Jump to content

English A1 Pre-Exam Discussion Thread


Ashika

Recommended Posts

Okay, first of all, what works are you all doing?

I'll start:

Hamlet- Shakespeare

The Crucible- Arthur Miller

The Importance of Being Earnest- Oscar Wilde

Antigone- Sophocles

My teacher usually gives out a sheet of possible areas/topics to analyze for each work that we do.

If it seems that other people are doing the same works then I'll type whatever I have and then we can discuss answers etc.

Sound okay to you guys?

Edited by Jewelianna
Link to post
Share on other sites

mind if I join in the discussion? I'm pretty useless here in Amman right now ^_^ so might have some extra time to say a few words :)

I did:

Beloved: Toni Morrison

Their eyes were watching God: Zora Neale Hurston

Chronicle of a death foretold: Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

however I can discuss:

Antigone by Anouilh

House of Bernarda Alba by Lorca

Death of a salseman: Arthur Miller

Great Gatsby: F. scott Fitzgerald

Metamorphosis: Franz Kafka

I think that's about it :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm not entirely sure which texts we'r expected to know for our exams. Will we need to know our world lit texts? I've also done Poe and just recently Dawe. I'm not too confident with my english and will probably be looking for advice rather than giving it, but i'l try to put in where i can.

Link to post
Share on other sites

No, you don't need to know the World Lits, you need to know the works in "Group 3".

Are you guys going to spend as much time on studying for A1 language as for other subjects or are you just going to quickly go over some notes before the exam?

Link to post
Share on other sites

1984 - Orwell

Great Expectations - ****ens

The House of Spirits - Allende

Heat and Dust - Jhabvala

I can discuss:

Hamlet

Great Gatsby

Antigone

Miss Julie

A Doll's House

deissi: I wasn't planning on revising hardcore for A1, our teacher is giving us practice exams until the last day of school to get the technique and timing down. I was going to reread the novels and use sparknotes to remind me of overall themes, characters etc. I think that's the best option since we did most of our part 3 works in the beginning of last year.

Thanks HMS, I knew something was off about the Group 4 thing :P

Edited by blindpet
Link to post
Share on other sites

No, you don't need to know the World Lits, you need to know the works in "Group 4".

No no no no Joel, sweetheart :P . Part 4 texts are the school's free choice which is not anything to do with exams. The A1 texts are divided into:

Part 1 - All WL, for WL1

Part 2 - IOC - 4 works of different genres

Part 3 - Exam texts!!! Same genre!! You MUST answer on these texts and in the correct genre as your books and genre will be registered and if you're registered as drama and you do poetry YOU WILL LOSE A LOT OF MARKS!

Part 4 - School's free choice, usually including 1 WL (HL) for WL2 and IOP

So make sure you ASK your teacher what texts are your exam texts and make sure they are of the same genre and when it comes to the exam, ONLY ANSWER ON THOSE TEXTS!!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Are you guys going to spend as much time on studying for A1 language as for other subjects or are you just going to quickly go over some notes before the exam?

Meh, I plan on reviewing some notes the night before but I would like to become more knowledgeable about the themes and specific quotes/examples I can use to back things up etc. English is one of my weaker subjects and I've been getting by with 6s but who knows, I may end up with 5 on the exam... don't want to take that chance.

Also, we are REALLY behind... apparently we're doing one work a week and obviously things are going to be glossed over which is not cool.

Like I said, I'll type up whatever questions my teacher gave our class and we can discuss from there and everyone else can pitch in and I'll type up the answers we discussed in class :P

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm here to get some tips on how to study and what to study for the A1 english exams. Mine are still in november but i guess it'll pay to start early.

studying for English was my favorite part of exam time :P that and finish exams the first one in my class of course :)

anyway! what I used to do was reread the texts right before the exam (I usually stayed up all night, and slept for a few hours only...) so that the text was fresh in my mind. For mocks I didn't have time to do that, so instead I reread all the essays/comments I had written about the works and I was pretty much done. The thing with me was that if I had the story fresh in my mind, I had a weird way of remembering certain relevant details . I never used specific quotes, maybe that why I got a 6 instead of a 7 in paper 2, so make a list about all the catchy phrases that might come in handy generally, and for specific themes you think they may as you about.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hamlet Study Topics

1. Discuss the ways in which Horatio, Fortinbras, Claudius and Laertes and characterized as foils for Hamlet. Examine the means by which they are presented, how they contrast with Hamlet, and the effects created by these contrasts.

2. Examine the interconnectedness and parallels between the main plot and the two subplots.

3. Examine the presentation and functions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Comic relief or serious purpose? Discuss the validity of Hamlet’s treatment of them.

4. Discuss the presentation and functions of the masque.

5. Examine the presentation and functions of the motifs of religion, misogyny, disease and the supernatural in the play.

6. Examine the means by which our perceptions of the relationships between the following are developed with the play: Hamlet and Gertrude, Hamlet and Ophelia, Polonius and Laertes, Polonius and Ophelia, Laertes and Ophelia, Claudius and Gertrude, Hamlet and Claudius.

7. Shakespeare, a monarchist, believed that to depose or kill the rightful monarch would bring chaos to the kingdom. How is this idea brought out in the play?

8. Examine Shakespeare’s use of puns and metaphors. Identify 3 of each and discuss their effects within the play.

9. Examine the functions of comedy in the play, particularly the role of the gravediggers, Osric and Polonius. Is it merely to relieve tension, or do the comic scenes serve a more serious purpose as well?

10. One of the themes in Hamlet is the difficulty people face in distinguishing between reality and illusion. Examine how this theme is developed throughout the play. Pay particular attention to Hamlet’s perceptions and misgivings about the ghost, Ophelia’s perceptions of Hamlet. Gertrude’s perception of Claudius, and Laertes’ perceptions of Claudius.

Link to post
Share on other sites

does this include the poetry that we worked on?

but i'll comment on what i can. we are still reading through all fo our dramas right now. 30 days for 4 dramas.

i alos have paper two in my hands right now from may 2003 in my hands if anyone is interested.

Edited by IBStuck
Link to post
Share on other sites

My english orals are tomorrow and I'm pulling an all nighter.. gonna be so tired :P

anyway my May exams will be on

Master Harold and the boys

Waiting for Godot

The Glass Menagerie

The house of Bernarda Alba

I'm pretty confident about Godot and Glass but not about the other two (haven't even read them yet X__x)

Haha could i see the copy of the exam? Where did you get it from..?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I don't do A1 Eng but A2. However, I can discuss several of the books mentioned here such as;

The Crucible

Great Gatsby

Miss Julie (A1..)

Medea (A1...)

Heart of Darkness

1984 - Orwell

+ several others :)

However, I am completely lost with Heart of Darkness and have decided to not study it for my A2 exam since I will have 8 other novels that I could try to incorporate instead anyway.

Link to post
Share on other sites

However, I am completely lost with Heart of Darkness and have decided to not study it for my A2 exam since I will have 8 other novels that I could try to incorporate instead anyway.

Don't worry, Heart of Darkness we did for our IOC, and only one person in my class chose to did out of 14 people. It I don't know how I even managed to finish reading it. It took me a week of only reading the book, it was horrible.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...