Tuesday, June 04, 2024

Year 12 Media exams: revision and preparation

Your Year 12 Media exams will be a great opportunity to practice exam skills and work out what progress you need to make next year to reach your targets.

Your exams will be two mini-versions of the real exams you'll do next summer. Below is a full guide to what you need to revise for each section of the exam. Please note that the current topic of Magazines will NOT be tested in these exams as we have only studied one of the CSPs. Instead, we'll give you a baseline assessment at the start of Year 13 that will focus on Magazines and Radio.  

Know your exams

One of the most important aspects of preparing for examinations is knowing exactly what topics could come up in each exam. For your A Level Media exams, your Year 12 content will come up in the following places:

Paper 1 Section A: Language and Representation
Your real exam in Year 13 will also contain a 20-mark essay evaluating theory linked to either the Advertising or Music Video CSPs but this will not be part of your Year 12 exam due to time limitations.

 Paper 1 Section B: Audience and Industry
Your real exam in Year 13 will again contain a 20-mark essay on Film, Radio or Newspapers but this will not be part of your Year 12 exam.

Paper 2: in-depth topic areas

Practice questions
As requested, here are some practice questions for the upcoming Year 12 exams. Some are similar to assessments you have done previously while others are new. You'll need your Greenford Google login to access these.

How to revise
Revision is a very personal thing and everyone has different techniques. Think back to your GCSE exams and which systems worked for you. If you're open to new techniques, here's a video on YouTube with top tips for A* A Level revision: 


Personally, I strongly recommend using flash cards (they are often called record cards if you are trying to buy them online or in WHSmiths). The simple act of distilling topics into a few key words or phrases to put on the card will seriously help in remembering the key information in the final exams. I have spare flash cards in DF07 if you'd like some.  

In summary, you need to revise the following for your Year 12 Media exams:
  • All media language and theory learned throughout the course so far - look back particularly at the extended MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit as this contained a lot of key terminology and theory e.g. genre, narrative, industry theory, gender theory etc.
  • All our CSPs and associated theory - and focus in on the areas YOU ideally want to write about in next year's exams e.g. politics or postmodernism for TV, Gilroy, double consciousness or postmodernism in Music Video etc.

How to plan and answer A Level Media exam questions
During lockdown I produced these 'walk and talk' videos go through a range of different A Level Media exam questions and cover the number of marks, how long to spend on the answer and what structure or points you could make in your answer. Not all of these question types or CSPs will come up in your Year 12 exams but the videos will help with exam technique and revision regardless. Note: many of the CSPs have changed since I made these videos so just use them for exam technique and deconstructing questions. 

Paper 1 Section A - 9 mark question on Advertising and Marketing:


Paper 1 Section A - 20 mark question on Music Video:


Paper 1 Section B - 6 mark question on Film Industry:



Paper 1 Section B - 9 mark question on Film Industry:



Paper 2 - 25 mark TV question:


Good luck with your revision and give these exams your best shot!
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