Are you curious to see what Paper 2 questions loo! li!e -ere is a sample of questions that represent the !inds of questions that could appear on the exam. They are inspired by the sample questions that appear in the Language A: Language and Literature guide. *.
xplain how the authors of at least two literary wor!s hae portrayed a social group in a particular way. -ow might the contexts of the authors hae influenced their portrayal of these social groups
2.
&t is often said that literature is a oice for social commentary. -ow is this true of at least two wor!s that you hae read.
3.
To what extent can the meaning of a literary wor! change oer time -ow does this question apply to at least two wor!s that you hae read
.
To what degree are readers influenced by their culture and context. xplain how at least two wor!s could be read differently depending on the culture of their audience.
/.
%(oming of age% is a common theme in literary wor!s. )ith regards to at least two literary wor!s, explain how the author%s own youth influenced their portrayal of this theme.
+.
)ith regards to at least two literary wor!s, explain how the setting both influences the characters and reflects the author%s own context.
4.
-ow are the characters from at least two literary wor!s representational of people from the time and place in which they were written
5.
)hy might two of your Part 3 wor!s be considered %timeless%
6.
)ith regards to two literary texts, explain why authors may hae chosen to depict eents in a particular sequence or order.
*7.
-ow do two literary wor!s both reflect and challenge the spirit of the times in which they were written
Steps )hile the Paper 2 essay only ta!es *./ hours at S and 2 hours at -, in fact you can spend hours preparing for it. 8ood preparation will ensure that eery minute of the exam is used wisely. )e recommend you see the %s!ills% page for further explanation on how one deelops the necessary s!ills. 9n this page, you will find an oeriew of tips that you can apply to the preparation process. *.
:ead the instructions. So many candidates s!ip the instructions and go straight to the questions. The instructions on the Paper 2 exam draw your
attention to the criteria that you will be assessed on. &t helps to hae these in the bac! of your mind as you respond to the question you choose to answer. 2.
:emember that the Paper 2 exam is as!ing you to do three things. &n fact, these correspond to the first three criteria. Try loo!ing at good samples and with three different colors of highlighter pens, highlights examples of each of these three. A; "e !nowledgeable on the text and the context. "; 1o not forget to answer the question. (; :emember to comment on the author%s use of language, style and structure.
3.
:emember that there are + questions on the exam.
.
Practice writing outlines for questions that appeared on preious tests >or one of the Specimen Papers;.
/.
1o research on the time period when the wor! was written and the authors that you hae studied for Part 3 wor!s. =ind 3'/ points from his?her life that may be releant to the wor! you read.
+.
-ae you shown how well you read the noels Try to write a little bit about these three things in the essay in order to score well on (riterion (@ A; Setting ' -ow is it important to understanding the context "; Plot ' )as there a twist, a climax, a conflict that was of particular importance (;
4.
At -, as! yourself if you can do the wor!s ustice by writing about all 3 wor!s. &f you ta!e such an approach, it is not recommended to compare and contrast all of them within unified paragraphs. &f you decide to write about all 3
wor!s, spend one or two paragraphs on each wor!, commenting on context, style and answering the question at hand. 5.
Practice using the assessment criteria by examining both good and bad samples.
Outlines There is no single correct way to write Paper 2. -oweer there are seeral good ways to structure the essay. "efore you begin to write your essay, ta!e *7'*/ minutes to outline the main ideas. This is a good idea for seeral reasons@ •
)e use outlines to preent %after thoughts% from creeping into the essay. xaminers find it difficult to read scripts that include, boxes, arrows and symbols that attempt to insert text that was written as an after thought. 9nce you see an oeriew of your ideas, you can moe them around more easily.
•
)e use outlines to ensure that all the criteria are met, all wor!s are explored equally and ideas appear in the logical order.
•
A good outline can sae you time for the reasons mentioned aboe.
9n this page we hae included three possible outlines for the Paper 2 essay. &n brief you will see the %comparatie approach%, the %criterion'by'criterion% approach, and the %wor!'by'wor!% approach. The outlines hae been filled in to show how one exam question can be approached three different ways. The exam question >ta!en from the nglish A Specimen Papers on the 9((; is@
BAnalyse how ustice is represented and understood in at least two wor!s studied.B &n the sample outlines, this question has been answered with regards to Fiela's Child by 1alene Cathee >*65/; and The Kite Runner by Dhaled -osseini >2773;.
he !omparati"e approa!h
The Language A: Language and Literature guide does not specify that students must compare and contrast literary texts in their Paper 2 exam. -aing said this, there is an adantage to ta!ing the comparatie approach. &t will increase your leel of analysis. &f your Part 3 wor!s do not hae anything in common then you should probably not ta!e this approach. -ere is an outline of an essay that compares and contrasts two wor!s.
he te#t$%$te#t approa!h
The text'by'text approach implies that you do not hae to compare and contrast wor!s within each body paragraph. This is a perfectly fine approach. -aing said this, bear in mind that it also comes with its pitfalls. =or example tac!ling three wor!s, as is done in the sample below, may be oer ambitious. This method is good if your wor!s are not thematically connected.
he !riterion$%$!riterion approa!h
1epending on the quesiton, you may want to ta!e a criterion'by'criterion approach, meaning that you answer the question >(riterion ";, comment on the importance of context >(riterion A; and the authors% use of language >(riterion (;. This approach has its adantages and disadantages. $ou may find yourself writing to meet the exam requirements. i!e the comparatie approach, you will find this method also presents the opportunity to compare and contrast within each paragraph.
