[Kamil95]

Hi there,

Is anyone here taking the AS English Lit exam on 16/05? I imagine there will be a few people, just to make sure we're talking about the same exam, it's the Contextual Linking and Poetry one. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the Section A of the exam, and maybe discuss it in general.

I don't know whether they teach the same wider reading extracts at all schools in the country, but specifically, we're told to include extracts that feature Drama (something on Brecht must be included), Poetry, Fiction/Non-Fiction extracts, and Female/Male authors. I am struggling to pull all the information together. Discussing it, analyzing, differentiating from the rest is quite easy, but forming the answer in terms of structure is a bit complicated. Odd, never had a problem with it, maybe it's because I'm forgetting to discuss struggle for identity as a whole?

Anyway, what I'm doing is probably wrong, but you know what they say... practice makes perfect. I described in the introduction how the unseen extract relates to the struggle for identity in the wider reading. This one was on Harvey Milk, who made a public speech about his election to politics as a first gay man. It's off a past paper and I said...

"The author of this extract is discussing sexuality and his struggle for identity, as homosexuality was seen immoral within the society at the time, and was met with discrimination, when the extract was written back in 1978. Harvey Milk is finalizing his speech at a public dinner, likewise Martin Luther King also spoke out using speeches..."

The exemplar material I was given uses much more shorter and to the point introduction, that answers the question directly. The only thing I can't understand about this contextual linking, is whether we analyze the unseen extract, and compare the key points to how it relates with the wider reading I've done, or vice-versa, talking about wider reading's key points, and relating it to the unseen extract? Or is it like my English teacher loves to say "You can do anything with English, it's not Maths where 2+2=4"?

Not sure if I could cite the exemplar material, probably not, and I haven't even got it with me right now, so I'll cite a piece that my teacher worked with us through. We wrote it in class...

"Harvey Milk, Martin Luther King, Bertolt Brecht and Grace Nichols all present the struggle for identity whilst exploring the suppression of an individual through the use of form, structure and language..."

Hope someone can clear me up on this one. Cheers!

[mmasters]

Hi,
I'm sitting the exam too. This exam is more weighted towards the extract more than your wider reading, it's about 70% extract, so it has to be the basis for your links. A large chunk of the marks are awarded for context and that's not necessarily knowing anything extra about the extract but being able to place the struggle for identity within the context the extract was written, which they tell you in the question. In order to gain the highest marks you must link the extract to your wider reading by either form, structure or language. I also suggest that for safe measure you get into the habit of always including a contextual link to make sure you pick up all the marks. You only need about one quote from each of your wider reading so you should be fine! Good Luck!!!