AQA LITB3 Gothic - 6th June 2013

Hey!
With timing, I spent 10 minutes prepping my answers and thought up 4 mini essays/arguments which answered the question. Really important to bullet point a conclusion, so if you do run out of time (like I did with question two) then you can tell the examiner to refer to your plan for which you can still get marks!

I'd be glad to send you some practise responses, I studied Northanger Abbey, Frankenstein and the Pardoner's Tale. What's your e-mail ?

Hey!
With timing, I spent 10 minutes prepping my answers and thought up 4 mini essays/arguments which answered the question. Really important to bullet point a conclusion, so if you do run out of time (like I did with question two) then you can tell the examiner to refer to your plan for which you can still get marks!

I'd be glad to send you some practise responses, I studied Northanger Abbey, Frankenstein and the Pardoner's Tale. What's your e-mail ?

Hey guys, simple question here but I need some help

My teacher always thought that we had to study 4 texts, answering Section A about text 1, then answering Section B about texts 2, 3, and 4... But after closer inspection of the specification and papers, it seems that you can just study 3 texts, and answer Section A about text 1, then answer Section B with texts 1, 2 and 3? I told my teacher this and she seemed utterly perplexed that this may in fact be the case. Is the second situation here allowed?

Your teacher is wrong. You only need to study 3 texts and can use the same text in Section A again in Section B.

Wow, okay brilliant. Was it the same for LITB1 too?

I know this may not be the right threat... but... if anybody has any advice for Lit b4 coursework I'd greatly appreciate it! Do your centres do coursework first then exam? For some reason mine makes us sit the paper in January and then start the coursework after, so that we finish early and have time to revise for other subjects or time to revise for the resit... I personally like this system so I feel lucky to have been in the last year to take January modules!

Wow, okay brilliant. Was it the same for LITB1 too?

I know this may not be the right threat... but... if anybody has any advice for Lit b4 coursework I'd greatly appreciate it! Do your centres do coursework first then exam? For some reason mine makes us sit the paper in January and then start the coursework after, so that we finish early and have time to revise for other subjects or time to revise for the resit... I personally like this system so I feel lucky to have been in the last year to take January modules!

Hey I sat this exam in January and got full marks, I think the key to it is absolutely nailing the AOs, it sounds really simplistic but I don't think that this spec allows room for creativity or originality unless the AOs are really clearly signposted.
What I found worked for me was really engaging with the terms of the question, in my intro to both questions I defined the terms set out in the question, and then I integrated the terms in the question into the beginning and ending of every single paragraph I wrote so that all of my points were consistently relevant.

And as Unsworth said, really go to town on evaluation! I tried to link AO2, AO3 and AO4 together, by using contextual evidence in order to evaluate my arguments; I would make a point about language structure and form - suggest how this could be interpreted with regards to the terms set out in the question - and then evaluated them using contextual evidence.

I think students need to go about this paper really methodically, almost mathematically! I also found reading the examiners reports for each session absolutely crucial!

I know this may not be the right threat... but... if anybody has any advice for Lit b4 coursework I'd greatly appreciate it! Do your centres do coursework first then exam? For some reason mine makes us sit the paper in January and then start the coursework after, so that we finish early and have time to revise for other subjects or time to revise for the resit... I personally like this system so I feel lucky to have been in the last year to take January modules!

Is anyone else studying The Pardoners Tale for this exam? I'm finding it so hard to revise/ write essays for, any advice would be a lot of help!

We did the coursework first and as far as I know I have full marks in both pieces! Are there any specific bits you are struggling with? We did the critical approaches one first and I did a feminist/canonic reading of 'Integrity' by Adrienne Rich, and the part B I compared 'The Bell Jar' and 'If On a winter's night a traveller' by Italio Calvino.

I think the key is, like the exam to try and hit all the AOs and intergrate them, but they like a bit of individual interpretation. Especially for part B, try not to focus too much on the obvious language analysis and go for more obscure ideas in the form and structure; mine was about the search for identity in terms of the move from modernism to postmodernism though the texts. Also make sure for that one that you compare constantly, as I was told we would lose marks for talking about the texts too much individually.
For Part A, just make sure you keep on referring to the critical approach you are taking, as you will get no marks for simply analysing the text if it isn't relevant.

Also, critics are fab, examiners love them.

Hope that helped! I'm really struggling with my Gothic exam, I found AS so much easier. Maybe its because we have a different teacher this year and she is nowhere near as good. Any tips on the kind of quotes we should learn? I'm doing Wuthering Heights, The bloody Chamber and Macbeth so its a bit different to you, but seeing as you got full marks any tips would be appreciated :P

good luck!