OCR GCSE Classical Greek

I found the 10 and 8 mark question hard


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The ten-marker was a bit difficult - but found the 8-marker okay!

I found it okay overall ... 10mark was a bit weird but hopefully not to bad! Also, if you guys do Latin and did the Pliny yesterday... I found that I had more time today even though it's practically the same exam!

Can I ask what you guys put for the 10 and 8 mark question since I don't think I did well in them. It would be reassuring if yours ideas matched with mine. Thanks.

Same about Pliny! I'm doing Aeneid tomorrow. You?

I thought they could have chosen a better passage for the ten-marker. I got lots of content, but struggled a bit with style....

Can I ask what you guys put for the 10 and 8 mark question since I don't think I did well in them. It would be reassuring if yours ideas matched with mine. Thanks.

Yeah Aeneid tomorrow! I agree it wasn't the best passage but still could have been worse like something from Arria!


For the 10mark I said..
- they made other conversation to distract him
- I said that one verb bit showed their intention to deceive (leading him on in this way..)
- he chose without having heard the prophecy
- he would choose....optative shows it's hypothetical
- they kept the oracular response a secret
- the kept the identity of the townsmen secret/unnamed, just like they kept the response in secret (bit dodgy!)
- they made a metaphorical descent to sit beside him (again dodgy!)
- the repetition/polyptoton of bring about/accomplish
- wrote something about the future can't remember what exactly!
- how his physical blindness mirrors his mental blindness
- how the use of the superlatives shows how they would have been amazing for him showing how humble he was (incredibly dodgy!) haha

For the 8mark I put
Amasis:- shows it to be a matter of chance whether the oracle is truthful or not
-
Euenius:- that they were taking vengeance for Euenius
- they deceived everyone by urging on the wolves

Pactyes:- disbelieved the oracle
- tried to show the oracle what he thought was right

I swear I must have put more than that...! Tbh, I just blabbed on about how it was interesting that they didn't trust the miracles and Herodotus was painting a dodgy picture!!

"- how his physical blindness mirrors his mental blindness" - that is a really good point!

Sounds like you definitely did enough

Good luck tomorrow!

No problem - I'm sure you did fine. They are fairly generously marked. Personally, I'm worried by 5-mark translation was a little iffy!

For the ten marker, I can't remember exactly, but for content:
- they made them secret - deceitful
- came and sat down beside him - make him feel equal, so he's more susceptible to their manipulation (bit of a dodgy point)
- made other conversation - distracting him
- expressing sympathy - manipulating him
- leading him on in this way - fairly obvious
- 'he would choose' - so they can work out how high his demands are or something (I can't remember what I wrote)
- forget to write this, but 'he, not having heard the prophecy'
- he would in future not be angry - he doesn't realise they have deceived him
- would suffice - he doesn't realise what he could have had

and for style: (I really struggled)
- repetition of 'finest'
- repetition of 'Ap' stem in 'Apolloniates secret'

and for the eight-marker:
Amasis
- shows the oracles to not always be truthful
- shows that people put their faith in them (it's their first port of call)
- shows the respect Amasis gives to the truthful one
Euenius
- shows the brazen nature of the gods ('we urged on the wolves'
- their determination ('we shall not cease avenging'
- their protective nature over victims ('unjustly did you deprive'
Pactyes
- go to considerable extent to teach Aristodicus a lesson
- protector of suppliants
[all points supported with evidence]


Hope that helped?

Its good to see that I have put some information that matches yours. Thanks guys. Anyways what do you think the grade boundaries for this exam might be?

Not sure - I think it's normally low 40s out of 50 for an A*? But I haven't actually done a Herodotus past paper, so I don't know whether it was harder or easier...

I did the Lucian questions