GCSE English Literature

[Slowpoke]

Anyone else have that this morning? We had to write about 'Of Mice and Men' and 'A View from the Bridge' (that's what our school studies) and a poem called 'Winter Swans'. I was on higher and thought it was surprisingly easy though I only just finished. :P

[Catchy]

Yeah I did, it mice of men lol! Wrote about Crooks!

[Bouncing]

I'll be doing it next year, in year 10 atm, but we have an anthology which we read poems from? Do you have to know them solidly? The ones you read, because I've not been paying too much attention to them...

[DieselShaq]

Which exam board are you? I'm doing CIE (like for most other exams) and we're studying The Crucible and To Kill a Mockingbird, though I have read neither since I haven't been and will not be bothered, lol. I don't really know any of the poems either xD

I think CIE is doing A View From the Bridge in AS literature, 'cause that's what my sister is doing.

[Slowpoke]

I don't know which board we're in, WJSC or something I think - the welsh one? I'm not even from wales though so it's weird. :P

[Bouncing]

I'm doing AQA anyone wanna help:D

[myke]

I done the AQA Higher English Lit today, it was so boring :| & the papers are made to be so difficult to read the questions.. what mops.
Anyway yh. To Kill a Mockingbird and like.. 6 poemz :|

[Bouncing]

Do you have to know the poems in the anthology well? Im currently in year 10 so jw

[Catchy]

Do you have to know the poems in the anthology well? Im currently in year 10 so jw


You have to know a few things about them, you don't have to memorize them as they will give you a blank anthology in the exam but aslong as you know what the poems about and the themes etc s'all good! :)

[Nixt]

I don't know which board we're in, WJSC or something I think - the welsh one? I'm not even from wales though so it's weird. :P

It's WJEC. My school used them too and we're not in Wales. Dunno why!

[Favourtism]

Inspector Calls and Mockinbird ;D


It's WJEC. My school used them too and we're not in Wales. Dunno why!
yh my school in bristol does WJEC too

[ben]

I had this today aswell. My exam board is WJEC and if you done I know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Inspector Calls I guess your happy with the questions :P

[drama]

Anyone else have that this morning? We had to write about 'Of Mice and Men' and 'A View from the Bridge' (that's what our school studies) and a poem called 'Winter Swans'. I was on higher and thought it was surprisingly easy though I only just finished. :P
we did A View from the Bridge in our year 10 coursework :O

had mine, did Lord Of The Flies, then a question comparing four poems.

[ben]

we did A View from the Bridge in our year 10 coursework :O

had mine, did Lord Of The Flies, then a question comparing four poems.

We read Lord Of The Flies in Year 9 :P

[clueless]

i dont know what exam board im on, i think edexecel maybe?

its the one with the anthology and we did identity poems, theres 16 and i answered on I shall paint my nails red and warning

and then on to kill a mockingbird and a view from the bridge

[Judge Judy]

I'm with AQA with this exam.

Did I'm the King of the Castle as the book.
Then compared Before You Were Mine and Mother, any distance. in part a) and in part b) The Laboratory and Song of the Old Mother.

The exam was... 'meh'; it was a mixture of good and bad as I could've written loads on Labortory but nearly nothing on Old Mother

[colourpot]

I had AQA, Did Of Mice And Men, and Duffy, Armitage and the pre-1914 poems, was allright exam.

[Xarea]

Schools either tend to choose AQA or WJEC. WJEC has a more exam based focus, so easier life for the teachers - hardly any coursework to mark compared to AQA.

I don't do EngLit, only language.

[LOLROB]

Ahh I found it good
Done of mice and men
and hobson's choice

Also Im not good with poems what you guys think what was it about :(

[Nicola]

I did AQA higher. I proper messed it up though because i spend too much time planning on the stories and didn't have a lot time to write about the poems.

[Judge Judy]

I did AQA higher. I proper messed it up though because i spend too much time planning on the stories and didn't have a lot time to write about the poems.

What many of us (at our school) did was do the poems first then the novel because most marks are from the poems.

Hmm I planned mentally rather than put it on the paper.

[Immenseman]

I'm sure you did well Harry, English Literature is like the best subject in pre 16 education. Even I managed to get an A :D I remember doing Of Mice and Men last year, it's alrighttttt.

[Robbie]

I was on AQA and I did Of Mice and Men for set text and Duffy and Armitage for poetry.

