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AS Shakespeare Exam

Had my 'Hamlet' exam today...

English exams are strange for me, I never have much of a clue how I've done. The exam just seems one big blur now, I'm not too sure what I even wrote about! I know there are a couple of things I would have liked to have mentioned, which I didn't, but I think I managed to squeeze in most of what I had in mind. I'm not sure that my essay was very balanced though as I didn't get much of a chance to go back through it. Oh well.

I suppose I'm glad that one's out of the way now... I just hope I didn't do too badly, as I quite enjoyed studying this particular play and thought I had revised quite thoroughly, so it will be a pain/shame if I have to re-take.

Did anyone else do the 'Hamlet' exam? If so, what did you think of the question choices?

Reply 21

Rubberband

Takeahnase

English exams are strange for me, I never have much of a clue how I've done. The exam just seems one big blur now

It's the same for me, when writing the answer I thought I was doing okay - bit of a tangent, but okay - then glancing over it at the end it all seemed like a feverish, crazy jumble...I can't even really remember what I wrote. I honestly have no clue at all how I did, I think I could have done better though. Hope I don't have to retake :frown:

Reply 22

Louisdf

1

At least the questions were nice (AQA A, The Tempest). Last year's were completely ****!

Reply 23

Don John

17

Yeah, Louisdf which question did you do? I did the father and daughter one.

Reply 24

donteatthepie

7

I don't think I did well at all :frown:

Definitely didn't cover AO5, apart from a couple of small points but when it's the biggest marking criteria that really isn't good enough
As soon as i opened the paper i just read the question, swore, and started thinking about the resit in January.
Just wrote a jumbling mess :frown:

Hopefully didn't FAIL, but to be honest I'd be really upset if I got below a C (I'm predicted an A)

Reply 25

Takeahnase

1

I had a bit of a 'ahh!' moment when I opened the question paper too. I just stared all googly-eyed at it for a moment, hoping they would morph into different questions. They didn't seem so bad upon second reading, though. I choose the second one for the Hamlet paper.

Rubberband

It's the same for me, when writing the answer I thought I was doing okay - bit of a tangent, but okay - then glancing over it at the end it all seemed like a feverish, crazy jumble...I can't even really remember what I wrote. I honestly have no clue at all how I did, I think I could have done better though. Hope I don't have to retake :frown:

Yeah, see that's the thing with english literature for me... I'm writing so quickly trying to cram all my points in and then I come out not knowing what on earth I've written about. I started off taking a few quick breaks to read over what I'd put but then I got carried away with my writing and didn't bother. I'm not too sure how it turned out in all, or if it reads ok as a whole... I guess I'll just have to hope for the best. With english I always tend to feel I could really do with an extra 10 minutes or so, and/or pace myself slightly better, so that I set out things more coherently and not get whisked away under the pressure of only having 60 minutes.
I'd be ecstatic to get an A, but I daren't get my hopes up as for all I know I could have barely scraped a D... I'm just so unpredictable and clueless as to how I did. I really don't want to have to re-take, either.

Ah well, what's done is done.. here's to hoping we did all ok... :beer:

Reply 26

Officer Dibble

11

Does anyone know the reason why English is one of the few exams where most people struggle to finish in time?

For me anyway,in other exams I either know the answer or not and so often finish half an hour early.

Anyone else know what I mean?

Reply 27

donteatthepie

7

Officer Dibble

Does anyone know the reason why English is one of the few exams where most people struggle to finish in time?

For me anyway,in other exams I either know the answer or not and so often finish half an hour early.

Anyone else know what I mean?

That's the problem, or to me anyway. You simply can't tell if you've got the right answer! I thought I failed my mock and nearly got an A, did another essay for homework I thought was good and it only got a C. You don't know whether the examiner will be looking for exact things, or if they see your opinion as valid points!
Hate it lol

Reply 28

fweefwee

OP

1

I guess with english you can just keep on going forever, theres never going to be a set amount of knowledge for one text or another, which is probably why we run out of time! We can go on and on and on!

Reply 29

Officer Dibble

11

True. Come to think of it, I suppose if it was a 10 minute exam you wouldn't have to write as much to get an A. Likewise in a 5 hour exam you would have to write a hell of a lot more.

Reply 30

fweefwee

OP

1

Examiners (most of them!)aren't pure evil - they recognise that we have maybe only one hour (and we are rushed!) so things wont be perfect (even to get an A grade) In an exam people probably think that they've done really badly but thats only because they havent had an essay set for homework where they have hours and hours to work on it at an ordinary pace :smile:

Reply 31

Louisdf

1

Don John

Yeah, Louisdf which question did you do? I did the father and daughter one.

Same one as you.I don't think anyone in my class did the question on act 3, scene 3.

Reply 32

Rubberband

Yeah, with English I could keep going forever - I had so much more I wanted to say on the question. Fweefwee is right though, examiners are from my experience pretty understanding - I was totally unprepared for my January module (doesn't help that we have changed English teachers four times this year so far), pretty much resigned to retaking it in the summer, I treated it like a mock really - then I almost cried when I found out I got full marks! THAT'S what I really hate about the English exams more than anything to do with actually taking it - the assessment criteria are very subjective and you just can't tell how they are going to respond to your answer. So even though I think I did badly, I'm trying not to despair.

Argh, I've got to stop thinking about this exam now or I'll go insane - good luck everyone, hope you all get the grades you want!

Reply 33

gemzz90

I sat this paper on Monday and did Much Ado About Nothing, I am certain I completely flunked it (if that's even a word). Anyway, due to my having revised for the wrong exams which I don't have until June, I was forced to resort to a days worth of cramming on Sunday which clearly was not successful!

Did anyone else answer the extract question? I couldn't believe Don John came up as I wrote an essay about him last year which was in my bag but I didn't bother to read through it as he'd come up in a past paper and I was convinced a gender or opening scene question would appear. Anyhow, for some reason I decided to more or less skip the first couple of pages the extract related to and focus more or less entirely on Beatrice and Benedick. I can't believe what a mess I made!

Reply 34

Miss_Shag

I had guessed that Act three scene three would be on it, and done a whole five page essay, handed it in and had it marked and got 19. I hope I remembered as many good points as possible in the exam for it. I'll cry if I don't get an A! I can't even remember what I wrote now though...
arghh.

AS Shakespeare Exam

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