Texts and Human Experiences (unseen texts)
ES12-TH is worth about 20 marks out of 100 in recent HSC English Standard papers. Practise 48 exam-style questions (short answer) with instant marking and a worked solution for every question.
START PRACTISINGTopic notes
How to answer Paper 1 Section I of English Standard — reading unseen texts, the technique toolkit, answer patterns for 2–6 mark questions, visual texts, personal-response and comparison questions, and timing.
- 1What you need to know
- 2Using reading time well
- 3The technique toolkit
- 4The answer pattern
- 5Command verbs
- 6Worked example: a 3-mark answer
- 7Worked example: personal response
- 8Worked example: comparing two texts
- 9Timing in the exam
- 10Common mistakes
- 11Exam tips
- 12Links to other topics
Example questions
Example 1 · 2 marks · short answer
Text 1 — The Floating Lesson (poem)
My mother could not swim, but she could stand waist-deep in the river, arms out like a jetty, and tell me, Lie back. Trust the water. I trusted her instead.
Her palms beneath my shoulders, warm as bread, the sky above me wide and wobbling, I felt her take one hand away, then both, and did not know until I heard her laugh.
Years later, when the hospital rang at night, I lay back on the dark the way she taught me: arms out, ears under, breathing slow, held up by something I could not see.
Question (2 marks): Identify ONE image the poet uses to describe the mother, and explain what it suggests about her.
Example 2 · 4 marks · short answer
Text 1 — The Floating Lesson (poem)
My mother could not swim, but she could stand waist-deep in the river, arms out like a jetty, and tell me, Lie back. Trust the water. I trusted her instead.
Her palms beneath my shoulders, warm as bread, the sky above me wide and wobbling, I felt her take one hand away, then both, and did not know until I heard her laugh.
Years later, when the hospital rang at night, I lay back on the dark the way she taught me: arms out, ears under, breathing slow, held up by something I could not see.
Question (4 marks): How does the poet represent the experience of trust in the first two stanzas?
Example 3 · 5 marks · short answer
Text 1 — The Floating Lesson (poem)
My mother could not swim, but she could stand waist-deep in the river, arms out like a jetty, and tell me, Lie back. Trust the water. I trusted her instead.
Her palms beneath my shoulders, warm as bread, the sky above me wide and wobbling, I felt her take one hand away, then both, and did not know until I heard her laugh.
Years later, when the hospital rang at night, I lay back on the dark the way she taught me: arms out, ears under, breathing slow, held up by something I could not see.
Question (5 marks): How does the poet use the river as a symbol to explore human experience?
Answers and worked solutions appear when you practise these questions.