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Help! AQA A-level Classics 2012

Hello everyone. Last summer in 2011 I did my AQA Classics A-level exams: AS Odyssey, A2 Greek Tragedy and A2 Aeneid. Despite being told I would get an A I unfortunately got an overall B. I have therefore decided to retake all three papers in the summer of 2012 this year. I need to get an overall A in order to get into Uni for September. Although my teachers have told me my papers are of A grade quality I worry that I will have a repeat performance of last years attempt.

If anyone has any tips/study guides/advice/anything that will help it would be very much appreciated. Also anyone who has already done their Classics A-level (and got the A!) that would like to share their *talent* would be super duper.

I have recently finished writing up my revision cards, which has short summaries of each book for Homer's and Virgil's poems, plus more detailed notes for the Greek Tragedy (my notes from last year were pretty crummy). I have also been looking at some short online study guides and will soon reread the introductions for all six texts I will be questioned on (Odyssey, Aeneid, Medea, Hippolytus, Oedipus and Antigone). Last year I did all the AQA past papers in timed conditions and am repeating the same thing again before the actual thing towards the end of May.

Naturally I am very worried about these retakes as I seriously want to avoid a repeat performace of last years effort. So if anyone has any advice then please please please feel free to help a fellow student in need!

Thanks everyone x

PS: in case anyone wants to know the *nitty grittys*: I got a high A in my Cicero AS paper and my Aeneid, Odyssey and Greek Trag papers were Bs and Cs.

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Reply 1
Original post by misshannahmaher
Hello everyone. Last summer in 2011 I did my AQA Classics A-level exams: AS Odyssey, A2 Greek Tragedy and A2 Aeneid. Despite being told I would get an A I unfortunately got an overall B. I have therefore decided to retake all three papers in the summer of 2012 this year. I need to get an overall A in order to get into Uni for September. Although my teachers have told me my papers are of A grade quality I worry that I will have a repeat performance of last years attempt.

If anyone has any tips/study guides/advice/anything that will help it would be very much appreciated. Also anyone who has already done their Classics A-level (and got the A!) that would like to share their *talent* would be super duper.

I have recently finished writing up my revision cards, which has short summaries of each book for Homer's and Virgil's poems, plus more detailed notes for the Greek Tragedy (my notes from last year were pretty crummy). I have also been looking at some short online study guides and will soon reread the introductions for all six texts I will be questioned on (Odyssey, Aeneid, Medea, Hippolytus, Oedipus and Antigone). Last year I did all the AQA past papers in timed conditions and am repeating the same thing again before the actual thing towards the end of May.

Naturally I am very worried about these retakes as I seriously want to avoid a repeat performace of last years effort. So if anyone has any advice then please please please feel free to help a fellow student in need!

Thanks everyone x

PS: in case anyone wants to know the *nitty grittys*: I got a high A in my Cicero AS paper and my Aeneid, Odyssey and Greek Trag papers were Bs and Cs.



Hey,

I got a high 'A' in my AS and my tips would be to have a broad background on the subject. In other words, read around the subject, listen to podcasts and watch youtube clips. So don't see it as formal revisipn but as fun as well.

Do you have any Aeneid notes by the way? I'm in real need of some. At present I've read the text but have no notes.

Are you resitting one AS module and one A2? Or are they both for A2?

Also, I'm more than willing to be a study buddy for the Aeneid module. My other A2 exam is on Augustus so I can't be much help with your other module sorry.
Original post by sosotalk
I got a high 'A' in my AS and my tips would be to have a broad background on the subject. In other words, read around the subject, listen to podcasts and watch youtube clips.


Do you have anything you could send me? I'm currently downloading The Odyssey as an audiobook, but if you have any material on the other texts I'm studying that would be great.

Original post by sosotalk
Do you have any Aeneid notes by the way? I'm in real need of some.


Here you go:

http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/epic/study_guide4.html

Original post by sosotalk
Are you resitting one AS module and one A2? Or are they both for A2?


I'm resitting two A2s and one AS.

Are you doing AQA? I'm a little bit worried about taking advice from those who are studying with a different exam board /:
Reply 3
Original post by misshannahmaher
Do you have anything you could send me? I'm currently downloading The Odyssey as an audiobook, but if you have any material on the other texts I'm studying that would be great.



Here you go:

http://classics.uc.edu/~johnson/epic/study_guide4.html



I'm resitting two A2s and one AS.

Are you doing AQA? I'm a little bit worried about taking advice from those who are studying with a different exam board /:


I am doing AQA. It seems that we're greatly outnumbered by the number of OCR students. What AS are you resitting again? I may have notes if it's one of the ones I did.

There's lots of free podcasts (like I mentioned) that you can get off of the itunes store. Like programmes off of BBC4 and that kind of thing. I can send you a pack about Augustus' life if you'd like so you can learn more about what the political scene when 'The Aeneid' was written.

