ocr classical civilisation a level - world of the hero, greek theatre, late roman

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Went a little serious there but I mean at least have some idea of what scholars think. They've probably all argued different sides at some points so get a few names, some general ideas and you should be fine.

Original post by inslupbanana

Seriously don't listen to them. If you read the mark schemes for the specimen paper to get into the top or middle marking band you have to have at least some quotes from book/quotes from scholars. Your teacher probably told you that because they haven't done the spec before and can't get their head around it. My teachers have told me different things, the younger ones seem to think we will die without scholarship and the older ones sort of don't understand it but even they agree that we need some quotes.

Reply 21

inslupbanana

tbh if its in the textbook it isn't going to be in the exam but I suppose you'd talk about literary technique and style- mention how it was originally oral poetry, epithets, direct speech, characters telling the stories themselves, variety of character and location etc

Original post by luckycharmer

my main problem at the moment is that the only questions we've seemed to do in class for the 30 marker (or even the 20s) are ones focused on a theme or a character and start with a simple statement like... "Within the Odyssey slaves cannot be trusted" or "Turnus is a character we cannot pity" etc but like... I'm trying to do practice plans today to cover my bases and one in the textbook is "It has been said that the Odyssey is the most influential story in western literature. To what extent does Homer's narrative technique engage the modern audience?" like. how do you even work with that

Reply 22

lou-man

This is what it says in the mark scheme of the specimen paper. I can't seem to find the bit you're talking about, could you quote it on here?
Learners are expected to make use of

scholarly views, academic approaches
and sources to support their argument;
the approach to crediting this is outlined
in the Levels of Response grid.
Points are very well supported by critical perceptive
analysis, interpretation and evaluation of classical
sources and secondary sources, scholars and/or
academic works (top band)

Reply 23

inslupbanana

Okay the 3-4 band of the 30 marker has 'there is little or no use of secondary sources, scholars and/or academic works' as the second bulletpoint while the top band has what you said. Yes there is some and/or going on in the top band which suggests scholars aren't necessary but if you don't use secondary sources at all you're gonna have to come up with some great knowledge of the book to make up for it. The point is either way that the mark scheme still isn't very clear, it may not be necessary to have scholars but as that is the one of the differences with the new spec it probably is. (Sorry if this unclear I'm kinda hyped). Basically do whatever you want but do it well!

Original post by lou-man

Reply 24

hanbaex

probably about a 5 i feel okay with content however, due to it being a new spec that could all change. x

Original post by Anavyssos<3

how prepared are we feeling on a scale from 1 to ten??

Reply 25

Slothsrcool

I feel like Argos tbh

Reply 26

Louie_belle

My teacher told me to look at AQAs past paper because OCR tend to use it for their next papers. If the Odyssey is about revenge or Heroism... i feel that might be easy. For the Aenied hopefully should be focused on the first 6books. Cuz the 2nd half were terrible.
The scholarship i know so far is by stephen harrison on oxford clips who said that “juno is basically a soap opera B***h”. Which is for the aenied.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 27

Slothsrcool

Nah I’d prefer something on xenia or the gods for the odyssey and something about war, propoganda or women/ maybe Aeanas’ characterisation for the Aeneid

Original post by Louie_belle

Reply 28

Louie_belle

It was actually a good paper, the odyssey was super good bc of the fantasy books. The 30mark was beautiful for the odyssey.

Reply 29

Slothsrcool

I thought it was pretty gpod too althogh I did the Aeneid 30 marker (which in retrospect i could have done better)’ heyho it’s doen now though. Well done everyone.

Original post by Louie_belle

It was actually a good paper, the odyssey was super good bc of the fantasy books. The 30mark was beautiful for the odyssey.

Reply 30

Anavyssos<3

how did everyone do???

Reply 31

ygfgfcyrrbv

my laptop crashed in the exam so doesn't matter how well i revised, i was thrown off for the rest of it

Reply 32

inslupbanana

Pretty sure I did the comparison question wrong because the passages were basically the same so I just went on a tangent that they showed different sides of ancient society's beliefs in death. Some kid came out and started talking about how he managed to get the role of women, the paterfamilias and a ton of other crap in there so oops

Reply 33

scorpionfish17

Feel like I messed up the Odyssey 20 marker cause it was such a weirdly broad question. Why did they have to choose such similar extracts as well, man. I was so bored writing the same thing. And then comparing them! Didn’t really like it, not feeling great

Reply 34

inslupbanana

Yeah I know exactly what you mean, having to do basically the same 'look at the language' thing for what was effectively the same passage and then compare them just felt a bit redundant. I didn't think the Odyssey 20 marker was too bad, purely because it was broad I just sort of wrote whatever the hell I wanted. Didn't like the Aeneid one as much because it didn't seem like there were enough points to make for 20 marks.

Original post by scorpionfish17

Reply 35

Slothsrcool

That sounds fine. I commented on death as well e.g. more pessimistic appraisal in homer and more philosophical and possibly optimistic image in virgil and the contention between stoic and epicurean thought (very briefly mentioned) and the authority of anchises as the paterfamilias which relates to the patriarchal structure of romans society. But other people said they talked about the gods and nostos but I sure as hell didn’t lol.

Original post by inslupbanana

Reply 36

inslupbanana

Well yours seems more in depth and I only mentioned the whole death thing repeatedly because the question annoyed me but yeah that makes sense. Thanks! :tongue:

Original post by Slothsrcool

Reply 37

ll51eah

I feel like I messed up to, had too much to say but not enough time to actually say it!

Original post by scorpionfish17

Reply 38

celi18

I thought the Aeneid 20 marker and the comparison question both sucked. The Aeneid one was just so limited because it was about reaching Italy. I couldn't tell if discussing the last 6 books would be relevant given that he already had reached Italy by that point. The 10 marker was tough just because I had no idea what Greek values and beliefs were to be honest. I mostly talked about pietas and the father-son bond, but had no idea what to say about the Iliad.

Reply 39

Slothsrcool

I know what you mean, I just talked about the first six books for the 20 marker:
Putting his life at risk to find Creusa at Troy.
Founding Aeneadae and Pergamea in Book 3
Aeneas as a reluctant hero, bemoaning to Andromache that he has to search for the ‘ever receding fields of Ausonia’ and in Book 4 that the walls of carthage ‘are already rising’.
‘Forgetting [his] kingdom and becoming a slave of lust’ in Book 4 with Dido.

Vs.

Responsiveness to the will of the gods e.g. abandoning Pergamea and Dido at the behests of the Penates and Mercury.
Placing his pietas and his mission over his amor for Dido.
Enduring great trials e.g. Juno and Aeolus’ storm.
His lapses in commitment contribute to a refinement of character and by the end of Book 6 his passive obeisance of destiny has become a positive and dynamic urge to fulfill it. ( lol I did not back this up at all, had barely any points for this side of the argument).

Original post by celi18