UNIT 1

You will have 2 hours in the exam.

Each piece of advice applies to which ever section of texts you are answering on.

SECTION A

Here you will be asked to respond to a piece of unseen literature.

An example can be found at: http://store.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/pdf/AQA-LTA1-W-SQP-07.PDF

Ensure that you read the instructions before the passage, as this material often gives you important information, such as the writer's name, when they wrote and possibly a brief outline of what the text is about.

You are asked to comment on the text and the views presented. Make sure that you spend a reasonable amount of your answer on the set text. 2 or 3 lines will not be enough. You may be looking to spend about 1/3 to ½ of your answer on this text.

You will also need to use wider reading to back up your ideas when discussing how typical this is of the literature studied.

It will be fatal not to spend any time on other reading. Have at least 3 or 4 texts you can draw on to make valid points.

You will need to explore the subject discussed in the unseen text as well as the style of writing and compare these with the others texts you have mentioned.

When revising for this part of the exam you can practice with other texts of the same genre. Hopefully you will have studied several different types of texts in class with your teachers. Go back over these and look for:

• Typical features of literature of this style
• Typical subject matter in this style (e.g. what did Victorian writers often write about)
• Who were the other key writers of this time? (e.g. The war poetry of Owen, Brooke)

SECTION B

Here you will be asked to write an essay on the poetry that you have studied. The question will focus on a specific topic and you will need to discuss a number of poems, exploring language and form as well as subject matter. You will need to form an argument in relation to the question.

One of the two questions you can select from for your chosen text will name a poem, the other will ask you to select your own.

You need to look at 2 or 3 poems. Do not do any less as your answer will not have any comparison or enough detail for a higher mark.

Keep the question in mind throughout.

Use quotations helpfully and do not copy out large chunks of the text.

You need to know as many of the poems in your collection as possible. To revise a small number (5 or 6) is not enough as it will restrict what you can write about and there is nothing worse than choosing a poem which is irrelevant to the question.