2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Classical Hebrew Extension
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Classical Hebrew Extension 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 Extension Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2014 Higher School Certificate Classical Hebrew Extension 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
Characteristics of better responses:
- a clear understanding of the poetic/literary features of the Biblical text was demonstrated
- an excellent knowledge of the logical arguments in the Talmud was indicated
- there was a thorough knowledge of the commentaries
- an excellent explanation of the purpose and characteristics of Biblical poetry was provided.
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- a logical argument was not developed
- in the essay, there was too much of a focus on the four extracts given, rather than offering a broader essay on the purpose and characteristics of Biblical prophecy as typified by Ezekiel’s works (Q.3).
Section II – Non-prescribed Text
Characteristics of better responses:
- a logical answer was clearly written to each question
- the effect of literary features was identified and explained
- an understanding of theological ideas expressed by the psalmist was demonstrated (Q.6b).
Characteristics of weaker responses:
- a limited knowledge of both vocabulary and parsing was demonstrated
- candidates had difficulty applying their knowledge of grammar to an unseen text
- candidates demonstrated limited understanding of the theological ideas included in non-prescribed texts (Qs.5a and 6b).
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