Unfamiliar text is an NCEA English exam that requires you to analyse a text that you have not studied in the classroom. It isn't an easy exam to prepare for, so I had a thought... Because I am a qualified teacher, I thought I would share 3 tips to improve your Unfamiliar Text grades.
In most cases, within your Unfamiliar text exam, you will locate language features and discuss the writer's creative choices.
To ace this Unfamiliar Text exam, it is important to have these 3 things:
A clear writing structure
Confidence with Unfamiliar Text language features and their effect
An in-depth understanding of what can influence the writer's choices for your Unfamiliar text analysis
Answering questions in a structured way will benefit you for your Unfamiliar Text exam
Clear Unfamiliar Text essay writing structure
Make sure you write your answer with a basic essay structure. It helps keep information in an orderly fashion and stops tangents.
I tend to teach Unfamiliar Text analysis essays in 3 paragraphs:
Paragraph 1 - Style, structure, purpose and punctuation
Paragraph 2 - Language Features
Paragraph 3 - Writer's Influences and how it resonates with me
With an introduction to begin and a conclusion to finish your essay, you should be able to cover a variety of areas for your analysis in a structured manner.
Confidence with Unfamiliar Text language features and their effect
Making sure you know what each language feature looks like, and their effects are an important part of succeeding in the Unfamiliar Text exam. Ask your teacher for a language features chart or look for some in study material or online to help improve your understanding of Unfamiliar Text.
Here is a place to find language feature definitions and their uses for the Unfamiliar text exam:
(Studocu, 2024)
An in-depth understanding of what can influence the writer's choices for your Unfamiliar Text analysis
To ensure you have an in-depth understanding of what can influence the writer's choices, you need to know who the piece of writing is written for and/or what happened historically during the time of writing this. This is because the way in which people lived in specific eras affected language, lifestyles and societal expectations. How people lived and communicated with one another can be seen in many works (which is a great thing to explore in your Unfamiliar text responses). There is usually a brief outline or hints in the text that will tell you more about it such as the date of when it was written, what the text is about, or an informative blurb. To help you understand the text's historical influences, here is a breakdown of what has occurred in time, thus far:
An outline of what happened in history that can influence writers:
Elizabethan Age (1558-1603): Reign of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare (1589-1613)
First Industrial Revolution (1760 C.E. to 1840 C.E.): Beginning of the modern era that saw several technological innovations.
Revolutionary Period (1764 C.E. to 1848 C.E.): American Revolution, French Revolution, Italian Revolutions, as well as Spanish-American Wars for Independence, Greek War of Independence, and the Spring of Nations.
Age of Imperialism (1800 C.E. to 1914 C.E.): Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and USA colonised other nations around the world.
Victorian Era (1837 C.E. to 1901 C.E.): Reign of Queen Victoria I, increased urbanisation, the American Civil War, and the end of African slavery.
Second Industrial Revolution / Technological Revolution (1869 C.E. to 1914 C.E.): Period in which the light bulb, the telephone, the airplane, and the Model T automobile were invented.
Te Tiriti O Waitangi was established in NZ in 1840.
World War I (1914 C.E. to 1918 C.E.): The Great War
Great Depression (1929 C.E. to 1939 C.E.): Stock market crash in 1929
World War II (1939 C.E. to 1945 C.E.): Germany’s invasion of Poland and ended with the surrender of Japan, the last standing Axis power
Cold War (1945 C.E. to 1991 C.E.): Period of international conflict, executed in a series of proxy wars and cultural competitions, between the United States and the Soviet Union
Contemporary Period (aka the Information Age) (1945 C.E. to present): In NZ, we also have 1950-70’s racism and discrimination. Technological advances define social, economic, and political life.
Retrieved from Lovetoknow Media (2024) Historical Eras: List of Major Time Periods in History | YourDictionary
Now that you are aware of the historical contexts that can influence writers, you may also like a variety of questions that can help you delve into your discussions.
Here are some questions which will start you off on your Unfamiliar text discussions:
Ways to discuss more in depth:
What would happen without it?
What would it be like if I experienced it?
Why is it important?
Would it happen now? (present time)
Would it happen in NZ, specifically? (present time/historically)
Who was this written for?
Who would benefit from knowing this?
What influenced the writer?
What were they trying to communicate?
How did this text make you feel?
How did this text resonate with you? (What part did you connect with)
Poems have a stylistic purpose: Expression, entertainment, persuasion or information. What parts tell you that this is the poem’s purpose?
What were the repercussions of writing this poem e.g. positive or negative consequences
What do you know about the structure of this writing? Why do you think the writer chose this style e.g. sonnet, soliloquy, prose, Iambic pentameter, Haiku etc.
What is the writer communicating on the surface and from within/underlying? Are there any influences that drive these feelings?
Why was this a good writing decision?
Wish you the best of luck with your Unfamiliar Text exam. We are right here if you need us. Tovah's Tutoring Ltd are qualified teachers and NCEA experts.
If you are struggling to find a time that works well with your teacher to go through material, need reminding what you need to do for your exam, need support compiling yours study notes, you are feeling overwhelmed and need support getting your head around the exam, or you would like to check in prior to your exam, our NCEA qualified teachers and NCEA expert tutors are right here to get you prepared for your NCEA exams. It's something we are very good at, and we are very happy to share our expertise with you in one-on-one online NCEA study prep tutorials. Book now!
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