AQA AS English Lit B1 Paper 1: Drama (20th May 2016) ASPECTS OF TRAGEDY

Sorry for the long title!
There are one or two english threads already but there are so many options in English Lit that it was getting a bit overwhelming. So, this thread is for people studying ASPECTS OF TRAGEDY, and for paper 1 (drama), only :smile:

Please go ahead and post your resources, discuss and get help!

I'm doing Othello and Death of a Salesman.

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Reply 1

abcdeffy

if anyone has any practice essay questions for Death of a Salesman, could you please post them :smile:

Reply 2

Helfus

King Lear and Death of a Salesman.

Got a history exam this afternoon so will probably start reading the books tonight and then go through some contextual factors tomorrow.

Reply 3

abcdeffy

Original post by Helfus

King Lear and Death of a Salesman.

Got a history exam this afternoon so will probably start reading the books tonight and then go through some contextual factors tomorrow.

good luck for history! I will try and have some resources, for DoaS at least, up by then :smile:

Reply 4

Chloeexoxo

I'm doing othello and death of a salesman too good luck everyone! Are there are predictions of this or does anyone know what it is to get a C if it's out of 50?

Reply 5

Chloeexoxo

Original post by abcdeffy

if anyone has any practice essay questions for Death of a Salesman, could you please post them :smile:

This is one my teacher set us last week hope it helps assess the view that there is no tragic hero in death of a salesman - basically argue if you think there is or isn't or
Evaluate the view that family is at the heart of Willys tragic end
Or explore the view that the end of death of a salesman is positive

Reply 6

abcdeffy

Original post by Chloeexoxo

I'm doing othello and death of a salesman too good luck everyone! Are there are predictions of this or does anyone know what it is to get a C if it's out of 50?

so because this is the new specification, i couldn't find grade boundaries. however, last year it was 35 / 84 to get a C, which translates to 41%. So that means about 20 / 50 should be a C... but obviously this spec is different so don't take it to the grave :smile:

oh, i'm an idiot. So a C would be a band 3, which is 11-15 marks as detailed on the specification.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

abcdeffy

Original post by Chloeexoxo

thanks! also just a tip for anyone: any practice questions can be utilised again if you change one of the aspects for it - so the sample question is 'explore the view that Willy’s tragic isolation is caused largely by Linda’s failure tounderstand him', replace Linda with any other characters or themes and you've got yourself another question :smile:

Reply 8

Fox Corner

Original post by abcdeffy

Please go ahead and post your resources, discuss and get help!

I'm doing Othello and Death of a Salesman.

Hi! I added this to the A Level Exam Thread Directory which you can find here :h:

Good luck in your exam!

Reply 9

Chloeexoxo

Original post by abcdeffy

oh, i'm an idiot. So a C would be a band 3, which is 11-15 marks as detailed on the specification.

Thank you 👍🏻😊

Reply 10

abcdeffy

Original post by Chloeexoxo

Thank you 👍🏻😊

ohmydays. i'm so sorry!! 11-15 marks is for one of the questions, so collectively a C should be around 22 marks and upwards. I'm certain this time! sorry for the confusion x

Reply 11

Chloeexoxo

Original post by abcdeffy

ohmydays. i'm so sorry!! 11-15 marks is for one of the questions, so collectively a C should be around 22 marks and upwards. I'm certain this time! sorry for the confusion x

It's fine thank you! Is that 22/50? Thanks so much!😊x

Reply 12

ellieblakeney

I'm also doing Othello.. and Richard the 2nd, really stuck on how to revise for it though?

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Reply 13

abcdeffy

Original post by Chloeexoxo

It's fine thank you! Is that 22/50? Thanks so much!😊x

yep that is 22/50 :smile:

Reply 14

abcdeffy

Original post by ellieblakeney

I'm also doing Othello.. and Richard the 2nd, really stuck on how to revise for it though?

