A survey of the text types used in past HSC exam papers:

• Area of Study
• Advanced modules
• Standard modules

General information on text types for the purposes of writing HSC answers:

• Literary Text Types
• Factual Text Types

The text types used in the reading section of Paper 1: Area of Study

The text types used in the Advanced modules of Paper 2

The text types used in the Standard modules of Paper 2

   Aspects to consider when creating and responding to texts:

•  Processes (Whole text level):                           Purpose

                                                                                    Audience

                                                                                    Consistent theme

                                                                                    Appropriate voice or person

                                                                                    Tone

                                                                                    Register

                                                                                    Vocal variation

                                                                                    Point of view

                                                                                    Organisation of text

•  Features (Sentence and paragraph level):       Syntax

Sentence structure ( simple, compound and      complex)

                                                                                    Imagery

                                                                                    Paragraphs

                                                                                    Topic sentences

                                                                                    Tense

Subject and verb agreement 

• Features (Word level):                                       Vocabulary

                                                                                    Word choice

                                                                                    Connotations

                                                                                    Synonyms and antonyms

                                                                                    Adjectives and adverbs

                                                                                    Spelling

  Bloom’s taxonomy: a hierarchy of thinking skills

This is a ladder of skills (easiest to hardest) your teachers may have use to plan lessons and develop whole programmes such as the Area of Study and the Modules you have studied. The taxonomy begins with the most basic element of a study - knowledge -  and then sequentially moves onto more complex skills. The more complex skills imply mastery of the earlier skills.

The 'useful verbs' are cues to help you, as a student, to determine the complexity of the question. You could apply this taxonomy to the questions in the Area of Study reading questions in the first section of Paper 1.

In HSC terms, this means the marks go to the ability to demonstrate the more demanding skills.