How to annotate your text

JC1 students should be curious about what they can and cannot do with the ‘exam copies’ of their texts. I recommend that you keep the FIRST COPY of your text clean (only underlining or highlighting key parts carefully) and purchase a SECOND COPY as your ‘study copy’ to use in class / write all over / leave lying around. In this day and age, I do think that it is unnecessary to buy two copies when you have e-texts and resources (like our Age tutorial packs and lectures) that more than suffice.

The SEAB guidelines state that you are allowed to bring only original texts into the examination room. There is no official limit to the number of texts you bring. Bring an extra edition if you feel unsafe. Photocopies, notes or critical works are not allowed. ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ is not allowed. We recommend you purchase the school-endorsed editions of your texts: Age (Penguin); All My Sons (Methuen Student Ed); Othello (Heinemann Student Ed); Streetcar (Methuen Student Ed) and Scarlet (Penguin).

The following regulations apply to internal CJC examinations and the ‘A’ Level examination:

• No writing or drawing of any kind (other than your name / class on the front cover or second page)
• No folding of pages or dog-ears
• No post-its, tape flags, paper clips or bookmarks of any kind
• No highlighting or underlining of page numbers or page corners
• No squiggly, jagged or diagonal lines (we are serious about this)
• No brackets, boxes or circles (really, really not kidding here)
  
• Horizontal and vertical underlining is allowed
• Highlighting in MULTIPLE colours is allowed (e.g. pink + blue to denote May + Ellen)
• Highlighting AND underlining the same line is allowed

Texts that do not conform to the above guidelines will be CONFISCATED during internal examinations (i.e. Mid-Year, Promo, Prelim). At the ‘A’ Level Examination, you have the option to keep the text but the chief examiner will file an ‘irregularity report’ (as good as reporting you for cheating).

I recommend that students highlight their texts in a colour code they have memorised. An easy way to start would be to colour-code by character: Newland Archer would get purple, Ellen blue, May pink. You can also highlight by concern: romance / desire in one colour, conformity in another etc. Refer to the concept maps for a sense of what the major concerns of the novel are. Remember to remove any post-its that define your colour code before entering the exam venue.

I strongly recommend that you underline key words that you can close-analyse so that you do the ‘identification’ work before the actual exam.

You may wish to download the CJC Literature Invigilation Guidelines, in which you will find a sample of what you can or cannot do. If things are still a bit hazy, stop a Lit tutor and ask him or her. 🙂 Or just post a question as a comment here!