Moving up to English Advanced from English Standard is not possible, and is one of the main reasons that a number of students are advised to take English Advanced in year 11 and then drop to English Standard if they discover that English Advanced is not for them. This would also make sense, when considering other subjects where the same applies such as:
- Mathematics Standard, where you cannot move up to Mathematics Advanced in year 12 if you took Mathematics Standard in year 11.
- Mathematics Advanced, where you cannot move up to Mathematics Extension 1 in year 12 if you only took Mathematics Advanced in year 11.
- Studies of Religion I, where you cannot move up to Studies of Religion II if you took Studies of Religion I in year 11.
- Beginners language courses, where you cannot move up to Continuers language courses if you took a Beginners language course in year 11.
The suggestion that band 6's are impossible in English Standard is incorrect. While alignment is generally in favour of English Advanced students, this doesn't necessarily mean that you can't achieve a band 6 in English Standard. What is true, however, is that it might be a bit more difficult for English Standard students to achieve a band 6 as their final mark compared to English Advanced students.
I was meant to take English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D). When I was choosing my subjects for year 11, I was made aware of a timetable clash with IPT, preventing me from taking EAL/D and forcing me to take English Standard as a student who is not a native English speaker and who had only been in Australia for 1 year when I started year 11. In 2019, when I sat my HSC, I was able to achieve a final mark of 83 in English Standard, with 85 as my Examination Mark. The reason I'm telling you this is to make you aware of your ability to achieve a band 6 in English Standard as you will be in a much better position in year 12 than I was about 2 years ago.
You should start to prepare for HSC English Standard to the best of your abilities. A good start would be to go through the syllabus document and to familiarise yourself with the different modules, including different ideas/themes/issues raised within each module. Once you feel you are comfortable with those, you should have a look at your prescribed texts (if you know what they are) as this can make analysing them quite a less demanding experience as you would've gained an idea of what each of your prescribed texts covers (as per their respective modules) in advance. Another thing that can enable you to complement your understanding of Preliminary English Standard in preparation for HSC English Standard is going through a list of techniques you have covered throughout year 11 and all the way until your current point. You will likely need to utilise those techniques frequently going forward (in addition to new ones), whether in analysis or essay writing. Revising what the technique is, how it can be used in a sentence/text as well as the effect it generally has when used in a particular quote/text constitutes a good way of preparing.
Lastly, as you begin to develop your analyses and essay, you should regularly seek feedback from your teacher as seeking feedback will allow you to receive suggestions that you can implement to improve your expressions and analysis (resulting in better quality essays) and regularly doing so will allow for consistent improvements each time you receive feedback. This will become particularly relevant as you commence year 12, meaning it is definitely an important thing to consider.
I hope this helps!
