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CCEA as level English literature THE GREAT GATSBY exam!

If any of you are sitting the exam on the 10th, any ideas on what will come up? :smile:

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Reply 2
Hi there,

Just stumbled upon your question and I just thought I'd warn you not to try and guess what will come up as we all tried to do this a year ago, especially with 'Gatsby' and then when it turned up, it was a completely different question, threw us all off kilter completely. And we all re sat it in June. I know it's tempting, but it's better to go into an English exam with an open mind. But best of luck to you! x
Reply 3
Original post by NicolaM
If any of you are sitting the exam on the 10th, any ideas on what will come up? :smile:


Hi, I re-sat the exam and was wondering what question you picked, what you wrote etc and your overall view of it? :-)
Original post by aweir96
Hi, I re-sat the exam and was wondering what question you picked, what you wrote etc and your overall view of it? :-)


I picked qB on wether the view of Fitzgerald dark and despairing vision was held by all in this era. I thought it wasn't too bad but I didn't put in any critic quotes as I'd ran out of time. It wasn't a bad exam but wasn't great either. Poetry however was a disaster, wby?
Reply 5
I picked the same! Wrote about the two sides - good for higher class people and bad for the lower class and how he showed it etc. Poetry- thomas and frost? Awful!!
Reply 6
What was the question for the poetry Thomas and Frost? ccea Jan 2014 As
"Frost is a modernist". Discuss this statement with a representative selection of his poetry.

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I'm sitting this. We're starting Gatsby soon!
Reply 9
unfortunately my teacher for gatsby doesn't teach, nor does she actually mark essays ( you have no idea how many times I have asked) so therefore I have no idea how well I'm doing
Plus not sure how to revise for English lit


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Reply 10
Original post by Ruthx1996
unfortunately my teacher for gatsby doesn't teach, nor does she actually mark essays ( you have no idea how many times I have asked) so therefore I have no idea how well I'm doing
Plus not sure how to revise for English lit


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Revise using all the contexts - historical social political,, biographical, 1920s + modern. Then all the literary - symbolist realist modernist mythic novel of manners romantic etc. then into sub headings like women, media (then and now) east and west, etc
the crappy teacher went off on maternity leave and they got a really good teacher in instead- shes so good
Reply 12
This will be my third time sitting this exam :zomg:
I'm doing this exam on the 4th of June and I'm so worried about it. Our teacher is useless. Out of last years AS group I think around 3 of them actually passed and out of the people who done the repeat in January 1 passed. So it should be interesting to see how this goes
I'm resitting this in June... Did it last last year and poetry let me down :frown:
Does anyone have any revision tips?


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Reply 15
Hi everyone,

Having read your comments I completely understand your concerns as I too had poor teaching. Don't worry though, I worked extremely hard and received full marks in both my poetry (Yeats and Kavanagh) and Gatsby sections so I can give you's some tips on what worked for me in my module last Summer.

Firstly, for the poetry section relate to the key terms in EVERY opening line of EVERY paragraph, it is vital that you let your examiner know that you are understanding the question set. This may seem highly obvious yet this worked for both myself and another student 2 years prior to me who also received full marks in his exam. Also, state e.g "Next, both Yeats and Kavanagh depict the theme of childhood in their poems "Among School Children" and "A Christmas Childhood" by their use of form and structure.." By tweaking this line to suit situation/language/imagery/tone, you are literally telling the examiner what's next on your list of methods and making it extremely easy for marks to be awarded per each method. So for the poetry, I would definitely advise that your essay structure is key to gaining high marks as a messy and unorganised structure does not clearly outline what you're discussing and how well you know the poems being addressed.

Whilst in The Great Gatsby, essay structure is also extremely important as you must, once again, restate the key terms in EVERY opening line of EVERY paragraph whilst counteracting the given statement. For example the question may be; "The Great Gatsby is more effective as a Symbolic Novel than a Realist Novel". Therefore, you must outline your literary contexts for both novels discussed (gaining AO4 marks) and clarifying how it is symbolic e.g the "green light" reflects money and the "fresh green breast of the New World" which relates to the new settlers of America which Gatsby is essentially a member of. Whilst Realism must also be highlighted e.g "rich girls don't marry poor boys" a direct quote from Ginevra King's father who did not approve of Fitzgerald, thus establishing autobiographical context whilst Fitzgerald also evidently outlines the real settings of The Plaza Hotel and New York, creating an effective Realist Novel. It is essential that you agree and disagree with the terms of the question to gain your AO3 marks, "Whilst Fitzgerald utilises allegory to present a Symbolic Novel, his use of actual locations such as New York prove highly effective in 'The Great Gatsby', thus depicting a Realist Novel."

