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Aqa a2 textiles exam. Urgent help needed!

My 6th form is notorious for bad textiles results,
I have a top end A in my coursework for both AS and A2, but at AS i evened out at a low C because of my exam and i need to get at least a C/B overall for my firm uni choice.

This is my last resort, we've had no lessons on this A2 exam (teacher who doesn't turn up most days and 'coursework lessons' the other days) i've read past papers and the specification from the AQA website over and over and it seems fairly open to everything in the textiles industry. Could any students who have sat this exam before help me out? give me some tips or advice with revision. It's on the 13th of june so i'm really worried now :frown:

thanks to anyone who replies

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Just keep going over the past papers there is really no good way to revise for this exam because it is farrr too open :/ I drives me insane xD thing is very very very few people get decent marks in it, you can get away with loosing about 28 marks n still get a* but yeah after that grade boundaries drop every 5 marks :/. focus on fashion eras make sure you know one from each eraleast like inside out. know about one designer n there products all the way thru from 1900-1990 because that stuff always seems to come up

other than that just good luck :/
Reply 2
To be fair, past papers don't really help either! Literally anything could come up. I got a B on the coursework and the exam last year and an A on the coursework this year so even if I get full marks on the paper I still can't get an A...:/
The AS exam was so much easier -.-
Reply 3
Original post by RachelSophia
My 6th form is notorious for bad textiles results,
I have a top end A in my coursework for both AS and A2, but at AS i evened out at a low C because of my exam and i need to get at least a C/B overall for my firm uni choice.

This is my last resort, we've had no lessons on this A2 exam (teacher who doesn't turn up most days and 'coursework lessons' the other days) i've read past papers and the specification from the AQA website over and over and it seems fairly open to everything in the textiles industry. Could any students who have sat this exam before help me out? give me some tips or advice with revision. It's on the 13th of june so i'm really worried now :frown:

thanks to anyone who replies



i am in the exact same boat!
have this exam on wednesday as well as a geography exam at the same time!!

i haven't even revised for textiles AT ALL i am completely screweddd!
its reallly annoying cos i need an A overall (omg) and i need a C/B on this exam to get that.
what revision have you been doing?

i hate textiles!
Reply 4
I really need to get a B overall and although my teacher says i only need a D/C in the exam as I got an A im my coursework I dont believe I can even get that

Only advice I can give is that I'm going through the AS and A2 spec and researching anything I'm really not sure on (apparently its a synoptic paper-so covers AS and A2 spec)

wish there was a AQA textbook!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there should be a designer question (well history of fashion), a drawing question but it could be pattern drafting....., a business style question (marketing etc), fibres question

as you say ANYTHING can come up

I dread tomorrow! good luck to you guys and please let me know what you think of it tomorrow!
Reply 5
Original post by hannetalbot
Wah textiles theory is so hard, I'm in the same boat as you guys :frown: My teacher was great last year but this year she's been simply awful, and now I'm going into this exam blind because I don't know anything. I've had no time to revise because of my other exams, and even though I can get really low marks and come out with a B-ish, I'm really worried there won't be any of the questions I know well enough to get even those few marks in!
I hate that they word questions so cryptically sometimes too, ugh.
Good luck all of you x


I'm worried too as I don't need a B as such in the exam but still need to get probably a C to secure an overall B and it worries me what will come up! I'm trying to revise as much as possible but theres too much to learn!

good luck to you too! x
Reply 6
I didn't think it was too bad actually! I answered The Fad/Classic/Standards question, the computer aided machinery question and they Quality assurance questions :biggrin:
Reply 7
I revised non stop on everything textiles, I couldn't answer anything in the exam!

Ask me any textiles question and i could answer it, the exam was so hard guys :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown:
Goodbye university
Original post by DiddyLaura
I didn't think it was too bad actually! I answered The Fad/Classic/Standards question, the computer aided machinery question and they Quality assurance questions :biggrin:


Yeah i did the same two and then the last question on the paper about the UPS etc, didn't find it too bad but would have done loads better had I had more time! Missed out quite a few marks because of that
Reply 9
Original post by RachelSophia
I revised non stop on everything textiles, I couldn't answer anything in the exam!

