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Is it worth dropping down to eal/d from advanced english? (1 Viewer)

dom_c

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I know this might sound weird but in year 10 I was recommended to eal/d due to my background and having only lived in Australia for less than five years, but the thing is I'm actually pretty good at english, ranking top 10 in year 10 and still do even in year 11 currently, placing first in my semester one report, which is why I opted to do advanced as I thought it would be the better choice thinking that I was capable of performing well and that doing eal/d might drag me down, but recently I have come to discover that eal/d doesn't even scale that poorly, scaling substantially better than standard and not really that far from advanced considering how much easier and simpler it seems, is it a good idea to drop down and perhaps perform almost as well and perhaps even better in eal/d, alleviating myself from the workload of advanced and hence will be able to focus more on my other subjects?
 

Life'sHard

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Idk how the eal syllabus works. You do have to take into account the differing levels in each course. Advanced is more likely to have capable students achieving a high mark which is beneficial in the HSC compared to eal. Also what degree were you looking to go into? Unless I’m waffling, some uni’s have requirements for English?
 

dom_c

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I'm looking to get into unsw bcom and it is true that the overall cohort for advanced is stronger than eald but should that play a big factor?
 

jimmysmith560

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You are correct in identifying that EAL/D has superior alignment when compared to English Standard. Back when I did my HSC, I was supposed to take EAL/D, having been in Australia for just over a year (although I believe that your current level would have exceeded mine back then). However, I was unable to take it due to a clash with another subject, and as someone who is not a native speaker and whose English was not great at the time, English Advanced was definitely beyond my capabilities, which left me with English Standard.

The main difference between EAL/D and English Standard/Advanced lies in the need to complete a listening exam as part of the HSC exam, similar to listening exams in Stage 6 LOTE subjects (the only minor difference being that the EAL/D listening paper is completed separately from Paper 1 and Paper 2). In terms of the syllabus, EAL/D incorporates the Common Module as Module A, the English Standard Module A as Module B and a Module C called "Close Study of Text".

Life'sHard mentioned important points. First, given that students taking EAL/D come from a non-English speaking background and/or may not have English language proficiency, English Advanced students have a higher chance of performing favourably compared to their EAL/D counterparts. However, if you are confident in your ability to perform well and rank high should you choose to take EAL/D (which, from your post, seems possible), then EAL/D could be a good option.

The other point is that of admission into university. Generally speaking, if there are no prerequisites specifying English Standard or higher for a particular degree(s), then EAL/D should not obstruct your entry into university. Regarding the Bachelor of Commerce, UNSW includes English Advanced as recommended studies. Despite this, English Advanced is not a prerequisite, meaning that you can still receive an offer if you choose to take EAL/D.

I hope this helps! :D
 

No surprises

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Hi I noticed you are doing HSC in 2024(well idk but on your profile, it says like that)as someone who is currently studying EAL/D course I think it's defo a good choice if you drop to EAL/D(but adv is the best choice if you ensure you can be top range in our cohort)
As Jimmy mentioned, you need to do listening which is a special part for eald, not as other English,
but this course is all about analysing and writing essays based on our understanding of film or social issues(our text is Truman show for year 12 and Pleasantville for year 11, in year11 term 2 adv is doing the same movie and content with us so imagine you are doing the same thing but compete with someone is not so good at English as Adv students) unlike ADV is more about Shakespeare....lol
Eald is not as easy as most ppl think of, but it's defo not as hard as advanced. If you like society and culture and are good at English adv alr, you will be like top 1 in Eald course!! so it should be worthy:) Feel free to ask more questions about this course since I just finished my yearly lol

--WHEREAS it might be kinda different depending on the school, my school is like rank 60 in NSW so IDK about other schools, some top schools' eald students are as good as adv students.
 

No surprises

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OHOHOH another point is EALD has much much much less resources than adv, is might be a disadvantage you wanna consider as well:(
 

dom_c

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Yea that's a very good point you raise, there'll be a multitude of examplars available probably for every text in advanced while the same can't be said for eald, but it also seems that you wouldn't have to prepare to the extent of advanced as the essay questions seem generally predictable and easily adaptable whereas in advanced they could pick a random quote from the text and use that in the question
 

No surprises

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Yea that's a very good point you raise, there'll be a multitude of examplars available probably for every text in advanced while the same can't be said for eald, but it also seems that you wouldn't have to prepare to the extent of advanced as the essay questions seem generally predictable and easily adaptable whereas in advanced they could pick a random quote from the text and use that in the question
Yea I actually can't really say that cuz I prepared an essay for my yearly but the question is literally not relevant to what I prepared AT ALL-_-
different scene,different theme...so I am done
However the question I prepared has been tested in adv☹☹☹
 

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