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AQA A-Level English Lit advice

Hi!
I take AQA English Lit option A. My two papers are Love through the ages and Modern times. The six essays I have are:

Paper 1: Othello, Gatsby compared to pre-1900s poems and unseen poetry

Paper 2: Skirrid Hill, streetcar compared to the Color Purple and unseen prose.

I would really love any general advice anyone has about the exam or what to look at or anything like that. I’m just looking for general advice even if it’s small things like timings. My worst ones are Gatsby/ poetry comparison and skirrid hill.

Good luck to anyone else!

Reply 1

Hi! I take the same books for most of your paper 1! (Othello, Unseen poetry, pre 1900s poems) my tip would be to make constant links to the pre-1900s poems and themes to the great gatsby and have quotes that support it as it might help in the long run :smile:

Reply 2

Original post
by Ella Val
Hi!
I take AQA English Lit option A. My two papers are Love through the ages and Modern times. The six essays I have are:
Paper 1: Othello, Gatsby compared to pre-1900s poems and unseen poetry
Paper 2: Skirrid Hill, streetcar compared to the Color Purple and unseen prose.
I would really love any general advice anyone has about the exam or what to look at or anything like that. I’m just looking for general advice even if it’s small things like timings. My worst ones are Gatsby/ poetry comparison and skirrid hill.
Good luck to anyone else!

Hii, I do the exact same paper 1! Gatsby & Othello are both my best answered, where unseen is slightly my worst (I typically get 18-22 marks on each question).
From my teacher's feedback, with Gatsby you kind of have to link both contexts of poetry and Fitzgerald to one another actively and consistently apply the contexts to the typicality of the texts. My go to is Thomas Wyatt's 'Whoso List To Hount' and how he pursued Anne Boleyn prior to her marriage in a courtly love manner, whereas Fitzgerald's time period de-normalised courting and introduced flappers etc etc.
I think it might be presentation of women for Othello on Wednesday and loss of love or infidelity for Gatsby based on past questions, but obviously not sure.
Kinda scared, but we all got this lmao. Only 2 more weeks and it's over

Reply 3

Original post
by alexplainlater
Hii, I do the exact same paper 1! Gatsby & Othello are both my best answered, where unseen is slightly my worst (I typically get 18-22 marks on each question).
From my teacher's feedback, with Gatsby you kind of have to link both contexts of poetry and Fitzgerald to one another actively and consistently apply the contexts to the typicality of the texts. My go to is Thomas Wyatt's 'Whoso List To Hount' and how he pursued Anne Boleyn prior to her marriage in a courtly love manner, whereas Fitzgerald's time period de-normalised courting and introduced flappers etc etc.
I think it might be presentation of women for Othello on Wednesday and loss of love or infidelity for Gatsby based on past questions, but obviously not sure.
Kinda scared, but we all got this lmao. Only 2 more weeks and it's over
Thanks so much!!!
One of my teachers and head of English has basically been absent all year so my class’s average is like 18 and the max anyone would get is like 21 so definitely struggling.

Not to over exaggerate but WOW that link is so good. I never would have even thought of that. Best of luck to you!! Can’t believe it’s in a few days!

Reply 4

Original post
by Ella Val
Thanks so much!!!
One of my teachers and head of English has basically been absent all year so my class’s average is like 18 and the max anyone would get is like 21 so definitely struggling.
Not to over exaggerate but WOW that link is so good. I never would have even thought of that. Best of luck to you!! Can’t believe it’s in a few days!

Good luck to you too! You got this, you seem like a lovely & creative person.
I'm sorry to hear that your teacher hasn't been in - but I'm happy to help if I can!!

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