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Polish A-level paper 2 2024

The text I'm writing about is Tango and the film is Katyn. I know how to revise for Tango but I'm not quite sure for Katyn since there aren't many resources out there, does anyone have any advice?

Reply 1

Original post by michalinaurba
The text I'm writing about is Tango and the film is Katyn. I know how to revise for Tango but I'm not quite sure for Katyn since there aren't many resources out there, does anyone have any advice?

I didn’t do Polish however I did French and Spanish and got A/A* for this paper and I revised the same for both films and then just tailored it to my film:

For the film rewatch it and for each scene just summarise whats happened, see what techniques are used (panoramic shot, dolly shot etc.) and what effect they create. Try think about the key themes and characters in ur film and jot down the top scenes for these characters. You then want to turn these into essay plans, once revised the essay plans a bit try blurting and then eventually have a go at writing one in timed conditions. Once you've done this for pretty much everything (it’s fine if u miss out like 1 character / 1 theme because u get 2 to choose from in the exam), then just learn ur essay plans.
Maybe learn like one key scene and try write a para on it for different characters / themes - if this works for ur film u can memorise this and put it in ur essay in the exam. e.g. if there is a scene with all the main characters and it has all the key themes (violence, jealousy, feminism etc.) then this scene is easy to learn and can be moulded to any exam question.

Hope this helps!

Reply 2

Original post by michalinaurba
The text I'm writing about is Tango and the film is Katyn. I know how to revise for Tango but I'm not quite sure for Katyn since there aren't many resources out there, does anyone have any advice?

I sat my Polish paper 2 last week and chose Katyń as well! Your best bet is to watch the film, analyse some key themes and write some character profiles along with a few quotes corresponding to each character and their journey throughout the film. I more less grouped the characters into two categories, the ones who worked alongside the soviets and germans and were 'dishonourable' in the film i.e Stasia Starościna, Jerzy and Irena, and then the honourable patriotic characters, Agnieszka, Róża, etc.

The most important I would say is evidence, I had at least 5 quotes for each character because that was the easiest way I could analyse each character. Do all the past paper questions you can before your exam, because that will teach you the structure that works best for you.

To remember quotes I recommend flashcards, I used quizlet and I can give you access to the ones I made, but I merged them with the book I chose 'Popiół I Diament' so that might be a bit distracting (but it is colour coded and easily distinguishable)

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