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AQA A2 English Literature LITA3: Love Through the Ages, 6 June 2014

Hi guys... I know it's relatively early to post about exam stuff... But next week my class shall be starting exam stuff!!! This weekend the realisation has hit me hard! Not long left at all!

This will be a general thread to discuss your texts you have studied for coursework and wider reading and set texts. Oh and exam help of course!

For coursework I had to do Othello and, I chose Enduring Love and The Pic of Dorian Gray to discuss immorality! But my 1st draft was a shocking Band 2... My expression lacks clarity for starts. And have no critic or alternative interpretations :frown: (found some critics a few hours so shall be putting those in). I'm hoping to get a Band 4 by the end of it. I really need to secure a mid Band 4.

Exam Texts we've studied Wuthering Heights, A Streetcar and A Woman of No Importance. Hate Wilde's play simply because Ruth by Gaskell is the exact same apart from the endings.

For wider reading I have chosen to do these:

ILLICIT LOVE: Maurice(prose), Romeo and Juliet(drama) and Illicit Love (poem)

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: Ruth (prose), Angels in America (drama), A Red, Red Rose (poem)

MARRIED LOVE: A Woman of No Importance (drama) (I NEED MORE!!)

PASSIONATE LOVE: Maurice, Othello (drama)

DIVINE LOVE: (havent got any - yet, any suggestions?)

FAMILIAL LOVE: Ruth, Shakey Sonnet 37 and need a drama (probs Streetcar).



Anyone else feel free to perhaps share your resources, revision tips and etc. Hopefully this thread will become popular within the next few weeks!

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Hello, fellow 'love through the ages' peoples. :smile:

Anybody actually know how to revise for this exam? Because apart from

a) Knowing your texts inside out, and
b) Doing practice papers,

I'm not sure what you really can do. :s-smilie:
Original post by ThatDisneyObsess
Hello, fellow 'love through the ages' peoples. :smile:

Anybody actually know how to revise for this exam? Because apart from

a) Knowing your texts inside out, and
b) Doing practice papers,

I'm not sure what you really can do. :s-smilie:



You don't even need to know your text inside out! Well you kinda do, but the main aspects of where and how long is portrayed through LFS. This is what I'm doing.

My class have started exam prep and looked at an exam answer and it seemed quite straightforward in terms of picking out things to compare. We only looked at Q1 which doesn't refer to any specific type of love, but it's all about the comparison of the two items.

I think you should practise planning. Always practise planning and time management. How are your skills on your Assessment Objectives? Your terminology and concepts are up to scratch? Also try and do some practise on annotations. All this is what we are learning now in class.

I feel so unprepared for this exam. It's so hard!
I'm really struggling with initially analysing the unseen extract
Original post by magnusthedog
I'm really struggling with initially analysing the unseen extract


What I do is analyse each of the extracts individually for interesting lexis, structures, form features (e.g. line breaks or rhyme scheme in a poem) and presentations of love, and then compare them. I'd say spend half an hour planning the first two extracts, and half an hour for the second two.
Does anyone know where I can get sample answers to previous papers????
Original post by ThatDisneyObsess
What I do is analyse each of the extracts individually for interesting lexis, structures, form features (e.g. line breaks or rhyme scheme in a poem) and presentations of love, and then compare them. I'd say spend half an hour planning the first two extracts, and half an hour for the second two.


How do you plan though? I have no idea how to set out a plan. I was gonna do this for last yr, but I forgot and got low marks for it :frown:
Original post by magnusthedog
I'm really struggling with initially analysing the unseen extract


What are you struggling with? Where to start, what you should be looking for? Or what to typically write in your answer?

How we have learned it in class is that we always analyse the extract, one by one. So to pick out any meanings about love through literary devices as much as possible. For example I find a metaphor that expresses sister/familial love. Do this for the two 2 items on each question. Then compare them with different aspects the present about love.

Also, looking at previous examplar answers, our teacher said it's alright to just mention wider reading separately. For instance, write about one or two paragraphs on WR at the end of your Items' analysis.

If you are struggling, I suggest you look at what the exam is saying ABOUT LOVE. Q1 will always be a generic question like "Explain how the writer presents their ideas of love through their thoughts and feelings." or something like that. Whilst Q2 will always be more specific for example "Explain how writers express their ideas about strong emotions through thoughts and feelings." (this was on a paper we had to do).

Analysing will become easier if you know your terminologies of poetry, drama and prose. When we was in class, at the start we spent a whole 1hr on Q1 just analysing Item A n B and same for Q2. Gradually it got shorter to 15 mins obs. But what we found out is that pick out the most noticeable ones that depict love easily.

