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OCR A-level English Literature Paper 2 (H472/02) - 8th June 2023 [Exam Chat]

OCR A-level English Literature Paper 2 (H472/02) - Thursday 8th June 2023 [Exam Chat]

Welcome to the exam discussion thread for this exam. Introduce yourself! Let others know what you're aiming for in your exams, what you are struggling with in your revision or anything else.
Wishing you all the best of luck.

General Information
Date/Time: Thursday 8th June 2023 / AM
Length: 2h 30m

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Reply 1

driaz

anyone else doing gothic? I'm doing Dracula and Bloody Chamber.

Reply 2

EleaB

Original post by driaz

anyone else doing gothic? I'm doing Dracula and Bloody Chamber.

Same here. Same texts as well yay

Reply 3

EleaB

I know everyone's probably stressed about Paper 1 now, but just wanted to ask if anyone's got any predictions on themes that might come up in Paper 2

Reply 4

gdonaghey

Original post by driaz

anyone else doing gothic? I'm doing Dracula and Bloody Chamber.

Same

Reply 5

gdonaghey

Original post by EleaB

Same here. Same texts as well yay

After paper 1 do u guys wanna pool resources to revise paper 2?
We are both doing gothic and tbc and Dracula

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 6

elliexmae.x

Hiiii i'm in year 12 & I do Bloody Chamber would you mind sharing some resources here :smile:

also when it comes to the comparative question what do i focus on Context?

Reply 7

pipstar1234

(Obviously after Paper 2 but...) Anyone doing American? I'm doing American Unseen, then The Great Gatsby compared with My Antonia. If anyone has any resources - especially on TGG and MA comparison please pass them on! I find that hard... hardly anyone does those two books haha!

Reply 8

EleaB

Original post by gdonaghey

After paper 1 do u guys wanna pool resources to revise paper 2?
We are both doing gothic and tbc and Dracula

What's tbc. But yep sure, gotta focus on Paper 1 first cuz im way under-prepared right now especially for Ibsen and Rossetti

Reply 9

gdonaghey

Original post by EleaB

What's tbc. But yep sure, gotta focus on Paper 1 first cuz im way under-prepared right now especially for Ibsen and Rossetti

TBC is the bloody chamber

Reply 10

Dorito_chip

Any predictions for 1984 and the Handmaids Tale??

Original post by Pwca

General Information
Date/Time: Thursday 8th June 2023 / AM
Length: 2h 30m

Reply 11

lhq20054

I'm a bit late but I'm doing 1984 and handmaid's tale!
So nervous now after paper 1 haha

Reply 12

purple256

Does anyone have any tips for the gothic unseen? It's probably my weakest area

Reply 13

hamlethath12

hi, i’m doing american lit, does anyone have any predictions for the unseen section? (also I’m doing the great gatsby and the age of innocence) thanks! <33

Reply 14

averagebirdw

Does anyone know the question A of the Gothic comparative section from last year ? C was fascination with forbidden but i can't find A

Reply 15

toxicgamage56

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by driaz

anyone else doing gothic? I'm doing Dracula and Bloody Chamber.

Same

I feel like the only context for The Bloody Chamber is to do with its link to fairy tales, and Carter's feminism. There's little else to discuss there.

I think it's completely different for Dracula, where you can talk a lot about the British Empire and the threat of invasion from the East. You can make the distinction between modernity and ancient superstitions. You can make links between the threat of invasion and the increasing levels of immigration to England. Obviously, there are a lot of points to be made about the taboo nature of sexuality during the 19th century. Due to Renfield, there is also scope to talk about mental illness and how treatment for this has changed over time. So so much more content for Dracula.

I want to ask whether something my teacher told me was true - if you answered the question on Dracula or The Bloody Chamber, we were told to weigh our response to the text given in the question. So if we were to answer the Dracula question which might be that 'Gothic fiction is obsessed with the threat of invasion' then we should make the majority of our answer about Dracula, and only supplement our argument with reference to the other text (The Bloody Chamber). For paper 1, I made my answer even for both texts, but is it the same or not for paper 2?

Reply 16

lucindaaaa

Original post by hamlethath12

hi, i’m doing american lit, does anyone have any predictions for the unseen section? (also I’m doing the great gatsby and the age of innocence) thanks! <33

omg i'm doing american lit and the exact same texts!!! i'm not really sure on what the unseen could be, all i know is last year i think it was the one written in 1940 and set in the 1880s about the frontier and native americans (the one with the character called osgood, but i don't remember the name of the text. do u have any predictions for the comparative essay section, I'm worried as we don't get much choice with questions and i never know which themes to revise :/

Reply 17

onlinegyaah

do you know what were last years questions?

Original post by Dorito_chip

Any predictions for 1984 and the Handmaids Tale??

Reply 18

Dorito_chip

Original post by onlinegyaah

do you know what were last years questions?

Unfortunately no

Reply 19

djmLantern

Original post by purple256

Does anyone have any tips for the gothic unseen? It's probably my weakest area

Have a look at Fred Botting's 'Gothic' (maybe ask chat GPT for some summaries and quotes?) and memorise a few sentences which you'll be able to use in your essays. Also learn about 1-3 examples for each key gothic trope and familiarise yourself with the different periods (the waves, fin de siecle, female gothic, modern).

To point you in a general direction, I'd recommend reading up on The Old Nurse's Tale by Gaskell, both of the big Bronte novels (Wuthering Heights + Jane Eyre), The Red Room by Wells, Jekyll and Hyde, and a couple early ones for breadth (Vathek and Castle of Otranto). Mysteries for Udolpho is another biggie!

I don't want to jinx anything, but I've generally found the unseen the easiest area out of all of the essays because you can quite easily waffle your way around it. General structure I'd suggest is 3-6 main body paragraphs each focused on a different idea you've found in the extract (add in 1-2 wider Gothic references in each paragraph alongside 1-2 critical quotes per paragraph). You can just pick out different tropes and structure your essay around that but be careful not to 'diagnose' the extract and treat your response as a gothic trope checklist (examiner reports always moan about this!) - instead use your existing knowledge of tropes to CHALLENGE the extract as well as argue how it fits into the Gothic.

In essence, use tropes to aid your essay structure but don't formulate it entirely off it. Does that make sense? Use the tropes as the foundation to make interesting points which your paragraphs will then be based off of.
- eg - an extract is making clear use of the uncanny. Don't just point that out and reference how it's used in the Gothic. WHY is the author using the uncanny? WHAT are they trying to suggest or challenge? Brief historical context often helps as an extension of your points (ie bourgeois fear of the blurring of class boundaries and the rise of the middle class post-industrial revolution)