2013 Notes from the Marking Centre – Latin Continuers
Introduction
This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Latin Continuers course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2013 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 Latin Continuers Stage 6 Syllabus
- the 2013 Higher School Certificate Latin 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 Latin Continuers in Stage 6.
Section I – Prescribed Text – Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Book V
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- familiarity with the prescribed text as a whole (Q.3, Q.4)
- familiarity with Livy’s general purpose and narrative technique (Q.3, Q.4)
- knowledge of specific instances throughout Book V where religion and military affairs overlap (Q.4).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- providing a fluent translation which accounts for every word in the extract and accurately interprets the relationship between words and structures (Q.1)
- confining their response to the requirements of the question, for example not giving a range of features when only two are required (Q.3c)
- selecting relevant stylistic features (Q.3c)
- not just providing an outline or description when the question asked for an analysis (Q.4).
Section II – Prescribed Text – Virgil, Aeneid XII
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- understanding the relationship between the words and structures of the extract for translation (Q.5)
- familiarity with Virgil’s style (Q.7)
- familiarity with Virgil’s portrayal of Turnus, in particular the complexity of his character (Q.8).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- accounting for every word in the extract for translation (Q.5)
- confining their response to the requirements of the question, for example not responding with a range of items when only two are required (Q.7c)
- ensuring that the explanation or description is relevant and clearly linked to the aspect being addressed by the question (Q.7b and c)
- linking the portrayal of Turnus’ character in the extract to the rest of Book XII, taking into account the key word ‘anticipate’ (Q.8)
- providing a balanced response which gives appropriate consideration to both the extract given and other relevant sections of Book XII (Q.8).
Section III – Unseen Texts
Candidates showed strength in these areas:
- making use of the dictionary entries given for the vocabulary (Q.9f, Q.10f).
Candidates need to improve in these areas:
- using vocabulary appropriate to context (Q.9f, Q.10f)
- showing understanding of the relationship between words and structures (Q.9f, Q.10f)
- taking into account the connection between the identification/analysis of items in the short-answer questions and the way in which those same items are translated in the extract (Q.9, Q.10).
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