Your independent case study is a vital part of your MEST1 Section B essay.
You should have as comprehensive a case study on your chosen film as we did in class for Ill Manors. This will mean you have a wide variety of media products to use as examples and can therefore tailor your answer to focus sharply on the question.
Today we are going to assess another student's independent case study.
On the main Year 12 blog page, click on the name of the student immediately above you in the link list. (If you're at the top, cycle back to the bottom of the list.) Look at their independent case study notes, research and answers and collect the following information in a new blogpost called 'Independent case study: peer assessment':
Name of student whose blog you are assessing:
Name of film they have researched:
Have they covered all three platforms?
Examples they provide from print:
Examples from broadcast:
Examples from e-media:
Any additional, relevant information that could be used in an exam essay:
What similarities can you find between this case study and Ill Manors?
What differences can you find between this case study and Ill Manors?
Does this film have any similarities or differences with A Field In England?
Is there anything you can learn from this case study?
What could you add to your own case study after today’s work?
Write ONE thing you will do as part of your MEST1 Section B revision as a result of looking at this case study:
Your MEST1 exam is on Thursday 18 May at 9.00am.
We've all learned a lot from our mock exams and now is the time to put that into practice over these last weeks leading up to the real exam.
You need to be revising EVERYTHING you've learned in Media this year. These PowerPoints may help you:
Film Language unit
MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit
MEST1 Section B - British Film Industry / Ill Manors / A Field In England unit
There's also plenty of other revision you need to be doing:
Check your MEST1 Section B index and revise all the work you've done on Ill Manors, A Field In England and your completed independent case study.
There are MEST1 Section B past questions to revise, plan and practice here.
*Bonus revision material*
As requested by 12C, here's a revision PowerPoint summarising key theories and terminology for the MEST1 exam.
Remember to look closely over your feedback and learner response from your January MEST1 assessment and your full MEST1 PPE in March. You need to make sure you are acting on that feedback and improving key aspects of your exam performance - and remember we provided the mark scheme and Examiners' Report for both which give a brilliant insight into the mind of the examiner.
One of the key lessons from the mock exams was the quality of our notetaking and whether we were making specific reference to the clip using media terminology and textual analysis skills. You also need to be writing enough for each question in Section A: a minimum of THREE well-developed paragraphs for EACH question in Section A.
Finally, remember the most important thing for BOTH Section A and Section B:
READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Good luck with your revision - the real thing is approaching fast and all our efforts need to be focused on achieving our potential in the MEST1 exam!
It is absolutely vital you reflect on the areas to improve from your full MEST1 PPE.
Indeed, the most important aspect of any mock exam is making mistakes and learning from them. You need to closely analyse your performance across each section and question and identify specific ways you will improve for the real exam in two weeks. Create a new blogpost on your MEST1 Exam blog called 'PPE learner response' and complete the following learner response tasks:
1) Type up any feedback or comments from your paper in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).
2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade in AS Media? If not, how many additional marks do you need across Section A and Section B to achieve your target grade?
3) Read through the mark scheme. Pay particular attention to pages 6-9 that have anticipated content for each of the questions in Section A. How many of these potential points did you make? Did you successfully answer the questions? The original question paper is here if that is useful.
4) Which was your strongest question in Section A? Why did you do better in that particular question?
5) Which was your weakest question in Section A? Again, try and identify why this happened. Did you misinterpret the question? Did you run out of time?
6) Rewrite your answer for your weakest question in Section A. This should now be a detailed, three-paragraph, level-4 response.
7) Now look at the mark scheme for Section B. Did you cover all three media platforms? Did you write about three different films in your essay? (If you missed out your independent case study this is clearly an area to revise for the real thing).
8) Question focus in the most important factor for a top-level response. Did you use the key words in the question in every paragraph? Did each paragraph contain a topic sentence that used the key words from the question?
9) Choose one paragraph from your Section B essay and re-write it to improve question focus, examples and written English if applicable. Make sure it is answering the question!
10) Read the Examiner's Report in full. For each question in Section A, look at whether you included the things the Chief Examiner refers to in the stronger responses. Did any of the problems identified with some answers apply to you? Be specific.
11) Now look at the Examiner's Report for your chosen question in Section B. Did your response fit the stronger or weaker examples highlighted by the Chief Examiner? What could you have done differently to improve your mark for Section B?
