AQA A-level English Literature B new 7717/1B &amp; 7717/2B - 15 &amp; 22 Jun 2017

OP

Original post by CatusStarbright

Awesome

We're doing the political and social protest side of the spec instead for A2, so I'm studying The Kite Runner, The Handmaid's Tale and Songs of Innocence and of Experience ((a) poem collection(s) by William Blake). We have the same tragedy texts :smile:

For paper 2 we can make our own choice as to which we use for the whole text question and which we used for the comparison, so it'll depend on which text will best go together for the Section C question and the one left over will be used for the whole text. That's my strategy anyway.

Your texts sound far more interesting than mine. Atonement's about kid who's a false witness, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner's about some man who kills a bird and Hamlet's about a prince who doesn't know whether he should kill his uncle or not.

I've always wanted to read The Handmaid's Tale and The Kite Runner but for some reason I've just never gotten round to it :frown:

Reply 121

georgiahjohnson

7

Hi everyone -
I'm doing tragedy - othello, DOAS, Keats, and crime - atonement, hamlet, Wilde/browning/crabbe poetry

Does anyone have any advice on how to approach unseen in crime? And any useful notes on any of the texts mentioned (Keats specifically)
Also, what are your essay structures, e.g. What should you include in each paragraph (context, structure etc??)
Do you compare your texts against eachother in your answers??

Last year, our full college achieved U-C grades for this exam, the most common grade being a D and only 2 receiving Cs. As you can understand this is worrying and so I'm here to gather any advice I can, presuming maybe we've been taught to do/not to do something which is vital for good grades!!!

Thanks! :smile:

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Reply 122

Original post by cecilia.adekoya

Your texts sound far more interesting than mine. Atonement's about kid who's a false witness, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner's about some man who kills a bird and Hamlet's about a prince who doesn't know whether he should kill his uncle or not.

I've always wanted to read The Handmaid's Tale and The Kite Runner but for some reason I've just never gotten round to it :frown:

Atonement sounds interesting, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner not so much. I saw Hamlet performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and broadcasted live to my local cinema sometime in October (I think) and it was really good!

The Kite Runner and The Handmaid's Tale are books I shall never forget as long as I live - they're so hauntingly beautiful.

Reply 123

@Fox Corner Please could you add this thread to the 2017 A-Level Exam Thread Directory?

Reply 124

Fox Corner

21

Original post by CatusStarbright

@Fox Corner Please could you add this thread to the 2017 A-Level Exam Thread Directory?

Thank you! This is a great thread. I've added it in there now.

Reply 125

yaknow

1

What marks out of 50 have people got for the coursework? And does anyone know the rough grade boundaries?

Reply 126

Original post by yaknow

What marks out of 50 have people got for the coursework? And does anyone know the rough grade boundaries?

No idea, but my teacher seemed happy with what I got. Grade boundaries-wise, no idea, but there are the bands for an indication (i.e. a band 5 is going to be an A most probably, perhaps with an upper band 5 being the A* and a lower being a high B? Not sure, but they are a kind of 'grade' in themselves)

Reply 127

AvalonianBear

Original post by CatusStarbright

Atonement sounds interesting, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner not so much. I saw Hamlet performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and broadcasted live to my local cinema sometime in October (I think) and it was really good!

The Kite Runner and The Handmaid's Tale are books I shall never forget as long as I live - they're so hauntingly beautiful.

I agree - I'm studying TKR and THT too - how are you revising for these two texts? Can't help but feel my analysis isn't 'political' enough.

Reply 128

Original post by AvalonianBear

I agree - I'm studying TKR and THT too - how are you revising for these two texts? Can't help but feel my analysis isn't 'political' enough.

Well the focus is on both political and social protest (which are, admittedly often intrinsically linked), so for example if you're discussing Soraya in TKR and looking at gender roles, that counts as social protest, as Hosseini is showing the treatment of Afghan women and the double standards in Afghan society through explicit comments such as Amir remarking he won the 'genetic lottery', which forces the reader to reflect upon the gender roles/double standards in their own society.

In THT the political and social elements of Gilead are also clearly linked, for example the social structures and hierarchies within Gilead are also relating to political ideas (theocratic totalitarian government). I find this quotation rather interesting: 'From each...according to her ability, to each according to his needs' - a sexist restatement of a quotation from the writings of Karl Marx which clearly depicts the Gileadean attitude towards gender roles.

To answer your question, I'm mainly revising by looking at themes, remembering quotes and practising writing essays/paragraphs. I guess the above also counted as revision!

Reply 129

crazysteve

5

Hii, anyone got any good revision tips/ways ways of structuring your revision? I need desperate help.

These are the texts I'm doing

Tragedy: Othello, Tess of the d'Urbervilles & Death of a Salesman (I was also made to do Keats but chose Tess over it and have read The Great Gatsby so any cheeky lil AO4 pointers for those two would be welcome)

Political & Social Protest: The Handmaid's Tale, The Kite Runner and Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience (and I did 1984 for my CW did myself a good one there definitely recommend in combination with The Handmaid's Tale!)

