Many students struggle with the unseen AO2 elements of their A-level English Literature exams. The main reason is that they are still relying on the same methods they used in their GCSEs! But for an A-level examiner, that just doesn't cut it anymore! They expect you to develop a better overview of all the different tools at the writer's disposal and talk about them in more nuanced ways.
That's going to take a change in mindset. For one, it's not really about close analysis anymore. Zooming in on single words and phrases can be helpful, but there's so much more to it than that! It's one of multiple different things you should be talking about if you want to do AO2 well.
Plus, did you know that naming devices isn't AO2? It's actually AO1! So, doing good AO2 is going to rely on a lot more than realising that the writer is using metaphors!
This webinar is designed to be a crash course to get you thinking about AO2 like a top-grade A-level student. We'll be answering some of the most important questions:
- What is the difference between analysis at GCSE and A-level?
- Why isn't it good enough to zoom in on single words and phrases anymore?
- What are some of the other methods of analysis that you should be employing?
- How should you annotate your unseen texts to make sure that you're getting the top marks?
Once we answer those questions, we look at some examples from real exam papers. We go through a simple, easy-to-follow method to annotating your unseen texts, so that you can pull out all the most useful AO2 without falling into the trap of feature spotting.
By the end of the webinar, you'll be in a good place to start trying out some annotation yourself! Then, you can always post your thoughts to the Shani's Tutoring Community for some feedback!
- Teacher: Shani
