I really dislike the current Area of Study, as unlike Changing Perspectives, the Area of Study I did in Year 11, not every text relates to this concept, and even the texts that do relate to it may not relate to every single possible question that may be asked in Section III of the Area of Study exam. For example, one text may address a certain issue or idea about belonging, but such issue or idea would be useless and cannot be discussed if the essay question asks for a different idea, which is not addressed by the chosen text. As such, this adds an element of luck to the exam itself, as this Area of Study favours those who have chosen related texts that are relevant to the question asked in the exam, while those who are unfortunate enough to have chosen texts that do not relate to the idea they are asked to discuss in the exam will be marked down, which means that the highest mark for the exam may not be given to the most skilled student. This factor of luck exists in the exam for every Area of Study, though its effect is probably not as great for the other Areas of Study, due to how specific a concept Belonging is, which means that there is a greater chance for a chosen text to not relate to the question.
Belonging is also a far more difficult Area of Study than Changing Perspectives, as just about any text relates to that concept, and "juxtaposition between the state of the past and the state of the present" is a technique that can be mentioned for just about any text that relates to change, allowing free marks to be earned regardless of the text chosen. In fact, the related text I used for my Changing Perspectives exam in Year 11 was one which I had not even thought of using until I saw the question for Section III during the reading time, and I simply wrote off my memory about that text and earned a good mark, whereas this can no longer be done for Belonging, as there are no general techniques used in every text that can be used to answer just about any question about Belonging. Every text used in this Area of Study must be studied in-depth, with every notable technique committed to memory, even though none of those techniques are guaranteed to be used in the exam as the question for Section III is unknown.
However, the worst part about this Area of Study is that not even some of the prescribed poems by Peter Skrzynecki even relate to the question asked in my Belonging exam, and it is extremely difficult to like an Area of Study when not even some of the prescribed poems can be used to answer certain questions that may be asked.
Also, I guess another, more subjective reason why I dislike this Area of Study is probably because I cannot really relate myself to Belonging as much as most people can, as I know for a fact that I do not experience a desire to belong on the same level as most people do, since I am a person who is content with being alone most of the time, and being able to relate oneself to the concept of an Area of Study greatly enhance's one's understanding of it, and it helps them to develop ideas relating to it. So my apathy and limited ability to relate myself to Belonging is actually putting myself at a disadvantage compared to other people in this Area of Study, and this may be another reason why I dislike it.