Start practising your exam technique (skim reading, terminologies, inferring and planning).
Original post by Cool_JordH
How do you plan though? I have no idea how to set out a plan. I was gonna do this for last yr, but I forgot and got low marks for it :frown:


I just write 'paragraph 1' and make notes on what I'll put there, then 'paragraph 2', and so on. It's not an exact science.
Original post by ThatDisneyObsess
I just write 'paragraph 1' and make notes on what I'll put there, then 'paragraph 2', and so on. It's not an exact science.


No it's not - however some people might do p1, compare form, p2, compare structure etc. So it's different for everyone. Just wondered if you had any formulaic way of answering the question (minus the sarcasm).
Original post by Cool_JordH
No it's not - however some people might do p1, compare form, p2, compare structure etc. So it's different for everyone. Just wondered if you had any formulaic way of answering the question (minus the sarcasm).



:eek:I genuinely wasn't trying to be sarcastic! I'm so sorry it came across that way!
Original post by Cool_JordH
No it's not - however some people might do p1, compare form, p2, compare structure etc. So it's different for everyone. Just wondered if you had any formulaic way of answering the question (minus the sarcasm).

I always read the two extracts through and try to identify a common theme (ie the act of courting or parting lovers). I write that in a bubble in the middle of the page and then quickly jot everything down that I think one author is saying about that in one colour (ie saying it's difficult through the use of complex conceit or saying it's exciting through a certain stage direction) I then do the same with the other extract in a different colour, this time writing around what I already have written so I can see similarities and difference. I then use a third colour for wider reading a fourth for how context supports these ideas. It them becomes easy to group ideas and dismiss ones which aren't well supported and voila! Then all you need to do is decide the order in which you're going to explore you points. Oh and do all that in 30 mins.
Hey, this blog from a student has loads of Love through the Ages posts, with quotations, analysis and types of love organised into categories: http://mythsofmedia.blogspot.co.uk/
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by miltoni123
Hey, this blog from a student has loads of Love through the Ages posts, with quotations, analysis and types of love organised into categories: http://ablogofwiderreading2.blogspot.co.uk/


This is so good! Kudos to this girl for going to that effort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhUPtjrKXbM

Hey everyone. Just found this video, which is really good imo :smile:
Reply 16
For the life of me I can't complete the paper in the time given
Original post by diggy
For the life of me I can't complete the paper in the time given



I did a paper last night and was fifteen minutes out - oops. :redface:

How are people revising for this? I've learnt about 30 wider reading quotes/points for the, but I'm really worried about the timing in this exam. I've been getting 100% in it all year, but that wasn't under timed conditions - argh, scared! I want to do English at University so I NEED at least an A in this and hopefully an A*. How are people preparing for the two unseen extracts? My basic idea is to print out a load of past papers and annotate the hell out of them. I struggle with Shakespeare...not when I have plenty of time to read it, but under timed conditions it's really easy to misinterpret an extract.
Reply 18
Original post by The Nightingale
I did a paper last night and was fifteen minutes out - oops. :redface:

How are people revising for this? I've learnt about 30 wider reading quotes/points for the, but I'm really worried about the timing in this exam. I've been getting 100% in it all year, but that wasn't under timed conditions - argh, scared! I want to do English at University so I NEED at least an A in this and hopefully an A*. How are people preparing for the two unseen extracts? My basic idea is to print out a load of past papers and annotate the hell out of them. I struggle with Shakespeare...not when I have plenty of time to read it, but under timed conditions it's really easy to misinterpret an extract.


Well ive learnt all of my Wider reading (i learnt mine by theme) Im ok with analysing texts, most A's in my class work

How do your plan your answers ? I use PEE yet i still run out of timr


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by diggy
Well ive learnt all of my Wider reading (i learnt mine by theme) Im ok with analysing texts, most A's in my class work

How do your plan your answers ? I use PEE yet i still run out of timr


Posted from TSR Mobile



I do the following plan (it has never failed to get me top grades - touch wood - but I think now that I'm doing timed conditions it's tricky to get it all in!)

Thesis: what are the texts ultimately saying?
Introduction (typically introduce with a critical quotation that sometimes challenges the central theme.)
Language 2-3 points of comparison
Perspective - 1 point of comparison
Form - 2-3 points
Structure - 2-3 points
Social/historical context: social circumstances, genre, time, gender of author.
Conclude

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