AS & A2 ENGLISH LITERATURE B REVISION RESOURCES

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As the AS examination is imminent, I'd like to clarify the requirements:

• The examination is 2 hours long
• You answer one question (in 2 parts) from Section A (1 hour)
• You answer one question from Section B (1 hour)

Section A - Question A

• This question focuses on narrative
• It must be a detailed comment on narrative method, e.g: write about the ways Coleridge tells the story in Part 2 of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  So you must go through the building blocks of narrative: setting - scenes and places;  time, sequence and structure;   characters and characterisation;    voices in the story (one way in which we get information in a story is through what we are 'told' by the characters involved); and point of view - the narrator/s, 1st or 3rd.
• You are marked on Assessment Objective 2 ONLY in this section - STRUCTURE, FORM & LANGUAGE.
• STRUCTURE includes for example: the syntax, whether it is a linear chronology, use of flashbacks/analepsis or in 'TROTAM' the use of rhyme and repetition to structure the narrative, use of patterns, circularity of the whole poem, the end of each part referring to the crime and thus linking to other parts.
• FORM asks you to think about the genre of the chapter or poem, and the style that it is written in, for example: 'TROTAM' is in the form of a ballad, an extended narrative poem, how many parts, use of quatrains and also the gothic/supernatural/moralistic genre
• LANGUAGE - vocabulary use and what it means; for example in 'TROTAM', simple language, language of prayer, gothic imagery, religious references,descriptive detail, figurative language, repetition etc. MORE ON THESE CAN BE FOUND IN THE MARK SCHEMES FOR AQA
• Produce a brief introduction (no more than a sentence or so) followed by a few (perhaps 3) focused paragraphs on examples you have found, and finish with a brief conclusion where you make an evaluative comment.
• Remember to USE QUOTATIONS
• Remember, you only have 30 minutes.

 

Section A - Question B

• This question focuses on your personal  response.
• You are expected to give your opinion.
• Your are marked on Assessment Objectives 1, 3 and 4
• AO1 is your written expression so use formal language with a range of terminology and concepts.
• AO3 is your interpretation of the text and you are expected to give your judgements, but you MUST DISCUSS ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS.
• AO4 is your focus on contextual factors; the significance and influence of the contexts in which the texts are written and received; you MUST consider the various genres within the narrative and consider any other related contexts to the novel/poems.
• THEMES need to be prevalent in this section.
• Write a brief introduction giving your specific response to the question.
• Give around 3 paragraphs that present evidence to support your reasoning, and USE QUOTATIONS
• Conclude your response and remember you have only 30 minutes.

STICK TO THE ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES - you will get no marks if you start writing your opinion in part A and talk about the structure in part B.


Section B

• This question requires your response on the importance of something, for example: place, characters, openings etc.
• You are given two choices, so write about the one you feel you can make focused comments upon, that really answers the question.
• You are marked on AO1, AO2 and AO3 (see descriptions above). Again for AO3 you must consider different interpretations and some evaluation/judgement of their strengths and weaknesses; and ALWAYS include a selection of supportive textual references - QUOTATIONS.
• A short introduction saying why what you are writing about is important will suffice.
• Then 4,5 or perhaps 6 paragraphs on your response.
• You've got 1 hour, so a longer response is expected.

General tips

• You must write about all 3 texts, but do not worry if they are not in equal amounts, However, don't write most of your essay on one text and a sentence on each of the others.
• Comparison is NOT STRICTLY NECESSARY, but you could use a conjoining sentence that links back to the question.
• If you are studying a set of poetry (for example Browning, Keats, Hardy etc.) you've probably studied 6-8 poems.  You only need to write about 2 or 3, that way you can be detailed enough  Do not write about just 1 - you will get substantially fewer marks.