your HSC Visual Arts Major Work
Your Major Work might be one of the most daunting but exciting parts of HSC Visual Arts! But not to worry, we’ve got some tips to help you start, plan and manage your Major Work.
#1: Finding Inspiration
Now, this is probably the hardest step of any Visual Arts Major Work and you might feel overwhelmed with all the options out there. Some easy steps of categorisation and elimination can help get you on track towards an amazing Band 6-worthy idea!
The first thing to think about is the category of your artwork. It can be either technical or conceptual, while most Band 6 works tend to overlap between the two.
You can also start thinking about what topic you want to explore through your Major Work (social issue, art world, or personal interest) and the techniques and materials you want to use.
Once you’ve done a bit of categorisation and elimination within these areas, it’s time to bring them all together with some brainstorming and preliminary research!
Looking for more tips to find inspiration for your Major Work?! (we get it can be stressful!!)
#2: Planning and Managing your Major Work
Working on your Major Work over 3 terms requires a lot of sustained dedication and patience. Which is why it’s important to plan ahead!
Map out exactly how much time you have to complete your work and take your other commitments into account. Make sure to be realistic and keep it simple!
If you try to do too much, you’ll end up feeling burnt out and might impact the overall quality of the work.
Remember to play to your strengths! Think about the skills you’ve already mastered because using these skills will help you impress markers and will also give you the confidence and security to experiment with new skills and techniques.
Check out our Top 5 Tips for Planning and Managing Your HSC Major Work!
Part 4: Preparing for Your Exams
You’re almost ready to ace HSC Visual Arts and get that Band 6! The only thing left is to prepare for your exams.
Take a look at our master list of Visual Arts past papers to help you prepare for your Visual Arts exams!
#1: Master Short Answer Responses
Section 1 of HSC Visual Arts requires you to respond to unseen images with short answer responses. Since you don’t actually know what images you’ll get in the exam, you might feel unprepared for this section, but not to worry!
Using a Visual Arts Section 1 scaffold will help you come up with strong, polished answers during the exam, even if you have a complete mental blank! Check out the link above for our 5 marker, 8 marker and 12 marker scaffolds and head here if you’re looking for more information on analysing unseen images.
Try practising your short answer responses throughout the year using these scaffolds so that by the time you reach your HSC exams, you’ll confidently ace Section 1!
Want to read more about how to prepare for your exams during the final stretch? Take a look at the ultimate 7 day study plan for HSC Visual Arts here!
#2: Master Extended Responses
Writing a Band 6 extended response for HSC Visual Arts may seem daunting, but it’s not as confusing as it sounds! The key is to make sure you know the criteria so that you’re aware of what the markers are looking for in a Band 6 response.
The criteria for a Band 6 (or grade A) response are:
Some of the key steps to help you meet this criteria include choosing at least 2 artists and 4 artworks (at least 2 of each artist’s work), and analysing their work using the Big 3 elements we looked at earlier. When putting it all together, your Visual Arts paragraphs will actually be very similar to an English essay, only they look at artworks instead of texts and you’ll be using artistic techniques instead of literary ones!
Like English, write your Visual Arts extended responses using STEEL paragraphs (which are very similar to PEEL paragraphs!).
STEEL consists of:
- Statement
- Technique
- Example
- Effect
- Link
Scaffolding is another powerful technique that you should be using for these essays! In this HSC Visual Arts Essay Scaffold, we’ve broken down exactly what you need to include in each of your paragraphs to make the writing and memorising processes easier for you!
If you have any other burning questions about Visual Arts, take a look at some frequently asked questions!
So there you have it!
From core content to major works, we’ve unpacked some tips and tricks to make your Visual Arts study easier. Follow this guide and you’ll be on track to a Band 6 in no time! Good luck!
Now if you’re looking for a Band 6 guide for a different subject, check out our other guides for the subjects below:
Looking for some extra help with HSC Visual Arts?
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We can help you master the HSC Visual Arts syllabus and ace your upcoming HSC Visual Arts assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home, online or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC Visual Arts tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Maitreyi Kulkarni is a Content Writer at Art of Smart Education and is currently studying a Bachelor of Media and Communications (Public Relations and Social Media) at Macquarie University. She loves writing just about anything from articles to poetry, and has also had one of her articles published with the ABC. When she’s not writing up a storm, she can be found reading, bingeing sitcoms, or playing the guitar.
