While a thorough understanding of spoken and written material in the target language constitutes the basis for answering relevant questions, it is not sufficient if your goal is to ensure optimal performance. This does not just apply to Japanese Continuers and Japanese Extension, but also to other language subjects that follow the same HSC exam structure, such as French Continuers and French Extension. Consider the following:
Japanese Continuers:
A thorough understanding of the stimulus material in listening as well as reading and responding components allows you to demonstrate high attention to detail, which is required in order to become able to achieve favourable results with respect to those 2 sections. This means that your responses must be comprehensive and thorough, in the sense that they should cover all the important points that are relevant to their respective questions. This may be a bit more difficult to apply to the listening section as stimuli are only repeated twice, making it a bit more difficult to make notes of every major point covered whereas in the reading and responding section, the stimuli are right in front of you.
Based on this, you should ensure that you cover all important points (potentially including minor details depending on the stimuli and the questions) in as much detail as possible because markers may deduct marks if you miss a minor detail or incorrectly describe a particular detail, although I believe the latter would not occur in your case since you seem to be competent in the Japanese language. This applies to both listening and reading and responding.
Japanese Extension:
The lack of a listening section is relieving as you will not have to worry about what you need to worry about in Japanese Continuers twice. However, understanding your prescribed text as a whole and in a precise manner (with respect to the extracts and issues covered in each extract) is crucial. In addition to the need to cover all important points that are relevant to the questions, you also need to ensure that you are effectively establishing a link between your points, the evidence you provide to support your points and the prescribed issues where applicable. The same also applies to questions that require a response to an extract from the film in Japanese, as not only is your knowledge of the Japanese language assessed here, but also your knowledge of the prescribed text. A similar section appears in Continuers language exams, although the only difference is that there are no prescribed texts for Continuers language subjects.
Japanese Extension, in addition to other Extension language subjects that follow the same structure, such as French Extension and Arabic Extension, is different to Japanese Continuers through the following:
- Extension language courses (including Japanese Extension) feature a prescribed text to be studied throughout the year, including issues relevant to the particular text.
- Unlike Continuers language courses, Extension language courses do not include a listening component.
- Extension language courses assume a higher ability in speaking and writing in the target language from students and thus require more sophisticated responses.
- Speaking exams for Extension language courses are different from those in Continuers language courses. Continuers language courses assess a student's speaking ability through a conversation-style exam, whereas Extension language courses assess a student's speaking ability through a spoken response that a student must provide in the target language, which goes for 3 minutes.
I hope this helps!