If there's any main points to take from my advice, I would most definitely encourage you to restate the key terms and any relevant context at any given time, yet try to gain a balance as you don't want to lack in methods (AO2) and quotes (AO1) due to placing too much time and emphasis on the key terms. Also, spend time and effort on writing one superb essay with clear and focused opening lines to each paragraph and a strong introduction and conclusion which can be used as a template to be used in all of your essays, with the exception of altering your key terms to suit the given question. By creating a template to be used over and over again, you will recite such a structure in your actual module, much to your own obliviousness! Also, have a sophisticated vocabulary (AO1 marks) in your mind which can be altered per each paragraph e.g. Fitzgerald.. presents/ depicts/ denotes/ employs/ illustrates/ highlights/ discusses/ manifests/ exhibits/ utilises/ creates/ devises etc.

I hope this helps a lot and eases your concerns. Don't worry and just revise and practice essays, learn quotes and know your context as it is vital to achieve Mark bands 5/6a/6b.

Good Luck to you all and may CCEA be generous to you all this Summer!
(edited 9 years ago)
Does anyone have any notes on Gatsby context?? I'm resitting so I won't have a lot of time to look over things


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Original post by SHAMILL
Hi everyone,

Having read your comments I completely understand your concerns as I too had poor teaching. Don't worry though, I worked extremely hard and received full marks in both my poetry (Yeats and Kavanagh) and Gatsby sections so I can give you's some tips on what worked for me in my module last Summer.

Firstly, for the poetry section relate to the key terms in EVERY opening line of EVERY paragraph, it is vital that you let your examiner know that you are understanding the question set. This may seem highly obvious yet this worked for both myself and another student 2 years prior to me who also received full marks in his exam. Also, state e.g "Next, both Yeats and Kavanagh depict the theme of childhood in their poems "Among School Children" and "A Christmas Childhood" by their use of form and structure.." By tweaking this line to suit situation/language/imagery/tone, you are literally telling the examiner what's next on your list of methods and making it extremely easy for marks to be awarded per each method. So for the poetry, I would definitely advise that your essay structure is key to gaining high marks as a messy and unorganised structure does not clearly outline what you're discussing and how well you know the poems being addressed.

Whilst in The Great Gatsby, essay structure is also extremely important as you must, once again, restate the key terms in EVERY opening line of EVERY paragraph whilst counteracting the given statement. For example the question may be; "The Great Gatsby is more effective as a Symbolic Novel than a Realist Novel". Therefore, you must outline your literary contexts for both novels discussed (gaining AO4 marks) and clarifying how it is symbolic e.g the "green light" reflects money and the "fresh green breast of the New World" which relates to the new settlers of America which Gatsby is essentially a member of. Whilst Realism must also be highlighted e.g "rich girls don't marry poor boys" a direct quote from Ginevra King's father who did not approve of Fitzgerald, thus establishing autobiographical context whilst Fitzgerald also evidently outlines the real settings of The Plaza Hotel and New York, creating an effective Realist Novel. It is essential that you agree and disagree with the terms of the question to gain your AO3 marks, "Whilst Fitzgerald utilises allegory to present a Symbolic Novel, his use of actual locations such as New York prove highly effective in 'The Great Gatsby', thus depicting a Realist Novel."

If there's any main points to take from my advice, I would most definitely encourage you to restate the key terms and any relevant context at any given time, yet try to gain a balance as you don't want to lack in methods (AO2) and quotes (AO1) due to placing too much time and emphasis on the key terms. Also, spend time and effort on writing one superb essay with clear and focused opening lines to each paragraph and a strong introduction and conclusion which can be used as a template to be used in all of your essays, with the exception of altering your key terms to suit the given question. By creating a template to be used over and over again, you will recite such a structure in your actual module, much to your own obliviousness! Also, have a sophisticated vocabulary (AO1 marks) in your mind which can be altered per each paragraph e.g. Fitzgerald.. presents/ depicts/ denotes/ employs/ illustrates/ highlights/ discusses/ manifests/ exhibits/ utilises/ creates/ devises etc.

I hope this helps a lot and eases your concerns. Don't worry and just revise and practice essays, learn quotes and know your context as it is vital to achieve Mark bands 5/6a/6b.

Good Luck to you all and may CCEA be generous to you all this Summer!


You're a star! Thanks so much


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Reply 18
Original post by ohdear6
This will be my third time sitting this exam :zomg:



same for me! getting sick and tired of it at this stage :frown:
What have you been revising so far? I don't even know where to begin!

Is everyone doing this exam on the 4th? I have 5 a level exams before this!


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