NEED HELP from people who took WJEC English GCSE Of Mice and Men Higher IN 2023

I need help from only people who took WJEC English GCSE unit 1 literacy higher who took it last year,
What are the extract and essay question for the paper, it is revision for January Exam next year

Reply 1

study23!

14

I didn’t take it 2023 (did mine in 2022 and got A*) but the summer examiner report says the extract was on building tension between Lennie and Curley in their fight. The essay questions were which character do you feel most sympathy for and to what extent is the competitiveness and brutality in American society shown in the novella.

Link below:
https://www.wjec.co.uk/media/shll5x02/wjec-gcse-english-literature-report-s23-e.pdf

Reply 2

mddsg

OP

4

Original post by study23!

I didn’t take it 2023 (did mine in 2022 and got A*) but the summer examiner report says the extract was on building tension between Lennie and Curley in their fight. The essay questions were which character do you feel most sympathy for and to what extent is the competitiveness and brutality in American society shown in the novella.

Link below:
https://www.wjec.co.uk/media/shll5x02/wjec-gcse-english-literature-report-s23-e.pdf

I am from another county and I am struggling to write extract and essay questions, do you have any tips for writing extract and essay question. This would greatly help me. Thank you

Reply 3

mddsg

OP

4

Original post by study23!

I didn’t take it 2023 (did mine in 2022 and got A*) but the summer examiner report says the extract was on building tension between Lennie and Curley in their fight. The essay questions were which character do you feel most sympathy for and to what extent is the competitiveness and brutality in American society shown in the novella.

Link below:
https://www.wjec.co.uk/media/shll5x02/wjec-gcse-english-literature-report-s23-e.pdf

Don’t know if my last reply came through so I am retyping the reply
Hi, I am from another country and I am currently struggling on during extract and essay question. Do you have any tips or strategy for both writing extract and essay question and how do I actually revise for this exam.
If you reply to me this would help me a ton.
Thank You.

Reply 4

study23!

14

Some extra quizlets I used back then:

https://quizlet.com/166555214/gcse-key-quotes-of-mice-and-men-flash-cards/?i=1rg582&x=1jqY
https://quizlet.com/203920988/social-and-historical-context-in-of-mice-and-men-flash-cards/?i=1rg582&x=1jqY
https://quizlet.com/226734291/of-mice-and-men-gcse-english-literature-flash-cards/?i=1rg582&x=1jqY

My biggest tip is to know the book off by heart so read it a good few times. Practice analysation skills in time (useful for poetry and the extract). Learn key quotes for each character and theme and wherever you can quote. Like you may be saying something like ‘We know Lennie is strong but he’s always been seen as weak and vulnerable’ or something when you can quite easily write it as ‘We know Lennie is ‘strong as a bull’ and despite his threatening physical description he has always had an essence of innocence noticed by others, ‘He’s jes like a kid’.’ Then you can deeper into analysis on some quotes. Say you could develop that by saying ‘By making a comparison to a ‘bull’ John Steinbeck is using zoomorphism to present Lennie with animalistic qualities. Perhaps this was intended to imply that although Lennie may act kind and child like he has the potential to turn into a beast who could hurt you in an instant, as we sadly see later with one of the puppies and even more drastically, Curley’s wife’

This isn’t the best example and you can make much more meaningful analysis to other parts of the book but I found that structure meant you could hit all the marks in the time you had. Also remember context is important.

Hope this helps

(edited 4 months ago)

OP

Thank you

Original post by mddsg

I am from another county and I am struggling to write extract and essay questions, do you have any tips for writing extract and essay question. This would greatly help me. Thank you

Good luck with it! I sent my reply before yours came through. For the extract just practice a lot in timed conditions. Aim to do separate exam like this:
20 mins Extract
40 mins Essay
Hour poetry

Extract take 1-2 mins highlight it and make quick notes. Then track through it. So let’s say the questions is how is Slim presented here read through it and highlight every time it implies something else about him. Then literally write like a sentence or two for each new thing, coverage is most important. Like say first line you’ll go ‘At the beginning the characters do …. when Slim ‘…..’, implying that he ….. He then does ….. by … which suggests to us that he…. The word ‘…’ in this quote further supports this as it connotes to … In the second passage he…’ and go through the extract quoting and saying when the impression changes.

With the essay try and know as many quotes as you can and put them in (similar to what I said in first post’. Go into depth every now and then since you won’t have enough time to do loads. Don’t do a big intro, literally just a sentence introducing your answe like ‘I think George is the character who deserves most sympathy as he has the most responsibility and connections with others.’ Then go straight into your main points. Aim for like 3-4 when you plan it out, for example with George 1) He has take care of Lennie which is sort of a burden for him (context the dust bowl and Great Depression means it was difficult enough) 2) He had to kill Lennie 3) He loses his dream (context American dream).

Reply 7

mddsg

OP

4

Original post by study23!

Good luck with it! I sent my reply before yours came through. For the extract just practice a lot in timed conditions. Aim to do separate exam like this:
20 mins Extract
40 mins Essay
Hour poetry

Extract take 1-2 mins highlight it and make quick notes. Then track through it. So let’s say the questions is how is Slim presented here read through it and highlight every time it implies something else about him. Then literally write like a sentence or two for each new thing, coverage is most important. Like say first line you’ll go ‘At the beginning the characters do …. when Slim ‘…..’, implying that he ….. He then does ….. by … which suggests to us that he…. The word ‘…’ in this quote further supports this as it connotes to … In the second passage he…’ and go through the extract quoting and saying when the impression changes.

With the essay try and know as many quotes as you can and put them in (similar to what I said in first post’. Go into depth every now and then since you won’t have enough time to do loads. Don’t do a big intro, literally just a sentence introducing your answe like ‘I think George is the character who deserves most sympathy as he has the most responsibility and connections with others.’ Then go straight into your main points. Aim for like 3-4 when you plan it out, for example with George 1) He has take care of Lennie which is sort of a burden for him (context the dust bowl and Great Depression means it was difficult enough) 2) He had to kill Lennie 3) He loses his dream (context American dream).