GCSE English...

Well my exam board is AQA which means that my coursework counts toward 40% of my final grade. I got one mid A for Macbeth, two low As for Original Writing and an A* in Speaking and Listening. I am not sure on the exact markings but knowing this, what sort of marks should I be aiming for in the English exams if I want to achieve an A* in both English Literature and Language overall?

Thanks

Reply 1

VanillaT

Can someone please help?

Reply 2

HolyFuzazzle

Hmm =/ I got an A* in all my courseworks except this one about An Inspector Calls, which was a high A and I got an A* in both the GCSEs and I didn't finish the Eng Lit exam, I didn't even come close to finishing... WHat I'm saying whilst coursework is important, if you do really well in the exam, an A* is possible. Could you maybe redo your low A courseworks if you're really worried? And for English Lit, coursework is only 30% of the GCSE. Are you taking your exams this year? Unless you're in year 10, cuz I think the specification has changed.

You want to be aiming quite high in the exams basically, but not like 100% cuz that's near impossible.

Reply 3

VanillaT

I'm in year 11 so I am doing my exams this year. I did all my coursework this year too having come into my current school late in year 10, so I wasn't really taught what to write for my coursework, it was all quite rushed to get it finished before Easter. My class have not even finished studying all of the pre-release for our exam. I guess I could ask my teacher if I am allowed to redo any but I doubt it considering the amount of time we have left until the exams. :/

So does that mean 10% of the coursework I did counts toward my language and 30% towards literature? Do you have any idea what kind of percentage I need to get in the exams to scrape an A*? Thank you!

Reply 4

HolyFuzazzle

Original post by VanillaT

I'm ihttp://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=30528514n year 11 so I am doing my exams this year. I did all my coursework this year too having come into my current school late in year 10, so I wasn't really taught what to write for my coursework, it was all quite rushed to get it finished before Easter. My class have not even finished studying all of the pre-release for our exam. I guess I could ask my teacher if I am allowed to redo any but I doubt it considering the amount of time we have left until the exams. :/

So does that mean 10% of the coursework I did counts toward my language and 30% towards literature? Do you have any idea what kind of percentage I need to get in the exams to scrape an A*? Thank you!

That means that's the same GCSE as I did then. Oh right... well that's quite irritating as if you'd have had the same time as everybody else, you'd be able to get it at a possibly higher grade. Pre-release? Well not many schools are done with the syllabus arround this time, so don't worry about that. You could, but if you don't think you have enough time, the only option you have is to try your hardest in the exams. It's definitely possible to redo it though.

No, you know how you've got loads of cross over pieces for Eng Lit and Eng Lang? All your coursework pieces make 40% of your Eng Lang GCSE whilst your coursework pieces make only 30% of your Eng Lit GCSE. So Eng Lit is more exam based. Well, the thing with grade boundaries is they change on every exam series depending on how well people do, but in June 2010 for AQA it your specification is English A (if you're doing a different AQA specifcation tell me o_o, then i can find out the exact grade boundaries) it was 461/500 for an A*, but if And for English lit A specification, you needed 174/200 for an A*(ouch!). Sorry that's really confusing but percentages:

Eng Lang A - 92%
Eng Lit A - 87%

Reply 5

VanillaT

Ahh those are pretty high percentages (sigh) :/. I checked on my school VLE we are doing English Specfication B does that make any difference? I am going to ask my teacher to try improve at least one of my original writings then hopefully it'll be able to boost my grade up abit. Thanks for your help btw. :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 6

HolyFuzazzle

Original post by VanillaT

Still possible =3 English Specification B? Okay I'll just check that for you
Okay English Lang B, 310/400 = 75% (Why the hell did our school do Specification A? T.T)
Eng lit B, 332/350 = 94%

Well, what I've concluded is that a) no wonder me and like 8 other people were the only ones that got A*s in eng lang at our school (stupid specification a) and b) you've got a good chance of getting an A* in eng lang, and possibly with Eng Lit as that has a smaler coursework weighting, so you just need to do really well in the exam. Did those grade boundaries make you feel batter? (Understandably, english literature mightn't, but english language? 75% is pretty low =3

Reply 7

VanillaT

Well done btw for your results in English :smile:

And, yes that does make me feel better haha actually can't believe how low it is :O but the literature one looks hard :|. Oh well... I guess I got to revise more on the Literature side of this course then and hope for the best :3.

Reply 8

HolyFuzazzle

Original post by VanillaT

Well done btw for your results in English :smile:

Oh thank you =D I just had this pressure to do well in English cuz I'm doing them both at A-level... Anyway, yeah it is quite low, it's surprising, but it's reassuring to read, I guess. Literature is always hard, but the best to do is just revise and be as analtyical as you can and improve essay writing abilities =3 And try to put in a lot of stuff as you can withinthe time limit. OH, and don't spend too long on the prose essay rather than the poetry one X_X Good luck!

Reply 9

User570431

Of mice and men :biggrin:

Reply 10

VanillaT

Original post by HolyFuzazzle

Thank you!, and I am doing English Literature in A-levels too. XD Yes it is definitely reassuring :smile:

. What was the prose? Writing to ‘argue, persuade and advise’ and writing to ‘analyse, review and comment’?

Reply 11

HolyFuzazzle

Original post by VanillaT

Thank you!, and I am doing English Literature in A-levels too. XD Yes it is definitely reassuring :smile:

. What was the prose? Writing to ‘argue, persuade and advise’ and writing to ‘analyse, review and comment’?

You are? Awesome, I love English Lit, I'm going to do it at Uni. If I get into the places I want to go to. Anyway, no I'm talking about the literature paper =O Not the language one.

Reply 12

VanillaT

Original post by HolyFuzazzle

You are? Awesome, I love English Lit, I'm going to do it at Uni. If I get into the places I want to go to. Anyway, no I'm talking about the literature paper =O Not the language one.

Yep I enjoy it :smile:

Oh my bad haha X)

Reply 13

eco123

can someone tell me the questions for the poems for november 2010
it will be much appreciated and i can exchange it for some of the biology, chemistry and physics aqa specification unit 1, 2 or 3 january 2011
many thanks

Reply 14

eco123

sorry november 2010 english a specification just the poems