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AQA GCSE English Literature Exams - 20th and 23rd May 2013 *OFFICAL THREAD*

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Original post by CD223
Does anyone know the character and voice poems that came up this January?
Or similarly if anyone knows the stories that came up from sunlight on the grass that would be helpful, thanks :smile:


Yep I did a mock and I think this is what they asked, but I may not be that accurate as it was quite a while ago: - how does the poet present an interesting character in Singh Song!- What feelings and ideas are shown in The horse whisperer? - What is the significance of the title in The darkness out there? (It was something like that- If I get hold of the paper I'll edit this to make it more accurate)
Hi,

I've been away preparing for my Controlled Assessments, but I am free to help anyone now.

I am doing the Sunlight on the Grass Anthology and Of Mice and Men for the Unit 1 exam and Animal Farm with Macbeth for the Unit 4 exam.

Upon reading the posts in this thread, I have noticed that many of you think that Slim or Curley will come up in June, but I think that setting will come up - possibly the barn in which you relate it to Crooks.

For the short story anthology, I think that Compass and Torch will come up, as it hasn't come up for quite awhile.

If anyone needs any help then just message me on here or through a PM. :smile:

Good Luck.


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Reply 82
Original post by JustaDreamer
Yep I did a mock and I think this is what they asked, but I may not be that accurate as it was quite a while ago: - how does the poet present an interesting character in Singh Song!- What feelings and ideas are shown in The horse whisperer? - What is the significance of the title in The darkness out there? (It was something like that- If I get hold of the paper I'll edit this to make it more accurate)


Thank you! Ooh I've never heard them ask of how a title is significant :s-smilie: I would probably go on to talk about Sandra's development in terms of understanding what 'the darkness' is. Would that be a good way to tackle it?


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Original post by Farhan96
Pretty confident with poems and IC, its just I don't know what's going to happen with OMAM!


What do you think may come up in AIC? In OMAM I'm thinking theme of loneliness/American dream if it's not Curley or Slim.
Original post by CD223
Thank you! Ooh I've never heard them ask of how a title is significant :s-smilie: I would probably go on to talk about Sandra's development in terms of understanding what 'the darkness' is. Would that be a good way to tackle it?


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No problem, yeah that's the best thing about English- no right answer :wink: I think that's quite a good way, I talked about the key message of the story and how the title contradicts what the reader might assume. I quite like that question, and then you know how they ask about another story, I used Compass and Torch.
Original post by Jatz07
Personally I believe it will be Curley//Slim or, perhaps we may get a passage from a chapter and asked to analyse... AQA can be very cunning!! Imagine we get one on Carlson and whit... ! wtf, or maybe we could get one on Candy's dog? however, how the heck are you meant to link them to context?!?!?!?! it could be a chapter from a passage.... the exam is in 2 weeks!!! i'm doing Short stories, OMAM and then unit 4 on the 23rd - animal farm//Macbeth , I'm not doing poems .... i wish we would get one on curley's wife//crooks unfortunately they have already come up! What grade are you aiming for? I'm trying to aim for A* however depending on difficulty of questions and boundaries it may vary..... Hmmm.... Good Luck with revision! oh and btw just use loads of big words to confuse the examiner,, then they'll be like "tick tick tick" lol - Jatz


I'd actually really like a question on Candy's dog :tongue: I'm aiming for an A*, but with the uncertainty of the OMAM questions i think an A is a lot more realistic.
I definitely agree with the big words, i have come to think that it's more about how you write rather than what you actually write.
Definitely need the good luck, hope your revision goes well too :biggrin:
Original post by the mad scientist
I'd actually really like a question on Candy's dog :tongue: I'm aiming for an A*, but with the uncertainty of the OMAM questions i think an A is a lot more realistic.
I definitely agree with the big words, i have come to think that it's more about how you write rather than what you actually write.
Definitely need the good luck, hope your revision goes well too :biggrin:


I quite like the idea of Candy's dog too :smile: but do big words really help? It's just that I've never heard of using them in the reading papers before! Any examples?
Could someone give me a grade for this please would be sooo grateful thanks aiming for like an A/A*
Sheila says to her father “You don’t seem to have learntanything” Birling replies to this “You’re wrong I’ve learnt plenty” What haveboth Sheila and Mr.Birling learnt?



J.B Priestley uses ‘An Inspector Calls’ written in 1946 butset back in 1912 to voice his socialist views about how he feels the world willdevelop after world war two and as a warning that if the ruling classes do notchange their selfish beliefs we could see another war happen, which was verytopical at the time written with the invention of the atomic bomb. The play iscentred on the Birling family who we bee each breakdown with the arrival of theelusive character of the Inspector who has arrived to make each member learn oftheir mistakes. This essay will focus on the two protagonists Mr Birling andSheila Birling and how their characters develop in the play and what they aretaught by the Inspector.

