This is a crucial exam as it will form the basis of your predicted grade for university applications next year.
To answer one question that has come up a couple of times: you will only have ONE Media exam at the end Year 12. This is because we haven't covered all the content in the specification yet. For the Year 13 PPEs next year you will have two Media exams that will replicate the real exams you will take in the summer of 2019.
Year 12 A Level Media exam: revision and preparation
You need to revise all of the following to make sure you're fully prepared for the end of Year 12 exam. Remember, a good starting point is the index we completed at the end of each unit.
General
MIGRAIN Introduction to Media
Here you need to look over all the concepts, theories and media terminology we learned from September to February. The MIGRAIN final index is here - look over this and your own index to make sure you know it.
Film & TV Language
For Film & TV Language, you need to pay particular attention to the technical film terminology used to analyse images and video. This will be useful both for your extended essay on TV drama and any unseen material in the exam. The Film & TV final index is here.
Assessment: learner responses and mark schemes
This will be arguably the most useful revision you will do. Look over your Media assessments this year - ideally your original exam paper but certainly your LR blogposts. What do you need to do to improve in future? This is the exam to put all of that into practice.
In addition, every assessment LR task had the mark scheme attached. These are based on real AQA mark schemes and all have extensive indicative content which suggests the answers the exam board are interested in. Read through the following carefully:
- October assessment mark scheme: Media language and theory
- January assessment mark scheme: Industries and Audience
- Advertising assessment mark scheme: Language and Representation
- Film and TV assessment mark scheme: all key concepts
Section A
Section A will cover the targeted CSPs:
- Film Industry - Chicken
- Advertising & Marketing - Score hair cream and Maybelline 'That Boss Life'
- Music Video - Letter to the Free and Billie Jean - current CSPs
Section B
Section B will cover the in-depth CSPs and require an extended essay-based response:
Monday 4 June: Revision lessons
Due to a combination of Year 13 and GCSE final exams plus pre-exam revision sessions, we are unable to teach our normal Year 12 lessons on Monday 4 June (we don't have the staff or rooms). Instead, we are giving you that double lesson to make sure EVERYTHING on your blog is up-to-date so you can really kick-start your revision for the exam on Friday 15 June.
Revision: top tips
The most important advice is simple: don't leave it to the last minute! There is too much information here to cram it in the night before so work an hour or two a day over the next three weeks to prepare for the exam. A couple of other words of advice:
- The new exams specify certain theories - so you need to make sure you know, understand and can apply the key theories we've learned this year.
- Textual analysis will definitely be part of the exam - so you need to make sure you can confidently apply media concepts and terminology (e.g. narrative, mise-en-scene etc.) to a variety of media texts.
- For longer answers and the Section B essay questions, you need to demonstrate you have opinions on the big media debates (representation, media effects, the impact of new technology etc.)
There is plenty to take in here - you need to make sure you look over this regularly in the next few weeks. Good luck - and don't leave it all to the last minute!
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