HSC Persian Continuers study guide

HSC Persian Continuers · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

The HSC Persian Continuers examination is a New South Wales Higher School Certificate course for students who already have a background in spoken and written Persian and want formal recognition of that knowledge at the end of secondary school. It suits candidates who can hold a conversation, understand everyday broadcast Persian and write connected text, and who want a senior qualification that may count toward university admission or simply document bilingual ability. The examination is built around three skill areas: listening and responding, reading and responding, and writing in Persian. Tasks typically ask you to extract meaning from authentic-style spoken and written texts, then respond in Persian or English depending on the question, and to produce your own extended writing for a stated purpose and audience. Topics on this exam: Listening and Responding, Reading and Responding, and Writing in Persian. The HSC Persian Continuers study guide has 3 sections and about 1,092 words.

Listening and Responding: Catching Meaning in Real Time

Listening and Responding asks you to understand spoken Persian - announcements, conversations, interviews, short narratives - and to answer in English or Persian, depending on the question. The examiners reward accurate comprehension of purpose, attitude and detail , not transcription. Register and formality: recognise شمa / to , formal verbs ( بفرمایید , تشریف دارید ) versus colloquial speech ( می‌خوام , چیه ). Register markers of mood: متأسفانه , خوشبختانه , حتماً , شاید signal the speaker's stance.

374 words, about 2 min 02

Reading and Responding: Decoding Written Persian

Reading and Responding uses notices, advertisements, emails, articles and short literary extracts. Questions ask for main idea, specific detail, inference, tone and the meaning of words in context . Text type and layout: a آگهی (advertisement) uses imperatives and superlatives; a نامهٔ اداری uses formal openings ( با احترام , بدینوسیله ). Verb system: recognise past/present stems , the past continuous ( می‌رفتم ), present perfect ( رفته‌ام ) and subjunctive after باید , شاید , می‌خواهم که .

359 words, about 2 min 03

Writing in Persian: Structure, Register and Script

Writing in Persian requires you to produce connected, purposeful text - a letter, email, notice, article, diary entry or narrative - using accurate script, appropriate register and clear organisation. Marks reward range of vocabulary and structure as much as correctness. Script accuracy: correct forms of پ چ ژ گ , correct use of ی / ي and ک / ك , and the short vowel problem - Persian normally omits َ ِ ُ , so spelling must be learned. Zero-width non-joiner: می‌روم , نمی‌دانم , کتاب‌ها - compounds are written with ‌ not a space.

359 words, about 2 min