This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

AEA past papers

I'm supposed to be doing the advanced extension at the end of next month. Only, apparently OCR are being a tad funny about giving out past papers and mark schemes. Does anybody have any idea how to get hold of some? I'd really appreciate it if anyone has some they could donate.

Reply 1

Fiona87

Hello!

Are you taking the AEA for English or History? Have you tried phoning them up? I think you have to pay for the past papers, but they should be available. I'm taking the English paper and, if we're both talking about that paper, then I know what you mean - specimin paper is only available online. Did you know that they're adding an extra question (named question 7) on, which is based on original writing? I'm looking forward to it now :-)

Reply 2

t_muir11

OP

really? No, I did not know that. Thanks very much. I am doing the English one. The preparation we've been doing has been minimal at best - just looking over the specimen paper on Shakespeare, which was distinctly unhelpful. I enjoy creative writing so that'll be interesting, but how are they going to fitt all of this in 3hrs. Are they removing one of the other questions or making the exam longer??

Reply 3

epitome

11

I assume the question 7 is optional?
*shudders*

Reply 4

Fiona87

t_muir11

really? No, I did not know that. Thanks very much. I am doing the English one. The preparation we've been doing has been minimal at best - just looking over the specimen paper on Shakespeare, which was distinctly unhelpful. I enjoy creative writing so that'll be interesting, but how are they going to fitt all of this in 3hrs. Are they removing one of the other questions or making the exam longer??

t_muir, it's being made longer (in the respect that there's an extra option, not that there's more time or another question that you have to do, so this is definitely a good thing)! I've got a sample question:

Select one of the passages from the Reading Booklet:
i) re-write it in another form and style (eg. the Alvi poem as a script for a television documentary, or the Woolf passage as a poem);
AND
ii) discuss stylistic and/or linguistic transformations that your re-writing has entailed.

This comes from the 2004 exam. I was given that as a past paper, but don't have a scanner, otherwise I'd send you a copy :-( Have you tried at the exam board?

I haven't had much preparation either - just one meeting where we were given the resources and an offer of help...but it's study leave and I want to prioritise the actual exams over AEA practise (will probably regret this later!). Getting in to school would be a bit of a hassle. We'll just have to chance it!

Actually, what might be really helpful is this: Literary Criticism as the first question seems to ask you to "explain the approach you are adopting".

Good luck :-)

epitome - yes, definitely optional *phew*! There are eight questions altogether. The first is compulsory, then from the others, you have to pick one.

Reply 5

Zarathustra

2

Fiona87

This comes from the 2004 exam. I was given that as a past paper, but don't have a scanner, otherwise I'd send you a copy :-( Have you tried at the exam board?

Oooooh another paper! Is it themed like the Shakespeare one? What are the extracts about / who by? Can you post any of the questions? Would you like me to stop now? Ok. :p:

Aaargh I don't have time to prepare for this exam!! :frown:

ZarathustraX

Reply 6

Fiona87

Zarathustra

Oooooh another paper! Is it themed like the Shakespeare one? What are the extracts about / who by? Can you post any of the questions? Would you like me to stop now? Ok. :p:

Aaargh I don't have time to prepare for this exam!! :frown:

ZarathustraX

It's entitled, "the Me myself". There are a series of passages where "speakers or characters in texts offer views of themselves or experiences that have helped make them what they are". The texts are truly eclectic! There's an article called "Life makeover" from Zest Magazine, right the way through to an extract from "The Art of Fiction". Some of them are fairly dense passages, otherwise I'd try and type them up...The questions ask for comparative analysis of articles and ask you to explore the presentation of ideas. The section B questions seem to be fairly similar in style to the one from the Shakespeare paper, apart from the previously mentioned question 7. It follows the opinion and consideration pattern; the opinions all come from the text.

Reply 7

mousey

2

I've only seen the Shakespeare one too. I've had no preparation - i've just been told you're doing combined, you'll be alright. Gah. I really should look at the Shakespeare one again so i know what kind of questions i'll be gettting. That question 7 about transforming a text is good, that's what the combined A2 coursework is. xx

Reply 8

sophieliz

12

I am doing the AEA for English, however, I am slightly concerned that my teacher is deluded about my abilities. You all seem to be vastly more intelligent than myself, and I really don't want to have the embarrassment of getting an ungraded mark. Have any of you done an AEA before and is it as frightening as it sounds?

Reply 9

Zarathustra

2

sophieliz

I am doing the AEA for English, however, I am slightly concerned that my teacher is deluded about my abilities. You all seem to be vastly more intelligent than myself, and I really don't want to have the embarrassment of getting an ungraded mark. Have any of you done an AEA before and is it as frightening as it sounds?

