**2013 English Paper 1 official thread**

RML

RoutineBites wrote: »

Well that was grand. I can attest that NOTHING is more annoying than having someone with a runny nose sitting next to you in an exam hall, but apart from that it was absolutely fine.

*or a growling stomach!

Prodigious

Looked at the paper, couldn't pick a question B. (They were all sh1te!)
Did the short story on a reunion, translated the one I've learned off for Irish :cool:
Question A on Grand Central station was *takes off sunglasses* graaaaaaaaaand.
Question B was mediocre. Did the TV/Radio one, managed to somehow mention Selena Gomez being voted in the top 10 sexiest women despite the fact she looks 12.

andrew369

Hmm I only did 3 pages for QA, 2 for QB and 4 but unfinished story for the essay. Mmmaayyy not have done as well as I thought.

buyer95

Am I the only one who hated the comprehension questions? My part b was fine, and my essay was good I thought, except I ran out of time and only got 4 pages... I hope my abrupt end didn't kill it.

Equil

Lcstudent2013 wrote: »

What topics did you talk about in the treadmill of life essay? And what did they mean by "gilded of life?"

I basically used the 'treadmill' of life as a metaphor for life, I referenced a quote from a song, "You're a canary, I'm a coal mine", and used a coal mine as a metaphor for life as well. I made everything up on the spot so it might not have been very coherent.

As for the 'gilded promises' I talked about how there's always lows but there's a promise of highs too. Used a rollercoaster (cliché I know) as a metaphor for that.

0mega

I did Text A for the first question and as I think over it now I'm wondering whether my points were sufficient.

For the question about the allure of the cliffhanger, did people just talk about the effect that it had on the people referenced in the text (the riot on the dock, the popularity of Dallas, etc.) ?

Slow Show

Yes the Question B's were terrible! I gravitate towards letters/diaries as it's not really in my nature to write formally, so I did the introduction for the book but I don't know if my register of language was appropriate, it was fairly casual for the most part, not OTT 'lol guyz diz a book i wrote 4 da lolz' but formal wouldn't be a word to describe it. I guess it's impossible to know with English.

RoutineBites

RML wrote: »

*or a growling stomach!

I was guilty of that myself though, so can't complain there.

hitchcock

0mega wrote: »

I did Text A for the first question and as I think over it now I'm wondering whether my points were sufficient.

For the question about the allure of the cliffhanger, did people just talk about the effect that it had on the people referenced in the text (the riot on the dock, the popularity of Dallas, etc.) ?

Yes, I just commented how that showed how fascinated they were by it

0mega

Slow Show wrote: »

Yes the Question B's were terrible! I gravitate towards letters/diaries as it's not really in my nature to write formally, so I did the introduction for the book but I don't know if my register of language was appropriate, it was fairly casual for the most part, not OTT 'lol guyz diz a book i wrote 4 da lolz' but formal wouldn't be a word to describe it. I guess it's impossible to know with English.

I did the book introduction too and given the fact it's talking about ordinary people, I think an informal, chatty register would probably be appropriate but as you say, not verging on slang. Similar to giving a talk to people I suppose. I'd say you got it spot on.

bluejay14

Overall I'm fairly happy with how it went. It couldn't have gone much better I suppose, it was far better than I expected it to be.

I went with the QA from text 3, the one about Grand Central Station. Managed to get just over 2 pages out of it although my last question wasn't great. I think I may have repeated myself in some way because I was struggling to get another point out of it.

QB I went with the tv/radio talk. I was fairly happy with it. I know it was for your class but I'm not sure if I went too informal with it or not. I fear that I might have. I had more time than I bargained for because I rushed QA a bit so I stretched it out to 3 pages.

Personal essay of storytelling in music was right up my street tbh. I think some parts were very personal but others were a tad generic. Still got nearly 5 pages on it though.

Lcstudent2013

Slow Show wrote: »

Yes the Question B's were terrible! I gravitate towards letters/diaries as it's not really in my nature to write formally, so I did the introduction for the book but I don't know if my register of language was appropriate, it was fairly casual for the most part, not OTT 'lol guyz diz a book i wrote 4 da lolz' but formal wouldn't be a word to describe it. I guess it's impossible to know with English.

I done that QB aswel . Does the introductory text refer to a chapter in the book or that lone page at the beginning of the book saying why they wrote it , who it is dedicated to, who to thank etc?

