AQA LITB3 Element of the Gothic

I thought I was ready and then I read this. I'm hoping for an A* so this has been so useful, common sense isn't that common and in the stress of revising for an exam, I have forgotten most of the obvious things. Ahh thank you!

I think Frankenstein questions are just unpredictable, the year it focused on the Freudian oedipal complex threw me but I'm still hoping I can do Frankenstein for Section A. Do you have the other questions of the paper we sat in June because I can't find it online and my teacher has been useless, I remember the use of light in Macbeth coming up and of course, the monster being Frankenstein's double. I can imagine Religion definitely coming up

I'm glad I could help in any minor way, can't believe this exam is so close! Yeah Frankenstein can be a tricky one, the Oepidal one I literally went wtf to. But the doppelganger one was hard too, considering I thought it was really easy then went off on a tangent. And the question on women in Frankenstein wasn't great either.

I don't understand why AQA are removing 'Dracula' off the list though after Jan 13, because I find it the best text for this exam. It has so many memorable quotations and points for almost every question! I mean I've read 5 texts for this exam so it's not like I haven't had time to compare which ones I find easy to talk about, and 'Dracula' is just amazing!

I hope Religion doesn't come up, I tried answering it and I ended up waffling at some parts but I have time to fix that- I really want transgression or something to come up I love that. Or gothic texts being 'shocking' that'd be amazing.

Anyway enough ranting, I do have the June 2012 questions if you would like, I'm sure I have the rest of them somewhere. Just message me or something.

Reply 21

myusername.

14

I studied Dr. Faustus and Frankenstein last year, so if anyone has any questions I might be able to help? What great texts you're studying! Dr. Faustus might seem really hard at first but I'm sure you'll have learned to love it by the end of the year :wink:

Frankenstein is just simply one of the best books I've ever read!

Reply 22

ChildishGambino

Original post by AlexTass100

I'm glad I could help in any minor way, can't believe this exam is so close! Yeah Frankenstein can be a tricky one, the Oepidal one I literally went wtf to. But the doppelganger one was hard too, considering I thought it was really easy then went off on a tangent. And the question on women in Frankenstein wasn't great either.

I don't understand why AQA are removing 'Dracula' off the list though after Jan 13, because I find it the best text for this exam. It has so many memorable quotations and points for almost every question! I mean I've read 5 texts for this exam so it's not like I haven't had time to compare which ones I find easy to talk about, and 'Dracula' is just amazing!

I hope Religion doesn't come up, I tried answering it and I ended up waffling at some parts but I have time to fix that- I really want transgression or something to come up I love that. Or gothic texts being 'shocking' that'd be amazing.

Anyway enough ranting, I do have the June 2012 questions if you would like, I'm sure I have the rest of them somewhere. Just message me or something.

I felt exactly the same about the doppelganger question!! I chose it as it was my perfect Frankenstein question and ended up with 24 marks when I was aiming for an A* hahah, shameful. I think I just felt too confident in it and missed a lot of the obvious things you need to get marks

I wish I'd studied Dracula, I had the immeasurable pleasure of W heights (not), Macbeth, Dr faustus and frankenstein instead. Pretty good texts but I think they'll drop this whole exam in a few years and change it all around like year 12 has become Comedy instead of Tragedy. They're probably running out of questions to ask for Dracula - my teacher advised me to have a look at other exam boards and what they ask for my texts just for potential essay ideas.

Transgression would be so perfect but I think it came up in a obscure form in June? Aspiring protagonists reaching beyond their limitations? Or am I making that up, I dream/have nightmares about this exam. Losing my grip on reality - and thank you that would be so useful if it's not a problem, I'll message you soon

Reply 23

ChildishGambino

Original post by laulau-

How do you revise for an English exam? Never quite been able to grasp this. No matter how many hours I sit reading the texts (Macbeth, Wuthering Heights, The Bloody Chamber) I still feel like I'm not really doing much!

I've focused on quotes, critical viewpoints, context.

Does anyone have any advice on what else I could try to make it feel like I'm really doing anything!

Starting to get mega stressed out!

What I'm doing is just knowing the texts really well by rereading them fully now and jotting down notes as I go along because my method for last summer clearly didn't work: I was okay on the texts but I just memorised loads of critical stuff/stuff to know for themes that may come up and regurgitated it, creating quite a badly formed essay (although I still think I was marked really harshly on section A and far too generously on B).
I find that if I build a strong opinion of my own on the texts, it comes across quite well in essays and just back it all up with some gothic references and quotes.

Driving me crazy thinking about what could come up though :s

Reply 24

feelinginfinite

6

Does anybody have predictions for what should come up (based on what hasn't for the past 2 years or something)?
Or is there a recurring question that comes up?
I have york notes books so I'm reading those for each of my 3 texts, I have quotation banks of about 50 per text, but I was marked harshly last year so want to pull my grade up to an A this time.
Wuthering Heights/Macbeth/Bloody Chamber are my 3 texts

Reply 25

laulau-

What do people think might come up on this exam?
I'm studying Macbeth, Wuthering Heights and The Bloody Chamber. Feeling fine on the last two, but don't intend answering Section A on Macbeth anyway.
Really panicking about Section B!

Reply 26

blackroses19

who has learnt quotes ?

i keep forgetting them

i am so nervous

Reply 27

Wbez

I've studied Frankenstein, Doctor Faustus and The Bloody Chamber, although, if I'm honest, the only one I feel entirely confident on is Doctor Faustus.

This may seem like I'm preaching to the choir, but I genuinely think that it is key that the context of a text is grasped before anything else. My favourite example is the time of the reformation in Doctor Faustus, an the uncertainty, religious tensions and national upheaval this caused in the following years. As soon as I grasped this idea, my Section A essays just seemed to shoot up in quality for that section, even if I wasn't sure of quotes for the particular question.

With context, in combination with a good knowledge of gothic features you can drive your essay in the right direction, even if you can't quite remember the best quotes. A good example of this would be something like commenting on Marlowe's subversion of the certainty of religion in Faustus, my personal favourite quote for it being "Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just" from Lucifer. Using this quote you can comment on the reformation, the feature of subversion, the further feature of entrapment, and then Marlowe's 'atheist background.' Without the context, this quote could seemingly be irrelevant to any essay, but anything focussing on religion, subversion, uncertainty, entrapment (all common features in Faustus) can then be commented on.

I think where I struggle most is my ability to identify exactly what the question is asking, and staying on focus with that all the way through. Also, if anyone has any more good sources for critical quotes (I'm gonna check out the one that guy posted on the last page right now), that'd be helpful too :smile:

EDIT: Oh, also, don't worry too much about quotes. They need to be along the lines of the correct idea, and need to fit in, and of course the better remembered they are the easier you'll find it, but AQA stresses this is NOT a memory test. Also, as far as we know, the examiners do not have the texts on hand, so as long as you don't write 'This is shown when MacDuff says "That old king's a right pillock"' you'll be fine.
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(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 28

aisha0207

I'm doing the same exam as you but i'm finding it extremely difficult to get the right quotes, the texts i'm doing are wuthering heights, macbeth and the bloody chamber and every time i do an exam paper i dont use any of the quotes ive been memorizing please help me.

Reply 29

owl-eyes

Has anyone been told any question possibilities for section a, wuthering heights? :smile:

Last year's was beautiful...and i got an E haha. I'm really scared religion or Joseph is going to come up, the character whose dialogue i completely ignore ha.

Reply 30

bradinthetoilet

Hey guys, i think it could do some of us some good to say our favorite/most useful quotes from the texts we are studying, as our mixture of texts seem to overlap.
My favorite from Wuthering Heights is when Cathy say's to Edgar 'my soul will be on that top hill before you lay your hands on me again'. This is nice as it shows where Cathy's heart really lies - on the moores in which she shared her childhood with Heathcliff.

By the way love your name 'Owl Eyes' :smile:

Reply 31

GraceS94

2

Hey I'm doing this exam too, and I'm confused as to how the AO's apply. Do we include all 4 of them in both section A and B? Thanks!

Oh also, anyone revising Wuthering Heights? I am, and I have made notes on setting, liminality, fear and terror and women, but I don't know whether I should be breaking my notes down into these categories or should just look at the novel as a whole?

Reply 32

Wbez

All AOs are equal, but AO1, being structure of your essay and argument, drives the others, according to examiners.

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Reply 33

ChildishGambino

Original post by feelinginfinite

Has anybody got predictions on what section B questions could be / been given predictions by their teachers? From looking at what's already came up

Religion maybe? I hope not

Reply 34

ChildishGambino

Original post by bradinthetoilet

Hey guys, i think it could do some of us some good to say our favorite/most useful quotes from the texts we are studying, as our mixture of texts seem to overlap.
My favorite from Wuthering Heights is when Cathy say's to Edgar 'my soul will be on that top hill before you lay your hands on me again'. This is nice as it shows where Cathy's heart really lies - on the moores in which she shared her childhood with Heathcliff.

By the way love your name 'Owl Eyes' :smile:

I didn't really enjoy WH but one I like to use is 'they lifted their eyes together... those of Catherine Earnshaw' when Hareton and Cathy resemble her so much that Heathcliff loses the will for revenge.

Reply 35

Truflais

20

I did this exam last year and must admit I found it a breeze compared to AS oddly enough! I got a A* for the exam I think, or a high A, I forget now. I studied Dracula, Macebth and The Bloody Chambers, I learned about 10 quotes from each book. Teacher tried to make me do Faustus, I can 100% guarantee I would have failed if I'd done Faustus over Bloody Chambers. If anyone has any questions I don't mind helping in any way I can :smile:

good luck to all with your exam anyway! :smile:

Reply 36

Truflais

20

Also I had religion last June, so I'd be surprised if it came up but never rule it out!

Reply 37

GraceS94

2

But, I remember with As that we didn't need to use AO3 in section A, but we needed to include it in section B. Or do we write about context for both questions?

Reply 38

ChildishGambino

Original post by GraceS94

But, I remember with As that we didn't need to use AO3 in section A, but we needed to include it in section B. Or do we write about context for both questions?

I think in Section A, AO3 would be relation to the Gothic? I might be wrong though :s

Reply 39

ktlaurenroe

13

I'm doing this in June too - studying Dr Faustus, Frankenstein and The Bloody Chamber. Absolutely terrified of learning a bunch of quotes and then not being able to apply any of them to whatever question comes up :emo:

I also think my exam skills are just lacking so much. My teachers have put a huge focus on exam technique/essay writing this year since that's where most people last year lost marks - not me personally - but now I've realised (after doing a lot of past papers in class already) I maybe just got lucky last year because either my essay writing has always been bad or it's just gotten worse all of a sudden! I seem to be stuck in Band 4/5 for every essay we do, considering I need an A for university I definitely need to improve! But it just doesn't seem to be happening yet :s-smilie:

AQA LITB3 Element of the Gothic

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