Aqa English paper 2 - poems

[Flyhigher]

They have to learn 15 poems for a one hour exam. And no idea which will come up. Seems a bit OTT to me.

Are there any English lit examiners on here do the kids do a good job on the comparison between poems?

Seems such a lottery. Do not remember having 15 poems when I did it. Admittedly a long time ago.

Do English teachers think 15 poem anthology is a good idea? Do the kids do a good job on them in the exam?

Surely the majority must do this section badly.

They don’t have to learn 15 poems tho.

One poem will come up – yes they don’t know which one (tho I suspect it will never be Tissue) but thy have that poem so that’s OK – assuming they can remember in general how to analyse a poem.

They need to have a poem to compare it to – so the best thing is to check which poems apply to which themes and work on the poems that can fit to the most – eg Exposure can be war or forces of nature.

I reckon they can get away with good knowledge of three or four tho maybe some actual Eng lit teachers could confirm or correct me?

They don't have to learn 15 poems off by heart - if they think that they do they've been taught badly. The poem that's chosen is given on the paper, and then they choose a he other to compare it to based on their knowledge of contexts, poetic devices and writers' perspectives.

It's my favourite thing to teach on the syllabus - all 15 poems are different and offer perspectives into 15 different aspects of history. Kids tend to like them too. Pupils don't tend to do any worse on this aspect of the paper than any other and the question is worth less than 20% of the GCSE anyway :)

I thought poetry as a whole was worth 60% of the paper 2?

She hasn't been taught well. But I still think 15 poems is overkill. Why on earth make all kids look at 15 poems for two years.

Well that sounds promising! I like the history link.

We've had so little information from school it's unbelievable.

I think that's true. But DD was saying she needed to know all 15. It's a minefield.

It's 2 hr 15 mins.

The more exposure to different poems, the better she’ll be able to tackle the unseen ones.

15 poems is fewer words than a full Shakespeare play or <insert English Lit text of choice> . But, like everyone else said, you pick 4 or 5 that have a variety of themes and link to most of the rest to learn in detail. Then you can just talk about them in whatever question comes up (and they give the base poem in the paper).

@Flyhigher the seen poetry (as opposed to the unseen) element is worth 30 marks out of a total of 160 for the GCSE, so about 18%

I do think 15 poems is overķill, but they have the one poem and then compare it to some others, and then some unseen poetry. I hated War poetry when I did it as a 16 year old, but reading the poems again as an adult while helping DS with his revision, they meant a lot more. The collection has some really excellent poetry. I agree there doesn't need to be 15 of them. In general, I find the GCSE specifications unnecessarily overstuffed anyway.

How much is poetry worth as whole for the GCSE?

She has been taught badly. Or she didn't listen. She was definitely in a panic thinking that she had to know 15.
She did ok in the end I think. But why get every child stressed about 15 poems. Why not look at 10. Or make it VERY clear to kids that they need to know 4 or 5 in depth.

It is less words. But it's a lot of ideas.

15 short poems isn’t much over 2 years.

Seen and unseen poetry is worth 64 marks in total, out of 160. So about two fifths. For the unseem poems qu you need to know language to talk about poems rather than specific poems tho.

I still think 15 is overkill too.

So poems are worth 40% of English lit 2 paper?

And the novel / play is 60%. The unseen is 18%. And the seen is 22%.

Thanks!

The % might vary depending on the board.

OP - too late to worry about thus sort of thing now. You need to worry about the exams after half term, does she understand what she needs to know for them?

They have to know ABOUT 15 poems in the same way that they have to know about a Shakespeare play and a ‘modern’ text (which imo is more worth getting worked up about)

Nobody’s suggesting they learn all Macbeth’s soliloquy’s by heart. For some reason poetry often seems badly taught - and I say as a teacher - because I’ve seen lessons where it’s almost like ‘oh kids let’s just get this over with’ instead of selling poetry as what it is - beautiful snippets of a moment that can speak to us, now or later, about life.

there’s so much misinformation online it’s unreal

She hasn't been taught well. But I still think 15 poems is overkill. Why on earth make all kids look at 15 poems for two years

Because that's what Mr Gove wanted.

Poems are worth 40% of the total. 30 marks each for Shakespeare, Victorian novel, 20th cent and seen poems. 32 marks for the two unseen questions plus some SPaG marks on top to take to 160 marks.

That’s AQA btw other boards vary

Poems are worth about 66% of paper two but that’s not really key; the overall mark matters.

And I agree with @TeenDivided , no point chewing over this now. What is needed for future exams? Does she fully understand?

Edexcel is different. Thankfully, poetry is only worth 25%. Still 15 poems to learn though 🤪

The poem anthology is not a bad idea- comparing a poem from memory is! The kids panic and write a lot of rubbish (mostly!)

Some exam boards test context which makes it even harder.

All exams should be closed book, bar poetry.

A huge number of people saying the current format is a good idea are either A) Michael Gove fans or B) have no idea of the cognitive demands of the exam.

I actually agree it is overkill and I teach it.

Some poems are better and more enjoyable to teach than others but it’s too much to cover in any real depth.

It wouldn’t be a lot over two years alone of course but it’s combined with a Shakespeare play, a pre twentieth century text and a ‘modern’ text. Plus the English language stuff. So it’s very content heavy.

It's a lot to try and remember for a one hour or so exam. It's the lottery part of it that's difficult.