📖 English · AS 91099 · 2.2

Visual/oral text essay

External 4 credits Film techniques Shots Editing Sound Director's purpose

Same skill as 91098, but the evidence is film/dramatic technique: shots, angles, lighting, music, editing. Swap in YOUR film — each technique needs one specific scene.

Reference sheet →

Practice

Recall it first, then use it — testing yourself builds the memory, where rereading the notes above only feels easier.

Recall and application shuffled together — you have to work out what each item wants before you can answer it, which is the part the exam actually tests. Both kinds feed the same spacing schedule, so anything you miss comes back sooner.

Say the answer out loud before flipping — that attempt is where the learning happens, even when you get it wrong.

Exam-style only. Instant feedback, shuffled each attempt, best score saved on this device.

What actually comes up

You choose your own studied visual or oral text and ONE of eight given questions to answer — there is no fixed scenario, so nothing below is content to memorise about a specific film. What repeats is the SHAPE of the eight choices: every year mixes the same handful of categories (structure, language/verbal features, character, setting, an ending/turning point, ideas/purpose), so one flexible argument prepared per category covers almost any year's actual list.

Across 4 years

4 questions · 12 parts 4 Achieved 4 Merit 4 Excellence

The pattern — what to prepare

Topic	Appears in	Grade level	What to practise
Eight questions offered, choose ONE — the categories recur even though the exact wording changes every year	4/4 years	—	Prepare one strong argument per category (structure, language/verbal features, character, setting, ending/turning point, ideas/purpose) so you can match almost any year's list.
Every question is phrased "Analyse how [X] [does something to your understanding/response]" — never "describe" or "summarise"	4/4 years, all 32 questions across the four years	A–E	"What the grades require" — the verb IS the command: trace the specified aspect to an effect, not just its presence.
The task is identical in shape to 91098 (written text) — same essay structure, same A/M/E ladder, different evidence type	4/4 years	—	"Technique → effect chain" — the film-technique toolkit is the only thing that changes; the essay architecture from 91098 transfers directly.
A precisely named film/dramatic technique (camera angle, editing style, diegetic/non-diegetic sound) scores higher than a vague umbrella term ("good cinematography")	4/4 years, implicit in every question about language/structure/character	M–E	"A technique toolkit across media" — name the specific device and locate it in one scene.
The Excellence band requires a judgement connecting a specific technique choice to the director/creator's PURPOSE at that specific moment, not a generalisation about the technique	4/4 years, the Excellence descriptor itself	E	"Connecting technique to the director's purpose" — the judgement must be specific enough to be true only of this scene in this text.
A precise, detailed scene description functions as the evidence itself, in place of a quotation	4/4 years, implicit in every marked exemplar	A–M	"Describing a shot or scene as evidence" — name the specific technique, locate it precisely, and describe it clearly enough to picture before analysing.
Questions naming a SPECIFIC aspect (structure, an ending, a relationship) require evidence genuinely about that aspect, not just any good scene from the text	4/4 years, every question	A	"Mistakes that recur in film/oral essays" — a well-analysed scene about the wrong aspect scores nothing.
Choosing a question that matches scenes ALREADY prepared in a scene bank, rather than one needing new recall under pressure	4/4 years, implicit in the eight-question format	—	"Choosing your question in the exam room" — prefer techniques already in your prepared scene bank over new detail recalled from memory.

2025 Eight questions 3 parts

The 2025 paper ↗ Marking schedule ↗

The Task

Write an essay on at least one visual or oral text you have studied, in response to ONE of the eight questions below.

1. Analyse how verbal aspects were used to enhance your experience.
2. Analyse how setting helped reveal the depth of a character.
3. Analyse how language features were combined to manipulate the audience's response.
4. Analyse how structure was essential to understanding the director's/creator's purpose.
5. Analyse how the ideas in the text made it bingeworthy.
6. Analyse how the ending of the text turned out to be a new beginning.
7. Analyse how contrast was essential to understanding one or more characters.
8. Analyse how ideas in the text made the director's/creator's purpose clear.

achieved A structured essay following the conventions of an essay, engaging with the chosen question and specified aspect(s), exploring a relevant idea with specific details from the text. Achieved
merit A convincing analysis: reasoned discussion of the idea(s), using terminology to support the points made, weaving a range of specific and relevant details into the response. Merit
excellence A perceptive analysis: an insightful or original argument, judgements about how effects and meanings relate to the text's purpose, with details woven into the argument itself. Excellence

2024 Eight questions 3 parts

The 2024 paper ↗ Marking schedule ↗

The Task

Write an essay on at least one visual or oral text you have studied, in response to ONE of the eight questions below.