Meh, I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. I am absolutely destined to fail it, but luckily it doesn't affect my uni offers or anything so it won't matter (other than being slightly embarassing, obv!) - it might be fun, or it might be hideous. Just take a three hour nap and write nothing if it's that bad! :p:

ZarathustraX

Reply 10

silence

16

sophieliz

I am doing the AEA for English, however, I am slightly concerned that my teacher is deluded about my abilities. You all seem to be vastly more intelligent than myself, and I really don't want to have the embarrassment of getting an ungraded mark. Have any of you done an AEA before and is it as frightening as it sounds?

it's definitely worth giving it a go, and the amount of freedom you have, in terms of what you can write for your answers, is pretty much unlimited. being a classics scholar, you'll probably even get a chance to bring up stuff to do with roman, or even greek, texts and society, if you feel like it. i think it assesses your skills at demonstrating a clear, coherent and successful essay, regardless of your view point, rather than the a-level type assessment of checking for quotations, various references and mention of language tone and bla bla bla. im sure you'll be fine.

Reply 11

Fiona87

We're all going in pretty much blind! Don't worry about it!

I have a question about what you think the "explain the approach you are adopting" means. Do you think we have to adopt an approach throughout, e.g. Marxist, then analyse in that way the entire way through, or do you think it can be more general, like approaching it from a literary p.o.v. rather than a language p.o.v? Ach *lost*...Or do you think it allows a more general approach, like we use in the "Othello" module (not sure if it's the same text for you all)?

Reply 12

Zarathustra

2

Fiona87

We're all going in pretty much blind! Don't worry about it!

I have a question about what you think the "explain the approach you are adopting" means. Do you think we have to adopt an approach throughout, e.g. Marxist, then analyse in that way the entire way through, or do you think it can be more general, like approaching it from a literary p.o.v. rather than a language p.o.v? Ach *lost*...Or do you think it allows a more general approach, like we use in the "Othello" module (not sure if it's the same text for you all)?

I think it can be either - one of our teachers suggested using an "official" one; the other just a more general approach as long as you outline it. In a practice essay I wrote, I just outlined the issues I was going to examine and the way I'd approach them. I mean, it'd sound cool to start with to say you were going to do a "Marxist" "poststructuralist" whatever reading, but...how many of us could actually pull it off? I am acquainted with most of the schools of literary criticism, but could not probably do an entire essay in one of their styles - I like to take a more ecelectic approach and look at what interests me. The other way, you'll just end up saying something absurd that a Marxist never would and then looking stupid.

What does anyone else make of it?

ZarathustraX

Reply 13

Fiona87

Zarathustra

The other way, you'll just end up saying something absurd that a Marxist never would and then looking stupid.

What does anyone else make of it?

Very true! I'll give a practice exam a go and see what comes most easily. Thank you :-)

Reply 14

Fiona87

Hmm...actually...I think I agree with your comment about a more general one. If we haven't been taught it, how can we expect to suddenly know it for an exam? There's no curriculum, so I guess as long as our arguments are logical and systematic, it shouldn't be an issue.

Reply 15

epitome

11

I really don't want to have the embarrassment of getting an ungraded mark

Well, yes.
Doubt it would be tooooo much of an embarrassment getting a U though - as approx. 33% get each level (D, M and U).
I'm also looking to fail...and I'm determined not to be embarrassed by it!

And anyway, as Fiona87 said, none of us actually seem to know what the hell we're doing! So we can all fail together. (Or pass...) :smile:

Reply 16

mousey

2

I might fail, i'm not expecting much from this exam, i'm just going to give it a go.

Anyone else do combined here? Well for q2 on unit 6 (which is a pre release like you lit guys) we get asked what approaches we used to analyse the texts. I tend to take general approaches, literary, contextual etc. I also talk about how i analysed the texts using a hierarchial structure. Also point out why you may have rejected other approaches you know of. I think what is most important with this question is proving you used the approach. Give examples of where you used it and why, and how it was useful in helping your understandings of the text. xx

Reply 17

Zarathustra

2

Fiona87

Hmm...actually...I think I agree with your comment about a more general one. If we haven't been taught it, how can we expect to suddenly know it for an exam? There's no curriculum, so I guess as long as our arguments are logical and systematic, it shouldn't be an issue.

A very good point - for AEAs you're not technically supposed to need any extra knowledge than that taught on your A-level course (though of course it would be useful! :rolleyes:

). In which case, since I never attended a lesson on "How to do feminist criticism", I think I shall stick with my general / literary / contextual / [insert other vague terms here] approach :biggrin:

Good idea?

(Let us know how the practice goes :wink:

)

ZarathustraX

Reply 18

Fiona87

Zarathustra

In which case, since I never attended a lesson on "How to do feminist criticism", I think I shall stick with my general / literary / contextual / [insert other vague terms here] approach :biggrin:

Good idea?

Excellent idea! I'm with you on that one!

And I'll let you know how the paper goes... :stupido:

The answer for question a) is so wide-ranging! Hope my introduction is okay. Well...can't write that much in an hour or so!

mousey - it will be fiiine! *positive* :-D I am 66.66666% sure.

Reply 19

epitome

11

Well...can't write that much in an hour or so!

Quite. Though a longer exam would just kill us, I'm tempted to say that 5 hours would be more useful. The reading, thinking, planning takes ages...and that's assuming I actually understand what they're asking!

Fiona87 - any chance you could type up some of the more general questions from the "the me myself" paper. Without the extracts, just to get a wider idea of the stuff they're asking? Pretty please?! :smile:

AEA past papers

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated