2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Classical Hebrew Continuers
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Classical Hebrew Continuers course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2014 Higher School Certificate examination, indicating the quality of the responses and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses.
This document should be read along with:
- the Classical Hebrew Continuers Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2014 Higher School Certificate Classical Hebrew Continuers examination
- the marking guidelines
- Advice for HSC students about examinations
- other support documents developed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW to assist in the teaching and learning of Classical Hebrew in Stage 6.
Section I – Prescribed Text – Tanakh
Characteristics of better responses:
- good knowledge of grammar and parsing was demonstrated
- an excellent knowledge of the prescribed commentaries was demonstrated
- candidates demonstrated a clear understanding of text, commentary and language.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- a limited knowledge of grammatical rules was evident
- responses were lengthy and not always relevant, particularly in 4-mark questions (Qs.1d, 3b and 8)
- candidates had difficulty relating the quotation to two different stages of Saul’s reign (Q.6b).
- some responses did not deal with all three aspects of the question, while others failed to relate the question directly to the texts (Q.9).
Section II – Prescribed Text – Mishna
Characteristics of better responses:
- writing was succinct and a thorough understanding of the text was demonstrated
- there was a clear understanding of the underlying principles discussed in the commentary.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- writing was generally about the content of the Mishna instead of focusing on the question being asked
- in some cases, a basic lack of understanding of the text/commentary was displayed.
Section III – Unseen Text – Tanakh
Characteristics of better responses:
- an impressive understanding of an unseen narrative text was demonstrated
- the subject and object were identified (Q.13c)
- adjectives were identified (Q.13f)
- candidates showed good knowledge of numerals (Q.14d)
- candidates displayed excellent knowledge in relation to the interrogative (Q.14f)
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- limited knowledge of the sign of the definite object was demonstrated (Q.14a)
- candidates had difficulty parsing verbs from an unseen text (Q.14b)
- limited understanding of an unseen text was evident (Q.14c, 14e and 14g).
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