I don't think that any ordinary person could just pull together an extension two English major work. With all due respect to all those who believe this, I know of people who pour their heart and soul into crafting their short stories, critical responses, poetry or whatever. It is definitely not easy work. What you see in the Showcase books is hardly an accurate portrayal of the type of work that goes into major works. Behind that, you have literally 500+ sheets of logbook work, ten or so months of tirelessly crafting your work etc; many months of research and in many cases, reading other short stories and critical theory. And not to mention that this is all for a one unit subject.
To get a good mark, you have to work damn hard. On a unit per unit basis, it's as intensive as anything you'll get in the HSC syllabus, alongside 4U maths. According to kony etc, the standards for 4U maths have dropped to the extent where 100% or 99% raw in the HSC paper is a very real possibility. He should know. LOL