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this is what i did for Othello but i suppose you can do it for anything:

-made mind maps for each character / theme / anything significant
-looked up what comes under the 'aspects of tragedy' branch in the specification ( http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/specifications/AQA-7716-7717-SP-2015-V1-0.PDF - page 11 on there) and just made notes where the play fit in all of those)
-made a big poster of all the important quotes and read them over and over
-made a storyboard! I generally hate these, but my teacher told me you don't actually have to know specific scenes, you can equally do it by 'in the start / middle / end' - so make sure you know the order of events pretty clearly
-past papers! i know there's only the specimen paper, but the good thing with othello is that the question stays the same every time so just find some good extracts and go through them, even if you don't write the whole thing just plan out what you would write
-speaking of the question, it asks you to look at three things in particular (presentation of othello and iago etc.) make sure you have some generic notes on that which you can chuck in if you get stuck, or otherwise
-for me, i find reading other peoples interpretations really useful so i printed out loads of critical readings of Othello and went through and highlighted anything that really stood out (then compiled it into one sheet)

i'm sure there are more - this is what i can think of off the top of my head! hope it can help x

Reply 15

abcdeffy

hello all,

this is a link to the resource pack AQA offers teachers for Aspects of Tragedy. It has exam centric overviews of all the texts and information on writing your own questions, along with other useful material:
http://www.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/as-and-a-level/english-literature-b/teach/tragedy-resource-package
in general, the AQA website does provide tonnes of resources, just look for things they have targeted towards teachers :smile:

Reply 16

Chloeexoxo

How is everyone revising for tomorrow? I have no clue we did quotes in lesson for each character I need help with death of a salesman mostly has anyone got any tips thank you! Good luck everyone👍🏻

Reply 17

ellieblakeney

oh, thank you sooo much! I appreciate how many tips and resources you've given me! good luck in tomorrows exam :smile:

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Reply 18

abcdeffy

Original post by ellieblakeney

oh, thank you sooo much! I appreciate how many tips and resources you've given me! good luck in tomorrows exam :smile:

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That's alright, glad I could be of help! Good luck to you too :smile:

Reply 19

abcdeffy

Original post by Chloeexoxo

It seems to be just me here so I'll respond to this too haha
Firstly, there's quite a few things I've mentioned in a response to someone else above which you can use, but I'll label out the key things here:

-know your quotes. DOAS is closed book, so there's a leeway with the accuracy of the quotes however you need to make sure you have a good selection of quotes at the ready to support your points with. With your extract, just know the key quotes (maybe 5-10ish) which you can use to reference the play as a whole.

-I would strongly suggest you have a brief plan of what you would write if certain questions came up in the exam. There isn't too much time now, so just take each of the characters / themes / symbols and make four points (I do four points, its up to you how many you do!) of what the main argument of each paragraph is.

-what I found helped was searching DOAS critical reading, and going through what other people had written, highlighting any points that stood out and then combining them to have a bank of solid points that I can use for any essay.

-make a timeline, so you can visualise the play. It's key that you know the plot well, and this is a quick easy way to do it.

As for tips:
-when you're writing it, keep in mind that there is no right or wrong and the examiner wants to here your point of view - so to an extent it is a persuasive essay. Have a viewpoint, and stick to it throughout the essay. The essay is a question, so make sure you respond to it - link back to the question at the end of every paragraph!

-speaking of, an easy way to save time is to have some generic points at the ready for your introduction. These could be about tragedy, context of the play or miller's authorial methods.

-you won't get into the top bands without close language analysis, so make sure you have analysed your quotes as well, have at least one quote which you've torn apart word by word in every possible way.

-find a critics opinion! for DOAS, Arthur Miller actually wrote a piece called the Tragedy of the Common Man, so pick up a quote from that and integrate it into your essay. You can do this for other critics too. Just make sure that you use the critics quote as a support for a point YOUVE made, not as one of your points!

Hope this helps, good luck! Xx