Post-Exam Debrief?
Hi Year 13s!
How did the exam go? Let me know in the comments here!
Also, feel free to ask any questions you might have that I can answer, up to and including 'is it ok that I wrote...'!
I do AQA spec B and I thought it was really good! I’d already seen a similar extract question before so I had some ideas for that, and the section C questions were amazing as I’d planned both of them beforehand. For Othello section B, I did the question that was “The play is bleak and distressing to watch.” I found it quite difficult to add debate into that, so I argued that the play wasn’t as bleak and distressing at the start as shown by the genuine love between Desdemona and Othello (I also mentioned the bond between Emilia and Desdemona and how this isn’t bleak), but that this is ultimately temporary and undermined by the rest of the play - do you think that’s okay?
Ruby F. My friend did something similar, and it's sooo subjective i'm sure you're fine. I took it differently and talked about the loss of reputation being distressing for a venetian vs contemporary audience (doesn't rlly make sense like this but I swear it was relevant haha). Then the gulling of Othello and his fit being distressing and bleak because he's meant to be rationale and yk not jump to conclusions (like murdering his wife...) and for my final para, I did how devastating the innocent deaths are and bleak the ending is, bc there's almost no justified resolution- Iago is js arrested.
i do ocr and i found it alright, i was blessed with the measure 4 measure extract (Act 2 scene 2) as i have studied it with my class multiple times, question b wasn’t too bad as it was on misuse of power and i found the rossetti and ibsen question kind of hard, i did question 9 which had something to do with resilience so i linked a dolls house nora and mrs linde to goblins market, no thank you john and at the round tower at jhansi
Hi, hope you're well!
I did Hamlet, part a was a decent extract but I found it really hard to talk about the obvious literary techniques and motif running through the extract from A2S2 so I spoke about other stuff...🥲
Part b was about madness- whether Hamlet's madness was viewed as more "pretended" than real- quite a nice question but I found it odd that it was concentrated on one character and not the play as a whole.
Q2 was ok, I picked the question about how transgressions bring positive benefits: 'write about how the writers explore the effect of characters breaking rules'. There was another on resilience and on villains being more attractive (this one drew me in most but my texts would'nt hv fit it that well). My selected texts were A Doll's House and Rossetti's poems so I talked about Nora breaking free, Kristine reverting back and for poems Goblin Market, Maude Clare and Soeur Louise. So overall.... decent, but I'm genuinely not sure if it's A grade work like I hoped for 😅
Do you cover Dystopia on here? And I was trying to tag you to a post on reddit about this platform but I couldn't seem to find you....? 🤔
Khadija S. Ahh! It's okay to not do the obvious ones! Especially with such a short question!
OCR have been saying for some time that they'd eventually put a character one in there, but they kept doing whole-text ones so we never expect it!
I love questions about madness in Hamlet! In the National Theatre performance from last year that I saw (here's my post on it), they made there only be one time where I'd say that Hamlet was truly shown as mad. It's when he's in his mother's chambers: we don't see the Ghost as an audience like you do in the Kenneth Branagh 1996 version so you can't 'vouch for Hamlet', if you know what I mean. And they make him do finger guns at Polonius and that's what kills him. Then he suddenly had a gun in his hand! Makes it seem like he was so manic he didn't realise he was holding one! Up until that point, he breaks the fourth wall over and over, which makes us feel like he's the only sane one because he's connecting with us!
That sounds good! What similarities did you manage to find for A Doll's House and Rossetti?
Yes! I am on there! It's strange that you couldn't find me!
Shani C. For the comparison I spoke about Nora leaving her family- breaking the rules of Victorian society. I contrasted her to Kristine who was reverting back. I just realised it would've been way better to talk about Krogstad 😭
For the poems I used Goblin Market (ofc), Maude Clare and Souer Louise. I don't remember what I wrote about 🤣 lol sorry
Khadija S. It's okay! They don't expect you to be perfect!
Hi! I am getting over the post-exam distress and bewilderment.... I do OCR - I think section 1 was okay, slightly unexpected extract but lots to talk about nonetheless! I found section B a bit rough- hoping I wrote enough meritable and cohesive things down as I didn't get time for my third approach to the question which I was really hoping to end off with. Definitely was not my best work unfortunately but hopefully it'll still be an okay answer. Slightly worried that my answer may be interpreted as moving away from the question -not sure if I was tempted by the question and didn't fully think through my answer- but I did try to constantly link it back to the wording too.... Will need to ensure paper 2 for the gothic goes a bit more smoothly :)
AQA Spec B, I found the extract good and Section C on Isolation good, but I did kinda run out of time in my conclusion and it became waffley.... and Section B the play being 'bleak and disinteresting' to watch really caught me off guard. I'm just hoping I interpreted 'bleak' right and made valid points :)
hi miss! it was by far not my best performance, but its nothing i could have changed (went into autopilot cus my head was spinning in that exam)
For part A, is it fine if i didnt mention some key bits (ocr)? I didnt really delve into the carrion (i just said it suggested she was sexually lewd) and i didnt mention the sun or maggots either. i rlly only looked at the double entendre of "fishmonger". I also incorrectly identified initial stichomythia between hamlet and polonius! otherwise i would say i focussed a lot on dramatic effects more than usual and surprisingly less so on language
For part B, if i misrepresent a critic how likely is to affect a mark? i said neoclassic samuel johnson is confused on his madness and may think hes faking it, which isnt really true i think. also, there were a couple lapses in expression (i miswrote polonius as hamlet like more than twice for example), and i think i led too much by ao5 instead of ao1 which i usually do but i didnt like the q focussing sm on hamlet so my 2 big beefy paras didnt have enough textual focus
My comparative had a lot of weak expressions, such as just saying things wrong sometimes (i stupidly said that eve is punished w suicide for some reason not that she desires it... i also forgot to add a key word when i mentioned like shes presented as extremely (forgot to say something after it). And my argument might have been not fully cohesive w my introduction.
if everything else was fine, do you think im still on track for an A? im js so disappointed w myself cus i got insane nerves w my first exam. idk if its comforting or painful to think that nothing could change it thos
YB Z. Yes! It's not the end of the world if you miss some bits, as long as you have a clear overall argument that feels coherent and complete! They are sympathetic of the fact that you only have 35 minutes for that question, so they don't expect you to talk abotu everything – especially becuase they want you to speak about more than just language!
They are very unlikely to actually check a critic, to be honest! Considering how little examiners get paid, they're not going to stop and check because it will drop their hourly pay! Don't worry about that!
I think if you were 'wrangling the question', using lots of evidence and not saying the most obvious thing, there's no reason why you couldn't get an A
tysm! do u think these ao1 penalisations will be harsh, or is it really like a 1 mark thing? im trying to predict my mark which ofc isnt helpful but im rlly hoping i dont need to get like 2 28s for an a!