Eng Lit Books - which fil versions are good

[JaneEyre]

Concerning the novel 'The Great Gatsby', which film version would you recommend and why? The one with Leonardo Di Caprio or the one with Robert Redford?

[topsyturvy]

Great movie details, will try and see.

So for the Eng Lit GCSE 2017 (8702/1) will have 2 sections, one for Shakespeare and the other for 19th C Novel, 30 marks each.

My question is how many words answer are they looking for? Could not find the length of the answer? How much they expect the student to be able to write in this 1hr 45min exam.

Thanks for replying.

Well, my son's school will do An Inspector Calls ( I have the 1954 Alastair Sims version), Dr Jekyll (I have the Julia Roberts Mary Reilly, and Spencer Tracy). As for Macbeth, may try and judge which movie versions schools use. In relation to Dr Jekyll, I am told the 1931 version is the definitive movie.

[scary mum]

Great movie details, will try and see.

So for the Eng Lit GCSE 2017 (8702/1) will have 2 sections, one for Shakespeare and the other for 19th C Novel, 30 marks each.

My question is how many words answer are they looking for? Could not find the length of the answer? How much they expect the student to be able to write in this 1hr 45min exam.

Thanks for replying.

Well, my son's school will do An Inspector Calls ( I have the 1954 Alastair Sims version), Dr Jekyll (I have the Julia Roberts Mary Reilly, and Spencer Tracy). As for Macbeth, may try and judge which movie versions schools use. In relation to Dr Jekyll, I am told the 1931 version is the definitive movie.

Maybe ask the teacher what they think?

[ToadMum]

Great movie details, will try and see.

So for the Eng Lit GCSE 2017 (8702/1) will have 2 sections, one for Shakespeare and the other for 19th C Novel, 30 marks each.

My question is how many words answer are they looking for? Could not find the length of the answer? How much they expect the student to be able to write in this 1hr 45min exam.

Thanks for replying.

Well, my son's school will do An Inspector Calls ( I have the 1954 Alastair Sims version), Dr Jekyll (I have the Julia Roberts Mary Reilly, and Spencer Tracy). As for Macbeth, may try and judge which movie versions schools use. In relation to Dr Jekyll, I am told the 1931 version is the definitive movie.

Maybe ask the teacher what they think?

What has your DC been advised at school?

You can also have a look at the specimen mark schemes here:

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/e ... 21-SMS.PDF

I would assume that 'number of words' would be less important than 'framing an answer that satisfies the highest level that you can'. If I were to have to wade through hundreds of exam papers, I would say, the more succinct, the better. I'm not an English teacher, though.

[topsyturvy]

Thank you, I agree it is the content not the length. In 2017, it will be a close book exam hence added pressure to learn quotes too.

[kenyancowgirl]

Optimist....search for the RSC version starring Dame Judy Dench as Lady Macbeth and Sir Ian McKellan as Macbeth. Very simple staging (none) and all about the actors (who are sublime), it focuses on the words and words alone. Not whizzy, no special effects, but, by gum, I watched it about 30 years ago and am still able to link images from it with phrases and quotes from the play.

[ToadMum]

Back to the word count, DD (year 11) says they haven't discussed the finer details of that paper yet, but as an aside, their French teacher advised them that if their assessments found themselves at the bottom of the marker's pile, they ran the risk that s/he would decide that the cut-off for losing the will to live be set at the first x words. I hope that she was joking, but guess that she was trying to get the message over that succinct is desirable.

(Also as an aside, admittedly he was renowned for his little quirks and foibles, but the Professor who taught the Medieval Economic History course I took at university told us that if we couldn't fit our weekly assignment onto one side of A4 paper, then we hadn't understood the question ).

[BlueSmarties]

FYI the Michael Fassbender & Marion Cotillard version of Macbeth is on TV this week : Wed 9pm on Film4.

[ToadMum]

DD is not a fan of the BBC fusion of An Inspector Calls, even after seeing it several times as they have had a few cover tutor English sessions and the instructions to cover tutor seen to be stuck in a loop

[UmSusu]

ToadMum when I mark undergrad Eng Lit scripts I usually find I am tougher on the ones I mark first not the opposite. By the time I am getting to the end of the pile I start to lose the will to live and am so grateful to anyone who is not missing the point that I will give them as many marks as I can! Seriously I do sometimes have to go back to the early scripts and check that I was not too strict.

I don't know about word length for GCSE, but we don't really have one. My advice is to write succinctly as possible so that you have time to get all the points down and include quotes. Less than a page is obviously not going to do it but I have given top marks to essays of 2-3 pages and those who write reams of pages as long as they are sticking to the point and make a comprehensive argument.

As for Macbeth, I do rate the Polanski film, depressing as it is.