AS 91104 Annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 339 KB]

TKI English assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the student needs to analyse significant connections across texts perceptively, supported by evidence.

This involves developing insightful and/or original interpretations of connections across at least four texts.

This student has referred to four texts: The Merchant of Venice, Catch-22, the Star Wars saga and Schwarzfahrer, perceptively analysing connections about how manifestations and interpretations of evil reflect the values and norms of society across these texts, supported by evidence.

The student has developed insightful interpretations about society’s perception of those who do not fit the societal norm as ‘evil’, and how society seeks to impose its morality upon those people through alienation (3). There are perceptive interpretations of the connection that society considers itself morally superior (1), and questioning society’s ideas of morality in relation to its ever-changing views about what constitutes evil (2).

For a more secure Excellence, the student could:

• provide further interpretation of the ideas about Shylock’s forced conversion to Christianity, the implications of alienating someone from their own religion and culture, or the link to society’s feelings of moral superiority
• provide further interpretation of the idea that people governed by tyrants are not evil in terms of the student’s own explanations of evil.

For Merit, the student needs to analyse significant connections across texts convincingly, supported by evidence.

This involves developing reasoned and clear interpretations of connections across at least four texts.

This student has referred to four texts: Education for Leisure, Sad Joke on a Marae, District 9 and Barton Fink. There is convincing analysis of the connections about alienation and its consequences across these texts, supported by evidence.

The student has done this by developing reasoned and clear interpretations about: alienation by society and by those who have already been alienated (1) (2) (3) (4); the consequences of alienation (5) (6) (7) (8); alienation through education (9) (11); and alienation through cultural domination (12).

To reach Excellence, the student could develop insightful interpretations about:

• how and why society begins to alienate Barton (10)
• how European cultural imperialism has alienated Tu from his culture (1)
• the links between the ‘Prawns’ and the treatment of Black South Africans (7).

For Merit, the student needs to analyse significant connections across texts convincingly, supported by evidence.

This involves developing reasoned and clear interpretations of connections across at least four texts.

This student has referred to four texts: The Merchant of Venice, The Hurt Locker, Sad Joke on a Marae and Schwarzfahrer, convincingly analysing connections about alienation through stereotyping and racism across these texts, supported by evidence.

There are reasoned and clear interpretations of the connection across texts. The student analyses alienation through cultural stereotyping and religious differences in The Merchant of Venice (4) (6), alienation because of difference in behaviour in The Hurt Locker (1), alienation because of racial differences in Schwarzfahrer (5) and alienation because of the loss of traditional culture in Sad Joke on a Marae (2).

For a more secure Merit, the student could develop further interpretations about the reasons why a character (and therefore society) does not take into account the feelings or circumstances of others (2) (3).

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse significant connections across texts, supported by evidence.

This involves recognising and interpreting connections across at least four texts.

This student has referred to four texts: The Merchant of Venice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Clenched Fist and Schwarzfahrer, analysing connections about racism, revenge, and attitudes to racism across the texts, supported by evidence.

The student has done this by recognising and interpreting how racist attitudes affect people’s judgements in Schwarzfahrer and To Kill a Mockingbird (1) (5) and how revenge can be a consequence of racist attitudes in Schwarzfahrer and The Merchant of Venice (2).

To reach Merit, the student could develop reasoned and clear interpretations about:

• defending ones’ self and others against racism in To Kill a Mockingbird and Clenched Fist (3)
• the differing attitudes to racism between children and adults, and the reasons for adults’ attitudes within the selected texts (4).

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse significant connections across texts, supported by evidence.

This involves recognising and interpreting connections across at least four texts.

This student has referred to four texts: The Merchant of Venice, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Fly and The Unknown Citizen, analysing connections about discrimination and differences across the texts, supported by evidence.

The student has done this by recognising and interpreting connections about racial discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Merchant of Venice (1) (2), recognising and interpreting society’s discrimination of minority groups (3), recognising and just sufficiently interpreting the connection of ‘difference’ in The Unknown Citizen (6) and recognising and just sufficiently interpreting the connection of ‘harsh treatment’ in To Kill a Mockingbird (7).

For a more secure Achieved, the student could provide further interpretation of the connection of ‘difference’ and ‘harsh treatment’ in The Fly (4), The Merchant of Venice (8) and The Unknown Citizen (5).

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse significant connections across texts, supported by evidence.

This involves recognising and interpreting connections across at least four texts.

This student has referred to four texts: The Catcher in the Rye, Barton Fink, Boy and Mr Van Gogh, recognising and interpreting some connections about people’s disconnection from society, supported by evidence. The student has done this by recognising and interpreting Holden’s rejection of society (1) and recognising and interpreting the connection across the texts The Catcher in the Rye and Boy (2) (3).

To reach Achieved, the student could further analyse connections across texts by interpreting, and supporting with evidence:

• Barton’s disconnection from society (5)
• utopian and dystopian connections (3)
• Mr Van Gogh’s choice of disconnecting himself from the ‘average norm’ (4)
• connections where the characters are rejected for ‘not being good enough on the outside’ (6).