For Of Mice and Men I chose the question about dreams and how they are presented and for poetry I did one I can't remember and compare the feelings of pleasure in one poem by Armitage and one Pre-1914 poem. So I did Sonnet 130 and Kid.

[Toughened]

Our exam board is WJEC and we picked of Mice And Men and An Inspector Calls.
Thought it went pretty well, the questions were decent seen as some of the practise ones our teacher gave us were extremely hard.
Oh and the poem was good too, quite liked it. A lot better than the one last year, we got given that one in class too and OMG it was sooo hard.

[mike475]

I have AQA. I did Lord of the Flies for the set text, and questions 20a and 20b for the poems. I ran out of time on the poems, epic fail @ english :@ and then my bag for 'nicked' with my phone and wallet in it, turned up in the girls changing rooms.. ;/

[Implement]

Our school did AQA I think... blue-ish coloured anthology - hate them things!!

And yeah we had to do two pre-1914 poems, one Simon Armitage and one Carol Ann Duffy... was pretty solid tbf as I did the poems first as they were worth most marks, and ended up having only 40 minutes to do the Heroes part.

[Hazza]

Exam board: AQA
Books studied: Of Mice and Men & Inspector Calls
Also studied: Best words poetry (Post 1914)

I'm foundation, woooooo, i'm crap at english... and quite frankly I think I failed. I wrote about Mr. Birling for inspector calls, Lennie for Of Mice and Men and for the poetry I chose to do 'Long Distance' and compare with another poem that was a personal experience. So I wrote about An Advancement of Learning and I chatted crap basically.

FAIL.

[Implement]

You should have tried doing the higher paper, not only do I think I've failed, I think I got lower than a D.

[Charlottay!]

yea i did Lord of the flies piggy question then the 2 mini essays for the poetry. the pleasure question though i went a bit morbid and did labortory and hitcher. (pleasure of killing) :P couldnt think of much to put.

epic fail 4 me

[Callum.]

I was on AQA and I did Of Mice and Men for set text and Duffy and Armitage for poetry.

For Of Mice and Men I chose the question about dreams and how they are presented and for poetry I did one I can't remember and compare the feelings of pleasure in one poem by Armitage and one Pre-1914 poem. So I did Sonnet 130 and Kid.

I also did dreams. Thought it was pretty easy, had to make sure you covered the points given.


yea i did Lord of the flies piggy question then the 2 mini essays for the poetry. the pleasure question though i went a bit morbid and did labortory and hitcher. (pleasure of killing) :P couldnt think of much to put.

epic fail 4 me

Yeah, that's the bit I think I failed on. Comparing four poems, pleasure and bitterness. I didn't see any Armitage poems that really covered pleasure, so I also did The Laboratory and Hitcher.

[drama]

for our poems on the 2 part one, we had to compare

How parents are presented in two pre-1914 poems (I did 'On My First Sonne' and 'Affliction of Margaret'

and

How parents are presented in one Heaney poem and one Clarke poem

[Sunny.]

I did AQA. Did mice and men question

"Explain the importance of dreams in this novel"

and for the poems I did Havisham & My Last Duchess & Kid

[Toughened]

for our poems on the 2 part one, we had to compare

How parents are presented in two pre-1914 poems (I did 'On My First Sonne' and 'Affliction of Margaret'

and

How parents are presented in one Heaney poem and one Clarke poem
We did 'On My First Sonne' and 'Surprised By Joy' for coursework. I was one mark off an A* :(.

[Favourtism]

Schools either tend to choose AQA or WJEC. WJEC has a more exam based focus, so easier life for the teachers - hardly any coursework to mark compared to AQA.

I don't do EngLit, only language.
Really?
WJEC has Shakespeare, Personal Writing (Short Story), Review, Culture Poetry Analysis and then three orals.

How much does AQA have LOL. I prefer English Lit to Lang anyday.

[Slowpoke]

Really?
How much does AQA have LOL. I prefer English Lit to Lang anyday.

Without a doubt - language is disgusting!

[DieselShaq]

I prefer language 'cause literature is just basically writing a load of bull, which doesn't work for me since it requires illogical thinking and I can't think illogically. Logical thinking suits me down to the ground.

