PYA4 - learned content but no essay plans

I've been cramming the content for AQA PYA4 on Tuesday, and I think I know most of it, but I haven't done any essay plans/writing.

Do you think as long as I've crammed the content (and can write essays naturally) I'll be fine?

I could do some plans now but I have lit on Monday and Wednesday and need to do some catch up quotation cramming.

Reply 1

sophisticated

17

Fran Katzenjammer

I've been cramming the content for AQA PYA4 on Tuesday, and I think I know most of it, but I haven't done any essay plans/writing.

Do you think as long as I've crammed the content (and can write essays naturally) I'll be fine?

I could do some plans now but I have lit on Monday and Wednesday and need to do some catch up quotation cramming.

When I did PYA4 I did mini-essay plans made up of condensed bullet points and featuring facts/figures etc....helped me to memorise them and helped me in the exam too. It doesn't take long, so maybe you should do it, but of course don't abandon Lit!

Reply 2

Mango24

14

sophisticated

When I did PYA4 I did mini-essay plans made up of condensed bullet points and featuring facts/figures etc....helped me to memorise them and helped me in the exam too. It doesn't take long, so maybe you should do it, but of course don't abandon Lit!

This

Write out essay plans on small cards or something in bullet points. Like 12 AO1 points and 12 AO2 points for each essay. You could easily get it done today, which is what I'm about to do :P x

Reply 3

nuodai

17

If you've gone through all the stuff and crammed the content, and it's all there, then you should be fine if you can write essays well... but it's definitely worth doing a few plans. I mean, the questions can be really deceitful, and you have to hang off their every word. Take for example one that came up a few years ago:

"Discuss two or more explanations of personality development" (24 marks)

- Discuss - you need to split the answer evenly between AO1 and AO2 (but you have to do this anyway so that's fine)

- Two or more - if you only do one, or if you outline 2 but only evaluate 1, you get a partial response penalty which bars your AO2 marks at something like 4 marks

- Explanations - if you discuss research into personality development and don't focus specifically on explanations, your AO1 marks are barred

- Personality - the theories in question are psychodynamic and social learning theory - these can be applied to all behaviours, so you have to gear them specifically to personality, otherwise you're unlikely to get many AO1 marks (I think they're also barred at 4/12)

- Development - if you don't focus on the development of personality, and just talk about its acquisition, your AO1 marks are barred; this is difficult with social learning theory because it's not a developmental theory, so unless you address this in your AO2, you're screwed

All of this was in the mark scheme. This is why it's a good idea to do some essay plans, so that you can see if what you're going to write is relevant to the question. It's also good to do at least a couple under timed conditions so that you have an idea of how much you can write in the time given.

You don't necessarily need 12 AO1 points and 12 AO2 points, it's not marked that way. It's marked based on your effective and relevant use of AO1 and AO2, so effectively it doesn't matter if you write 2 sides or 6, you can still get 24/24 if you use what you've got effectively. They take the whole breadth/depth thing into consideration, so you have to make sure you cover the core stuff in detail, and then expand on it with more interesting stuff in less detail.

PYA4 - learned content but no essay plans

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