York Notes

One of my friend's friend said he got an A at AS English Lit without reading the actual set text (only read York Notes and other study notes). Do you think this is possible? Btw, how useful are York Notes?

Reply 1

mellow-yellow

1

Hmmm well I think that's doubtful, although possible. What books was this person studying? Didn't they go to lessons?! Because surely the set texts would be studied in the lessons, so it wouldn't matter as much if they hadn't read them independently.

York Notes are useful at times - mainly for chapter/scene summaries, but I find a lot of the time they don't pick up on points I would think are extremely important.

If you're meant to be presenting something in class and haven't done it then I find York Notes are very good for blagging it hehe! :biggrin:

Reply 2

*Princess*

I previously brought the York Notes book for GCSE Romeo and Juliet. I think they are quite useful, they have the main themes we have to write about in our essay such as characters, etc, they also have some useful quotes in them analysed- there are also gr8 stuff on the internet if u use google- for me i think they were gr8 because i struggle with shakespeare... they are definitely worth it £4 or whatever can get you a higher grade or you can probably get it out of the library if u dont wanna pay

Reply 3

bryan

OP

10

mellow-yellow

Hmmm well I think that's doubtful, although possible. What books was this person studying? Didn't they go to lessons?! Because surely the set texts would be studied in the lessons, so it wouldn't matter as much if they hadn't read them independently.

York Notes are useful at times - mainly for chapter/scene summaries, but I find a lot of the time they don't pick up on points I would think are extremely important.

If you're meant to be presenting something in class and haven't done it then I find York Notes are very good for blagging it hehe! :biggrin:

I think he did Dracula. Yes, he did go to lessons. But i still don't think one could get an A by only reading study notes and going to lessons.

Reply 4

mellow-yellow

1

I think the game kinda changes at A Level though. I mean I *have to* get an A in English Lit for A Level if I wanna go to the Uni I want to.. and I've found that York Notes just aren't substantial enough to be of any real help. I've found the internet and critical essays much more helpful.

But for GCSE, yes they were much more helpful.

--------------

bryan

I think he did Dracula. Yes, he did go to lessons. But i still don't think one could get an A by only reading study notes and going to lessons.

No probably not. What I meant was, if he said that he'd never read the book then that's a load of rubbish if he went to the lessons! Cos what you do in lessons is go through the book! I mean, for one of the plays we were studying for AS I didn't read it independently and I didn't need to because we went through it in lessons. And I managed to get an A. Although I wouldn't recommend this because obviously tis better to read as much as poss etc etc :p:

Reply 5

Reading Room

9

I like York Notes - they tend to be good as a checklist for areas you might want to look into, providing the 'bare bones' of the ideas which you can then add to with your own thoughts or notes from class. They're also good for character evaluations and getting the plot straight in your head.

HOWEVER... the main problem is that most other A Level students also like them, meaning that the one or two good points that they make are cited in almost every essay! Like I said, good for the basics but better if you can add to them.

As far as the guy who got an A without studying the text goes, it is possible but extremely difficult. This is because YN tend to have lots of comment, without backing it up with quotations. In exams, examiners *must* see evidence of quotations to award high marks. Also, if you don't read the text, its likely that you will get mixed up when talking about certain parts in context to previous and future parts.

Prices have been going up recently... they used to be £3.99, and are now £5.99. You can buy them more cheaply on Amazon Marketplace and eBay though.

Finally, remember to get the YN ADVANCED if you are doing A Level, rather than the standard books which are meant for GCSE :wink:

Reply 6

Niaya

13

I found york note really good for GCSE and i went to buy one for the pardners (sp?) tale but they dont do one im gutted, but i would ever rely fully on a study guide, i used the one for to kill a mocking bird to make sure i had covered all the themes and it had example questions in it

Reply 7

beanie

1

If he went to all the lessons he will have read the set texts, as that’s what the lessons are for. All we did in lit lessons last year was read the texts, talk about it, do practice essays and work out themes etc. I did read them again on my own, but not to any great length. I found York Notes helpful for Dr Faustus, as I did not understand it at all at first so got the basics from the YN book then built my own ideas.

Now, if you said he had got an A at A2 without reading his texts that would be more debatable as the coursework and WW1 modules especially rely on independent study/reading.

Reply 8

cappucino07

It's definitely possible.

Eng Lit is simply a case of manipulating the mark scheme, nothing to do with ability.

Reply 9

Reading Room

9

morgangills

It's definitely possible.

Eng Lit is simply a case of manipulating the mark scheme, nothing to do with ability.

How do you mean? I think that at least some talent is required...?

Reply 10

cappucino07

Marcus-B

How do you mean? I think that at least some talent is required...?

Well yes but with a simple read of the way in which papers are marked you can play it to your advantage.

Reply 11

Toscar

11

the examiners are looking for a sustained argument focused directly at the question, not 5/6 random sentences that tick the AO's boxes and fly through their hoops ! How do you do write a such an essay without having any talent?

Reply 12

wilbur

1

morgangills

Well yes but with a simple read of the way in which papers are marked you can play it to your advantage.

EngLit marking is so unpredictable in my experience that you'd have to be fairly clever to work out the true marking criteria for each examiner.

As for York notes, I see the appeal, but I think they're often used as more of a crutch for people who might feel insecure about the exam.

Reply 13

clouddweller

the problem with york notes is that they focus on the main issues and dont really explore any further; not only do you get better understanding with through individual exploration but in my experience you gt better marks too.
they're a good starting point though, especially if you're unsure of what you're doing.

as for manipulating the marks scheme....i agree that what with all the 'assessment objectives' you have to reach its easy to feel as if you are just jumping thorough hoops, and that it might be possible to manipulate, its certainly annoying to have to make sure theyre all in there explicitly etc etc but i dont think manipulation is possible, theres a definite amount that depends on how you present, evaluate, discuss, analyse etc your evidence and i think you have to have a certain level of skill to do that to a high grade standard.

Reply 14

andyjim123

its definately possible, i did Eng Lit. AS last year, once a week after school for an hour. I didnt have time to read the book for the summer, so i watched the film, looked at the important stuff in Yorks Notes and did rly well!

(thank-you yorks notes, you're a life saver!!!)

York Notes

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