But yeah just wondering if anyone had revision ideas and any A/A* example essays would be amazing, particularly for Section C questions but any would be gladly accepted :smile:

) I'd offer mine but alas, haven't really done any and they're not very good, also any key quotes would be great!

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 130

georgiahjohnson

7

Hiii all,

I know this is a lot to ask but would anyone be willing to read 2 of my essays and give me a whereabouts on where I am? (One tragedy section C and one crime section C, where you talk about two different texts)

I understand this will take time however I am struggling to determine which band I currently sit in/what I need to improve on :smile:

?

Let me know if you can offer this support for me,

Thanks!

G

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Reply 131

Original post by crazysteve

Hii, anyone got any good revision tips/ways ways of structuring your revision? I need desperate help.

These are the texts I'm doing

Tragedy: Othello, Tess of the d'Urbervilles & Death of a Salesman (I was also made to do Keats but chose Tess over it and have read The Great Gatsby so any cheeky lil AO4 pointers for those two would be welcome)

Political & Social Protest: The Handmaid's Tale, The Kite Runner and Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience (and I did 1984 for my CW did myself a good one there definitely recommend in combination with The Handmaid's Tale!)

But yeah just wondering if anyone had revision ideas and any A/A* example essays would be amazing, particularly for Section C questions but any would be gladly accepted :smile:

) I'd offer mine but alas, haven't really done any and they're not very good, also any key quotes would be great!

We have exactly the same texts and I also did 1984 (for the canon coursework)! I'm mainly revising by practicing writing essays, revising key quotes and making sure I know where key points are in the open book texts (no mean feat for The Handmaid's Tale!).

Reply 132

kmjm

Original post by georgiahjohnson

Hi everyone -
I'm doing tragedy - othello, DOAS, Keats, and crime - atonement, hamlet, Wilde/browning/crabbe poetry

Does anyone have any advice on how to approach unseen in crime? And any useful notes on any of the texts mentioned (Keats specifically)
Also, what are your essay structures, e.g. What should you include in each paragraph (context, structure etc??)
Do you compare your texts against eachother in your answers??

Last year, our full college achieved U-C grades for this exam, the most common grade being a D and only 2 receiving Cs. As you can understand this is worrying and so I'm here to gather any advice I can, presuming maybe we've been taught to do/not to do something which is vital for good grades!!!

Thanks! :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

I really understand how you feel!! Last year for AS I got an E(mark off a D) and all my friends got D-U grades. There was only 2 people in my class that got above a C, both are good friends of mine and neither know how they did it!
I'm really nervous too as I need a B to get into my uni course

Reply 133

georgiahjohnson

7

Original post by kmjm

I really understand how you feel!! Last year for AS I got an E(mark off a D) and all my friends got D-U grades. There was only 2 people in my class that got above a C, both are good friends of mine and neither know how they did it!
I'm really nervous too as I need a B to get into my uni course

Oh god that's my class all over! None of us know what went wrong/how to improve so it's mega worrying! I also need at least a B in English to get onto my uni course!
Have your college established what went wrong? We have no idea and it's terrifying :frown:

Reply 134

crazysteve

5

Original post by CatusStarbright

We have exactly the same texts and I also did 1984 (for the canon coursework)! I'm mainly revising by practicing writing essays, revising key quotes and making sure I know where key points are in the open book texts (no mean feat for The Handmaid's Tale!).

Ahhh I did a Marxist reading of 1984 it was a philosophical mess😂, and I know omg handmaid is such a chunk I dont even know why, I hate open book I never have time to look through it in the exams but also bc it's open I dont push myself enough to remember quotes😂 are you making up the essay questions or getting them from books or teachers?

Reply 135

Original post by crazysteve

Ahhh I did a Marxist reading of 1984 it was a philosophical mess😂, and I know omg handmaid is such a chunk I dont even know why, I hate open book I never have time to look through it in the exams but also bc it's open I dont push myself enough to remember quotes😂 are you making up the essay questions or getting them from books or teachers?

My teachers have made us some to do. We've also done the specimen ones (of course!).

Reply 136

Dannieljsmith

What's the highest band you can get for the othello question if you didn't address the bullet points

Reply 137

OP

Original post by Dannieljsmith

What's the highest band you can get for the othello question if you didn't address the bullet points

I'm not really sure, but I don't think that it would matter much, since the AQA examiners don't mark down on answers, just what is relevant. So as long as you analysed the extract referred to the whole text and how it links to the extract, you'll be fine!

Reply 138

OP

Original post by georgiahjohnson

Hiii all,

I know this is a lot to ask but would anyone be willing to read 2 of my essays and give me a whereabouts on where I am? (One tragedy section C and one crime section C, where you talk about two different texts)

I understand this will take time however I am struggling to determine which band I currently sit in/what I need to improve on :smile:

?

Let me know if you can offer this support for me,

Thanks!

G

Posted from TSR Mobile

I have no problem with reading your essays, but you should try and get you teacher to read it first, since they're trained on how to mark. But I don't mind reading them

Reply 139

OP