AQA A English Literature AS exam - Friday 17th May 2013

I couldn't find any other threads on this so I figured I'd start. I'm doing Literature of WW1 in tomorrow's exam and I'm not feeling that great about it - I think that's mainly because it's hard to quantify my revision.

How's everyone else feeling?

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Reply 1

touristyhay

I'm slightly concerned about how to approach the extract question to be honest, for example, for your wider reading, are you learning a couple of significant quotes per book you read or how do you think you will make references?
I'm not as worried about the poetry question as we have the anthology with us however it will be difficult to try and cover such a large range of poems.
What anthology are you doing? I'm doing Stallworthy's Oxford Book of War poetry.

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Reply 2

Sapphire123

Yh I'm using the same anthology, and I'm also confused about structuring my answer because would it not be better to specify one novel in a lot of detail and then mention another play and choose one or two poems from the anthology for the first 45 marker?

Reply 3

touristyhay

I'm really not sure how many prose/play/poetry texts they expect you to reference, however I can't worry about until I see the extract and make my relevant points to wider reading. Are you allowed to use poems from your anthology in your extract question, I hope we are, but I don't know whether its 'wider reading' since its a set text.

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Reply 4

Toppin

Original post by touristyhay

I'm feeling just the same- I drew up a massive table yesterday of the quotes that can be used for loads of different instances, but it's just remembering them now that is the problem!!
I'm doing the Oxford book of war poetry, but I find the book really hard to navigate around :/

Reply 5

touristyhay

Original post by Toppin

It is so hard to learn all of these quotes, and I probably won't even use half of them in the exam! I suppose you just have to do it... What texts have you read? I've read Strange Meeting, Not about Heroes, Journeys End, Regeneration, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, A Long Long Way, The Silver Tassie and Wilfred Owen (biography by Dominic Hibberd). For wider poetry I'm hoping a couple of women poets and Wilfred Owen's poems that aren't on our anthology will do.
I understand what you mean about the anothology, I don't think it's the best collection of war poetry and I don't understand how it's ordered, I mean its not strictly chronological, for example Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen is near the end of the anthology and I feel it is a bit misplaced. What is your favourite poem in the anthology, I would say mine is Strange Meeting by Owen.

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Reply 6

K.delevigne

I'm doing the same exam also, tbh im more worried about the anthology, for my wider reading I learnt 40 quotes from the selected 'themes' on the specification, and I did well on my mock for that, so I feel ok about it. However I really don't feel like I've covered enough Owen poems, I've only done about 9 this whole year :s-smilie:

how many have you guys done roughly?

Reply 7

runanddontstop

I'm doing The Oxford Book of War Poetry as well. Not only is my copy falling apart (about to crack out the tape for a 3rd attempt as DIY) but I also really, really dislike the topic we're doing. Don't get me wrong, some of the literature I've read has been so interesting, but war... every lesson... all year... :unimpressed:

I really, really wish we could have Up The Line To Death as our anthology as it's got a little biography for all the main poets at the back.

You can use poetry from the anthology for your wider reading. I've got a few extra poems that aren't in there, but they're just in case I get stuck.

I'm sort of struggling for my wider reading quotes for Man's Inhumanity to Man... but that might be because I have no motivation at all to go looking through my books to find any. :colondollar:

Speaking of which, my wider reading list looks a bit like this:
Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, Somme Mud, Parade's End, Birdsong, The Good Soldier, Regeneration, Strange Meeting (set text) Journey's End (set text) Handmaidens of Death, and Up the Line to Death. There's a few more bits I've read online but it's difficult to find some of them.

I desperately need to get some quotes for women's poetry and some newspaper articles as well.Time is not on my side!

Reply 8

touristyhay

Original post by K.delevigne

how many have you guys done roughly?

Apart from the Owen poems in the anthology, I've only done a couple others for the sake of wider reading, however most people I know haven't done much of Owen outside of the anthology. I've had a look at Greater Love, 1914, Mental Cases, Disabled, Conscious and Le Christianisme. Other poems could be The Sentry, Miners, Smile,Smile, Smile and Spring Offensive. Honestly I would even worry about referencing many of these poems. Even if writing about Owen in specific detail, you would primarily referencing his most significant ones (Anthem for Doomed Youth, Ducle et Decorum Est etc.) and only mention other poems where relevant. Even reading one or two of these would be more than enough :smile:

hope this helps

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Reply 9

touristyhay

Original post by runanddontstop

How did you get the time to read Parades End and Birdsong?? Lol they are mammoths of books! Anyway, War can get really monotonous as a topic, I honestly think its picked as its easier to teach. Really wish we did Struggle for Identity to Modern Literature or even Victorian Literature would have been slightly better.
That's good because I always find some of my references are in relation to the anthologies poems. Can I ask if these themes (eq mans inhumanity to man) set by AQA? Our teacher never really guided us on how to structure our wider reading quotes. I don't think I have very many direct quotes of Man's Inhumanity to Man which is possibly a bit concerning.
In concern to woman, we were printed out some women's poetry from Scars upon my Heart. Some examples would be Mary Collins - Women at Munition Making, The Parson Job - Madeline Ida Bedford, Work of Margaret Cole, Helen Hamilton and also Vera Brittain would be important. This plus Elizabeth Dayhurst and May Wedderburn Cannan in the anthology would be quite adequate I'd say. :biggrin:

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Reply 10

runanddontstop

Original post by touristyhay

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I will admit, those two took a long time - I'm used to reading long books though and I'm quite a speedy reader. The themes are explicitly stated in the January 2012 examiner's report from AQA:
'It is also worth remembering that the extracts used in Question 1 will relate to at least one of the six key areas identified to help schools and colleges focus their studies in the rich area of the Literature of World War One. These areas are:

•

The realities of war

•

'Man's inhumanity to man'

•

Patriotism

•

Politics

•

Physical/mental/spiritual consequences

•

The role of women and the Home Front'

It also states that 'schools and colleges should ensure that students' wider reading covers all three literary genres in equal measure: students are required to refer to at least one example of their wider reading in each genre when answering Question 1 and omitting a genre is bound to have a limiting effect on the mark awarded.'

thanks for the tips on women's writing - I'd better get started!

Reply 11

Revise1234

Can anyone please share their quotes for each/some of the above themes?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 12

I want to be Moz

I'd like to think this is the right thread for Wuthering Heights/colour purple and Home poetry (I forget the name of the anthology) as well?

What's the consensus on the unseen? Does anyone have a preference between poetry and prose?

Reply 13

pythagorean

Anyone got any good quotes to share from Regeneration, Journey's End, Not So Quiet, Strange Meeting, Accrington Pals, Undertones of War ..? These are the ones i've read this year but it'll take so long looking through them again picking out the significant quotes :frown:

Reply 14

touristyhay

Original post by runanddontstop

•

The realities of war

•

'Man's inhumanity to man'

•

Patriotism

•

Politics

•

Physical/mental/spiritual consequences

•

The role of women and the Home Front'

You're so lucky you're a speedy reader, I take forever to read, probably because I find war a bit dull. Thank you so much for the themes, I have seen them before but I didn't know where they from. I am a bit concerned if we get an extract about Politics and likes it of, hopefully I could tie this into jingoism though. Thank you again!! :biggrin:

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Reply 15

Rasceta

I got a D on this paper last year despite getting As and Bs in everything else (I even got 98% on the coursework last year), so I am resitting this paper tomorrow. I'm looking at the struggle for identity in modern literature and the poetry of Owen Sheers. I'm feeling nervous because I've completely neglected it in favour of my other subjects (particularly art - the art exam was today and yesterday), but fortunately it's not my most important exam.

This is the advice I'd give to you guys after learning from my mistakes last year:
- Your biggest worry is making sure your wider reading is sorted out. Don't bother revising the poetry unless you're particularly worried about it.
- Revise whole extracts, not just small quotes. You don't need to be able to memorise whole paragraphs, or even individual lines - the important thing is that you can compare techniques, and you can't do this if you just have tiny quotes with no context.
- If you understand the meaning behind an extract of your wider reading, you'll remember it more fully than if you've just committed a quote to memory.
- You don't need to memorise loads of facts or dates either. If you end up narrating historical events in your exam, you're wasting time. You just need to make sure you have a general idea of what's going on and understand how it impacts your texts.
- Depth of knowledge is better than breadth. If you know a text in more detail, you can stretch it further than having basic knowledge of lots of texts. I am only revising six texts - two poems, two novels and two bits of drama.

Reply 16

CallMeBatwoman

I'm also doing the exam tomorrow, I'm looking at the Struggle for Identity in Modern Literature and the poetry collection Feminine Gospels by Carol Ann Duffy,

In the contextual linking section basically what we have been told to do is make sure we have quotes from our wider reading from all 3 genres (prose, drama and poetry) with at least one quote for every form of identity (personal, social, racial, sexuality, religious, political etc) as well as knowing the context of the texts well in terms of linking wider reading, apparently we should only use tenuous links if we are really stuck . Also, we have been told to take care to pay attention to context in the extract as the mark scheme shows 23 marks go to social and historical context. :eek:

and make strong comparisons in form, structure and language.

In terms of poetry we have been told to not worry too much as we are allowed to take the text in, we just need to be able to understand and interpret the poems at least basically, and apparently we need to structure our answer like an argument, also, no social and historical context in this one, no marks are awarded for AO4 :s-smilie: