!! English Higher Level Paper 2 2017 - Discussion / aftermath

jeanjolie

Not complaining but it was an interesting twist; it seems that all the questions on were criticisms of the various texts with the exception of Hamlet 'disturbing psychological thriller' which might be the only one that was more ambiguous.

Mod edit:
Original title: Did anyone find English Paper 2 'critical'?

Mr Rhode Island Red

Keats will forever be my man-crush. He got me out of a serious hole today.

Liordi

Laughed at the Laertes & Horatio question.

GVV was very broad and Boland came up so I'm happy with that Hoping that I got a H4 overall, if not a low H3.

red.velvet

Did the paper last year (thanks again Eliot) but my 5th yr brother is dying to know who came up this year if anyone could be so kind to maybe post it here? Can't find it anywhere online yet.. (I'm assuming Keats came up from the comment above this though).

Msrebeckyxo

Thought the Hamlet question was strange, just had to waffle.
The comparative questions were both grand but ran out of time
Boland was beautiful
Unseen was strange and I contradicted myself in both answers hahahah, ran out of time and panicked
Overall wasn't too bad but very glad that I can burn all of my notes !

Mr Rhode Island Red

Liordi wrote: »

Laughed at the Laertes & Horatio question.

GVV was very broad and Boland came up so I'm happy with that Hoping that I got a H4 overall, if not a low H3.

They appear for about 2 scenes each. Anybody who could drum up enough information on them to fill 4 or 5 pages deserves a good grade. I don't know anybody who did it. But as you said nice comparative and poetry was grand once you weren't depending on Plath.

Mr Rhode Island Red

red.velvet wrote: »

Did the paper last year (thanks again Eliot) but my 5th yr brother is dying to know who came up this year if anyone could be so kind to maybe post it here? Can't find it anywhere online yet.. (I'm assuming Keats came up from the comment above this though).

Keats, Boland, Donne and Bishop

thetalker

A bit disheartened Hopkins or Plath didmt come up but I had studied Boland so it was grand.
Thought a Horatio and Laertes question was a bit strange, talk about a hard Q.
The other Hamlet question was fairly good, did anyone agree on maybe the psychological and thriller and not the other?

carefulnowted

I did Horatio and Laertes, I thought the other question looked awful and I had never prepared for anything like that. Got 5 and a half pages out of it

The unseen poem was a bit hard I thought.

Comparative was bleh but I hate the comparative so no surprises there.

And of course my lovely Bishop came up, with a horribly specific question. Did Boland instead - I'd say half the country did her.

hasdanta

I'd the option of Donne and Keats but didn't like the Keats Q so did Donne. The two parter comparative on vision and viewpoint was a dream and I understood the poem which was a dream.

I did the Laertes and Horatio Q was weird, but I'd read over scene summaries before hand and could put together a very mediocre answer - Hamlet is usually where I fall down, but hopefully the other sections make it up for me like the mocks

Bazinga_N

I was so disappointed Plath or Hopkins didn't come up! Thank god I did Boland though. I deliberately left Bishop out because I thought she definitely wouldn't come up and I'm devastated now :P

I didn't really like the Hamlet Qs or the Comparative either. at least English is out of the way now though!

thetalker

carefulnowted wrote: »

And of course my lovely Bishop came up, with a horribly specific question. Did Boland instead - I'd say half the country did her.

Only half the country? That's a bit generous isn't it

wanderer100

An absolute peach of an English paper that was imo. So relieved to see both Donne and Boland on the paper. Went with Donne in the end. Absolutely nailed it.

Thought the first Hamlet question on 'disturbing psychological thriller' was very open. Panicked a little in the beginning but got a solid 5 pages out of it.

Comparative question was beautiful but I fear that I didn't refer back to the question enough. Nonetheless I went into a lot of detail and used all the linking phrases and terminology examiners love. . Got close to 7 pages in the end.

Unseen poem was fairly straight forward. Biggest fear in them is not understanding them but this one was incredibly simple.

Hoping for a H2/H3 Onto Maths now

VG31

For anyone who did the disturbing psychological thriller Hamlet question, what did you say?

I was waffling a bit although at least I knew my quotes. I mentioned Hamlet's treatment of women, the closet scene, the final scene, deceptive appearances.

carefulnowted wrote: »

And of course my lovely Bishop came up, with a horribly specific question. Did Boland instead - I'd say half the country did her.

I actually did Bishop. The question didn't exactly suit one of the poems I knew though so I had to exaggerate the links a bit. I studied Boland as well but avoided answering on her since most of the country probably did Boland.

Bazinga_N

VG31 wrote: »

For anyone who did the disturbing psychological thriller Hamlet question, what did you say?

I was waffling a bit although at least I knew my quotes. I mentioned Hamlet's treatment of women, the closet scene, the final scene, deceptive appearances.

I basically just wrote about Hamlet Vs. Claudius and mentioned the Closet Scene and Final Scene that. I just keep referring back to the question and literally used the words in the question wherever I could.

I studied Boland as well but avoided answering on her since most of the country probably did Boland.

This is why I'm actually kinda devastated Boland was the only one I knew today! Feel like my essay wouldn't be considered brilliant compared to most others, but alas!

katekitty88

I was delighted with Keats, and comparative (my theme was relationships, and I did the viewpoint question on it a few days ago! Virtually the same thing as that GVV question). I fear I didn't write enough for Hamlet, but my writing is a bit smaller than average, around 13-14 words per line. At least my points were good and I wasn't waffling.

Liordi

VG31 wrote: »

For anyone who did the disturbing psychological thriller Hamlet question, what did you say?

I was waffling a bit although at least I knew my quotes. I mentioned Hamlet's treatment of women, the closet scene, the final scene, deceptive appearances.

I did it in three parts. Started with what I thought was disturbing, ('incestuous marriage, mistreatment of women, lack of Hamlet's remorse at murder) then did what was psychological (soliloquies, play devised by Hamlet. plan devised by Claudius & Laertes) and then what was thrilling. (the murders, the unpredictability of Hamlet, the last scene)

I feel like I should've amalgamated them better but it is what it is.

Mldj

I did the Keats question - it was suucccchhhhh a nice one. A bit disappointed Hoppy didn't make an appearance. The two part GVV could not have been more broad and the unseen poem was so accessible it might as well have been Germany's borders.

Death and Nightingales was my single text (I've never met anyone outside of my school who was doing it) and the questions were, ummm, unusual. It basically asked you why the women in the text were just as powerless as each other. Nobody could have anticipated that tbh, the role of women isn't as important to the plot as it is in Hamlet #TriggerWarning.

Overall very pleased. Think I've got a H2/VERY low H1

Consonata

I had to wafffle through that Hamlet question, just wrote as a character quetion on hamlet and how his personality develops psychologically throughout the play.

Thank god for Boland. Only really knew 2 poets properly. If neither Plath nor Boland were there I would've been scuppered

Unseen was an odd one and Comparative Theme and issue was very strange. 70 marker on how "Role of women" was entertaining, wasn't going to happen so I did the 30 and 40 marker.

blueee

The paper was nice, but I'm kind of worried about my comparative. I wrote about 6 pages for it but only had 3 points?? Is that terrible? I did the GVV 70 marker about factors... I'm afraid that I didn't write about enough factors!!! Ahhhh. They were well-written and well-developed and I compared and answered the question constantly but I'm worried!

Liordi

blueee wrote: »

The paper was nice, but I'm kind of worried about my comparative. I wrote about 6 pages for it but only had 3 points?? Is that terrible did the GVV 70 marker about factors... I'm afraid that I didn't write about enough factors!!! Ahhhh. They were well written and we'll developed and I compared and answered the question constantly but I'm worried!

It said main factor/factors so even if you only did one I'm sure you would've been fine.

Nyctolust

Ended up doing Boland like most of the country - really annoyed with myself for learning Hopkins instead of Keats because the Keats question was the loveliest.
I spent too long on the Boland question though and the essay ended up being longer than necessary even though I only wrote about 4 poems, so the rest of my paper suffered. Unseen poem was fine, with the comparative I actually don't like GVV and have never tried a two-part question before yet I ended up doing the two-part GVV question... I think it went okay? I didn't finish it at all but I got about 4.5 pages in. Then with Hamlet, I started it last because it was what I was least confident on (plus all I saw when I opened the paper was 'Horatio and Laertes' and I just started laughing and moved straight on lol) I knew what I wanted to write for the psychological thriller question but only got one or two points in. So I'm disappointed in myself, everyone expected me to get a H1 and I was hoping for a H2 at least but now I think even a low H3 is a stretch.

jogd1234

Only did 3 poems for the poetry which is dodgyyyyy, only 4.5 pages for comparative aswell but other than that it was ok. Found the unseen poem to be really challenging tbh, although i think I approached it fairly well. As someone with small writing trying to get >14 pages written is tough, I wouldn't do that exam again if you paid me

roisiny

As literally the only class in the country that did Emma by Jane Austen was completely thrown by both questions - sorry @SEC I thought if we struggled through a book with next to 0 plot and no exam focused notes we'd get a handy character question ? Obviously nae.

Such open GVVP questions, stunning poets, wrote 2 words for the unseen as examiner was prising it out of my hands :rolleyes:

blueee

Liordi wrote: »

blueee wrote: »

The paper was nice, but I'm kind of worried about my comparative. I wrote about 6 pages for it but only had 3 points?? Is that terrible did the GVV 70 marker about factors... I'm afraid that I didn't write about enough factors!!! Ahhhh. They were well written and we'll developed and I compared and answered the question constantly but I'm worried!

It said main factor/factors so even if you only did one I'm sure you would've been fine.

Ah yes, thank you so much for pointing that out to me!

carefulnowted

My writing hand is in absolute bits.

Monaghan_98

What did we all make of that unseen poetry? Rather ambiguous imo, glad it's over, but I'll be having nightmares about that hamlet question for years to come...

blueee

Monaghan_98 wrote: »

What did we all make of that unseen poetry? Rather ambiguous imo, glad it's over, but I'll be having nightmares about that hamlet question for years to come...

I only left about 10 minutes for the unseen poem, so my answer on it was very rushed, but I got about a page and a quarter on it. I don't think my answer was particularly spectacular at all but it was fine overall! I did the one part question! Was it about recognising the magic in everyday things, and appreciating them? I don't know, I waffled haha.

wanderer100

Monaghan_98 wrote: »

What did we all make of that unseen poetry? Rather ambiguous imo, glad it's over, but I'll be having nightmares about that hamlet question for years to come...

I said the poem was about making the most of what we have, being thankful and appreciative. I talked about appreciating winter time and not wasting your efforts feeling regret or loss over summer. There was a lot of imagery and language techniques like repetition and metaphors worth mentioning too. I thought it was a very nice unseen for LC