[Immenseman]

I prefer language 'cause literature is just basically writing a load of bull, which doesn't work for me since it requires illogical thinking and I can't think illogically. Logical thinking suits me down to the ground.

You just need a bit of imagination. Language is dire, unimaginative and so restricted. Literature you can actually think outside the box rather than being penned in.

[DieselShaq]

You just need a bit of imagination. Language is dire, unimaginative and so restricted. Literature you can actually think outside the box rather than being penned in.
lol, but it's the way I prefer it. I'm just that sort of person. I'm really poor at the whole imaginative thing and prefer to be restricted. Sometimes my teacher tells me how certain words and phrases create such and such effect but I just go "I'm sorry, what? How does that work? It just doesn't..."

[clueless]

You just need a bit of imagination. Language is dire, unimaginative and so restricted. Literature you can actually think outside the box rather than being penned in.

but but
our creative writing coursework came into language
and our writing triplets where you can be imaginative is in language!!

[Immenseman]

lol, but it's the way I prefer it. I'm just that sort of person. I'm really poor at the whole imaginative thing and prefer to be restricted. Sometimes my teacher tells me how certain words and phrases create such and such effect but I just go "I'm sorry, what? How does that work? It just doesn't..."
You can't be wrong in Literature though - well you'd have to try pretty hard to be anyway. A lot of the content is how you as an individual interpret events. If you can explain why you believe what you do then you'll do well dependant on the clarity of your argument and imagination of the interpretation.

[DieselShaq]

The thing is, it asks me how the writer creates certain effects and I'm like "He doesn't..." Or the question can ask how the writer makes me feel a certain feeling and I'd be like "This passage does not, in any way, shape or form, make me feel [feeling]. Call me a cold-blooded, heartless soul if you may, but no, this passage makes me feel nothing."

[Immenseman]

The thing is, it asks me how the writer creates certain effects and I'm like "He doesn't..." Or the question can ask how the writer makes me feel a certain feeling and I'd be like "This passage does not, in any way, shape or form, make me feel [feeling]. Call me a cold-blooded, heartless soul if you may, but no, this passage makes me feel nothing."
you cold-blooded heartless soul.

[DieselShaq]

you cold-blooded heartless soul.
lol, yeah, I asked my sister if I could write that. I mean seriously, if the passage doesn't make you feel any sort of emotion, you can't write about it. I don't care how good the writer is, he can't make everybody feel the way he wants them to.

[Immenseman]

lol, yeah, I asked my sister if I could write that. I mean seriously, if the passage doesn't make you feel any sort of emotion, you can't write about it. I don't care how good the writer is, he can't make everybody feel the way he wants them to.
If the question was asking how if the writer provoked a certain emotion you'd still be allowed to write something along the lines of... "the writer doesn't provoke that specific emotion. however, he manages many others to arise..." then you'd elaborate, anyone can do that and depending on how well they write and their interpretation still get an A grade.

[DieselShaq]

If the question was asking how if the writer provoked a certain emotion you'd still be allowed to write something along the lines of... "the writer doesn't provoke that specific emotion. however, he manages many others to arise..." then you'd elaborate, anyone can do that and depending on how well they write and their interpretation still get an A grade.
Not too sure on that. I'll have to ask my teachers to confirm, but I'll most likely try my best to cough up a two-page essay anyway.

[lew!]

I think i did alright! I had to do of mice and men and an Inspector calls.

The swan poem thingy was nice too, I wrote how the contrast between the weather and how the writer describes the beauty of the swans and links it with love for the two people ect ect lool.

[Cryptoo]

I had mine like, last week. I had to write about An inspector calls (open book), i wrote about Sheila, to kill a mocking bird (closed), i wrote about Jem and then I chose the poems 'The Darkling Thrush' and 'Upon my Son Samuel going for England'

[Kardan]

I thought it was really good :) I did Lord of the Flies and the poems by Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and the Pre-1914 ones. I'll be really annoyed if I get a B or below though :/

[MeRkAgE]

I thought it was really good :) I did Lord of the Flies and the poems by Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and the Pre-1914 ones. I'll be really annoyed if I get a B or below though :/

That's what the people in my year did who do Foundation.
If you're the same, you'll only get max of a "C".

[BoyBetterKnow]

I accidently ******. I wrote about 2 plays for Section A. Annoying because I just misread what part Stone Cold was from. I was writting at an A* level too, so I'm a bit annoyed.