One English exam down; three to go! A huge well done to those who sat literature on Monday; give yourselves a pat on the back.
So, if you’re revising this weekend (you should be!) for the Eduqas exam board and would like a recap of what’s coming on paper 2, along with some useful tips, keep reading.
Timings:
This one’s a long one: 2 hours and 30 minutes. By now, though, you know how fast the time flies in exams.
Literature paper 2 is made up of section A, section B, and section C and each section is worth 40 marks.
Section A (Modern Prose or Drama):
Lord of the Flies
Anita and Me
Never Let Me Go
The Woman in Black
Oranges are not the Only Fruit
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
A Taste of Honey
An Inspector Calls
The History Boys
Blood Brothers
Section B (19th Century Prose):
A Christmas Carol
Silas Marner
War of the Worlds
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Section C:
Unseen Poetry
Section A: Modern Prose/Drama
This section is worth 40 marks. You should aim to spend around 45 minutes on this question, with around 5 - 10 of those minutes spent on planning.
5 marks out of the 40 are available for SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar). This week I’ve noticed quite a few students spelling ‘Priestley’ as ‘Priestly’ – be careful! Most importantly, make sure you don’t miss any capital letters and full stops, and make sure to use good sentence structure.
You will be given an extract from the play which you must discuss in your answer. You also must discuss other points in the play that relate to the question - remember to choose relevant points!
You’re going to be asked a question about a character or a theme, but either way, you should always link to other themes and characters throughout!
We can tell when you’ve planned, and those with a good plan do tend to do better. I promise us English teachers don’t just get a kick out of forcing you to plan!
Section B: 19th Century Prose
Again, another 40 marks are available for this question, and you should spend around 45 minutes on it.
This is very similar to above, in that you will be given an extract and you should respond to this as well as a few points from the rest of the novella.
Looking at the types of questions you will be asked:
Character questions: E.g. ‘Explore how Dickens presents Scrooge…”
Theme questions: E.g. ‘Explore how Shakespeare presents revenge…”
Context questions: E.g. ‘Explore Priestley’s attitude towards social status…"
Let's look at some ideas for revision mind maps (section A and B)
Revising for character questions:
Revising for theme questions:
Revision for context questions:
Writing your essays for both of these sections
You don’t have to use a particular type of paragraph structure to do well, but you must construct a cohesive, in-depth essay.
One way of doing this is through PETAL paragraphs. See below for what to include!
Section C: Unseen Poetry
You’ve answered one question for section A and one for section B. Now, there are two questions to answer for section C, which together total 40 marks.
You should spend around 20 minutes on the first question and around 40 minutes on the second.
Before reading the question, you'll always have a sentence that broadly guides you to what the poems are about – make sure to read it. Then, read the question twice and highlight key words.
For the first question, there are 15 marks available, and you are being assessed on AO1 and AO2. This means you need to include clear points with critical, personal insights and relevant quotations to support those points. You must also analyse language, form, and structure, and use relevant poetic terminology where you can.
For this question, you should SMILE (structure, meaning, imagery, language, emotion):
The second question is a comparison and is worth 25 marks. You should also read this question twice and highlight key words, making sure to take note of the theme.
Some questions to consider when comparing:
Then that’s it! It seems like a long, complicated exam, but it’s 4 questions. If you know exactly what’s coming, and you’ve revised, you will be very well-prepared to tackle it confidently.
Final tips:
1. Stay calm. Breathe.
2. Time management: Keep an eye on the clock.
3. Answer the question: Make sure they’re relevant and directly address the question.
4. Use quotes.
5. Proofread.
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