We see Sheila Birling’s character evolve from the first actto the end of the play. The opening stage directions describe her as “verypleased with life” and we see her as quite a childish and materialistic sort ofperson, especially with the Inspectors arrival when she blames Eva for ruiningher night “I wish you hadn’t told me” enforcing her self-centred attitude butat the same time summing up the whole Birling family who try to block out thereality of life in the lower classes, creating a divide between them.
However, Priestly guides the audience to establishing a connection with Sheilaby subtly hinting of her intuition, which we see so strongly with the Inspectorsarrival, when she “teases” Gerald of what he did last summer implying to theaudience that she does not have the confidence to stand fully up against him onthis uneasy matter, so half jokes about it. Contrastingly we see this on a muchgrander scale in Act 2 and Act 3 conveying that the Inspector has helped herbecome much more mature and independent in learning the lesson of her effect onEva Smiths life. This relates to the suffrage movement which was becomingincreasingly popular around 1912 when it was set and so reflects how the roleof women in society was changing as Sheila does in the play emerging from aweaker willed character to someone who can stand up to her parents depicted inthe quote “You don’t seem to have learnt anything”.
On the other hand Priestley may not be implying this at all but be saying thatbecause Sheila needed the Inspector to draw these qualities out of her she maynot be a dominant and independent as first seen and for this reason the lessonSheila learns, who represents the younger generation, is superficial which iswhy there was still a second world war because the extent of her change was notfar enough.


Furthermore, MrBirling is immediately portrayed as foolish and idiotic to the audience in hisgreat speech to the family in which Priestly takes the opportunity to implantdramatic irony. Mr Birling passes off the war here as a “silly little scare”and as we know the play was set before both wars but shown to audiences after.The effect of this on past audiences would have been quite shocking becausenearly every family in Britain lost someone in the war, creating a hugeoxymoron on the idea of “silly”. Priestley would have used this shock createdto make audiences lose all trust in Mr.Birling and his views on socialism, particularlywhen he scoffs at the idea of “community”. He does not seem to pick up on the obscurityof the Inspector appearing sharp after these words but Sheila does learn fromthis and begins to understand that the messages the Inspector was trying toestablish may be important.

However, Mr Birling does learn from the Inspector but maybenot in the right way. Unlike Sheila he sees no importance of his role in the “chainof events” for a very long time but tries to shift the blame by throwing hispower around and threatening the Inspector by name dropping that he seesColonel Roberts “frequently”. This suggests that Mr Birling and the oldergeneration are so set in their Victorian ideas of class and responsibility thatit is almost impossible to change and it is up to the younger generations suchas the quick thinking intuition of Sheila to do so- Priestley’s main message ofthe play.
The Consequence of this for audiences of1946 who would have been made up of the upper classes including many just likethe Birling’s who are exposed in the play, makes the question there own moralsand ideas which would have been Priestley’s main hope in inducing social changemaking the audience learn a lesson as well.


Although I believe we do see Birling begin to learn a lessonin act 3, he offers the Inspector “thousands” to compensate his involvement inthe death of the girl. This could imply that if even Birling whos beliefs arethat “a man should look after himself” feels guilt and responsibility now,Priestley and the Inspectors socialist ideas are important and should befollowed. Yet, it could also imply Birling still cannot learn the lessonbecause although he shows this guilt it is not for the right reasons he stillfeels no empathy for Eva but is worried of what will happen at the “inquest” tohis reputation and what the newspapers will say. He is still showing only carefor himself, not Eva. On balance Ibelieve the latter to be true because just moments after the Inspector leavesBirling switches back to his old beliefs conveyed by the repetition of “triumphantly”in the stage directions for him, concluding that he is quick to forget theevents, just Priestley could be implying the upper classes were quick to forgetthe reasons for the first world war which is why it led to the second one.

In conclusion, we see that Priestley uses Sheila’s lessonsand what she has learnt to show his hopes of the younger generations to make achange in society and not the older who have set in stone their views. Hechampions them and those in audience to take the opportunity as though it is afinal chance because in 1946 many would have feared the destruction of all inan atomic war. However the question is still there of why the youngergenerations in the Birling’s did not seize the opportunity of change after theytook on and learnt the lessons of the Inspector. I believe that it could not goto great extent in 1912 because of the power of the older generations who werequick to forget and did not even learn which is why the play was shown in 1946to convince audiences that everyone should contribute.

Original post by JustaDreamer
I quite like the idea of Candy's dog too :smile: but do big words really help? It's just that I've never heard of using them in the reading papers before! Any examples?


I'm not really sure if big words actually help :smile: but i think how you convey your ideas is very important.

And i can't really think of any good examples :colondollar: but if you say the effect of a word is "it shows he is unhappy", it's not going to have the same impact as "it demonstrates his complete and utter desperation, and shows the sense of inescapable hopelessness he feels in the situation" ....if you get what i'm saying?
In terms of the Quality of Written Communication, you be cautious of how you spell and communicate your ideas because you cannot get into certain bands with poor spelling, punctuation and/or grammar. The use of an ambitious vocabulary and words that emphasise what you are trying to say (I forgot what they are called) will impress the examiner and make them view you as a stronger candidate - it's always prospective to impress the examiner.

