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WJEC AS Geology GL2 Exam - 30/4/14
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Just thought I'd start a thread about the upcoming WJEC GL2 exam, discussion about geology seems to be scarce on this website.
Nervous?
Nervous?
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#2
I'm resitting this exam which I sat last year and shamefully got an E. But I'm much stronger at map work and mineral identification so I am fairly confident. How are you feeling about it?
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#3
Heya
I'm sitting the exam for the first time, nervous because it's something I haven't experienced before but also excited and fairly confident about it..I'm fine with rocks, minerals and fossils (although I kind of have a grudge against fossils- I wanted to be a palaeontologist until I started this course and now I absolutely cannot stand fossils!! Oh well at least we don't have to memorize as much as OCR do mwahahaha)
Map-work is not my strong point. However I've tried my absolute best with that, and luckily when there's a cross section it's super easy to pick up marks though so I'm not too worried
All in all, generally excited ^^
I'm sitting the exam for the first time, nervous because it's something I haven't experienced before but also excited and fairly confident about it..I'm fine with rocks, minerals and fossils (although I kind of have a grudge against fossils- I wanted to be a palaeontologist until I started this course and now I absolutely cannot stand fossils!! Oh well at least we don't have to memorize as much as OCR do mwahahaha)
Map-work is not my strong point. However I've tried my absolute best with that, and luckily when there's a cross section it's super easy to pick up marks though so I'm not too worried
All in all, generally excited ^^
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Well, I'm hoping we don't get an overly difficult cross section (of the past papers, some were easy and some were really hard...). Also, hoping that the samples are distinctive and not easily mistaken for other similar rocks/minerals. Other than that, not too stressed.
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#5
I've come across an absolute *BLEEP* of a map that requires you to draw the cross section, and I have a simple (and very stupid) question. When the beds are dipping to the right, with your protractor do you position it horizontally to find the dip, which I've been doing, or do you position it vertically? The only reason I ask is because in this particular cross section part of Rock Unit F is drawn in and it doesn't match up to the rest of the beds at all.
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The protractor is supposed to lie horizontal with the curved edge facing you. Perhaps it didn't match up because the question paper was scaled weird when printing?
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#7
Well, that was mixed. Some questions were incredibly easy, and some were very difficult (for me at least). Overall I think I did okay, somewhere in the C-B range.
How did you guys find it?
How did you guys find it?
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#8
I found it ok until I came out of the exam and realised the majority of what I did was wrong. I ran out of time so missed out on about roughly 5 marks I think. Due to the pressure I just couldn't think straight resulting in the weirdest looking cross-section known to man and I managed to write that the metamorphic rock was marble when clearly it was metaquartzite- I also drew the orthoquartzite as igneous (interlocking crystals) - and mislabelled the teeth and sockets on the fossil. Yep, not feeling too spectacular now :/ I have literally no idea where my brain was. Luckily past papers for GL1 and GL3 suggest I am in the B-A range for those so hopefully my overall grade will not be horrific..?
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#9
GL1 and GL3 aren't too difficult, so you should be fine. GL1 is also only an hour long but holds a lot of marks so that should give you a chance to bump your grade up. It's a shame you ran out of time, because the last question was about how sedimentary structures can be used to indicate current flow which was an easy four marks for me as soon as I saw the photograph of some ripple marks.
I originally put marble but I changed it later on to metaquartzite. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking Rock C was limestone so C1 must be marble, a few of my friends did that by accident too. I didn't get that the metaquartzite was highly cemented though
and I put that it was dominated by crystals which I'm unsure of.
I basically just guessed the answers to the fault questions. I've been taught it over and over but I'll never quite grasp it.
Yeah, I'm feeling less and less confident about this the more I think about it.
I originally put marble but I changed it later on to metaquartzite. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking Rock C was limestone so C1 must be marble, a few of my friends did that by accident too. I didn't get that the metaquartzite was highly cemented though
and I put that it was dominated by crystals which I'm unsure of. I basically just guessed the answers to the fault questions. I've been taught it over and over but I'll never quite grasp it.
Yeah, I'm feeling less and less confident about this the more I think about it.
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#10
[QUOTE=the last question was about how sedimentary structures can be used to indicate current flow which was an easy four marks for me as soon as I saw the photograph of some ripple marks.
.[/QUOTE]
I briefly attempted this one in the last 2 minutes, drew two pictures (one of a turbidity current and another of the flute casts) -I picked the flue casts- and wrote two sentences quickly before turning back to another question and running out of time. I can't even remember what I wrote for the majority of that paper.....aaaaaaah the pressure! I knew that the rock was definitely a type of sandstone, dominated by quartz and feldspar, alas, my brain just couldn't form the words orthoquartzite and metaquartzite until I walked out of the room..*sigh* How did the other parts go for you? Did you identify the other specimen as dolerite?
