AQA English Literature B exam - 17/01/2011

Thank you...gosh your teacher must be fab.Ours haven't done anything and im soo scared now coz i wasn't told about any of the stuff that you wrote. I just keep re-reading. i'm on OCR so i dont think it may be the same but i'll keep your advice in my mind. Good luck hope you do really well...which you probably will.

good luck to you aswell.

Well, we were told by our teacher to do an introductory paragraph outlining a bit of context of the text you were going to write about; a paragraph on form; a paragraph on structure; a paragraph on language; and a concluding paragraph.

BUT this is exactly what I did for my exam and came out with a B. Since then we have completed two past papers in class which have been marked and came out as A's, and for those, I basically kept 'form, structure, language' in my head - but also thought about what effect these added to the text, to what purpose they would serve, and how a modern reader of our time would react compared to the reception of the readers of that time.

I implore you to purchase a copy of the AS English Literature B revision guide written specifically for the AQA exam, because it explains things like: narrative voice; destination; characters; etc in much greater detail and that is exactly what the examiners are looking for.

Good luck!!

I implore you to purchase a copy of the AS English Literature B revision guide written specifically for the AQA exam

Good luck!!

Could you please give me a link to a site where I could buy this? I searched for it and it came up with loads of different books ...

Thanks!

I got marked a C in the exam, but my coursework was an A, so my overall mark was a B.

I'm still resitting though.

I was gutted with that mark... someone else in my class who put no effort in whatsoever (didn't even read the novels) got a D! I've seen their work and their analysis is just vague and shallow, you can tell they haven't studied properly... I know I sound like a bitch... but it's true . I hope I get a better mark this time around.

This may sound like a bit of a stupid question, but my Teacher didn't really focus on exactly how to answer the question, what are the examiners looking for? Is there a specific way that I should structure my points?

Thanks!

I'm so jealous of your B :|
This was quoted in the other thread -
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=873067
It's quite good, although the OP seems to suggest Section A, Question A is a comparison, and to my knowledge it's normally chapter/poem related?

Our teacher also asks us to remember to PEE It stands for Point, Evidence, Explain.

Make a point, give a quote to back it up, and explain what effect it has and what it adds to the text as a whole - I promise, you will sail through the exam!

Good luck! xx

Could you please give me a link to a site where I could buy this? I searched for it and it came up with loads of different books ...

Thanks!

I got about 90% UMS last june... Grade boundaries tend to be low ish... but the examiners seem really inconsistent from candidate to candidate. I requested mine back just to see it and for some reason (whoevers mistake it was) it got remarked to a couple marks up but the section A essay went from something stupidly low to a middleish marked and they knocked down section B a bit to make up for it.

From their actual comments on the script, you have to literally write simple and make a clear cut quote and then analyse it. A couple quotes I put in I didn't analyse too much or left hanging a bit which got commented on, on the side. For some they put 'possible interpretation' which I personally thought was thick as an interpretation is an interpretation. Also a couple 'interesting but undeveloped's so my advice would be to finish every point and go pretty in deep about them. I'd say my essays were quite simple too, like a paragraph about the setting (as someone said above) etc.

Happy to answer any q's ppl have (if any :P) Mind you I'm no expert, just been there and done it :P

Hey

you dont by any chance have any exam questions on gatsby apart from the one's on the exam board website that you could send me?? please *puppy eyes*
im doin ocr english re-sit,,,wilfred owen and gatsby. oh yeah and my teacher made a similar point to you about making really indepth points. does that mean learning quotatiosn where you can make three interpreations from and linking it to themes/motifs,characters or critical points.

easier said than done i must say

please reply help much needed

Out of interest, for people studying The Great Gatsby how would you answer this question:

"If the characters of the novel have a collective flaw, it is that they are possessed by an innate need for their ambitions to be realised, and an irrational hatred of the world when they are not.

With close reference to the text, discuss the validity of this statement"

Personally, I have no idea :| It's not a question I made up, just one I found in a revision resource.

Hmm, I don't like Section A part b questions!
I'd start by working out what each of a few characters ambitions are. Gatsby's is obviously to get Daisy, but I can't think what the others' would be right now. Then I'd think about whether they do

Me neither, it seems so ambiguous, and so very AQA's style! Much prefer Section A Part A :| I really do need to sit down and figure out what chapters might come up and prepare answers for them...

I've emailed my teacher about how to revise Section A part B (more specifically for Gatsby). If he emails back anything useful I'll pass it on.

I actually did AQA, not OCR but some questions:



I don't necessarily think three interpretations, I'd say 2 interpretations is enough for one point cause you'd probably end up going off on a tangent or run out of time and not mention enough 'main points'. And obviously every point wont need a different interpretation, but linking the points to maybe future/past events in the book or themes like you say... bringing in context and critical opinions. I didn't actually bother to learn any critics, but it's acceptable to just say in the exam 'Some critics believe... <point>'. And I guess you could even make up the critique too... And remember your opinion counts too, I remember in my final essay (the one critical opinions were required, but I'm not sure on OCR) I had one critique against argument which I said I disagreed with, another for which I agreed with and probably 2 of my own opinions in conjunction with all the analysis and contexts.

Thank you sooo much for the questions and advice. Cheers!!!