AQA A-Level English Literature B Paper 2 3/6/19

Hey! i'm doing crime - Mariner, Ackroyd and 'When Will There Be Good News?'
You?

I'm feeling confident but equally as terrified cause there's so much pressure to do well

any top tips cause I feel I know nothing, Handmaids Tale, Blake, Kite Runner

Everyone i cannot stress enough how much the spec helps! What i've done is i'm using the spec and applying each point to every book so that any question that comes up i'll already have the basic ideas on. Quote wise, I'm defo just memorising page numbers and as soon as the exam starts i'll mark those pages that have the best quotes and sh*t. Also look back at your mock - if you did really well use the same points again or quotes or just comments that the teacher made. If your mock didn't go well MEMORISE the improvements that the teachers have given you and just put them in as much as possible! Good luck, i'm scared sh*tless

Agreed, the examiners will likely base a question on it. I'm literally picking out crime elements from each text. Use the text overviews as well they are really helpful its what the examiners draw questions from! omg i need to do that, in terms of quotes im remembering key ones, but mostly looking at bigger picture methods like structure, motifs, puzzle game, imagery and so on. With poetry i know a few quotes but not stressing too much as its open book. You wont have time to pick quotes from the book, hence I'm not gonna (well try not to ) look through the book. Not much language in Ackroyd tho or methods that are quite obvious other than unreliable narrator . What would you advise with the unseen?

Best of luck to you same here

yeah same with poetry i'm just gonna leave it and hope for the best! In the mock i had no quotes or page numbers memorised so i just went to the section in the book where the question most related to and just picked random words from there - thank god it paid off and worked well! As for unseen i tend to do quite well for some random reason - I think it's because i really focus on what is actually going on in the extract and who's who and try and guess what the story is about, because if you just highlight the main points and start writing you won't get as many marks cause you just don't know what's happening you know? Also my teacher always told us to mention 3 key things: Is there a crime? if not, where are the implicit inferences. Is there a detective? if not, why have they not bought one in, is there something these characters are hiding (always a possibility)? How does the narrator structure the text and what effect does that have? also who is the narrator (if that's clear) and how does that make a difference. FOR EXAMPLE, lets say there's an extract on Ackroyd because we both know it- narrator is always relevant in that book because we're being lied to throughout, this can be expanded on especially when talking about his confession chapter. There's loads of language in that chapter you can use to show how he doesn't feel guilty and doesn't want to repent (a crime convention that'll get you some marks). Also Poirot has loads of little one liners that are great to expand on like "everyone's hiding something" or whatever he says. There is always a 'crime' - who's is it this time and why is that the focus (red herrings e.g. Flora + the ******* son etc) and obviously Poirot as the detective but obvs he's not very successful because the murderer is hidden in plain sight and we find out at the same time he does, if not before. Does that make sense?? You can use that for unseen + all the books/poems

Thank's that was really helpful, i was told to look as the narrative and setting what they reveal along with the actual structure of the extract, i think i find it weird because there is no direct question you pretty much have to make it up yourself which is where i get a bit confused

yeah that's what i hate the most about extract Q's but it's also good cause if you don't get anything then just wing it!! I think we've got this, I'm just trying to remember where the most important parts of the book are considering there's so many pages

we got this lets hope the questions are nice and the extract better be good! good idea dw you will be fine you dont need to remember so many quotes, what texts are you using in section C?

I don't know yet, I'll have to see what the questions are and how hard but i'll probably chose Ackroyd and WWTBGN for my sec C cause i don't like writing full essays on either! It's a lot easier to do a whole question on a poem, especially Mariner cause there's just more to say in depth you know! this'll be interesting! Wbu?

Does anyone have any advice for section c- comparative essay

In regards to: creating a debate from the question, structure, specific focuses etc ??

Remember you are not comparing in section C treat it like writing 2 mini essays when answering the question it doesnt have to be balanced you good have more of the other agreeing or disagreeing with the question . There is no marks for comparison so don't

same our teachers advised the same that we do the books in section C and then poems in B because you can easily answer them and focus on them doing a whole essay on Roger is hard and Atonement at least u wont need as many quotes and stuff so your okay making it easier

Any advice on how to approach the question too 😭

For sure! I just want this over with now it's too stressful!!!