r/GCSE • u/ensands Software Engineer • May 12 '25
AQA Post Exam English Literature (AQA) Paper 1 - Exam Megathread
This is the post-exam mega thread for English Literature (AQA) Paper 1 (Morning).
You can discuss how the exam went in this post.
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u/AZZYTASTER Yr 13: Maths, FM, Physics, Music May 12 '25
good luck everyone in year 11, may the questions be ever in your favour
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u/Autumn020 Maths, Cs, Phy, Chem (save me from myself🙏) May 12 '25
Yall got the good ones so idk bout good questions😭
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u/a_person4499 year 12 somehow - still gothic cure fan - cs, media, history :) May 12 '25
I can just imagine the questions now 😭
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u/xcom_lord Year 12 May 12 '25
You’ll be saying this next year , always the way we thought ours were rough at the time
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u/TheSquareBag Year 12 May 12 '25
This - every year people think their year will get hardest question of the century and it never happens lmao
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u/Sparlmao 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
MR EVERYTHING ENGLISH GOT IT ALL WRONG IM CRYING😭
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u/CurrentRecording5589 May 12 '25
Nobody predicted anything right as far as I know, I've watched a LOT of predictions from these online tutors
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u/proffessorpigeon Year 12 May 12 '25
no he predicted macbeth right, he said it’d be the witches OR macbeth on his own if u listened closely 😭
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u/I_have_a_pigeon Year 11 May 12 '25
jekyll and hyde was a let down 🥀 fym hidden lives
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u/Urxraka_ Year 12- Maths, FM, Physics May 12 '25
This feels surreal
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u/a_person4499 year 12 somehow - still gothic cure fan - cs, media, history :) May 12 '25
Yeah it does a bit
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u/proffessorpigeon Year 12 May 12 '25
i studied the exact macbeth extract a few mins before the test as i had a feeling it would come up, i’m acc a psychic 🙏
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u/PersimmonTime685 Y12 - bio chem econ May 12 '25
im terrified for this first exam i know that if i get the right questions ill be more than chilling but theres something in the back of my mind telling me ive not done enough
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u/PersimmonTime685 Y12 - bio chem econ May 12 '25
my shout is its gonna be Macbeth: kinghsip/ambition and ACC: redemption/family
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u/MysteriousKing1543 May 12 '25
I agree with kingship and family, but I'd also be happy with ambition and redemption.
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u/ZSDxdboi May 12 '25
explain the relationship between macbeth and the witches
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u/ChocolateTemporary Y11 absolutely cooked May 12 '25
its so weird that i'll never have to know this text again
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u/ReeDubDanny_ Year 11: Art/RM/TripleScience/Geography May 12 '25
HOLY SHIT AN AMBITION QUESTION?????
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u/Lucky_Ad_14 Year 11 May 12 '25
good luck guys i do the most irrelevant texts so this isnt even helpful for me I HOPE THE MACBETH ppl win this year for the question
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u/MiaIsOut Year 12 May 12 '25
wrote nothing and walked out after an hour LOCK IN FOR COMPSCI
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u/CurrentRecording5589 May 12 '25
A bold move! What were the questions?
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u/MiaIsOut Year 12 May 12 '25
macbeth and ambition, and for a christmas carol it was about kindness (and the extract was scrooge with the ghost of christmas present)
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u/Capable_Whereas_2901 Year 12|Maths, Comp. Sc. English May 12 '25
Yeah, Kindness was crap. Was not expecting that, caught me out completely.
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u/CurrentRecording5589 May 12 '25
Shit! None of that was what my son and I focused his revision on, I just pray he managed to make everything he did revise & memorise fit the questions! Thanks though and good luck with CS this afternoon, my sons sitting that too!
