A2 Edexcel English Literature 17th June 2016
Okay, so if you're taking this exam on the 17th, I was wondering how you're revision is going? If you have any tips, predictions etc. then we could talk about it here.
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
Scroll to see replies
Original post by Saffron_Mae
Okay, so if you're taking this exam on the 17th, I was wondering how you're revision is going? If you have any tips, predictions etc. then we could talk about it here.
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
Finally someone made a threat for this exam! Studentroom is completely dominated by AQA English Lit. I am doing Relationships: The Great Gatsby and Rapture. I would just get loads of past papers and just practice planning questions for about 10-15 minutes. They you will be able to see if the scenes and quote's you have memorised will be able to fit any question and if not then you can take another look at your texts and find some more important sections which will fit into the exam. In terms of timings just do practice essays and be strict in yourself, also don't feel obligated to start with the 60 marker because it has more marks. In my case my strength is the poetry section so i start with that because if i ace that then i only need like half marks on the 60 marker for a B. And half marks is nothing so you will definitely get more than that. Predictions?Hmm i would just look at past papers and see if there's themes they focus on, i.e nature, emotion, power, gender. And make up a question related to them. You never know, one of them might be similar to the real question. Anyway, goodluck. Also do you know any tips to do well in 60 marker? It's my weakest area ughh. By the way if you do poetry instead of prose you must talk about structure, form, rhythm, rhyme and language, All of them for top marks. If the poem barely has something of one of those, then explore the significance of that. i.e No rhyme = no emotion?
Original post by Saffron_Mae
Okay, so if you're taking this exam on the 17th, I was wondering how you're revision is going? If you have any tips, predictions etc. then we could talk about it here.
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
I'm doing the same texts as you apart from instead of 'Spies' we're looking at 'The Ghost Road'. I honestly have no idea what will come up question wise. How have you been structuring the essays? And I'm dreadful with timings I only have time to do three just because of the amount we need to include.
Original post by Zakriah
Finally someone made a threat for this exam! Studentroom is completely dominated by AQA English Lit. I am doing Relationships: The Great Gatsby and Rapture.
Yeah I know right! I thought I should make one in the hopes someone was doing Edexcel haha.
Original post by Zakriah
I would just get loads of past papers and just practice planning questions for about 10-15 minutes. They you will be able to see if the scenes and quote's you have memorised will be able to fit any question and if not then you can take another look at your texts and find some more important sections which will fit into the exam. In terms of timings just do practice essays and be strict in yourself, also don't feel obligated to start with the 60 marker because it has more marks. In my case my strength is the poetry section so i start with that because if i ace that then i only need like half marks on the 60 marker for a B. And half marks is nothing so you will definitely get more than that. Predictions?Hmm i would just look at past papers and see if there's themes they focus on, i.e nature, emotion, power, gender. And make up a question related to them. You never know, one of them might be similar to the real question. Anyway, goodluck. Also do you know any tips to do well in 60 marker? It's my weakest area ughh. By the way if you do poetry instead of prose you must talk about structure, form, rhythm, rhyme and language, All of them for top marks. If the poem barely has something of one of those, then explore the significance of that. i.e No rhyme = no emotion?
Yeah I think looking at past papers is good, I will definitely do that, we did one yesterday in the lesson and I think I need to get better context so I'm going to look up some of the poems from the anthology online.
I think to do well in section B, you need to know the assessment objectives that it is asking, the dominant ones are context A04 and in terms of a modern reader, basically just saying something like 'with hindsight in a modern context, the irony in the poem can be better understood..' or something like that and A03 Interpretations/ comparison so have loads of comparison terms! Dont talk about one thing for too long and always refer to the key words in the question.
Examiners reports are great to look at to see what they want in an answer.
Typically I'm more confident on the unseen poetry for A as well, I definitely need to remember to talk about structure and rhyme like you say. I think linking language devices to structure is always good to do. Good luck too
Original post by Saffron_Mae
Yeah I know right! I thought I should make one in the hopes someone was doing Edexcel haha.
Yeah I think looking at past papers is good, I will definitely do that, we did one yesterday in the lesson and I think I need to get better context so I'm going to look up some of the poems from the anthology online.
I think to do well in section B, you need to know the assessment objectives that it is asking, the dominant ones are context A04 and in terms of a modern reader, basically just saying something like 'with hindsight in a modern context, the irony in the poem can be better understood..' or something like that and A03 Interpretations/ comparison so have loads of comparison terms! Dont talk about one thing for too long and always refer to the key words in the question.