It'd be great to keep in touch as I don't know anyone else who is doing AQA. ^_^
Original post by sosotalk
I am doing AQA. It seems that we're greatly outnumbered by the number of OCR students. What AS are you resitting again? I may have notes if it's one of the ones I did.

There's lots of free podcasts (like I mentioned) that you can get off of the itunes store. Like programmes off of BBC4 and that kind of thing. I can send you a pack about Augustus' life if you'd like so you can learn more about what the political scene when 'The Aeneid' was written.

It'd be great to keep in touch as I don't know anyone else who is doing AQA. ^_^



Original post by misshannahmaher
Hello everyone. Last summer in 2011 I did my AQA Classics A-level exams: AS Odyssey, A2 Greek Tragedy and A2 Aeneid. Despite being told I would get an A I unfortunately got an overall B. I have therefore decided to retake all three papers in the summer of 2012 this year. I need to get an overall A in order to get into Uni for September. Although my teachers have told me my papers are of A grade quality I worry that I will have a repeat performance of last years attempt.

If anyone has any tips/study guides/advice/anything that will help it would be very much appreciated. Also anyone who has already done their Classics A-level (and got the A!) that would like to share their *talent* would be super duper.

I have recently finished writing up my revision cards, which has short summaries of each book for Homer's and Virgil's poems, plus more detailed notes for the Greek Tragedy (my notes from last year were pretty crummy). I have also been looking at some short online study guides and will soon reread the introductions for all six texts I will be questioned on (Odyssey, Aeneid, Medea, Hippolytus, Oedipus and Antigone). Last year I did all the AQA past papers in timed conditions and am repeating the same thing again before the actual thing towards the end of May.

Naturally I am very worried about these retakes as I seriously want to avoid a repeat performace of last years effort. So if anyone has any advice then please please please feel free to help a fellow student in need!

Thanks everyone x

PS: in case anyone wants to know the *nitty grittys*: I got a high A in my Cicero AS paper and my Aeneid, Odyssey and Greek Trag papers were Bs and Cs.


Ooh, I'm also on AQA - doing Cicero and the Iliad, and finding it a wee bit difficult to revise too :s-smilie:
misshannahmaher - I don't suppose you remember how you revised for Cicero (as that is an amazing grade :smile: )? If you do, some tips would be greatly appreciated!
Good luck guys, sorry I'm not much help; I can lend some moral support though :wink:
Reply 5
Original post by deadlypepperpot
Ooh, I'm also on AQA - doing Cicero and the Iliad, and finding it a wee bit difficult to revise too :s-smilie:
misshannahmaher - I don't suppose you remember how you revised for Cicero (as that is an amazing grade :smile: )? If you do, some tips would be greatly appreciated!
Good luck guys, sorry I'm not much help; I can lend some moral support though :wink:


I got 100UMS mark in Cicero but I don't know how that happened. Aha. Know your letters, use some quotes but more importantly know lots about the background behind the republic and know background knowledge about his life.

Also knowing the relationship he had with other political figures is useful and know stuff about his oratory style. There's usually a question about that somewhere.

I wrote all my notes by hand but I'll dig them out and see if I can scan them onto the computer or something if I have time??

Hope that helps :smile:

Are you going to take it for A2 as well??
Original post by sosotalk
I got 100UMS mark in Cicero but I don't know how that happened. Aha. Know your letters, use some quotes but more importantly know lots about the background behind the republic and know background knowledge about his life.

Also knowing the relationship he had with other political figures is useful and know stuff about his oratory style. There's usually a question about that somewhere.

I wrote all my notes by hand but I'll dig them out and see if I can scan them onto the computer or something if I have time??

Hope that helps :smile:

Are you going to take it for A2 as well??

Wow, that really is an amazing result! Thank you very much - it has helped, and I would appreciate the notes so much - it would be extremely kind of you :smile:
Yes, I think so. Not quite sure which topics I'll be studying, though I know the Aeneid will be one of them. How do you find the Augustus topic? :smile: Also, how many people are doing Classics in your year? There's only two of us in mine - gets a little awkward at times aha but I much prefer small groups; shame it's not more popular (and shame there's no textbook/clearer spec! :tongue: )
Reply 7
Original post by deadlypepperpot
Wow, that really is an amazing result! Thank you very much - it has helped, and I would appreciate the notes so much - it would be extremely kind of you :smile:
Yes, I think so. Not quite sure which topics I'll be studying, though I know the Aeneid will be one of them. How do you find the Augustus topic? :smile: Also, how many people are doing Classics in your year? There's only two of us in mine - gets a little awkward at times aha but I much prefer small groups; shame it's not more popular (and shame there's no textbook/clearer spec! :tongue: )


I LOVE the Augustus topic and I think it fits in really well with the Cicero/Aeneid topic as Cicero was around at the beginning of Augustus' career and you need to know the background behind the times when the Aeneid was written as well!