_rebelkid

QA I used Text 3, Grand Central Station in New York. I probably went on too long about imagery, but sure, 15 marks
QB I used Text 1, role of Television and Radio in the lives of young people today. Not too bad, spoke about smart TV's and the coronation in '53.
S2 I did essay 2, impact of storytelling with music and song. Perfect essay.

The theme of StoryTelling was an interesting choice, I thought.

sayuriH

anyone have any idea what could be coming up on paper 2 given that the theme of paper 1 was storytelling?

ray2012

I find that paper ok.. I found previous papers other years easier to be honest.

The comprehension (part A and took me AGES, wow.

I did part A of Text 2 and part B of Text 3 (the tourist thing).
I think I completely messed up the part B ; I think I lacked hugely in persuasive language.

Didn't really like the essays either... ended up doing the music one, but I didn't like the "storytelling" part of the title! Just made it a little awkward in parts, and I think I went off in a tangent/rant. Arah it's done now, here's to paper 2

Equil

bluejaymraz wrote: »

Overall I'm fairly happy with how it went. It couldn't have gone much better I suppose, it was far better than I expected it to be.

I went with the QA from text 3, the one about Grand Central Station. Managed to get just over 2 pages out of it although my last question wasn't great. I think I may have repeated myself in some way because I was struggling to get another point out of it.

QB I went with the tv/radio talk. I was fairly happy with it. I know it was for your class but I'm not sure if I went too informal with it or not. I fear that I might have. I had more time than I bargained for because I rushed QA a bit so I stretched it out to 3 pages.

Personal essay of storytelling in music was right up my street tbh. I think some parts were very personal but others were a tad generic. Still got nearly 5 pages on it though.

We're very like-minded. Wrote the exact same amount of pages for each of the questions, chose the same part A and B and we both chose personal essays :P

mixery

Am I the only one that did essay number 3 (manipulation)? It's really simple to write.

P.S; I talked about 50 Shades of Grey also .

RML

sayuriH wrote: »

anyone have any idea what could be coming up on paper 2 given that the theme of paper 1 was storytelling?

I dont think the theme is linked with Paper 2.

internet_user

spent too much times reading i think, an extra 20 mins would have been handy had to finish the essay with 3 and a half pages

sayuriH

RML wrote: »

I dont think the theme is linked with Paper 2.

any predictions for paper 2?

007driver

sayuriH wrote: »

anyone have any idea what could be coming up on paper 2 given that the theme of paper 1 was storytelling?

''Plath is sometimes seen as a story teller through her poems''

Give your response to the poetry of Sylvia in the light of this statement. Support your points with the aid of suitable reference to the poems that you have studied. :P

Dropping No Eaves

Yeah, I thought manipulation was perfect!

lizardspock

Comprehension was alright (cliffhanger one), QB for the tourists- grand... Rather not talk about that composition! Cringe-tastic :pac:

HPMS

I did the personal essay on music and storytelling which wasn't too bad...I used my experiences a lot and stuck to the point so I hope that's enough to get a good grade! I did text 2 for part A and the talk thing for part B. Overall it wasn't bad, hopefully I got at least a B! Now for paper 2...!

shinigamidani

So how is the composing section usually marked?

EvM

Fml Plath and Heaney didn't come up

ILoveDance

0mega wrote: »

I did Text A for the first question and as I think over it now I'm wondering whether my points were sufficient.

For the question about the allure of the cliffhanger, did people just talk about the effect that it had on the people referenced in the text (the riot on the dock, the popularity of Dallas, etc.) ?

ya thats what i did

kevin12345

Happy enough overall. I did Q A from text 1 and text B from text 2. It was picking which B was the lesser of all three evils to be honest, didn't really like any of them but I think it ok. For the essay I did the reunion one, wrote about 2 men (1 who has Crohn's disease and 1 who had leukaemia) who met in hospital as teenagers and were meeting up for the first time after 15 years! Wrote 6 pages, wasn't keen on my ending but I'm always overly critical on my short stories!

Taking a short break then straight into Paper 2.

_rebelkid

shinigamidani wrote: »

So how is the composing section usually marked?

PCLM

Purpose 30
Clarity 30
Language 30
Mechanics 10

suitcasepink

I just thought it was really... limited? Like it was either going to work for you or not, but that there wasnt much scope in it for using your own "creative juices"..