12) Finally, identify three things you will do differently in the real exam in two weeks. These can refer to preparation, notetaking, Section A or Section B - it is up to you.
Complete this during the lesson you are given your paper back and finish for homework if required. It is vital you complete EVERY LR task in full to ensure you are prepared for the real exam.
Your A Level Media coursework deadline is Wednesday 19 April.
You need to submit the following:
- A completed candidate record form to send to the exam board. You will be given this to complete in class.
- A minimum of 12 pages of research and planning in your coursework folder. Remember: submit all your research and planning and your coursework teacher will select the best 12 pages to send to AQA.
- Printed copies of your Little Picturehouse print brief in your folder: front cover, contents page, double-page spread.
- PDF copies of the print work submitted to Ms Quinn electronically. Save this to your folder in Media Shared and email Ms Quinn (A Quinn) with the file names she needs to collect.
- An exported video file submitted to Ms Quinn electronically (as above).
- A printed copy of your evaluation, 1.5 line spaced, in your folder.
- An electronic copy of your evaluation posted to your blog.
You will have any Media lesson time on Tuesday/Wednesday to submit this work or can attend Media at lunchtime, after school or during free periods.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT miss lessons in any other subject in order to work in Media. This will never be requested or sanctioned by the Media department.
Good luck getting the work in - there is an impressive standard across both classes already and this could be the best set of grades yet!
A reminder we have confirmed dates for A Level Media Easter coursework sessions.
The sessions will take place on:
Monday 3 April 9am - 3pm (Mr Bush & Ms Quinn)
Tuesday 4 April 9am - 3pm (Mr Halsey & Ms Quinn)
Wednesday 5 April 9am - 3pm (Ms Quinn)
We are VERY lucky to be able to open up the Media department for three days so make the most of it. Media computers and equipment will be available on all three days but if you want feedback and an idea of what grade you're working at you will need to see your coursework teacher on the relevant day or email them. Ms Quinn will be on hand for advice and guidance but will be running the Wednesday session single-handedly so please bear with her.
Good luck with the coursework and keep working to those phenomenal professional standards we know you are capable of!
Your full MEST1 mock exam is on Wednesday 29 March at 8.30am.
We're in the process of producing some stunning coursework and now we need to match that top-grade performance in the exam.
You need to be revising EVERYTHING you've learned in Media this year. These PowerPoints may help you:
Film Language unit
MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit
MEST1 Section B - British Film Industry / Ill Manors / A Field In England unit
There's also plenty of other revision you need to be doing:
Check your MEST1 Section B index and revise all the work you've done on Ill Manors, A Field In England and your independent case study so far.
There are MEST1 Section B past questions to revise, plan and practice here.
*Bonus revision material*
As requested by 12C, here's a revision PowerPoint summarising key theories and terminology for the MEST1 exam.
Remember to look closely over your feedback and learner response from your January MEST1 assessment. You need to make sure you acting on that feedback and improving key aspects of your exam performance - and remember we provided the mark scheme and Examiners' Report for the January assessment which will be useful to revise before your MEST1 exam.
One of the key lessons from January was the quality of our notetaking and whether we were writing enough for each question in Section A. Remember: you need to write a minimum of THREE well-developed paragraphs for EACH question in Section A.
Finally, remember the most important thing for BOTH Section A and Section B:
READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Good luck with your revision - this is your last formal practice before the real thing in May. Take it seriously!
Deadlines are fast approaching and you now need to be working on your MEST2 Evaluation. This is worth 20 marks and will make or break your overall coursework grade.
You can find the evaluation guidance here. You don't have to follow it exactly but you DO need to address each aspect in some way if you want to achieve a top mark.
The original MEST2 2017 brief is here. Remember, we have done Brief 1 (The Little Picturehouse) and within that (a) Broadcasting and (b) Print. You must make this clear in your introduction. Remember your evaluation also needs to address the third brief, e-media. This means writing in detail about what you would have done for the e-media task which is a film blog.
You will have one opportunity for feedback on your evaluation which will be arranged by your coursework teacher. Important: if you miss this opportunity, you will not get any feedback on your evaluation. You need at least 67/80 to be sure of an A grade in MEST2 so the evaluation is vital.
The FINAL coursework deadline for all research, planning, production work and evaluation is Wednesday 19 April.
