English language (a2 unit 4) exam 3rd june (wjec)

Hi! I am doing this tomorrow, my plan is rather than to revise lots and stress myself out I am going to relax as much as possible and get lots of sleep as I feel very confident with my terminology and structure, so I think it's just vital you feel very focused and energised for the exam. I will probably look over some past papers that I've annotated for typical genre conventions tonight and in the morning however! Not too nervous for it, just hoping for some good texts.

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Reply 2

Also, we've been told to avoid heavy focus on language change as in the past it has been criticised for not providing enough interesting analysis and instead include all the interesting "AS" interpretations of like why and to what effect as a priority. So don't worry too much about the archaic feature spotting bits!

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Reply 3

OP

Original post by elbury1

Also, we've been told to avoid heavy focus on language change as in the past it has been criticised for not providing enough interesting analysis and instead include all the interesting "AS" interpretations of like why and to what effect as a priority. So don't worry too much about the archaic feature spotting bits!

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My teacher also said not to focus too much on the archaic bit, but to only write a paragraph identifying that the text has certain archaic features such as final -e inflection. If you put it briefly in a short paragraph at the start of your answer, it makes you look knowledgeable according to my teacher. Then again, he could be chatting nonsense aha.

I'm glad to hear that you're pretty relaxed about it! Me too tbh. I'm pretty confident in my terminology and spotting them in the texts. I just hope we get nice texts tbh. Nothing too strange I hope!

Good luck!! :biggrin:

Reply 4

How did you find it? I thought it was a bit horrible haha. Wrote the best points I could but it wasn't a lot! I also wasn't near a clock so couldn't really work out my timings very well. :-(

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Reply 5

Original post by elbury1

How did you find it? I thought it was a bit horrible haha. Wrote the best points I could but it wasn't a lot! I also wasn't near a clock so couldn't really work out my timings very well. :-(

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I thought it was horrible. Text A for section A was weird. I usually talk about descriptive features and spoken features, but I was just relying on lame stuff like interruption for that one. Proper disappointed! Text B was better but I didn't really talk about the content per say, more about accent and interruption and stuff. Poo. And for language change, it was novels - oh god, I just talked about how like for example text B conveys the attitudes of the era well - snobbery, talked about all the archaisms and some of the humour/descriptive language in text A and the lack of apostrophes and stuff in text C which was really bloody weird! What kind of stuff did you write about?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 6

Original post by CarysMoo

I thought it was horrible. Text A for section A was weird. I usually talk about descriptive features and spoken features, but I was just relying on lame stuff like interruption for that one. Proper disappointed! Text B was better but I didn't really talk about the content per say, more about accent and interruption and stuff. Poo. And for language change, it was novels - oh god, I just talked about how like for example text B conveys the attitudes of the era well - snobbery, talked about all the archaisms and some of the humour/descriptive language in text A and the lack of apostrophes and stuff in text C which was really bloody weird! What kind of stuff did you write about?

Ah don't worry I was exactly the same with speech. :-( So little to actually discuss that was interesting, mine was all about the different situations such as for viewers entertainment in A as it's a TV show and the nature of a child/adult conversation, very typical stuff! Language Change was far far worse however, I barely made it to 3 pages and spent about 20 minutes re-reading over the texts! I wrote about the different tones, like how A was desperation and fear, B was very gossipy and C was quite calm and casual to add anticipation for the more thrilling bits of the novel. Also ended up having to resort to doing a paragraph on the invention of the word "cheeseburger" haha oh dear, very upset with that exam as a whole but hopefully the grade boundaries will be VERY low and the examiners will take sympathy.

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Reply 7

Original post by elbury1

Ah don't worry I was exactly the same with speech. :-( So little to actually discuss that was interesting, mine was all about the different situations such as for viewers entertainment in A as it's a TV show and the nature of a child/adult conversation, very typical stuff! Language Change was far far worse however, I barely made it to 3 pages and spent about 20 minutes re-reading over the texts! I wrote about the different tones, like how A was desperation and fear, B was very gossipy and C was quite calm and casual to add anticipation for the more thrilling bits of the novel. Also ended up having to resort to doing a paragraph on the invention of the word "cheeseburger" haha oh dear, very upset with that exam as a whole but hopefully the grade boundaries will be VERY low and the examiners will take sympathy.

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That's almost exactly what I did for part A! For language change, I said very similar things - I talked about the fear and stuff in text A, talked about society and marriage in text B and how it was kind of rude haha if that counts as gossipy, but I didn't pick up on the idea of anticipation in text C! I just rambled on and on about how the non-standard language and the fast food was a very modern setting and contrasted with text B. And haha, I said about cheeseburger and how 'squeezing' and 'chewing' were 'interesting verbs', apparently. I hated text C - sort of went on about how it was so casual and laid back.

Reply 8

Original post by CarysMoo

That's almost exactly what I did for part A! For language change, I said very similar things - I talked about the fear and stuff in text A, talked about society and marriage in text B and how it was kind of rude haha if that counts as gossipy, but I didn't pick up on the idea of anticipation in text C! I just rambled on and on about how the non-standard language and the fast food was a very modern setting and contrasted with text B. And haha, I said about cheeseburger and how 'squeezing' and 'chewing' were 'interesting verbs', apparently. I hated text C - sort of went on about how it was so casual and laid back.

