May 2010, English SL Paper 1

[D. C.]

Hey everyone,

So the May 2010 exams have officially started - I did my English SL Paper 1 yesterday, anyone else do that too?

What did you guys think of it? I'm not sure which timezone I'm part of (I'm in England) but I chose the prose, which was an extract from a book called "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. Weird title, I know.

Anyone else choose the prose too?

[philipb]

For mine I did poetry on a piece called 'Piano and Drums'

[Shaikha]

Same here, i chose the poem Piano and Drums ..

What did you guys talk about??

I talked mostly about industrialization and the purity and simplicity of the jungle ..

[IB_sucks]

I did the prose, which was the letter that some "Juliet" wrote. I mainly discussed her character and how it was portrayed. What kind of features did you discuss. Write anything you thought was important basically, i want some reassurance!

[pomoni]

I chose the Juliet one too.. and I dwelled about her character and Rob's and I talked alot about the symbolism of the books. I have NOOO IDEA if what I said was correct in any way!

I said that "writing" and "books" are Juliet's world (as she is a journalist.. that's what I concluded from the text) and the fact that Rob removes the books means she's losing her identity by being with him... I don't know if this makes sense but I really wish! And the detailed listing I said it's for her to manipulate the reader and get him on Juliet's side, and Juliet's trial of explaining herself and justifying her breakup with him... and about Rob's character I said that he's "foolish" and dominant and selfish but that we are here limited to Juliet's perception of him. And I also talked about the development of Juliet's character..like how she in the beginning was ready to give up "half" of who she is (by removing half of her books) but then stood up strong and basically realized she didn't want this... and i always tried to pull in the effect on the reader...

PLEASE someone tell me if this makes any sense...

thanksss

[PXSS]

I did the poem piano and drums...

did anyone think about the speaker getting flashbacks right before death?

i didnt think of it but sum of my frnds said that that was what the poem was about and they used to take english literature so i trusted their knowledge but im wondering if any1 else say this or was it jst them? i wrote about of simplicity of the drums and how they remind us of our roots and are ancient where as the piano is more complex as advanced societies etc...

[Nikki02]

I guess I'm in a different timezone then.. I did the prose on the twins. I think it was called When the Elephants Dance or something. Author: Holthe. It was not bad at all. Anyone else did that prose? Feedback would be greaat .

[thisismyhandle]

I did the juilet thing to but i focused more on the style, tonality and literary features... focused less on the charachters and symbolism... is that bad?

[Peachez]

did anyone think about the speaker getting flashbacks right before death?

i didnt think of it but sum of my frnds said that that was what the poem was about and they used to take english literature so i trusted their knowledge but im wondering if any1 else say this or was it jst them? i wrote about of simplicity of the drums and how they remind us of our roots and are ancient where as the piano is more complex as advanced societies etc...

I did the poem, "Piano and Drums".

I talked about flashbacks, but not right before death. More of right before entering an independent world. I like what you talked about, the simplicity and wildness of the drums and complexity of the piano, I think that's good. You could really talk about anything as long as you prove it by quoting the poem itself.

[IBdoc]

I did the juilet thing to but i focused more on the style, tonality and literary features... focused less on the charachters and symbolism... is that bad?

Same.

We get our grades from that I suppose, right?

[hanniexx]

did anyone think about the speaker getting flashbacks right before death?

i didnt think of it but sum of my frnds said that that was what the poem was about and they used to take english literature so i trusted their knowledge but im wondering if any1 else say this or was it jst them? i wrote about of simplicity of the drums and how they remind us of our roots and are ancient where as the piano is more complex as advanced societies etc...

I did the poem, "Piano and Drums".

I talked about flashbacks, but not right before death. More of right before entering an independent world. I like what you talked about, the simplicity and wildness of the drums and complexity of the piano, I think that's good. You could really talk about anything as long as you prove it by quoting the poem itself.

Me too. I didn't say it was before his death, I thought it was more of a progression of life: flashback of when he started life, then flashbacks when he saw how complicated life was.

And true to the last sentence - as long as it's properly argued/quoted, then you could say pretty much anything =]

I thought this paper was quite nice, compared to some past papers!

[pomoni]

Same.

We get our grades from that I suppose, right?

oh no, i barely talked about those. I talked about the tone and a little about literary features, but the thing is the guiding questions clearly said to talk about characterization of rob and juliet... (which is actually part of the style, isn't it?)

and it also said to say the significance of detailed listing...

Soo I don't know I have this really bad feeling now

[Sandwich]

You should've talked about characterisation and literary features, maybe even both at once. Not one or the other They're both important parts of any text (assuming it has characters... and words... ). Focussing more on one or the other is fine, provided you picked out both where they were most significant. So if you did both to some degree or other, unless you literally had a single sentence about one or the other, don't fret. Never beat yourself up about an exam when you have more ahead of you! Bad karma, doncha know.

[ADH]

I guess I'm in a different timezone then.. I did the prose on the twins. I think it was called When the Elephants Dance or something. Author: Holthe. It was not bad at all. Anyone else did that prose? Feedback would be greaat .

I did that same exact prose. I liked it because I could actually understand what was going on. I interpreted that the twins were one person. Janna was the body and the narrator was the soul of Janna because she kept using I and myself and she talked about how lonely she was and no one noticed her. So that kinda put me in the mind of a spirit. I'm not sure if that was right but it made sense in my head when I read it.

[Nikki02]

I guess I'm in a different timezone then.. I did the prose on the twins. I think it was called When the Elephants Dance or something. Author: Holthe. It was not bad at all. Anyone else did that prose? Feedback would be greaat .

I did that same exact prose. I liked it because I could actually understand what was going on. I interpreted that the twins were one person. Janna was the body and the narrator was the soul of Janna because she kept using I and myself and she talked about how lonely she was and no one noticed her. So that kinda put me in the mind of a spirit. I'm not sure if that was right but it made sense in my head when I read it.

I sorta did that too! I interpreted it as that even though Janna died, them as one person could not be mentally and emotionally separated. At one point the author wrote that the mom wasn't viewed as 'special' anymore, so the narrator as one child would not be special. Therefore, Janna and the narrator are one person. I know what you mean, it made a lot of sense during the exams. I mostly focused on the theme of death in combination with the relationship between the narrator and Janna.

[Nikki02]

I guess I'm in a different timezone then.. I did the prose on the twins. I think it was called When the Elephants Dance or something. Author: Holthe. It was not bad at all. Anyone else did that prose? Feedback would be greaat .

I did that same exact prose. I liked it because I could actually understand what was going on. I interpreted that the twins were one person. Janna was the body and the narrator was the soul of Janna because she kept using I and myself and she talked about how lonely she was and no one noticed her. So that kinda put me in the mind of a spirit. I'm not sure if that was right but it made sense in my head when I read it.

I sorta did that too! I interpreted it as that even though Janna died, them as one person could not be mentally and emotionally separated. At one point the author wrote that the mom wasn't viewed as 'special' anymore, so the narrator as one child would not be special. Therefore, Janna and the narrator are one person. I know what you mean, it made a lot of sense during the exams. I mostly focused on the theme of death in combination with the relationship between the narrator and Janna.

Btw, I wrote about shifts in mood and tone, tension, personification and setting. How about you?

[the_kidd]

prose

i said juliet was willing to make large sacrifices for the benefit of others, (clearing out her stuff, letting go of intimate things like the teddy bear so rob could move in, this all shows how considerate she is). i also said rob was inconsiderate (didnt ask before putting up his trophies, and the fact he kept every single trophy means he's a little self absorbed). seeing their personalities are pretty much opposite, juliet likes literature, rob is a sportyspice, their marriage didnt really work out.

as for structure, i said the fact it was in letter format made it a personal, conversational tone.

[philipb]

For Piano and drums I talked about childhood dreams and adventures. How they kind of co-exist with both the civility of the mother and the need for adventure in the imaginary world

[hanniexx]

It's actually really interesting reading everyone's interpretations of the prose/poems

[pomoni]

You guys realize that the HL TZ2 poem was easier than the SL TZ2 one? I would've chose the HL poem if I had the choice

I don't understand the IBO really..