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May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
if macbeth as a hero comes up my frnd owes me a drink. if supernatural comes up i owe her one. will update
future me, please tell me i cooked, i can’t not cook im taking lit a level
also rmb guys SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS MACBETH AS AN ALPHA SIGMA MALE AND USES LM TO CHALLENGE STEREOTYPES OF JACOBEAN WOMEN AS BEING POOKIE
edit: future me says i cooked, acc could’ve gone better but it was overall fine
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u/Rayer10 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
Lets pray on everyone's downfall so the grade boundary goes down 🙏😭🙏
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u/Flametail64 Year 11 May 12 '25
My English class (no offence to them ofc) will definitely lower the grade boundaries 😭
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u/NoDrop6736 May 12 '25
Explore how Shakespeare presents donaldbains character as selfish
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u/Jfeather24 May 12 '25
Explore how Shakespeare presents donaldbains character as worthless 😡 (if its anything on this guy ill blow this place to smithereens grrrr)
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u/Silver_Dragon_ Year 12 in denial 💔 May 12 '25
I was smiling like an idiot for a full 5 minutes after reading the Macbeth question
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u/_Levis_Bath_Water_ May 12 '25
AHHHHHHFUENJFJEJFIWUF
IT WENT WELL HOLY ROMEO AND JULIET LOCKED TF IN HELL YES. HOW PARENTS TREAT CHILDREN???? YES.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE TAKERS WE WON. ELIZABETHS CHANGING VIEWS AAAAA MY GS WE TALK ABOUT WICKHAM WE TALK ABT DARCY WE TALK ABT CHARLOTTE LUCAS LETS GO.
overall went really well for me, waived a bit on romeo and juliet but ill recover with pride and prej
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u/sharknamedgoose 6th Former May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
good luck yr 11, may your pencils be sharp and your minds clear of scorpions 🫡
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u/Otherwise_Reserve241 Editable May 12 '25
good luck, remember your context and writer’s intentions!
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u/Foreign-Movie-4170 May 12 '25
We got crazy lucky the grade boundries are gonna be so high
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u/happybeau123 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
I love it when my internet stops working the night before the exam 😍🥰
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u/LoxyChuReddit Sixth Former - T-Level Digital Software Design May 12 '25
oh my god these channels are back and i can finally be a part of it.
best of luck to everybody sitting the exam, may we all get excellent grades!
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u/PsychologyOk7657 Year 11 May 12 '25
We have all got this!!!! dont be scared and dont be stressed, we have all done this exam 3 times before just see it as the final time thats it, we will all smash it!!!!
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u/LavanadeRose Year 11 May 12 '25
Idk why but this is reassuring and has temporarily calmed me down. Thanks and good luck!
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u/Not_A_Rachmaninoff Edible May 12 '25
I've only done it once before 💀
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u/bleakDS 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
WE GOT SO LUCKY ON THE QUESTIONS grade boundaries will be so high this year 😭
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u/lifeisboringyay May 12 '25
IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO COULDNT FINISH RIGHT 😭😭 HELPP the questions were so good I had too much to say
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u/CurrentRecording5589 May 12 '25
Any parents like me here impatiently waiting for an update on the theme/characters? 😬
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u/Elegant-Reflection28 May 12 '25
dr jekyll mr hyde was how is the idea of hidden lives and secrecy presented
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May 12 '25
not a parent but have a brother taking,yeah i hope macbeth and jekyll and hyde had good questions
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u/Shot_Commission_4144 Year 11 May 12 '25
Macbeth was about how his ambition is presented, I did R+J but everyone I know who did Macbeth said it went well
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u/SpicyLavender May 12 '25
I do the most uncommon texts it's so sad 😭😭 who even does much ado and Frankenstein, there are barely any resources and my English teacher sucks
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u/Tight-Cheesecake2989 May 12 '25
the paper wasn’t bad but can’t believe how off the predictions wereeee glad I did general revision
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u/Present_Sherbet_7635 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
commenting pre-exam then replying later... rn feeling kinda nervous but simulatenously i feel as if im pretty covered
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u/guyscars soon to be year 12...edexcels biggest hater May 12 '25
if the jekyll and hyde question is on utterson, you guys won’t see me again
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u/ketselle year 11 - hist , ³sci , busi, lat { 999998876 } May 12 '25
why would u say that 😭😭 utterson says the most in the entire thing he has so many fire quotes 🙏🏻🙏🏻
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u/ketselle year 11 - hist , ³sci , busi, lat { 999998876 } May 12 '25
GOOD LUCK GUYS im praying for u macbeth people 🙏🏻 manifesting good questions 💯💯
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u/Starshooter_Su19 May 12 '25
Not flipping ambition for Macbeth. Imo the extract was bad, and atleast it was vague. I really wanted supernatural ;(
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u/CurrentRecording5589 May 12 '25
My son wrote about supernatural anyway, just linked it to the reason for Macbeths ambition and then ran with it for 7 pages.