Well it's reassuring that I hadn't just been writing about utter nonsense (which it felt like I was). I think with Text C is that I was trying so hard to find things to talk about none of it really made sense - like I also did something on how the references to money were typically found in a crime novel? But the point didn't really go anywhere from there... Thankfully I only need a D in that exam to get an A overall, although still feeling a bit apprehensive about achieving even that, eek.

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Reply 9

ambstrott

I found the spoken section oddly easier than section B. I wasn't aware that fictional texts could be an option for language change and it shocked me when i saw it! My teachers weren't expecting it either! Still manged to right alot though contextual factors were quite good although struggled to relate to context in text c

Reply 10

Original post by elbury1

Well it's reassuring that I hadn't just been writing about utter nonsense (which it felt like I was). I think with Text C is that I was trying so hard to find things to talk about none of it really made sense - like I also did something on how the references to money were typically found in a crime novel? But the point didn't really go anywhere from there... Thankfully I only need a D in that exam to get an A overall, although still feeling a bit apprehensive about achieving even that, eek.

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Yeah, me too! Glad you wrote similar stuff to me, sounds like we're around the same grade area - I need 52 UMS out of 120 for an A over all haha, and 100/120 in the exam for an A* over all - which, after that exam, I can basically rule out which is a massive shame. :frown:

I really did struggle with text C. But look on the bright side - it looks like we've written really similar things about section A and my teacher said I included all of the right stuff, and even if we messed up section B it can't be that awful, we just think we've messed up because it was hard, imagine how hard people who aren't doing English degrees would have found it/people who don't do English lit! The grade boundaries are going to be low, most likely. Absolutely everyone I've spoken to hated section B!

Reply 11

OP

Original post by elbury1

How did you find it? I thought it was a bit horrible haha. Wrote the best points I could but it wasn't a lot! I also wasn't near a clock so couldn't really work out my timings very well. :-(

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I WAS NOT A FAN :frown:

I preferred section A to B. The last two texts on section B, what on EARTH were they?!?!
I tried to write minimum of 3/4 good points for each text but some texts were just being too difficult!

Reply 12

OP

TEXT C ON SECTION B: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Also, the geezer who manipulated the cider maker was a greedy little bugger wasn't he?! Making up lies for free booze!

And finally, I HATE ELIZABETH.

Reply 13

Original post by tg0896

TEXT C ON SECTION B: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Also, the geezer who manipulated the cider maker was a greedy little bugger wasn't he?! Making up lies for free booze!

And finally, I HATE ELIZABETH.

I KNOW RIGHT WHAT EVEN WAS THAT? Also, I feel like I didn't talk about archaisms in text A very much. I just rambled about apparent 'descriptive language' after doing a large-ish paragraph on Latinisms and stuff. What did you write about?

I assume you mean Elizabeth the Queen? I used her for context, I assume that's what you mean?! Please say that's what you mean!

Reply 14

Original post by tg0896

TEXT C ON SECTION B: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Also, the geezer who manipulated the cider maker was a greedy little bugger wasn't he?! Making up lies for free booze!

And finally, I HATE ELIZABETH.

Literally just realised you meant Elizabeth from text B, haha. It's cool, I hate her too.

Reply 15

OP

Original post by CarysMoo

I KNOW RIGHT WHAT EVEN WAS THAT? Also, I feel like I didn't talk about archaisms in text A very much. I just rambled about apparent 'descriptive language' after doing a large-ish paragraph on Latinisms and stuff. What did you write about?

I assume you mean Elizabeth the Queen? I used her for context, I assume that's what you mean?! Please say that's what you mean!

I've literally blocked out what I've written because I am so annoyed how crap that paper was -.- But you sound like you know your stuff so I'm sure you've done well!
All the past papers we did in class were piss easy compared to this little **** exam paper!

Reply 16

Original post by tg0896

I've literally blocked out what I've written because I am so annoyed how crap that paper was -.- But you sound like you know your stuff so I'm sure you've done well!
All the past papers we did in class were piss easy compared to this little **** exam paper!

Yeah, literally EVERY past paper I was getting A*s, As at the worst, and then THAT in the exam! I'm so upset! :frown:

Hopefully it's like mid 50s for an A...

Reply 17

OP

Original post by CarysMoo

Yeah, literally EVERY past paper I was getting A*s, As at the worst, and then THAT in the exam! I'm so upset! :frown:

Hopefully it's like mid 50s for an A...

Hopefully everyone found the paper bad and they lower the grade boundaries like super low!

Reply 18

CharlotteMcD

1

My sister came out the exam distraught. As unfortunate as it is that you all found it so difficult, it has stopped her tears knowing it was a hard paper, which nobody seems to have liked.
Good luck with all your results. It sounds like low grade boundaries or kind mark schemes are in order.

Reply 19