Paper 2 Exam Discussion (Advanced)

[jamonwindeyer]

You are finished! For most of us, no more English (thoughts go out to all you Extension 1 students out there), time to party!

We'll be uploading a copy of the exam very soon, how did you go? Were the questions what you expected? Share your thoughts below

[edmododragon]

Again, I thought it was very different from anything I'd seen before

[Celeriac]

The questions for Mod B (Citizen Kane) and Mod C (Art of Travel) were pretty good.
But for the first time since 2008 or something they gave specific quotes to refer to for Gatsby/Sonnets from the Portuguese (Mod A) which was a bit odd.

[RuiAce]

From what I've been hearing module A was the worst this time round

Yeah, specifying stuff for module A is pretty intense tbh.

[edmododragon]

Ironically, I found Module A fine, but by the time I had reached module C, my brain was barely functioning enough to give a good response to the easy question.

[RuiAce]

English is a subject where you are technically in full control of what order you do the paper in; you're not disadvantaged for any order you choose

Looking at my texts I have to be honest I would've liked module C. B was a bit of a shock but I think that's just cause I'm out of practice.

A gave me a heart attack lol

Edit: upon glancing a second time the quote they chose for module A was one of those I had prepared last year HAHA.

[jamonwindeyer]

Again, I thought it was very different from anything I'd seen before

Definitely, they did something very different with the English exams this year, broke quite a few patterns!

[nay103]

Mod C was a godsend; Mod B was a nightmare. I had 2 paragraphs prepared for each poem (more for my 'main' ones) because I assumed they wouldn't specify both a theme AND  a poem.. boy I was wrong. Made up so much up on the spot since the only stuff I had prepared for Hollow Men was on insignificance and futility.

A was okay - a little surprising, but alright.

[:3]

Glad to see everyone sharing the same viewpoint (Paper 1 = hell, Paper 2 = awesome).

[Celeriac]

I probably shouldn't dwell on it but for 'to what extent' questions does the linking sentence always have to mention the 'extent' part of the question? Or is it okay if we make judgments throughout out paragraphs and then bring it together in the conclusion. E.g "due to (the main body points) it can be said that this is true to a great extent"?

[caitie145]

i found the exam quite hard. the Mod A question was okay because my quotes fit but for Mod B Hamlet the use of imagery portraying challenging ideas showing truth and deceit. that got me. none of my quotes really had imagery and i wasn't expecting them to specify themes. i stuck to my three themes that i had planned and tried to say after every quote something like this shows deceit or truth so I'm probably going to get marked badly in that one and then by the time i got to Mod C i had 10 minutes so that's another bad mark :/

[Happy Physics Land]

At least we didnt have to deal with whales (boats) and we were able to walk out of the exam room in pleasure today.

[RuiAce]

I probably shouldn't dwell on it but for 'to what extent' questions does the linking sentence always have to mention the 'extent' part of the question? Or is it okay if we make judgments throughout out paragraphs and then bring it together in the conclusion. E.g "due to (the main body points) it can be said that this is true to a great extent"?

The linking sentence should probably me somewhat clearer than the rest however bluntly putting it out there doesn't really do anything especially since you reused the word "extent". If you made it sufficient clear for the examiner to realise that you've been evaluating through your paragraph then that is definitely okay.

Glad to see everyone sharing the same viewpoint (Paper 1 = hell, Paper 2 = awesome).

I'm too closed minded I forever hate paper 2

i found the exam quite hard. the Mod A question was okay because my quotes fit but for Mod B Hamlet the use of imagery portraying challenging ideas showing truth and deceit. that got me. none of my quotes really had imagery and i wasn't expecting them to specify themes. i stuck to my three themes that i had planned and tried to say after every quote something like this shows deceit or truth so I'm probably going to get marked badly in that one and then by the time i got to Mod C i had 10 minutes so that's another bad mark :/

Bit of a time management problem there; don't spend too long on one section when you're stuck! Remember that for the remainder of your exams - always better to get the marks you can grab rather than dwell over those you can't

Sorry to hear that the question was rough on you

[studybuddy7777]

At least we didnt have to deal with whales (boats) and we were able to walk out of the exam room in pleasure today.

Haha well pleasure of some sort..

I dont have any major gripes with the paper but the questions were not what I was expecting at all. Still think I answered them reasonably well though. And at least I finished this time..

Module A (Richard & Richard) was a killer. I couldnt relate well to the LFR quote because I had no idea where it was from, or who redgrave even was 😂😂. The question was exactly what I wanted it to be though.

Module B (Cloudstreet) was weirdly worded, but I could relate to it fine. "Stagnation and renewal" apparently stumped quite a few but I got it (my only synonym was 'go sour' though, so ive repeated it too much)

Module C. (Art of Travel- Landscapes) Well. Despite not reading the question right (I thought it was inextricably for some weird reason not intrinsically) I got the general gist of what it was saying, luckily they mean the same thing lol!! My related text suffered. Did not even try to use the one I had prepared for Mod C. Used my AoS one instead (thank god they only asked for one!) and that worked alright..

Overall- Finished quite close to the bell (2 or so mins) but besides that I am reasonably happy, I went in there knowing Mod A would be my worst and came out the same way. Went in thinking Mod B was my strength but funnily enough now Mod C is seeming to be the best, or very close to it. Certainly better than Paper 1 though!! 

[Aliceyyy98]

Hi guys, so for a "to what extent" question, can you disagree with the question completely and argue the opposite instead?