Ask me any textiles question and i could answer it, the exam was so hard guys :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown:
Goodbye university


Thank god I'm not the only one! I found the first question I did alright, which was the FAD cycles etc, the second I did was the lay plan machine one, I think I did mediocre, not enough detail though then I did the last question UPS, I know a couple of them and then one I didn't know and then I didn't know anything on the 10 mark question, so that's already 16 marks gone without being marked yet, yaaaaay,

BYE UNI, as well :/
Original post by ibrownie
Thank god I'm not the only one! I found the first question I did alright, which was the FAD cycles etc, the second I did was the lay plan machine one, I think I did mediocre, not enough detail though then I did the last question UPS, I know a couple of them and then one I didn't know and then I didn't know anything on the 10 mark question, so that's already 16 marks gone without being marked yet, yaaaaay,

BYE UNI, as well :/


I did the same questions as you and feel exactly the same, never heard of that last one after the UPS and progressive bundle! And completely made up the 10 marker!
Original post by helen.linton
Yeah i did the same two and then the last question on the paper about the UPS etc, didn't find it too bad but would have done loads better had I had more time! Missed out quite a few marks because of that


I had fifteen mins left! I write really fast hah! Fingers crossed for the results :smile:
Original post by DiddyLaura
I had fifteen mins left! I write really fast hah! Fingers crossed for the results :smile:


Ah jealous!! I need 80 in that for an A*, now highly unlikely :frown: ah well
Reply 13
Original post by helen.linton
I did the same questions as you and feel exactly the same, never heard of that last one after the UPS and progressive bundle! And completely made up the 10 marker!


Same! Section systems or something? I went back to my teacher and said I never saw it in the specification - we then looked and it wasn't in there! Cheeky sods. I guessed and then I researched when I got home and I got it wrong:frown: Then I guessed the 10 mark because I've never seen it before and only wrote 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages and got them wrong too, gaaah, I give up haha
Original post by hannetalbot
Really?! I wish :frown: I thought it was so, ridiculously hard!
I did the fad/classic/standard, the product life cycle one and then started the one about production systems but I've been poorly and ended up having to leave the exam, so now I'm really worried because not only have I answered the questions badly but I didn't even finish the paper :frown:


Awh no! get well soon :frown:


Time to start looking for back up jobs i think! If my results aren't good enough for uni then im taking a gap year and trying again lol
10 weeks until results day... and now we wait...
Original post by RachelSophia


Time to start looking for back up jobs i think! If my results aren't good enough for uni then im taking a gap year and trying again lol
10 weeks until results day... and now we wait...


Hah, same I'm not going to Uni anymore anyway I realised I had no chance when I hadn't started revising a week before all my exams XD Free year of college for me! :smile:
Original post by DiddyLaura
Hah, same I'm not going to Uni anymore anyway I realised I had no chance when I hadn't started revising a week before all my exams XD Free year of college for me! :smile:


haha owhh! you still may have a chance? and if you dont then an offer through clearing could lead you somewhere better! xD what did you want to do?
Reply 17
I didn't find the exam that bad but I don't know whether I wrote enough to gain full marks! :/

Does anyone have the exam paper to upload or know a link?
Original post by ibrownie
Same! Section systems or something? I went back to my teacher and said I never saw it in the specification - we then looked and it wasn't in there! Cheeky sods. I guessed and then I researched when I got home and I got it wrong:frown: Then I guessed the 10 mark because I've never seen it before and only wrote 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages and got them wrong too, gaaah, I give up haha


I retook the AS unit to try and get as close to 100 as possible (to take the pressure of this unit!!) and they also asked us a question that no one had heard of, it wasn't on the spec my teacher didn't know and even when we googled it it took a while of searching before something came up on the welsh exam board textiles paper!! Why do aqa do this to us! I didn't even have time to make up something up section systems ah dearr
Original post by RachelSophia
haha owhh! you still may have a chance? and if you dont then an offer through clearing could lead you somewhere better! xD what did you want to do?


Nah, I don't have the motivation to go haha. I was gonna do International Hotel Management at Sheffiled Hallam :smile: But doing Lvl 3 Diploma in Hospitality for a year instead now

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