.[/QUOTE]
I briefly attempted this one in the last 2 minutes, drew two pictures (one of a turbidity current and another of the flute casts) -I picked the flue casts- and wrote two sentences quickly before turning back to another question and running out of time. I can't even remember what I wrote for the majority of that paper.....aaaaaaah the pressure! I knew that the rock was definitely a type of sandstone, dominated by quartz and feldspar, alas, my brain just couldn't form the words orthoquartzite and metaquartzite until I walked out of the room..*sigh* How did the other parts go for you? Did you identify the other specimen as dolerite?
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(Original post by taelarc96)
I also drew the orthoquartzite as igneous (interlocking crystals)
I also drew the orthoquartzite as igneous (interlocking crystals)
The map went alright for me though. There were no monstrously difficult questions, but on the first question it kinda annoyed me that it was asking if the dolerite was equigranular instead of equicrystalline and grain size instead of crystal size. At first I thought they were trying to catch me out by describing it as sedimentary.
All in all I think it went well, can't complain
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#13
(Original post by taelarc96)
I briefly attempted this one in the last 2 minutes, drew two pictures (one of a turbidity current and another of the flute casts) -I picked the flue casts- and wrote two sentences quickly before turning back to another question and running out of time. I can't even remember what I wrote for the majority of that paper.....aaaaaaah the pressure! I knew that the rock was definitely a type of sandstone, dominated by quartz and feldspar, alas, my brain just couldn't form the words orthoquartzite and metaquartzite until I walked out of the room..*sigh* How did the other parts go for you? Did you identify the other specimen as dolerite?
I briefly attempted this one in the last 2 minutes, drew two pictures (one of a turbidity current and another of the flute casts) -I picked the flue casts- and wrote two sentences quickly before turning back to another question and running out of time. I can't even remember what I wrote for the majority of that paper.....aaaaaaah the pressure! I knew that the rock was definitely a type of sandstone, dominated by quartz and feldspar, alas, my brain just couldn't form the words orthoquartzite and metaquartzite until I walked out of the room..*sigh* How did the other parts go for you? Did you identify the other specimen as dolerite?
Would either of you mind telling me what you put for the fault questions and your thought processes for them?
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#14
My specimen of dolerite looked porphyritic, ugh, and the orthoquartzite looked crystalline for me too. Fault and fold questions are generally bad for me no matter what, I'm looking to Amir for answers on that one! Haha yep I almost always guess the answers for them too.
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#15
(Original post by taelarc96)
I found it ok until I came out of the exam and realised the majority of what I did was wrong. I ran out of time so missed out on about roughly 5 marks I think. Due to the pressure I just couldn't think straight resulting in the weirdest looking cross-section known to man and I managed to write that the metamorphic rock was marble when clearly it was metaquartzite- I also drew the orthoquartzite as igneous (interlocking crystals) - and mislabelled the teeth and sockets on the fossil. Yep, not feeling too spectacular now :/ I have literally no idea where my brain was. Luckily past papers for GL1 and GL3 suggest I am in the B-A range for those so hopefully my overall grade will not be horrific..?
I found it ok until I came out of the exam and realised the majority of what I did was wrong. I ran out of time so missed out on about roughly 5 marks I think. Due to the pressure I just couldn't think straight resulting in the weirdest looking cross-section known to man and I managed to write that the metamorphic rock was marble when clearly it was metaquartzite- I also drew the orthoquartzite as igneous (interlocking crystals) - and mislabelled the teeth and sockets on the fossil. Yep, not feeling too spectacular now :/ I have literally no idea where my brain was. Luckily past papers for GL1 and GL3 suggest I am in the B-A range for those so hopefully my overall grade will not be horrific..?
For the mapwork question, on the far right I drew a vertical pluton rather than a horizontal unconformity, anyone know if that's right or wrong?
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#16
(Original post by golbom)
I literally made all of these mistakes aswell lol.
For the mapwork question, on the far right I drew a vertical pluton rather than a horizontal unconformity, anyone know if that's right or wrong?
I literally made all of these mistakes aswell lol.
For the mapwork question, on the far right I drew a vertical pluton rather than a horizontal unconformity, anyone know if that's right or wrong?
Plutons / batholiths are vertical with a base that goes 'outwards' at the bottom (I am so bad at describing sorry) and I forgot to draw it like that. *sigh*
How do I remember all of this now but not in the exam?!
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#17
Does anyone know if it's possible to re-sit just this unit of the AS? (As opposed to having to retake the whole AS) and if we have to pay when it's just one unit?
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#18
Yeah I know what you mean about it going outward, can't remember if I did it like that.
Oh well, gl2 can't be worth too much right? Hopefully gl1 and 3 will be easier
Oh well, gl2 can't be worth too much right? Hopefully gl1 and 3 will be easier
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(Original post by Tutankhamun)
Would either of you mind telling me what you put for the fault questions and your thought processes for them?
Would either of you mind telling me what you put for the fault questions and your thought processes for them?
(Original post by taelarc96)
Does anyone know if it's possible to re-sit just this unit of the AS? (As opposed to having to retake the whole AS) and if we have to pay when it's just one unit?
Does anyone know if it's possible to re-sit just this unit of the AS? (As opposed to having to retake the whole AS) and if we have to pay when it's just one unit?
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