I think that there were about ten of us but I go to a six form college with over 1000 students so it's really a tiny amount! They only ran Classics for AS and stopped running that after my year so currently I'm self teaching. In other words my A2 could go very, very wrong. Aha!

I don't know if you've already said but what is the other AS unit you're doing?
Original post by sosotalk
I LOVE the Augustus topic and I think it fits in really well with the Cicero/Aeneid topic as Cicero was around at the beginning of Augustus' career and you need to know the background behind the times when the Aeneid was written as well!

I think that there were about ten of us but I go to a six form college with over 1000 students so it's really a tiny amount! They only ran Classics for AS and stopped running that after my year so currently I'm self teaching. In other words my A2 could go very, very wrong. Aha!

I don't know if you've already said but what is the other AS unit you're doing?


That's good to hear - I think I'll opt for that next year then, sounds like a great topic :smile:

It's weird to think of a sixth form being that big when mine only has about 150 students in my year, if that! :tongue: Aww, that's a shame, but I'm sure it won't go wrong - wishing you luck! :smile:

I'm also doing The Iliad - getting quite into it now I've actually started reading it! :tongue:
What AS are you resitting again?


I'm doing AS Odyssey :P My notes aren't that great so some help with that would be much appreciated (:

I can send you a pack about Augustus' life if you'd like so you can learn more about what the political scene when 'The Aeneid' was written.


Yes please, I shall love you forever :biggrin:

It'd be great to keep in touch as I don't know anyone else who is doing AQA.


Sure thing! What's your e-mail? It'd be easier to stay in touch over something like Facebook instead of TSR

I don't suppose you remember how you revised for Cicero


I put an awful lot of time and effort into it. It most certainly was not easy.

I wrote up a timeline with all the events that happened during Cicero's life for each year. Then I wrote those up on revision cards with the events on one side with the date on the back. Everyday I would have them all facing one way up so I could only see the events & put them in order according to date (without looking at the date on the reverse). I did this over and over until I got it right and could pretty much remember all the things that happened in Cicero's life from his first major trial (Roscius, 80BC) to his death.

I had a very good study mate at the time who would ask me to list all the events that occurred for example in 65BC. I would strongly advise you do this too as I found this to be very helpful. I did this with my mum too so who ever you can find that is willing...(;

You don't need to know anything pre-80BC (apart from when and where he was born as this is important) plus I pretty much ignored his minor trials and his letters. The only thing you need to know about his correspondence is that he asked his mate in Greece, Atticus for advice on a lot of political stuff including who he should side with (Caesar or Pompey).

I also advise you do as many past papers as possible (you can find them on the AQA website). In the actual exam I pretty much wrote a list of all the things that happened in the year(s) I was being questioned on, giving them a brief analysis, ie: it seems fair to say that Cicero's Philippics were the primary cause of his death due to his open mockery of Marcus Antony in the Senate.

So long as you can remember all the facts then it's a doddle. It's just the remembering bit which is the hard part! Good luck and let me know how you get on (:

So currently I'm self teaching


I sort of am too. I'm on my Gap Year at the mo so not attending school anymore, but doing all the work outside of my full time job...it's not easy /: I have done all the A2 material in school already though so it's not too bad


Do either of you have any advice on how to manage stress and anxiety? One of my biggest problems is that I stop studying when I panic because I can't focus ): Any tips would be great x
Original post by misshannahmaher



I put an awful lot of time and effort into it. It most certainly was not easy.

I wrote up a timeline with all the events that happened during Cicero's life for each year. Then I wrote those up on revision cards with the events on one side with the date on the back. Everyday I would have them all facing one way up so I could only see the events & put them in order according to date (without looking at the date on the reverse). I did this over and over until I got it right and could pretty much remember all the things that happened in Cicero's life from his first major trial (Roscius, 80BC) to his death.

I had a very good study mate at the time who would ask me to list all the events that occurred for example in 65BC. I would strongly advise you do this too as I found this to be very helpful. I did this with my mum too so who ever you can find that is willing...(;

You don't need to know anything pre-80BC (apart from when and where he was born as this is important) plus I pretty much ignored his minor trials and his letters. The only thing you need to know about his correspondence is that he asked his mate in Greece, Atticus for advice on a lot of political stuff including who he should side with (Caesar or Pompey).

I also advise you do as many past papers as possible (you can find them on the AQA website). In the actual exam I pretty much wrote a list of all the things that happened in the year(s) I was being questioned on, giving them a brief analysis, ie: it seems fair to say that Cicero's Philippics were the primary cause of his death due to his open mockery of Marcus Antony in the Senate.

