Does the board of the exam practice material matter in literature?

[chocorabbit]

I am trying to buy an essay writing guide for literature Edexcel GCSEs but all I can find on amazon are AQA guides but with very good reviews. Does it matter?

[MrsHamlet]

Only if the assessment criteria are different.

[clary]

And also if the way the questions are asked varies. AQA has an extract for Shakespeare and 19th cent but not for 20th cent. Edexcel may be different (I don't know it well enough).

[Lightsabre]

There isn't a lot out there for Edexcel Lit - it's mostly all AQA. The structure is different but I guess the AQA books are useful for evaluating themes, characters etc

[chocorabbit]

Thanks.

It is for specific texts. Like "Romeo and Juliet" and "The inspector calls". I don't know what the specification is so I thought maybe a teacher who has worked in different schools with different boards would know but I know everyone is extremely busy with exams!

And I agree, it seems everyone in English literature uses AQA but my DCs school not only uses Edexcel but they are also doing "Belonging" in poetry. The school considers it an asset that they are doing something that most other schools aren't and therefore clearly there are less resources It seemed impossible to find any help with poetry but in the end we did, thankfully.

[clary]

Op is this for this year? How soon are the exams? Agree the aqa guides will be useful for themes and quotes. Yr dad should know what the spec is but you can look it up online as well.

[clary]

Hahaha your DD not yr dad sorry

[chocorabbit]

Paper 1 is next week with also Monday and Tuesdat left for revision. I thought DS could revise from it and DS2 who is at the same school could also use it later as they are studying the same material. The books mention A0, A1 etc and have clear examples with proper answers but DS1 didn't seem to remember what is asked by each A0-4. His mocks were really bad although the school says that he works above by quite a lot, but I can't see how. I am going to check the specifications and compare to see if I can get to understand anything. I don't know how teachers do it

[Sqeebling]

Do they write many essays ? My DS is sitting an English GCSE today and doesn't seem to have written any essays as far as I'm aware and he's predicted 7, 8 or 9.

[Sqeebling]

All the specs should be online on google classroom. Check his school account

[MrsHamlet]

@Sqeebling

All the specs should be online on google classroom. Check his school account

We don't post the specs on Google classroom. The spec is not that useful on its own.

@chocorabbit it's not my spec but I'll have a look when I get home to see what's needed if that helps.

[Turmerictolly]

@Sqeebling, it is English Language Paper 1 today. OCR paper 2 has creative writing, I'm not sure about the other boards.