SACE Stage 2 English: complete 2026 guide to the three assessment types

SACE Stage 2 English is the Year 12 general English subject in South Australia, worth 20 credits. Unlike most other states, it is structured entirely by assessment type rather than by content topics: the same skills of analysing, creating and comparing texts run throughout the year, and your grade is built from three assessment types. This page is the index - below you will find every study note we have, organised by assessment type, alongside a breakdown of what each one assesses.

The three assessment types in 2026

Assessment Type 1: Responding to Texts (30%, school-based)

Analytical responses to texts you have studied. You analyse how language features position audiences, how texts represent people and ideas, how stylistic features and conventions create meaning, and how context shapes interpretation - and you write sustained, evidence-based analytical responses (written or oral).

Assessment Type 2: Creating Texts (40%, school-based)

The largest single component. You produce a folio of your own texts - persuasive, imaginative and/or recreative - each crafted for a specific purpose, audience and context, and each accompanied by a Writer's Statement in which you justify your language and structural choices.

Assessment Type 3: Comparative Analysis (30%, external)

The external assessment. You compare two studied texts, analysing the relationships between their ideas, perspectives, values, language and stylistic features, structured as an integrated comparison driven by a clear comparative thesis.

The two school-based types (70%) are teacher-marked against the SACE performance standards and externally moderated; the Comparative Analysis (30%) is externally marked.

Assessment Type 1: Responding to Texts (30%)

These notes build the analytical reading skills the Responding to Texts standards reward - moving from technique-spotting to genuine analysis of effect.

• Analysing how language features position audiences
• Analysing perspectives and representations
• Analysing stylistic features and conventions
• Understanding context and its effect on meaning
• Writing an analytical text response
• Using textual evidence effectively

Assessment Type 2: Creating Texts (40%)

These notes cover the craft of writing your own texts and the reflective Writer's Statement that accompanies each one.

• Writing for purpose, audience and context
• Creating persuasive texts
• Creating imaginative and recreative texts
• Manipulating language and stylistic features
• The Writer's Statement

Assessment Type 3: Comparative Analysis (external, 30%)

These notes cover the external comparison - how to structure, argue and write a genuine comparison of two texts.

• Structuring an integrated comparison
• Comparing ideas, perspectives and values
• Comparing language and stylistic features
• Building a comparative thesis

How the assessment types fit together

The three assessment types are not separate subjects - they reinforce each other. The analytical reading you practise in Responding to Texts teaches you to notice the very stylistic choices you then make deliberately in Creating Texts. The Writer's Statement in Creating Texts demands the same vocabulary of effect that your analytical responses use. And the Comparative Analysis draws on every skill at once: reading for ideas and values, analysing language and style, and arguing a sustained, structured case - this time across two texts.

English and the SACE literacy requirement

Completing 20 credits of an approved Stage 2 English subject at a C− grade or higher satisfies the SACE literacy requirement, one of the conditions for being awarded the South Australian Certificate of Education. The general English subject covered on this hub is an approved literacy-requirement subject. Confirm your individual enrolment with your school's SACE coordinator.

How to use this hub

If you are starting Year 12: read the Responding to Texts notes first - the analytical reading skills there underpin everything else. Then move to Creating Texts as your folio work begins.

If your folio is due soon: read the Creating Texts notes, especially "Writing for purpose, audience and context" and "The Writer's Statement", and draft each piece several times.

If you are preparing for the external Comparative Analysis: read all four Comparative Analysis notes, then practise writing integrated comparisons of your two studied texts under timed conditions, marking yourself against the SACE performance standards.

Every note on this hub was written by ExamExplained. For the official subject outline and current-year guidance, refer to the SACE Board at sace.sa.edu.au.