1. Analyse how time was manipulated for a particular purpose.
2. Analyse how language features helped you better understand the setting.
3. Analyse how rebellion was used to make a point.
4. Analyse how language features helped you appreciate the director's or creator's purpose.
5. Analyse how the true nature of one or more characters was revealed to you through their actions.
6. Analyse how the structure of the text led you to understand an important theme.
7. Analyse how the presentation of one or more characters affected how you felt about them.
8. Analyse how ideas were developed through the use of symbolism.

achieved A structured essay following the conventions of an essay, engaging with the chosen question and specified aspect(s), exploring a relevant idea with specific details from the text. Achieved
merit A convincing analysis: reasoned discussion of the idea(s), using terminology to support the points made, weaving a range of specific and relevant details into the response. Merit
excellence A perceptive analysis: an insightful or original argument, judgements about how effects and meanings relate to the text's purpose, with details woven into the argument itself. Excellence

2023 Eight questions 3 parts

The 2023 paper ↗ Marking schedule ↗

The Task

Write an essay on at least one visual or oral text you have studied, in response to ONE of the eight questions below.

1. Analyse how the structure of the text fulfilled or ruined your expectations.
2. Analyse how an action scene turned out to be more than "just a bit of excitement" for the audience.
3. Analyse how visual aspects were used to enhance your understanding of one or more characters.
4. Analyse how a plot twist revealed an important idea.
5. Analyse how one or more characters were used to encourage you to care deeply about them.
6. Analyse how the setting was the key to unlocking your appreciation of the text.
7. Analyse how your enjoyment of the text was enriched through the use of language features.
8. Analyse how a challenging relationship was used to explore an idea.

achieved A structured essay following the conventions of an essay, engaging with the chosen question and specified aspect(s), exploring a relevant idea with specific details from the text. Achieved
merit A convincing analysis: reasoned discussion of the idea(s), using terminology to support the points made, weaving a range of specific and relevant details into the response. Merit
excellence A perceptive analysis: an insightful or original argument, judgements about how effects and meanings relate to the text's purpose, with details woven into the argument itself. Excellence

2022 Eight questions 3 parts

The 2022 paper ↗ Marking schedule ↗

The Task

Write an essay on at least one visual or oral text you have studied, in response to ONE of the eight questions below.

1. Analyse how contrast was used to emphasise one or more important ideas. ("Ideas" may refer to character, theme, or setting.)
2. Analyse how a character's decision provoked a shocking reaction.
3. Analyse how language features were used to encourage the audience to take sides.
4. Analyse how structure was used to manipulate the viewer. ("Structure" may refer to the order, organisation, or conventions of a text.)
5. Analyse how language features encouraged you to see the world in a different way.
6. Analyse how a character's true self was revealed by their response to a key event.
7. Analyse how the beginning of the text sparked your curiosity.
8. Analyse how setting was used in a game of power and control. ("Setting" may refer to physical places as well as social and historical contexts.)

achieved A structured essay following the conventions of an essay, engaging with the chosen question and specified aspect(s), exploring a relevant idea with specific details from the text. Achieved
merit A convincing analysis: reasoned discussion of the idea(s), using terminology to support the points made, weaving a range of specific and relevant details into the response. Merit
excellence A perceptive analysis: an insightful or original argument, judgements about how effects and meanings relate to the text's purpose, with details woven into the argument itself. Excellence

The task is genuinely open every year — you supply your own text and pick your own question — so the schedule grades the QUALITY of analysis against the generic Achieved/Merit/Excellence criteria, not against any fixed content. Past-paper PARTS are correspondingly limited to the three Achieved/Merit/Excellence descriptors per year (12 total, honestly short of the 35-part target): this is a single holistic essay standard with no lettered sub-parts, the same structural shortfall as eng-91098 and the Level 3 English written-text externals.

Past exams & resources

Past exams & marking schedules, AS 91099 (last 5 years)
Year	Exam paper	Marking schedule
2025	Exam paper	Marking schedule
2024	Exam paper	Marking schedule
2023	Exam paper	Marking schedule
2022	Exam paper	Marking schedule
2021	Exam paper	Marking schedule

⏱ Timed opens the paper and starts a countdown matching the exam length. Official NZQA PDFs. If a link 404s, that year’s paper may sit under a slightly different code: browse the NZQA subject page.

NZQA 91099 exams & exemplars Read an Excellence film essay for technique density