So long as you can remember all the facts then it's a doddle. It's just the remembering bit which is the hard part! Good luck and let me know how you get on (:



Do either of you have any advice on how to manage stress and anxiety? One of my biggest problems is that I stop studying when I panic because I can't focus ): Any tips would be great x


Thank you for the tips - they're very helpful :smile:

Sorry to hear that; do you have a revision timetable? I can never stick to them personally, but if you plan it out and ensure you'll cover everything and more before the exam, then there should be no need to panic :smile: Make sure you're not overworking yourself, and rewards for doing so much might persuade you to do more. Try not to overthink exams' importance, make sure there are no distractions - the usual exam stuff :tongue: A stress ball could be a good investment aha, and most of all good luck :smile:
Hope I helped a bit!
I've tried all these things, but they don't help /: I also tend to go a bit overboard with the rewards too haha Thank you anyway (: btw do either of you have any A grade essays I could read? x
Reply 12
I've got a really bad cold and it's made me tired and irritable. As a result I haven't studied in 4 days and now I'm all stressed. Aha!
Reply 13
I got an A* in Classics A level last year and published my Greek Tragedy revision guide as an ebook that you can read on your kindle or on your computer if you download the free pc program from Amazon.

Admittedly, it's not free, but it is significantly discounted for buyers in the UK and most of my A level class used it last year, resulting in a lot of positive reviews.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concise-Guide-Popular-Tragedy-ebook/dp/B0054YGQWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335901106&sr=8-1
Original post by sosotalk
I've got a really bad cold and it's made me tired and irritable. As a result I haven't studied in 4 days and now I'm all stressed. Aha!


I've had a cold for two weeks now...here's hoping neither of us are ill on exam day!

Come to think of it, one thing that always helps me deal with stress is just reading through my notes and talking to myself out loud about what I've written and what it means ie: what I could write about in the exam. I know that makes me sound mad, but it helps me to calm down as I'm able to remind myself that I know my material (:
Original post by babbit
I got an A* in Classics A level last year and published my Greek Tragedy revision guide as an ebook that you can read on your kindle or on your computer if you download the free pc program from Amazon.

Admittedly, it's not free, but it is significantly discounted for buyers in the UK and most of my A level class used it last year, resulting in a lot of positive reviews.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concise-Guide-Popular-Tragedy-ebook/dp/B0054YGQWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335901106&sr=8-1


Just had a look and this seems pretty awesome C: Just a couple of questions though:

1. Is it possible for me to read this on my Mac as I don't have a PC

2. Is this study guide suitable for AQA Classicists?

3. Did you do OCR or AQA?

Cheers! x
Reply 16
Original post by misshannahmaher
Just had a look and this seems pretty awesome C: Just a couple of questions though:

1. Is it possible for me to read this on my Mac as I don't have a PC

2. Is this study guide suitable for AQA Classicists?

3. Did you do OCR or AQA?

Cheers! x


1. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/kindle/mac/download
2 & 3. I did AQA, so the plays examined in the text are those that were in the syllabus: Euripides' 'Medea' and 'Hippolytus' and Sophocles' 'Oedipus the King' and 'Antigone'.
Reply 17
Waah. I still have a cold so I took the day off of college. I read the Res Gestae and listened to some podcasts about Rome under Augustus.

Fun fact of the day: If you committed patricide in ancient Rome the punishment was that you'd be tied up in a bag with a monkey, serpent, rooster and dog and thrown into the river Tiber.

Wow... they were rather creative with their punishments. o.0

p.s. I'd love to add you guys on facebook. Are you thinking of doing classics in uni?
Original post by sosotalk
Waah. I still have a cold so I took the day off of college. I read the Res Gestae and listened to some podcasts about Rome under Augustus.

Fun fact of the day: If you committed patricide in ancient Rome the punishment was that you'd be tied up in a bag with a monkey, serpent, rooster and dog and thrown into the river Tiber.

Wow... they were rather creative with their punishments. o.0

p.s. I'd love to add you guys on facebook. Are you thinking of doing classics in uni?


ahaha I remember that, I think the Romans had a few screws loose...

I'm hoping to do a Joint Honours in Classics and Philosophy /: Sort of need to do well in my retakes first though haha

PS: get well soon! (:
Reply 19
Original post by misshannahmaher
ahaha I remember that, I think the Romans had a few screws loose...

I'm hoping to do a Joint Honours in Classics and Philosophy /: Sort of need to do well in my retakes first though haha

PS: get well soon! (:


Where would that be?
I'm doing philosophy for A Level; it's really fun but can give you brain a huge mental workout at times :P

Cold is beginning to go now and I bought 3 vintage clothing items for £5 in a charity shop so today has been rather wondrous. XD

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