Advice on how to get A*/A's in Essay subjects

Hey.I'm doing mainly essay subjects at sixth form(English literature,Geography,History,Politics)

.In Science you can read textbooks and watch youtube videos however for essay subjects there is no right or wrong answer right?

So if any of you who could give tips on how to achieve top grades at essay subjects,that would be great.

One last question,how does one do an EPQ?Does the school/college place you in it,or do you contact AQA/OCR/Edexcel to do it(saw it on someone else's thread that they tried to contact AQA for EPQ but didn't get any message back)
Thank you in advance to those who help :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

bump.

I did English lit. (A*) and geography (A) and I would say the best way to revise is practice essays!! For English lit. especially, find past paper questions or ask your teacher or make them up, write the essay, hand it into your teacher and they should mark it. If it's like my class, you'll be the only one handing in essays and it shouldn't be a problem (although I only did it in the lead up to the exam).

In geography, I had fortnightly one-on-ones with my teacher and I chose to bring past paper questions I had done (all essay style) to get feedback

Reply 3

Blancosdos

Original post by itsConnor_

Thanks.Which board?I do AQA for both

Reply 4

itsConnor_

Original post by Blancosdos

Thanks.Which board?I do AQA for both

Sorry lol I did OCR for English lit and Edexcel for geography

Reply 5

BB8

I did history (A*) alongside two sciencey subjects and I struggled with the essays throughout the entire year. I was getting mostly Cs even when I tried to follow my teachers advice, but I ended up with a high A on the exam

A couple weeks before exam I had a day where I focused entirely on essay structure. I looked at past essays which my teacher had given out (you can find these online as well) and highlighted where they put in certain things e.g. references to events/people mentioned, background knowledge, analysis etc., and then I wrote essays in that style basically. It was a lot easier, I guess because I was working out exactly what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do.

Also, know the content inside out. You won't use all of it but the better you know it and understand it, the better you can use it :smile:

Reply 6

Tsrsarahhhh

i did 3 essay subjects (English, Psychology, Sociology). I agree it is a bit more difficult to practice for these exams as with science there is a right and a wrong wheras there isn't really with yours. The way i practiced was by consistently writing up essays for my teachers to mark throughout the year. I would keep all the essays in a folder then as exam time nears i could look at my past essays and see where i went wrong, what to avoid, how to improve etc

Reply 7

adeshewa1790

Original post by Blancosdos

Thanks.Which board?I do AQA for both

hi i wrote an essay culd you mark it pls
How does Priestley present selfishness and its effects in An Inspector Calls?
Priestley uses the Birling family as epitomes of capitalism to illustrate the serious repercussions that the upper-class bourgeois society would face if they continued to live in a pretentious façade opposed to morality.
Priestley uses Mr Birling as the antithesis of responsibility to highlight how members of the upper-class society prioritised being selfish opposed to equality and because of this grossly mistreated the lower class. Mr birling is constructed as a ‘hardheaded businessman.’ The use of the adjective ‘hard’ connotes strong and indestructible. Priestley is almost inviting the audience to ridicule Mr birling as he believes he possesses these qualities. The alliteration of ‘hardheaded’ emulates Mr Birlings persistent and rapacious nature for more wealth, Mr birling uses this to excuse his ignorant attitudes and mindsets. The use of the plosives creates a harsh tone emphasing how Mr birling is a harsh and brutal character who aims to assert dominance over his family and staff in order to fulfil his supercilious façade. Priestley deliberately portrays Mr birling in this way to show how the upper-class society of 1912 were unable to identify and rectify their immoral mistakes because they prioritised living in a pretentious façade in opposed to morality and Priestley scolds this and wants the 1945 audience to acknowledge the importance of having an equal society.
In addition, the idea of Mr Birling being rapacious, persistent and ignorant is further developed as Mr birling believes ‘we’re all mixed up like bees in a hive…. Responsibility and all that rubbish.’ The simile highlights Mr Birlings callous nature. The fact that the dependent clause ‘responsibility and all that rubbish comes before the independent clause illustrates how Mr birling detaches morals, responsibility and human nature from his desire for privilege and wanting a ‘knighthood.’ The verb ‘mixed’ is almost like a euphemism for why Mr birling doesn’t want to help- he relies on a patriarchal society to strive. Alternatively, the verb ‘mixed’ has connotations of combination and connection. Mr birling rejects this as he benefits from a stereotypical society and through this loses his ‘father figure.’ Using Mr birling Priestley is reinforcing to a 1945 audience the significance of equality as the lack of equality in 1912 was a factor of why 41 % of lower-class members died in the ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’ titanic. The use of the dramatic irony illuminates how because of the plethora of predications the upper class made which were all ultimately wrong many lower-class members had to face the consequences through ‘fire, blood and anguish.’ Priestley alludes the idea that ‘we are all members of one body’ and if the upper-class cannot identify the importance of social responsibility the ‘millions of john and Eva smiths,’ will continue to be mentally and physically damaged by the selfish and ignorant impacts from the upper-class bourgeois society.
Thus, Priestley uses the inspector (a stark contrast to Mr birling) as a mouthpiece of himself to directly challenge the ideas of capitalism. Priestley wants the audience to make capitalism synonymous with being rapacious and ignorant and socialism with being compassionate. Priestley alludes to the idea that ‘if men do not learn that lesson then they will be taught it in fire blood and anguish.’ The subordinating conjunction ‘if’ creates an authoritative and threatening tone giving the inspector a sense of hindsight further suggesting he is some form of ghost from the future. The demonstrative of ‘that’ creates extra emphasises on the inspector’s dominant message of social responsibility. The noun ‘fire’ creates an image of irreversible permanent damage. This is akin to the damage the Birlings have inflicted on those they have ceaselessly disregarded. Priestley uses this biblical illusion of the Old Testament God to illustrate that if the Birlings do not choose to follow a moral pathway then they will be forever taught a lesson in ‘fire, blood and anguish.’
In conclusion Priestley presents selfishness as the root to an unequal society and tries to promote socialist ideologies to promote social change for 1945 audience. Priestley wants to make a 1945 audience aware of the damage of being ignorant and selfish opposed to morality had on the vulnerable lower-class society.