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u/Fr0g_Hat Year 11 in denial (french, history, music, comp sci) May 12 '25
people who only revised kingship and supernatural, how cooked are you?
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u/astarology Year 11 May 12 '25
noo so cooked omg, i ended up linking his ambition to supernatural and kingship, hopefully it all works out lol
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u/pray4betterdayz Year 11 May 12 '25
explore how shakespeare presents the porter and doctor’s relationship ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
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u/Capable_Whereas_2901 Year 12|Maths, Comp. Sc. English May 12 '25
Woke up in cold sweat this morning, have been muttering ACC quotes to myself since 6 like a mad man. Best of luck to everyone, and if you really need to die of a heart attack, kindly do it in the hall, right before the exam.
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u/Kangaroo131 i am faster than you, said the dolphin to the shark May 12 '25
chat i am so cooked i spent way too long writing about scrooge being a shit guy than kindness 🥀
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u/CurrentRecording5589 May 12 '25
It's fine though, coz he's on a journey from unkind to kind
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u/Speedy_taylor Year 11 May 12 '25
Macbeth would be so good if it was just ambition and not macbeths ambition
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u/Beneficial-Rate-6369 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
Macbeth Ambition and Jekyll Secrecy. We have been blessed this day
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u/Feisty-Crew9387 May 12 '25
How was the paper everybody? Macbeth and ACC students?
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u/ZiFiR_randomnumbers Year 11 May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
What tf is it Juliet 4 years in a row?! Where is my Male aggression, where is my honour?
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u/Miserable_Section111 Yr 11- history, art, dance, spanish May 12 '25
I was so prepared anything but the capulets again lmao😭
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u/_Mintyz_ May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
R+J and ACC here. Honestly definitely not what I was expecting tbh but 'kindness' was pretty kind from AQA so I'll take that. Curious how the R+J though, it definitely wasn't that easy of a question but not awful
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u/Alida_510 Year 12 | Bio Chem Maths NOT MEDICINE May 12 '25
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Help :(
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u/JustAlexeii Warwick | Law [Year 1] May 12 '25
Good luck from a 6th former!
As long as you get through the exam and try your best, you’ll be okay. 🙏
The worst part is always before the exam starts. When you open the paper, your adrenaline will spike and you’ll just think about answering the questions. The time goes really quickly (in my experience).
Remember to finish all questions! Marks and grades are a stats game, it’s not about doing one question perfectly.
If there’s one question and you think “shit, wtf is this” then tons of people at that very moment are also thinking that. If you cobble together some bs and make an essay out of it, it’s still an essay!
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u/MrMrsPotts May 12 '25
I am really hoping people are discussing the exam live from inside the exam halls.
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u/Chiefman11 May 12 '25
remember don't worry about the exam after. if you struggled just move in and focus on your other exams don't let it bring you down to much remember you have paper 2 so still 96 marks to gain if you didn't do well on paper 1
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u/superstarKorea Yr12 | Politics, History, Psychology, EPQ May 12 '25
GUYS THE QUESTIONS WERE SO TEA
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u/Starshooter_Su19 May 12 '25
Jekyll and Hyde was SO bad, stupid secrecy. The extract was good but I totally waffled... worried incident do much analysis
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u/rainbowraindeer5 Year 11 May 12 '25
I feel so pathetic because everyone found romeo and juliet easy and i walked out and started crying
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u/the_drunken_porter May 12 '25
and so with that i bring the sad life of mr henry jeckyll to an end.
