HSC English Extension 2 (NSW) case studies
HSC English Extension 2 (NSW) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
HSC English Extension 2 is the most demanding English course in the New South Wales senior secondary suite, taken by students who want to design and complete a substantial independent composition rather than answer set questions under time pressure. Candidates produce a Major Work - either an imaginative piece such as a novella, suite of poems, script or hybrid text, or a critical composition such as an extended essay - accompanied by a Reflection Statement that explains their intentions, research and compositional choices. The HSC English Extension 2 (NSW) case studies are 5 cases and about 3,313 words.
1The Polished Draft With No Trail
A student submits a 6,400-word critical composition on unreliable narrators in three contemporary novels, plus a 1,500-word Reflection Statement. The final draft is genuinely strong: the argument is clear, the close readings are specific, and the prose is controlled.
656 words, about 3 min2The Mentor Who Rewrites
A student composing a 5,000-word imaginative work has been meeting a mentor - a published novelist and family friend - roughly fortnightly for four months. The student's drafts show a distinctive voice early on, then a marked shift around week ten: sentence rhythms tighten, the narrative structure becomes more artful, and several passages read like the mentor's published style.
659 words, about 3 min3The Hybrid That Satisfies Neither Form
A student proposes a Major Work that alternates between a critical essay on colonial travel writing and short imaginative 'counter-travels' written from the perspective of a colonised guide. The concept is ambitious and the proposal is articulate.
706 words, about 4 min4Research That Undermines the Premise
A student is writing a 5,000-word imaginative work set in a rural Australian town during the 1930s, centred on a family secret. Early research was light: a few websites and a documentary.
632 words, about 3 min5The Reflection Statement That Argues With the Work
A student's 5,000-word imaginative work is a sparse, elliptical narrative about grief, told in fragments with significant gaps and an unresolved ending. The draft has been praised in workshop for its restraint.
660 words, about 3 min