Like in the great example the commentator before posted, vocabulary does make your work have a greater impact, so I would suggest that you try to embed an ambitious vocabulary into your piece. However, don't spend too long worrying about what words to choose, as the quality of your analysis is what really gives you the marks.


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Original post by the mad scientist
I'm not really sure if big words actually help :smile: but i think how you convey your ideas is very important.

And i can't really think of any good examples :colondollar: but if you say the effect of a word is "it shows he is unhappy", it's not going to have the same impact as "it demonstrates his complete and utter desperation, and shows the sense of inescapable hopelessness he feels in the situation" ....if you get what i'm saying?


Ah ok I get it now! Thank you! :biggrin:
Original post by kingaaran
In terms of the Quality of Written Communication, you be cautious of how you spell and communicate your ideas because you cannot get into certain bands with poor spelling, punctuation and/or grammar. The use of an ambitious vocabulary and words that emphasise what you are trying to say (I forgot what they are called) will impress the examiner and make them view you as a stronger candidate - it's always prospective to impress the examiner.

Like in the great example the commentator before posted, vocabulary does make your work have a greater impact, so I would suggest that you try to embed an ambitious vocabulary into your piece. However, don't spend too long worrying about what words to choose, as the quality of your analysis is what really gives you the marks.


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Thank you! Oh yeah, I tried to reply to you on the PM but it said your inbox is full and that you need to delete some messages before I send the reply! :tongue:
Original post by JustaDreamer
Thank you! Oh yeah, I tried to reply to you on the PM but it said your inbox is full and that you need to delete some messages before I send the reply! :tongue:


I have deleted some of my messages now, so it should work now!


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Original post by kingaaran
I have deleted some of my messages now, so it should work now!


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Thanks, just sent it!
I think the AIC question will be something like

'What is the importance of the role of Eva Smith?'

Maybe...
Reply 95
Personally I would like 'Next to of course god america i' to come up, but I know that has come up before. Also, Out Of The Blue, it seems to be a favourite in my school, everybody seems to compare any poem to OOTB. Typically all the poems I actually understand, are the ones that have come up before.

In respect to AIC, I predict the question will be about Eric - following the trend that the questions are about Character. My English teacher also predicted the OMAM question however I seem to have lost the notes. :colondollar:
Reply 96
What do you guys think the OMAM question will be?
I'm with everyone on thinking: - Curley - Slim - Scenery (maybe - but I can't see what part b would be) - shooting of Lennie - death of Candys dog
Do they seem reasonable? :smile:
An Inspector calls
What do you guys think could come up - looking at recent papers the 2 characters that haven't come up are mr billing and Eric but I don't know what the "theme" question could be? Any ideas

ALSO A SHOUTOUT TO SEE IF THERE IS ACTUALLY ANYONE DOING THE PLACE SECTION N POETRY?? No one else is doing it?? haha :smile:
I'm doing Of Mice and Men and The Woman in Black for prose (is anyone else doing TWIB? I don't think I've seen anyone so far..) I feel ok about both, but not fully confident because anything could come up in terms of questions. It's annoying because the OMAM questions from the past were all characters that I would have been able to talk a lot about, but the ones left that they haven't yet asked are much harder to talk about. The Woman in Black is ok for the most part as I feel most of the time with the past questions you can link in almost anything from the book to the question because they're always quite vague. (You get two which you have to pick from, so usually they have quite a vague question about a theme/overall impression of something and then one focused on a particular chapter.)

And then for poetry I'm doing Character and Voice. I think I'm more confident with poems because I can more easily remember different quotations for each that I can talk a lot about, and I'm usually ok at coming up with alternative interpretations/meanings for each.
Original post by i_is_jon
Personally I would like 'Next to of course god america i' to come up, but I know that has come up before. Also, Out Of The Blue, it seems to be a favourite in my school, everybody seems to compare any poem to OOTB. Typically all the poems I actually understand, are the ones that have come up before.

In respect to AIC, I predict the question will be about Eric - following the trend that the questions are about Character. My English teacher also predicted the OMAM question however I seem to have lost the notes. :colondollar:


Do you think you could find out what your teacher predicted the OMAM question to be? Would appreciate that. With all the major characters having already come up, I have little clue as to what the question may be :s-smilie:
Reply 99
Hey, if anyone needs any revision resources for OMAM or Inspector calls, pm me your email address and I will send them all to you. I scored 80/80 in the OMAM Inspector calls units with these so they should be very useful to you. Im doing Macbeth and Animal farm this year on the 23rd and i'm somewhat worried about them. If anyone has any resources for these, can you maybe pm me or quote this post. Thank you!

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