Examiners reports are great to look at to see what they want in an answer.
Typically I'm more confident on the unseen poetry for A as well, I definitely need to remember to talk about structure and rhyme like you say. I think linking language devices to structure is always good to do. Good luck too
Yeah I know right! I thought I should make one in the hopes someone was doing Edexcel haha.
Yeah I think looking at past papers is good, I will definitely do that, we did one yesterday in the lesson and I think I need to get better context so I'm going to look up some of the poems from the anthology online.
I think to do well in section B, you need to know the assessment objectives that it is asking, the dominant ones are context A04 and in terms of a modern reader, basically just saying something like 'with hindsight in a modern context, the irony in the poem can be better understood..' or something like that and A03 Interpretations/ comparison so have loads of comparison terms! Dont talk about one thing for too long and always refer to the key words in the question.
Examiners reports are great to look at to see what they want in an answer.
Typically I'm more confident on the unseen poetry for A as well, I definitely need to remember to talk about structure and rhyme like you say. I think linking language devices to structure is always good to do. Good luck too
How do you structure your essays for the 60 marker? Right now i find myself doing big paragraphs like this- 6 lines A02 Gatsby then 5 lines of Gatsby context with comparison to 6 lines of A02 Rapture then 6 lines of modern context.
Is that considered synthesis?
Original post by jojo10834
I'm doing the same texts as you apart from instead of 'Spies' we're looking at 'The Ghost Road'. I honestly have no idea what will come up question wise. How have you been structuring the essays? And I'm dreadful with timings I only have time to do three just because of the amount we need to include.
What chapters do you think you could use from The Kite Runner? I normally do chapter 6 and 7 (obviously haha), 22 is a good one with Assef. I tend to stick to the same ones though
Also I normally use the typical point-->quote/evidence-->analyse, type answer, making sure that there is some sort of technique to talk about and referring back to the key words in the question. Planning always helps me, spending about 10/15 minutes to do that means I waste less time looking for quotes etc.
Original post by Zakriah
How do you structure your essays for the 60 marker? Right now i find myself doing big paragraphs like this- 6 lines A02 Gatsby then 5 lines of Gatsby context with comparison to 6 lines of A02 Rapture then 6 lines of modern context.
Is that considered synthesis?
Is that considered synthesis?
That sounds fine. I think I write in a similar way. The main thing is to not bolt on context and lead out to it from the point you're making.
This is the sort of paragraph I seem to write, 'In the first world war poem Dulce.... by Wilfred Owen, A02 could be used to imply (key word/theme) by.... the quote ... could suggest that... In a similar way to the post modern novel The Kite Runner, set in Afghanistan.... that uses A02 in chapter... to denote...In both texts it could be considered that a modern reader may...'
I try and have a strong conclusion but I'm not great on ending an essay, I seem to ramble too much so I don't know how I would make it stronger.
can something tell me some tips on the first unseen section and how much would you write for the second section to get full marks, how much is enough would you say?
Original post by philosophymonkey
can something tell me some tips on the first unseen section and how much would you write for the second section to get full marks, how much is enough would you say?
Hmm I'm not too sure about how much to write by length probably a good few pages but then again its better to write precisely than too much and waffly.
How long are you going to spend on each section and what order are you going to do them in?
For the unseen, I re-read it a few times and annotate on it so that I understand it, don't rush into it
and its asking how structure, form and language shapes meaning, so i think just how do you interpret it with evidence for that
Does anyone know how to offer a good counter argument? I feel like I need to make my answers a bit more diverse
Original post by jojo10834
I'm doing the same texts as you apart from instead of 'Spies' we're looking at 'The Ghost Road'. I honestly have no idea what will come up question wise. How have you been structuring the essays? And I'm dreadful with timings I only have time to do three just because of the amount we need to include.
I'm doing Spies and The ghost road and I would say a question on the significance features of novel not including war is likely. My teacher although a terrible one has been teaching for 40 years and predicted that. Obviously that is not a guarantee.
Original post by Saffron_Mae
Hmm I'm not too sure about how much to write by length probably a good few pages but then again its better to write precisely than too much and waffly.
How long are you going to spend on each section and what order are you going to do them in?
For the unseen, I re-read it a few times and annotate on it so that I understand it, don't rush into it
and its asking how structure, form and language shapes meaning, so i think just how do you interpret it with evidence for that
How long are you going to spend on each section and what order are you going to do them in?
For the unseen, I re-read it a few times and annotate on it so that I understand it, don't rush into it
and its asking how structure, form and language shapes meaning, so i think just how do you interpret it with evidence for that
I want to spend 45 minutes on first section and 2 hours on the second, what do you think?
So i have these default points that i know i can use for whatever the question is so that i can just add a line or two before or after relating back to the question, but anyways I have this plan:
intro - answer question
p1,2,3 - gatsby, rapture, metaphysical poetry
p4,5,6 - gatsby, rapture, metaphysical poetry
p7,8,9 - gatsby, rapture, metphysical poetry
p10,11,- more links and other interpretations
conclusion
all paragraphs ill try to include all AOs
Original post by philosophymonkey
I want to spend 45 minutes on first section and 2 hours on the second, what do you think?
So i have these default points that i know i can use for whatever the question is so that i can just add a line or two before or after relating back to the question, but anyways I have this plan:
intro - answer question
p1,2,3 - gatsby, rapture, metaphysical poetry
p4,5,6 - gatsby, rapture, metaphysical poetry
p7,8,9 - gatsby, rapture, metphysical poetry
p10,11,- more links and other interpretations
conclusion
all paragraphs ill try to include all AOs
So i have these default points that i know i can use for whatever the question is so that i can just add a line or two before or after relating back to the question, but anyways I have this plan:
intro - answer question
p1,2,3 - gatsby, rapture, metaphysical poetry
p4,5,6 - gatsby, rapture, metaphysical poetry
p7,8,9 - gatsby, rapture, metphysical poetry
p10,11,- more links and other interpretations
conclusion
all paragraphs ill try to include all AOs
Personally, I'm going to spend 1hr/1hr45. I think those timings just work quite well for me. If you find it works better with 45mins/2hrs then that's fair enough.
If that plan works for you then that's good too. I'm going to probably focus on say 4-5 Chapters of my main text (The Kite Runner) and 1-2 in my other novel (Spies) and maybe 3 poems depending on the question.
Hi I'm doing Rapture, Captain Corelli and Metaphysical poetry
I'm struggling with the form part of A02. Some people say form is genre and the type of text e.g. novel but is there anything else that is classed as form? Also is it ok to not do comparisons in my first paragraph but replace it with critical opinions and different readers interpretations? Also if I mention a new historical critic for example is that classed as a different readers interpretation?
I'm struggling with the form part of A02. Some people say form is genre and the type of text e.g. novel but is there anything else that is classed as form? Also is it ok to not do comparisons in my first paragraph but replace it with critical opinions and different readers interpretations? Also if I mention a new historical critic for example is that classed as a different readers interpretation?
Hi! I'm studying 'Rapture', 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. Content-wise, I feel fairly confident with Section B of the exam. I have notes and important quotes annotated, as well as some practice essays that I've done (I need to do some more though!). However, even though I have a rough idea of what I'm going to write in the exam, whatever question comes up, I always struggle with the structuring of my essays. Like the other day, I was writing a practice essay and one minute I was waffling about one quote for half a page, and the next I was struggling to fit all of my analysis and comparisons into one section/paragraph. It's so frustrating!!! I haven't been able to get past a B grade so far with all of my essays, but I want that A 
Does anyone have any A/A* tips for this exam??? Or has anyone done a practice essay/past exam paper and got an A grade for it? If so, what were your techniques / how did you approach the question and essay?
I'm studying 'Rapture', 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. Content-wise, I feel fairly confident with Section B of the exam. I have notes and important quotes annotated, as well as some practice essays that I've done (I need to do some more though!). However, even though I have a rough idea of what I'm going to write in the exam, whatever question comes up, I always struggle with the structuring of my essays. Like the other day, I was writing a practice essay and one minute I was waffling about one quote for half a page, and the next I was struggling to fit all of my analysis and comparisons into one section/paragraph. It's so frustrating!!! I haven't been able to get past a B grade so far with all of my essays, but I want that A Does anyone have any A/A* tips for this exam??? Or has anyone done a practice essay/past exam paper and got an A grade for it? If so, what were your techniques / how did you approach the question and essay?
