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2011 HSC Notes from the Marking Centre – Classical Greek

Contents

• Classical Greek Continuers
  • Section I — Prescribed Text – Herodotus, Book II
  • Section II — Prescribed Text – Sophocles, Philoctetes
  • Section III — Unseen Texts
• Classical Greek Extension
  • Section I — Prescribed Text – Homer, Odyssey XXI–XXIII
  • Section II — Non-prescribed Text

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 courses in Classical Greek. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2011 Higher School Certificate examinations, indicating the quality of the responses and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses.

This document should be read along with the relevant syllabuses, the 2011 Higher School Certificate examinations, the marking guidelines and other support documents developed by the Board of Studies to assist in the teaching and learning of Classical Greek.

General comments

Teachers and candidates should be aware that examiners may ask questions that address the syllabus outcomes in a manner that requires candidates to respond by integrating the knowledge, understanding and skills they developed through studying the course.

Candidates need to be aware that the marks allocated to the question and the answer space (where this is provided on the examination paper) are guides to the length of the required response. A longer response will not in itself lead to higher marks. Writing in excess of the space allocated may reduce the time available for answering other questions.

Candidates need to be familiar with the Board’s Glossary of Key Words, which contains some terms commonly used in examination questions. However, candidates should also be aware that not all questions will start with or contain one of the key words from the glossary. Questions such as ‘how?’, ‘why?’ or ‘to what extent?’ may be asked or verbs may be used that are not included in the glossary, such as ‘design’, ‘translate’ or ‘list’.

Classical Greek Continuers

Section I – Prescribed Text – Herodotus, Book II

Question 1

In better translations, candidates recognised that theia in line 1 meant, in this context, something like ‘strange’, ‘extraordinary’ or ‘unusual’. They also brought out the force of the indefinite constructions and the prefixes on such verbs as diastantes and huerthroiskontes, demonstrated awareness that tas … kunas referred to female dogs, did not overlook words such as pantes, mounes, keimenoi and hekastoi, and realised that bears were rare and wolves were not much bigger than foxes.

Question 2

1. 1. In better responses, candidates understood the two categories and named one example from each.
      
      
   2. In better responses, candidates understood that the question was not asking for general characteristics of the Nile, but rather for two distinct differences Herodotus gives between the Nile and all other rivers.
2. 2. In better responses, candidates went beyond just telling the story. They differentiated between the various characters, discussed the unusual or humorous elements, and then explained how these were used to maintain audience interest.
      
3. In better responses, candidates addressed all aspects of the question by analysing the extract in order to identify the methods of research within it. Then, referring to the rest of Book II, they argued to what extent these methods were typical of Herodotus’ practice.

Question 3

In better responses, candidates demonstrated that they clearly understood the Greek quotation. They set out a well-substantiated argument that included direct reference to the statement. In addition, they wrote more than just a description of Herodotus’ sources, going on to assess his attitude to them.

Section II — Prescribed Text – Sophocles, Philoctetes

Question 4

1. In better translations, candidates accounted for every word and phrase – that is, they recognised the genitive absolute in line 2 and the idiomatic sense of has echon, and they did not overlook kamnonti and panta de skopon.
   
   
2. In better translations, candidates translated taut’ as ‘the same things’, gave proper emphasis to su toud’ ater … houtos sethen and houtos se kais u tond’, and demonstrated recognition of the duals.

Question 5

a.–c. In general, candidates found these questions challenging. They often gave responses that were too complicated and not directly focused on the content of the passages themselves. In better responses, candidates demonstrated a thorough understanding of the meaning of the extracts of Greek text. They discussed the issues raised by each question strictly in terms of the extract rather than offering general comments drawn from the whole play, and they did more than just outline the content of each extract.

Question 6

In the best responses, candidates discussed an array of methods that Sophocles used to maintain dramatic interest, and then linked these methods directly to the question of maintaining dramatic interest.

Section III – Unseen Texts

Question 7

4. In better translations, candidates coped with hos s’ ap’ elpidwn … eisedeksamen, especially the attraction of the relative pronoun to its antecedent. They also realised that the dual tainde goes with cheroin and that ouden onta refers back to s’ in line 1127, and they recognised the wish in line 1131.

Question 8

4. The most common difficulties arose from not recognising the datives of possession in lines 6 and 11, touto me … touto de and prin … katastrepsasthai. Hemereron was often translated as ‘day’.
   
   
5. In better responses, candidates read the English introduction and made use of the information in it to answer this question.

Classical Greek Extension

Section I – Prescribed Text – Homer, Odyssey XXI–XXIII

Question 1

1. In the best translations, candidates handled mala pantas in line 383 well and understood the force of the prefix on hupoklopeoito.
   
   
2. The most common errors in the translation of this extract included:
   
   • misunderstanding ou pot’ ephestha
     
   • giving eleusesthai the wrong tense
     
   • leaving out autei (line 75)
     
   • misunderstanding egon emethen peridosomai autes.

Question 2

1. 2. In better responses, candidates discussed both the death of the serving woman and the death of Melanthios, and in so doing they made an argument for what Homer achieves.
2. 2. In the best responses, candidates analysed the passage and discussed Odysseus’ behaviour, then argued its consistency elsewhere in Books XXI–XXIII.

Question 3

In better responses, candidates demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of the meaning of periphron and discussed the extent to which Penelope’s behaviour was consistent with the epithet. They referred to Books XXI–XXIII, with the best responses demonstrating an understanding of the significance of Penelope’s circumstances and the limitations they placed on her behaviour.

In weaker responses, candidates offered a paraphrase of the passage rather than an actual translation. Common problems were as follows:

• the tenses of pedaaskon, epeimi, akachetai and eisin were not recognised
  
• the infinitive komzemeni was used as an imperative.

Section II – Non-prescribed Text

Question 4

1. 4. Challenging aspects of this passage related to vocabulary in particular, but also to certain clauses and phrases. These include:
      
      • ou pos … aposai (line 130)
        
      • Aekousan (line 130)
        
      • Ho ge e (line 132)
        
      • Kakon … apotinvein (especially poll’) (line 133)
        
      • Stugeras (line 135)
        
      • the tense of areset’ (line 135)
        
      • Nemesizetai auton (line 138)
        
      • Ameibomenoi (line 140).
2. All candidates chose to do part (i). Some of the difficulties were with:
   
   • the two meanings of nepoinoi (lines 142 and 145)
     
   • Bioton
     
   • Ego … eontas (line 143)
     
   • Doisi … genesthai
     
   • the difference in meaning between olesthai (line 142) and oloisthe (line 145).