Paradise Lost

anybody else attempting this exam on the 12th June - OCR i think! i'm taking it with Hamlet which is ok - but learning quotes for Paradise Lost is really hard. I've got a CD of it and that knid of helps but i'm quite worried about it. I'm also worried about what questions they might ask!

anybody else feeling this way? or if anybody has any ideas that might help i'm open to all weird and wonderful suggestions as i need at least a C in this module to get a B overall in A2 and get into my uni!

thanks

Reply 1

epitome

11

People learn in different ways, so you'll have to experiment. With learning quotes, I'd suggest trying the following:

1) Reading them out loud, over and over again, eventually ceasing to look at the page and gradually learning them (like with a script, if you act).

2) Writing them down, repeatedly. This works very very well for me. You'll probably not retain more than 5 at a time, but if you do 10 a day, you'll have more than enough. It shouldn't take more than 30 mins to learn 5 short quotes.

3) Do NOT try to learn big chunks. Find the important bits, and cut them down to be as small as poss - the essays should be in *your* words, not just a regurgitation of the quotes. It's what you do with them, rather than how many you can write down. A good trick is to find less specific ones, so you can use them in several situations. For example (I guess you're only doing Books 1 & 2 of Paradise Lost - not all 12 for A Level!), "that traitor angel" and "the adversary of God and man" are used to describe Satan in Book 2 - these are quotes, which you will be credited for, but are very short and VERY easy to learn. So you'd get marks for saying "that traitor angel" instead of "Satan", but there's very little learning/memory involved. It really is the way to get marks!

Hope this helps a bit, and good luck! :smile:

Reply 2

Chrispee

ahh im doing paradise lost books 9 and 10 and Hamlet on 12th June tooo.. n I just dunno how to revise :s ive written down loads of quotes to learn but hmm doubt i'll remember them lol

what revision you been doing for Hamlet?

Reply 3

worldwide

1

same i'm doing PL and Hamlet! Seems a bit unfair to put arguably the two greatest works of literature in English in one 2 hour paper..
our teachers have recommended about 60 quotes for each (Argh) but i haven't started learning them yet. I have another 3 hrs of exams on that day, too.
Really scared about it..

Reply 4

worldwide

1

nb. i need an A in this paper.

Reply 5

Libly Bee

OP

EnjoyingLife

nb. i need an A in this paper.

ohhh thats harsh - i've only ever got as a high as a C+ from the english teachers for a paradise lost essay. hamlets alright but i tried making a list of useful quotes and everything said seems to be a useful quote!

i've got paradise lost on cd so thats helping a bit but still i'm really worried about this exam!

Reply 6

epitome

11

You do NOT need 60 quotes for each text for A Level. You just do NOT. I'm not advocating laziness, but I am advocating reasonability. If you have 20 quotes for each (MAXIMUM) you'll be more than more than fine! It's to do with how you select quotes, how you use them, and what you do with them - not how much of the texts you can regurgitate.

Think about it - if you know the whole of Hamlet, and wrote it in the exam, you'd get about 5 marks. And those would be for spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Use the quotes well, carefully and sparingly. You do NOT need to know 60 from each text.

Reply 7

Libly Bee

OP

yeh i think i might cut my hamlet quotes list down - jus learn a few good quotes which i can use for lots of questions

Reply 8

epitome

11

Yes, quite!

And good luck! :smile:

Reply 9

rename

i'm doing paradise lost books 1 and 2 on the 12th ... i'm hoping i can chuck in as much critical commentary as possible and make them go .... oooooo :wink:

lol .. but i doubt it'll work .. worth a try though :p:

Reply 10

Chrispee

EnjoyingLife

same i'm doing PL and Hamlet! Seems a bit unfair to put arguably the two greatest works of literature in English in one 2 hour paper..
our teachers have recommended about 60 quotes for each (Argh) but i haven't started learning them yet. I have another 3 hrs of exams on that day, too.
Really scared about it..

Omg 60? My teacher said you should just put like 5 from book 9 and 5 from book 10, and then some critics

Reply 11

Libly Bee

OP

rename

i'm doing paradise lost books 1 and 2 on the 12th ... i'm hoping i can chuck in as much critical commentary as possible and make them go .... oooooo :wink:

lol .. but i doubt it'll work .. worth a try though :p:

ur doing books 1 and 2 - i didn't think u could do those ones anymore! yeh i'm hoping i can get my quote about what T.S.Elliot thought about Milton and hopefully then they won't realise that apart from that my essay is rather shoddy!

Reply 12

rename

Libly Bee

ur doing books 1 and 2 - i didn't think u could do those ones anymore! yeh i'm hoping i can get my quote about what T.S.Elliot thought about Milton and hopefully then they won't realise that apart from that my essay is rather shoddy!

lol yh books 1 and 2 .. i'm on the uber evil board WJEC .. i hope i can get my wordsworth and percy bysshe shelly quotes in .. lol :wink:

.. i hope the examiners don't see this for what it is ... lol .. make them go ooo :p:

.. and forget about how bad my essay is ..

Reply 13

Chrispee

We got given some quotes the other day which I'm trying to learn but cant actually remember them now lol

Reply 14

kizer

15

How did people find this? I did the Adam heroic, Eve interesting question - I wrote for ages but don't think I was actually making sense!

Reply 15

Libly Bee

OP

i did that one too - think i stuffed it up cos i babbled too much!

Reply 16

mikejones

that time of the year again...(lol)

Any of you got any tips for me? (books 9 and 10 exam on monday) :biggrin:

Paradise Lost

Related discussions

Articles for you