A1 Paper 2 Advice and Tips

[larojiblanca]

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question (my useless teacher taught absolutely nothing for the entire year), but with what direction are we supposed to approach the thesis? Are we supposed to compare themes or literary features contributing to the themes?

1. Compare literary devices, and how they contribute to the theme. Basically, how the themes are developed through the literary devices?

2. Use cause/effect thesis and compare themes?

E.g. would your thesis be something like " Through narrative viewpoint, symbolism, characterization, use of setting blah blah the authors demonstrate the lack of hope in characters" or "In both novels, characters are contain themselves to the point of entrapment, which leads to their demise"?

[sweetnsimple786]

ALSO if there is a quote (which there is a lot) define the vague terms. I always forget this and this scores a lot of marks

o.O What do you mean with defining terms? We say what the words mean?

My teacher also made a point to do this. We were talking about one of the prompts, which had to do with a quotation that said something to the extent that it's your duty to defy the norm when you see injustice. When you address what is meant by terms like 'duty' and 'defy' and 'injustice' then you can look at different ways characters do this or don't do this. Does that help? Don't do a dictionary definition. Just try to incorporate what you mean in a suitable context.

Another question I had was about the General Questions section. My teacher says he does not recommend we do those and that they should be an emergency fall back if there is no way we can answer the Drama questions. I was wondering if it is indeed harder to score higher on Paper 2 if I did one of those questions. If I do answer those questions, any advice in doing well on it?

Hmm see I'm not sure about this either. I think that it's easier to score higher on the specific genre question because that question is more specific. When you answer a general question, you've got to try to ground your analysis on the fact that you're studying plays or poems or novels or whatever. If you like a general question and think you can answer that more thoroughly, then go for it!

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question (my useless teacher taught absolutely nothing for the entire year), but with what direction are we supposed to approach the thesis? Are we supposed to compare themes or literary features contributing to the themes?

1. Compare literary devices, and how they contribute to the theme. Basically, how the themes are developed through the literary devices?

2. Use cause/effect thesis and compare themes?

E.g. would your thesis be something like " Through narrative viewpoint, symbolism, characterization, use of setting blah blah the authors demonstrate the lack of hope in characters" or "In both novels, characters are contain themselves to the point of entrapment, which leads to their demise"?

Woah. Wait a minute. For paper two, you do not want to go in there with a thesis or essay in mind. You need to look at what the question is asking and then craft your argument from that.

Your question may be specific and ask you about certain literary features. It may ask you about a theme or symbols or point of view or characters. I don't know what a cause/effect thesis is. Just keep in mind that you want to answer the question you choose. Don't try to restrain yourself with a structure planned out already.

[benjaminlee92]

ALSO if there is a quote (which there is a lot) define the vague terms. I always forget this and this scores a lot of marks

o.O What do you mean with defining terms? We say what the words mean?

e.g. “Literary works persuade us that human beings are worth caring for and writing about, no

matter what their circumstances or condition.” To what extent is this evident in two or three

works you have studied?

not a really good example sorry. but here, what exactly does worth caring for and writing about mean. define that. i think worth caring for in the context of the quote is that we have a sense of sympathy for another human being's situation because of the mere fact that they human just like we are.