P2 English A1 Paper 2 SL how to prepare for it in 10 hours?

[abracadabra777]

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Edited May 3, 2011 by abracadabra777

[AGBellamy]

As far as I know, you just need to memorise about 7 quotes per work, but mainly focus on themes, characterisation, plot twists, literary techniques, etc.

[Sandwich]

Yeah just have a general knowledge about the sorts of things you might want to write about in the exam, e.g. the things listed above. You don't know what sort of question is going to come up, so you want to learn some quotes and things you can apply to anything that comes up. Basically just learn the plot, know the characters, symbols and the author's style.

Questions tend to be about themes or ideas e.g. death, happiness, drama, beginnings and endings, the protagonist, the setting, the minor characters - they ask really broad things, so just think about those sorts of over-arching ideas within your own plays. How do they begin and end? What is the role of the protagonist, do you know about them? Lesser known characters?

They ask some weird and wonderful things sometimes, but basically having a decent knowledge of the plays plus some generic quotes will stand you in good stead to BS an essay no problemo. To be honest you don't even really need to spend 10 hours on it, I dunno what you'd do for that long! 2-3 hours re-reading them quickly to refresh your memory and picking out your quotes should be fine.

[dessskris]

well I personally suggest skimming through the works, noting the important things (that happen) in each chapter or each act. that refreshes your memory and you will remember what actually happened in each chapter/act and remember the plot. a few hours before the exam you can just go through the notes you just made.

themes, work titles and author names are also important.

do you have to memorise quotes in English A1? because we actually don't do that in Indo A1

[Sandwich]

do you have to memorise quotes in English A1? because we actually don't do that in Indo A1

If you're aiming for top marks in the "shows excellent understanding and knowledge of the texts"-type marking criteria then yep Got to be able to back up some of the points you're making with genuine bits from the texts.

[dessskris]

but what if we remember incorrectly? like we miss out one or two words. will we be penalised instead?

[Sandwich]

but what if we remember incorrectly? like we miss out one or two words. will we be penalised instead?

Not really. For a start you shouldn't remember really long quotes if you're likely to forget them, just 4 or 5 words is fine. Secondly unless it's a major thing that totally changes the meaning of the sentence, the examiner probably won't notice. They're unlikely to have encyclopaedic knowledge themselves. Unless it's a major misquote of a hugely well-known thing (like "to be or to not be" instead of "to be or not to be", something like that!) I doubt they'd even realise, think of how many different texts people write about!

Better to have quotes and get them wrong than to not use them. But yeah, don't try to learn quotes which are so long you're likely to get them wrong.

[dogmatichurricane]

do you have to memorise quotes in English A1? because we actually don't do that in Indo A1

If you're aiming for top marks in the "shows excellent understanding and knowledge of the texts"-type marking criteria then yep Got to be able to back up some of the points you're making with genuine bits from the texts.

Hmm the English A1 Course Companion (Red Book) states on Page 242 that, "It is not always necessary to use direct quotation to support your ideas. 'With reference to the text' means just that - it is perfectly possible to refer to the text without quoting verbatim from it. You can explain the significance of a certain comment or draw examples from the text without using direct quotation at all. It is textual reference in support of your argument that matters, not quotation for its own sake."

I am probably memorizing a handful easy ones that can be applied for a multitude of answers.

[Lukaaa93]

omg omg omg omg!!! I m screwed!!! I have my english P2 exam in two days, and i have never read any of the works this year!!! FML.! :/

any handy suggestions?

[slizzie]

Well, what are your texts? Use sparknotes and yorknotes - anything like that! If your texts are short, perhaps take an afternoon to read them. Sparknotes and yorknotes usually have some important quotes. Make table comparisons. Characterisation, narrative technique, setting and themes are important ones to make connections to all three of your novels. I wouldn't suggest omitting a text to 'make your life easier' because you'll regret it if a perfect question comes up for two of the texts involving one which you omitted.

Make a chart with perhaps 4 quotes from each which are exemplars (sp?!) of themes, characterisation and narrative technique. Use them in your answer.

Make sure you know a few examples of style but overlapping themes is probably the most important in paper 2!!

Good luck - I'm only doing paper 2 revision on monday if it makes you feel better.

You can do it, just learn the basics and waffle! (organised waffle )