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AS English Literature AQA LTA1C

My exam on the 16th and I literally have no idea what to do! I'm really struggling with the wider reading section and the poetry section is based on Feminine Gospels. For my wider reading I'm doing

Handsmaid Tale
Streetcar Named Desire
The Color Purple
Educating Rita
Still I Rise
Refugee Blues

I really don't know where to start! don't know how to structure the essays and I know I'm gonna fail ! Any help would be appreciated. Literally anything!

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Reply 1

username1229433

I remember doing this exam last year lol. You'll never know what kind of question will come up in section A, so revise all the topics and make sure you remember your wider reading by highlighting the important bits that is relevant to themes etc. I wouldn't say it's an easy exam, but use your revision time effectively.

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Reply 2

emily1701

hi, i am also doing this exam :smile:

POETRY
for the poetry question, we are probably going to have a choice of answering a question about:
a) one poem in relation to the collection as a whole, or
b) a viewpoint to discuss that asks about the collection as a whole
the questions are likely to ask your opinion (eg. how far do you agree with this point), but really they want a balanced argument throughout the essay.

in your answer you will need to use at least 3 poems in detail, or range more widely throughout the collection by using more poems in less detail.
to structure your essay, you should compare and contrast poems within a paragraph, to make your answer like a debate.
try to offer alternative interpretations of the poems too.

your introduction should be really short and basically summarise what you are going to talk about in your essay. include both sides of the debate in the intro, and mention a couple of poems.

in the main part of your essay, include points about language (the actual words), structure (how the poem looks on the page) and form (the style of the poem).
you should always use a quote for every point you make, and always link back to the question to make sure you sound confident and logical.
in each paragraph, contrast or compare one poem with another to continue your debate.

your conclusion needs to be balanced, and include some of the points you have talked about. make sure you end with a good conclusion so the examiner is left with a good impression.

WIDER READING
for the wider reading question, you will also need to talk about the context of the struggle for identity talked about in the question. always link your points back to the struggle for identity mentioned. the question will give you a text, and ask about how the writer has presented 'thoughts and feelings on the struggle for identity'.

for this question, include some quotes from wider reading, but write more about the given extract. your wider reading texts should include a poem, prose and play (which i think you have but i havent heard of some of the ones you listed).

your introduction should be similar in structure to the poetry one: a summary of what you will write about. remember your WR texts can contrast to the extract as well as be similar to it, so you could include one wider reading text that contrasts, and one that is similar. your intro, and also when introducing any other texts into your essay, should always include the context of the wider reading, eg. the author, setting, struggle for identity.

your main body of WR essay should talk about the extract and the 'thoughts and feelings' it presents, then link to a WR text. relate it to the struggle for identity. again, include structure, language and form. you could also include alternative explanations for some points.

the conclusion should talk about similarities between the extract and a text, and differences between extract and a text. should be balanced and to the point.

also, make sure you use connectives throughout both essays. it will make them sound more professional and confident and make your essays flow better.

hope the exam goes well for you, good luck :smile:

Reply 3

WesterosWildling

God I have this exam too. Two of our wider reading texts were 1984 and child of the divide which are more political based do shud help us since most peoples are race or class.

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Reply 4

xmillyfisher

i am doing this exam as well and my wider reading is
Handmaids tale (prose)
Streetcar named desire (drama)
Top girls (drama)
Still i rise (poem)
Afterword (poem)
The color purple (prose)

But i am really struggling on how to remember quotes for all of these and different ones for; race. gender. sexuality (which i am really really struggling on). class (again which i am struggling on). family (again sruggling with). religion. and then: disability, war and age!!!! which i havent even looked at. HELP ME

Reply 5

WesterosWildling

Original post by xmillyfisher

Would these help?

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Reply 6

xmillyfisher

thankyou so much!

Original post by WesterosWildling

Would these help?

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Reply 7

xmillyfisher

Original post by WesterosWildling

Would these help?

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can you tell me which quotes you found for sexuality in the color purple and how it links to SFI please x

Reply 8

WesterosWildling

Original post by xmillyfisher

can you tell me which quotes you found for sexuality in the color purple and how it links to SFI please x

My color purple sheet is quite creased so I didnt take a pic. Could email.

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Reply 9

xmillyfisher

Original post by WesterosWildling

My color purple sheet is quite creased so I didnt take a pic. Could email.

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aww would you email it to me please?? [email protected] also which SFI theme do you reckon is most likely to come up, im hoping its either gender or race!! x

Reply 10

xmillyfisher

Could you also tell me how funeral blues is linked with it. (God yu can tell my teacher didn't help us with sexuality)

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Reply 11

WesterosWildling

Original post by xmillyfisher

aww would you email it to me please?? [email protected] also which SFI theme do you reckon is most likely to come up, im hoping its either gender or race!! x

Ill send all I have :smile:

Reply 12

WesterosWildling

Original post by WesterosWildling

Ill send all I have :smile:

K I've sent em.

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Reply 13

emakkk

Original post by WesterosWildling

K I've sent em.

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Would you mind sending me them too? my email is [email protected]. thanks!

I'm also doing this exam on Friday and have revised just about as much as I can possibly take at this point!!
Now I'm just having last minute freak outs! Does anyone have any idea which SFI theme is most likely to come up based on the last few themes??? would be greatly appreciated.

Also the same for the poetry question... is anyone doing Skirrid Hill by Owen Sheers and has any idea what kind of Qu to expect?!

Im scared that I don't know enough about Sexuality or Religion and I have a feeling Religion might come up ......... :frown:

If anyone could help I would really appreciate it!!!!!

Reply 16

WesterosWildling

So how did it go?

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Reply 17

KANTtouchthis123

How did you all find it????

Reply 18

WesterosWildling

Quite good actually. Extract was decent but feminine gospel s was harder.

Reply 19

NatashaG

I really like the first question for Feminine Gospels and found it very easy to debate! The extract was very good for linking because it related to a lot of my wider reading...however I didnt really focus much on context :s-smilie: