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AQA English Literature B exam - 17/01/2011

LondonLT

Has anyone begun their revision yet?
Im actually failing english, not looking forward to the exam :frown:

Kite runner, keats, gatsby and rime of ancient mariner anyone?

Goodbye christmas, hello revision! :eek:

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Reply 1

justiceisjust

Yeah, I'm doing that exam. My texts are Gatsby, Kite Runner and Thomas Hardy poetry and Alfred Tennyson (Mariana and/or Lady of Shallot)

Really nervous for this exam. I really need to do well aswell, It's my resit. Seriously messed up the first time :frown:

Reply 2

esachica

This is the Unit One: Aspects of Narrative exam. Was wondering who will be doing it this January and if it'll be your first time sitting the exam or if - like myself - it's a resit? If so, what went wrong last time? What texts are you studying and how are you revising?

Reply 3

Popat21

I've been revising for about a month or so, though I feel like I'm not doing enough. I'm actually retaking it *sighs* because I got a C last time and wanted to get a higher grade.

Reply 4

RoseRequiem

Original post by Popat21

I've been revising for about a month or so, though I feel like I'm not doing enough. I'm actually retaking it *sighs* because I got a C last time and wanted to get a higher grade.

I'm also resitting, was only 7 marks off an A. I heard rumours that our examiners last year marked loads of papers wrong though, maybe they ****ed up ours too! :tongue:

I'm doing Gatsby, Birdsong, Thomas Hardy poerty and W.H. Auden poetry.

How are you all revising? I'm trying to learn a few quotes off by heart so I don't spend ages flicking through books to find specific parts (big time waster). What I learned from last year is to really answer the question, and not keep chanting in my head 'form, structure language'... because it should come naturally when writing the answer!

Reply 5

sbubbles

I heard rumours that our examiners last year marked loads of papers wrong

Really! I didn't know this! I took this exam in June and got a B which I was pleased with as I found the exam quite difficult!

I did The Kite Runner, The Great Gatsby, Auden and Rossetti :smile:

Reply 6

Mizikei

I'm resitting too, doing Gatsby, Curious, Keats and Coleridge.

I wouldn't be surprised if the examiners marked wrong last year. This exam has never been a great one, hence why we've now changed exam board for Eng Lit at my college as of courses starting sept 2011. I got my paper back because I thought I'd done better than the D I received in the exam. My teacher agreed that although it wasn't my best work (was predicted an A/B) it was better than the 35 or so marks it was given. There was another girl in my class in a similar position to me (predicted an A and got much lower). My college got both papers remarked but neither were changed.

So yeah, now I'm resitting. I hope this time things will go better.

Reply 7

studentee

This exam is, to be fair, an absolute nightmare.

Allz I can do is the following:

Form: genre, narrative voice, poem/novel/short story
Structure: settings, perspective, chronology, time
Language: effect it has on other characters, effect it has on the reader

Then other things like themes, symbols, allusions ...

All the best for those going into this exam.

Reply 8

Mizikei

Before we broke up for the end of term my English teacher put a list of which chapters/poems/verses had come up in the previous exams (not including specimen) as follows:

The Great Gatsby
Jan 2009: Ch. 3 / Gatsby's World, corrupt but glamorous
June 2009: Ch.4 / Women
Jan 2010: Ch.5 / Money and consumer culture
June 2010: Ch. 9 / Dream and human experience

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Jan 2009: Ch. 2,3,5 / Children's story?
June 2009: Ch. 233 & Appendices / Maths
Jan 2010: Ch. 71, 73 / Asperger's syndrome
June 2010: Ch. 157 / Significance of letters

Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Jan 2009: Part III / Death and Life-in-Death
June 2009: Part I / Order disrupted, not restored
Jan 2010: Part II / Condemns exploration and discovery
June 2010: Part VII / The moral

Keats
Jan 2009: Eve of St Agnes 9-16 / Porphyrp - hero or seducer?
June 2009: La Belle Dame / Imagination and illusion
Jan 2010: Lamia 68-170 / Women
June 2010: Lamia 279-349 / Importance of sexual love

Dunno if this is of any help but I thought I'd share it anyway. If anyone wants specific questions for any of the texts I believe I have access to all the papers.

Reply 9

nerd123

I'm retaking! I've done a lot on Gatsby, and this week I'm going to work on Auden's poems. I'm also doing Rime of the Ancient Mariner (hate hate hate) and The Kite Runner. I need an A but it's not looking likely, how is everyone revising? :smile:

Reply 10

Liam_G

I'm resitting this exam after getting a C last year (one mark off a B)... Even though my coursework brought my overall grade to a mid B my teacher said I could resit if I wanted.

I was really disappointed with that grade, somebody else in my class who isn't as strong as me English-wise managed to get an A. I was really happy for her, but still angry with myself.

Good Luck everyone anyway!

I'm doing Ancient Mariner, Rossetti, Curious Incident and Kite Runner. I love the Ancient Mariner and Goblin Market.... but the novels, not so much.

Reply 11

nerd123

Original post by Liam_G

Yeah I was in the same situation, got a C and the coursework brought it up to a B. I feel like the exam is random, like you can either do really good or just average :confused:

Reply 12

_vox_

Original post by nerd123

No way! I did it last year (and thankfully got a good enough mark, I don't have to resit) and I didn't really get it at first, but once i got into it I really enjoyed it. What don't you like about it? I decided not to even think about doing it for my part a, so i concentrated instead on thinking about links to my other texts, like themes (religion, superstition, redemption etc) or structure (rhyme scheme, intense rhythm) or ending (like in Kite Runner, it ends on a small note of hope). Unfortunately, the best way I found to prepare was to look back at old questions and just practise them... It was really not fun but it worked. :rolleyes:

Reply 13

nerd123

Original post by _vox_

I don't really know, I started college a few weeks late because I moved cities, so I missed a lot of work on it and as a result I just find it so confusing. My college advised us to do section A on it too, which I didn't ( :colondollar:

), but I'm going to try and do section A on it in January but I don't understand the meaning of the poem really.
Ahh, I may do that, I've made a schedule for my revision, so I'm having a week were I just go over past papers :redface:

fun fun fun

Reply 14

Liam_G

Original post by nerd123

Yeah I was in the same situation, got a C and the coursework brought it up to a B. I feel like the exam is random, like you can either do really good or just average :confused:

I know what you mean. I'm predicted a B in English A2 now... I really wanted to do better in it :frown:

. I think a lot of it might be based on the marker you get :dontknow:

... I hope I do better in January, I would be beyond chuffed if I manage to get an A.

Reply 15

Mizikei

Original post by nerd123

Agreed. I just don't get it well enough, especially for the Section A part b questions. Mind you, I'm not great with any of the part b questions except for Curious, but the June questions for Curious were rubbish.

Reply 16

_vox_

Original post by nerd123

fun fun fun

Ooh that's annoying, I can see why you don't like it if you've not had a chance to actually understand it... It's not so bad if you take it section by section. Is it what actually happens that you don't get, or the themes and stuff? Hmm section A... you'll need to look at stuff like use of voices, religious references, vivid imagery, but you'll need to know it well. :redface:

That's gonna be a really fun week...

Reply 17

Liam_G

Original post by nerd123

fun fun fun

I think Mariner is just a love it or hate it text. I love it but my cousin who is a year older than me absolutely despised it. Despite her hatred for it she did it for her part A, and managed to get a really strong grade A overall (only dropped about 2 marks)
... I hope I manage to do as well as her.

Reply 18

greengables

I'm doing The Kite Runner, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Rossetti and the Ancient Mariner.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 19

heartinacage

Original post by Mizikei

thank you soo much for this lifesave!! im retaking after getting 1 mark of an A ( yes i am very pissed off) just wondering if you have the part b questions for the june 2010 one and also maybe the 2007, 08 questions for gatsby? thank you!