AS-Level English Literature OCR Exam

Does it really have to be 4/5? My teacher said 3 would be enough. The answer's supposed to be 75% based on the poem you're given, and 25% on other poems so 4/5 seems a bit excessive in that case, unless some of them were really brief crossovers.

3 would probably be enough as i suppose over all you are going to be making 3 main points/paragraphs. i suppose it just depends on how much detail you go into for your other poems, if they are just brief comparisions then adding more poems would be ideal just to ensure you have covered all the AOs.

I think that, as the grade boundaries are quite high, the examiners actually mark quite nicely. In other words, they mark positively, rather than deducting marks for what they feel is wrong.

We're all in this together guys!

How many critics would you say are required in the novel essay?

Depends on the rest of A03 in your essay.
Technically, one well-addressed critical opinion could be enough, providing you've offered alternative view points to your other points and looked at different 'perspectives' (feminist/Marxist/political e.t.c, depending on what is relevant to your text.)
Whatever you do, don't put critics in for the sake of putting them in. Make sure they are relevant to your point and relevant to the question. Some of the examiner reports I've read said that this is something that students forget.

So, after that, I'd aim for two where possible (With additional AO3 points), so that I have an extra chance in case I didn't address the first one as fully as I ought to have.

I was always under the impression that for the novels essay you had to actually quote critics in full with their names however this is not the case. Provided that you say 'some critics suggest...' or 'it has been suggested..' then explain the point and argue your point, not necessarily using a quotation from the critic you can still get the same amount of marks as someone who uses loads of critics and their specific points. This is great if like me you cant remember any critics!

This is definitely true, but my teacher warned us that having the name of a critic adds some definition to your point. Sort of...reinforces it.
But you're right. You don't /have/ to have direct quotations or critic names. It's not like they're going to check the direct quotation or that the name of the critic is the name of an actual person.
And definitely better to have an unnamed critic than none at all!

thanks very much, very useful! With regard to feminist/Marxist critics etc, can this just be sentences linking it to the question type rather than quotations?

If I got 38/40 for my coursework, does anyone have any idea what I would need to get in the exam tomorrow for an A?

Thanks

Can someone explain to me the Marxist interpretation of Frankenstein? I know the basic Marxist theories but not to sure how these apply to Frankenstein.. online essays explaining it can be quite confusing!