Mock Exams Paper 1 Feedback

My main points of feedback:

  1. Topic sentences – starting with the idea rather than the 1st paragraph, then the 2nd paragraph, and so on…
  2. Using the guiding question and key words to explore characterisation (especially in the prose).
  3. Mentioning tone and emotion in the poem.
  4. Be careful with using terminology such as “oxymoronic” and “allegory”, and ensuring key words are utilised to maximum effect.

Overall, even though I don’t know the mark I was given, I’d say I was likely within a 5-6 grade boundary for this mock exam; on one hand, I was somewhat disappointed with my lacklustre job on the prose extract, but I also feel happy with the analysis I produced for the poem. The use of topic sentences and references to guiding questions are definitely something I need to work on, as using paragraphs as a means of structuring my analysis is primitive, and I definitely need to keep the guiding question in mind, as I feel that (especially my prose analysis) veered too far off from the question, leaving an analysis that was not as grounded or as firm in its foundations as I would’ve liked.