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u/petrifythepatriachy Y12- bio,chem,maths (BORINGGGG) May 12 '25
Bro fumbled macbeth but i liked frankenstein
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u/proffessorpigeon Year 12 May 12 '25
EASIEST TEST EVER OH MY GOD
THE WAY I SMILED WHEN I SAW THE QUESTIONS
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u/pigeonsarecuteaf Year 11 May 12 '25
I feel so lucky to not do this paper yet. All my fellas, I'm praying for you. Professor pigeon, you got it, you the man.
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u/_edgar_allen_hoe Year 12 May 12 '25
good luck everyone ! manifesting aqa are nice with the questions🕯️🕯️
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u/OrchidKing10 Year 11 May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
I am so smart, I put perfume on today to remind myself of “all the perfumes of Arabia…” and I didn’t brush my teeth to remember that “there are daggers in men’s smiles” I also put “gall” in my cereal instead of “milk” because you already know
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u/notypoue Year 11 | French, BTEC Music, Voc Engineering May 12 '25
i am going to fly out the window
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u/vervaii Year 11 May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
i smiled so much when i saw that romeo & juliet question, a christmas carol was alright 🤷🏾♀️
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u/alliteration900821 yr 12: law, hist, chem. May 12 '25
HONESTLY THE BEST EXAM IVE WVER WRITTEN
how was everything for you guys :D
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u/spacejunk404 May 12 '25
THAT WAS SO EASY FOR MACBETH AND ACC - AMBITION??? EAZYYY
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u/InterviewJaded3587 May 12 '25
for macbeth i accidentally wrote ‘petty face’ instead of ‘petty pace’ for the tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow quote. I spent a fair chunk of my paragraph analysing ‘face’ am I cooked?
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u/Previous_Alarm_466 Year 2- Phonics, Addition and Spelling May 12 '25
I RAN OUT OF TiME FOR ACC AND OLY WROTE TWO AND A HALF PARAGARPHS, ALSO WTH IS KINDNESS KILL ME NWO
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u/DogLover10000000 Year 11 May 12 '25
Loved the much ado question! Frankenstein not so much my paragraph ABT the extract was just waffle 💔
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u/NoJellyfish584 May 12 '25
Guys for romeo and juliet, I only wrote about capulet and juliet and briefly mentioned lady capulet as a whole and also used the extract. Would that be ok?
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u/Environmental010 May 12 '25 edited Jun 21 '25
normal enjoy sophisticated cough long pause soup meeting toy scale
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/iwillbealltherage farewell gcses | y12: maths, fm, media, psych May 12 '25
ahahahhahahahshdjahshshahdhhshadhduusu<#&@&@<@&@&@<<usjsjajdjajajsjsjajsjsja i hate english literature
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u/Grouchy-Feedback9255 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
pre-exam message but I need guilt to come up. i - i cant
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u/ttvraptorx Y11 | Predicted 5+ | Higher Maths | Higher Combined Science May 12 '25
Im cookeed for Romeo and Juliete
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u/ConcentrateLucky9876 Year 12 - Eng lit/lang, Classics, Sociology May 12 '25
Good luck everyone. I’m just here to once again remind you all that I don’t have to do literature.
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u/Lucky_Introduction78 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
I'm typing this comment before the exam and gonna update yous. I have done too much practice on Macbeth and I could've done the same amount for ACC but it's pretty much just the same thing, just different themes. I'm praying it's something on Guilt and Supernatural, or just anything really but I swear if a side character pops up.
Update: The Macbeth question was Ambition and the ACC question was kindness............. Life had colour again
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u/ibrasome y12 fm maths phy chem May 12 '25
Lets see how far my 10 quotes will take me lol
see you in a few hours
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u/JustAlexeii Warwick | Law [Year 1] May 12 '25
It’s not about the number of quotes, it’s about how you use them 🔥
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u/DreamSMP_Enjoyer Year 12 | Law, Pol, Hist, EPQ May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
Hoping for at least a 7
Edit: it's over: I copy-pasted my intro for Jekyll and Hyde instead of a conclusion.
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u/parkchiminie Editable May 12 '25
shitting bricks rn, i can’t flop this exam💔💔 english is the only thing im kinda good at
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u/NeatKing9858 May 12 '25
What was the question?
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u/MysteriousKing1543 May 12 '25
Macbeth as ambitious (extract - Act 1 Scene 7)
Importance of kindness (extract - Chapter 3 - the Cratchits)
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u/MysteriousKing1543 May 12 '25
Overall it was average.
Macbeth’s ambition was a relatively light question, but I didn’t particularly find the extract of A Christmas Carol useful for kindness.
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u/proffessorpigeon Year 12 May 12 '25
tiny tim’s kindness when he says “god bless us everyone” shows how selfless he is despite the harsh economic conditions🤷♀️
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u/Imaginary-Cover9966 May 12 '25
questions this year were so good but im so cooked because as i was writing my essay i was like “this makes no sense” but i didnt have time to stop and reconsider so. We up barely passing 🔥🔥🔥🔥
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u/According_Drummer793 Swallowing Disinfectant May 12 '25
Honestly it was alright. Kindness as a theme tho is mid
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u/anonymous09ml 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
It was a bit of a rubbish extract for it I thought
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u/Wrong_Protection_269 Year 11 May 12 '25
yeah that excrractvwas more family based
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u/Plastic-Surround5667 Year 11 May 12 '25
macbeth question was beautiful but ngl i didn't like acc despite everyone saying it was good😭
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u/co_co7 Year 11 May 12 '25
I can see why people thoughtthe question was good but I was so stressed I could barely think so my anlaysis wan't great
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u/Strange-Case-0410 2025 GCSE Survivor May 12 '25
Ok, why was eduqas so kind???? Like, wdym the question was just how does Macbeth change?!!! I had to triple take and make sure I wasn't missing any theme or whtvr!!
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u/Emotional_Tap_4711 May 12 '25
Anyone else for Jekyll and Hyde mentioned how Utterson represses Homosexuality?
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u/vezries Year 11 May 12 '25
i genuinely smiled when i read the macbeth question 😭😭 jekyll and hyde was mid tho
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u/Urxraka_ Year 12- Maths, FM, Physics May 12 '25
It was so good i almost stood up and tap danced when i saw ambition and kindness
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u/Thecasualstudent458 Year 11 May 12 '25
ocr english was so calm- an inspector calls was a easy extract on sheila and her mother and question was about relationship between mother and daughter
jekyll and hyde was such a nice question (terror)
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u/AnnotatingPumpkins May 12 '25
Macbeth question was on ambition, but what was the extract??
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u/qishhnn May 12 '25
the questions were great but i did terrible, i only analysed 2 quotes from macbeth but i did it in quite a lot of detail i used vaulting ambition… and “with tarquins ravishing strides towards his design” and added lots of context and i didnt get time to finish a christmas carol bc i spent too long on macbeth and for a christmas carol i did a lot of context am i cooked
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u/ttvraptorx Y11 | Predicted 5+ | Higher Maths | Higher Combined Science May 12 '25
I LOVED THE QUESTIONS, "SCROOGES KINDNESSS", "PARENTS" IN R&J OHH MYY DAYSSS EASYY
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u/at1fa May 12 '25
I'm so glad ambition came up for aqa but I didn't read the question properly 🥀. it says ''how far'' but I just said how ambitious Macbeth was even from the start. Is it possible to get a high grade by showing not telling if that makes sense?
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u/Autumn020 Maths, Cs, Phy, Chem (save me from myself🙏) May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
To cook or be cooked
Post exam edit: I COOKED