Original post by Zakriah
Finally someone made a threat for this exam! Studentroom is completely dominated by AQA English Lit. I am doing Relationships: The Great Gatsby and Rapture. I would just get loads of past papers and just practice planning questions for about 10-15 minutes. They you will be able to see if the scenes and quote's you have memorised will be able to fit any question and if not then you can take another look at your texts and find some more important sections which will fit into the exam. In terms of timings just do practice essays and be strict in yourself, also don't feel obligated to start with the 60 marker because it has more marks. In my case my strength is the poetry section so i start with that because if i ace that then i only need like half marks on the 60 marker for a B. And half marks is nothing so you will definitely get more than that. Predictions?Hmm i would just look at past papers and see if there's themes they focus on, i.e nature, emotion, power, gender. And make up a question related to them. You never know, one of them might be similar to the real question. Anyway, goodluck. Also do you know any tips to do well in 60 marker? It's my weakest area ughh. By the way if you do poetry instead of prose you must talk about structure, form, rhythm, rhyme and language, All of them for top marks. If the poem barely has something of one of those, then explore the significance of that. i.e No rhyme = no emotion?
We are doing the same exact texts!!! Let's compare notes please
what poems are you focusing on in rapture? And do you have tips on how to approach unseen prose? What things to look out for?Original post by VanDarth
We are doing the same exact texts!!! Let's compare notes please what poems are you focusing on in rapture? And do you have tips on how to approach unseen prose? What things to look out for?
what poems are you focusing on in rapture? And do you have tips on how to approach unseen prose? What things to look out for?I divide poems into themes, i.e.loss (fall, give), hate (row), love (you, hour), longing (New year).
I avoid unseen prose because i prefer poetry but i would say that you have really look hard for the meaning in the prose because its often really subtly conveyed so read the prose again and again until you actually have enough evidence to support your argument i.e what the prose is about.
Original post by Saffron_Mae
Okay, so if you're taking this exam on the 17th, I was wondering how you're revision is going? If you have any tips, predictions etc. then we could talk about it here.
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
Also what texts are you doing? I am doing the War poetry, The Kite Runner and Spies.
Is there anything you do to prepare for the actual exam, how do you cope with the stress, timings etc?
I'm genuinely interested to know and I think this thread could be useful since the exam is next week...
I am doing the same texts as you!!! Unfortunately I am a idiot and I haven't done much revision and my exam is in 2 days
(((((((I really want to get a B overall.Please any help with last min revision and if any predictions??I have been trying to plan questions but I feel like I know nothing idk if its because I've forgotten or I'm just panicking. Help help help help pleaseeeeeedoes anyone use critics in their essays???
Original post by aaliyahsum
I am doing the same texts as you!!! Unfortunately I am a idiot and I haven't done much revision and my exam is in 2 days (((((((I really want to get a B overall.Please any help with last min revision and if any predictions??I have been trying to plan questions but I feel like I know nothing idk if its because I've forgotten or I'm just panicking. Help help help help pleaseeeeee
(((((((I really want to get a B overall.Please any help with last min revision and if any predictions??I have been trying to plan questions but I feel like I know nothing idk if its because I've forgotten or I'm just panicking. Help help help help pleaseeeeeeHey, dont worry theres still time to do something! (I'm sort of in the same boat) Its too close to the real exam to do loads of mocks because it will be too stressful but what i would say is look on the edexcel website at examiners reports at example answers and comments. Look at AO's for each section of the exam.
here is the web address:
[url="http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/english-literature-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Document-Type%2FQuestion-paper&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK[excludedFace]biggrin[/excludedFace]ocument-Type%2FMark-scheme&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK[excludedFace]biggrin[/excludedFace]ocument-Type%2FExaminer-report&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK[excludedFace]u[/excludedFace]nit%2FUnit-3"]http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/english-literature-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK
ocument-Type%2FQuestion-paper&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UKocument-Type%2FMark-scheme&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UKocument-Type%2FExaminer-report&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK
nit%2FUnit-3Read or skim through the poems and texts and make sure you know the context of them and their general themes look at the key chapters: The Kite Runner (1,6,7,10,16,17 onwards especially 21 and 22). Spies I'd just skim through it, chapter 1&2 is good and 10&11 in terms of War as a theme.
This may seem obvious but get a good nights sleep and eat enough in the morning. Its good to just take it as it comes, read through the questions a few times, spend some time to plan. if you don't know what question to do, go for the one that allows more techniques! (for section B compare in every paragraph and remember context)
I really really hope this helps you! You can do this
Good luck!(edited 7 years ago)
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