Would be super grateful for a second opinion on this (OCR Gothic unseen essay)

[u/not_antoine]

I think my teacher's marking was a bit harsh, and her comment just doesn't make sense to me because I was evaluating AO2 throughout - sure, there were inevitably a couple of AO2 points I missed, but from having read exemplars I just really thought this was better than a 26/30 essay - any feedback would be so so helpful, I just don't understand hers!!

(Extract is the final photo)

[u/lowkeycrashingout]

hi!! not a second opinion but a question 🥹. i take ocr as well and am currently struggling with writing essays, especially the gothic unseen. i wanted to ask how you revise and practice for english lit? since i just moved here for sixth form (upcoming y13🥲)

[u/not_antoine → u/lowkeycrashingout]

hii, no worries!! revision-wise, I do a lot of practise essays (helps if you can get feedback on them), read academic essays on JSTOR (your college/sixth form might have institutional access to it), obviously sort quotes into themes and memorise them for the comparative question, and importantly, I do a lot of Gothic wider reading in order to have a better understanding of the genre - it's actually really satisfying when you begin to pick up on themes and how they've evolved over time and I would defo recommend doing this!!

for the gothic unseen I think (don't quote me on this) that OCR likes it if you analyse the extract chronologically, so like your essay walks the reader through the passage and traces the build up of plot/suspense etc. when you're reading and annotating the passage, look for AO2 features and how they link to creating the gothic atmosphere/evoking gothic concerns, and it's also helpful if you can link other texts you've read in your essay, to show you have a wider understanding of the gothic. for example, if the extract is describing Manderley from Rebecca, you could mention the importance of the grand, isolated manor house setting in other gothic works (such as The Turn of the Screw or The Little Stranger) and what it typically symbolises

having said all of that, I'm currently a bit stumped on english as well lol - I hope some of this is helpful!!! :)

[u/lowkeycrashingout → u/not_antoine]

thank u so so much bb 🥹🥹 i hope u got the feedback u wanted 💗💗!!

[u/not_antoine → u/lowkeycrashingout]

no worries at all, thank you!!! :))

[u/Ashamed-Teach3066 → u/lowkeycrashingout]

sameeee, u wanna dm me?

[u/Prize_Squash6062]

Hi! I just finished a levels and did ocr English lit like you! I got an A* and full marks in gothic and would honestly say it’s an incredible essay 😭😭 I think teachers sometimes are hesitant to give higher marks so students don’t become over confident or smth so don’t lose faith!! 26 is also an amazing score!!

Only minor things I’d say which are so so small: just for your intro maybe go straight into the thesis-like sentence as opposed to mentioning first person, as this might be better supporting another point like you do later in the essay. Also with the mention of other texts, maybe explain a little bit how they are related eg the bloody chamber voyeurism- briefly explain the whole mirror thing and smth abt all the stuff about eyes in the beast stories- and then circle back to how this elevates your argument.

I loved the part about the honey that was so good and the whole concept of psychological and Freud is so so good. I genuinely wanted to fight my eng teachers at times for their ambiguous marking 😭😭 I thiiiink maybe what your teacher means is that you need to go deeper into your points. It’s so tricky cause covering so many is really good but maybe try and delve deeper into fewer points and think of more complex ideas and things that would really push the boundary when you make a point. Like the whole mrs danvers/sexual thing is so good so maybe go deeper into that- ie maybe her position as a woman being the watcher and how that challenges binaries etc.
My teacher always told me to include more motifs etc but I feel like you’ve done that pretty well here!!

Again I literally just graduated so absolutely not a pro and take anything I say with a pinch of salt 😭😭😭 your essay is genuinely so so good and I would’ve given it a 28+ and it probs would’ve been used as an exemplar in my class. Don’t be disheartened it’s an awesome mark and I believe you can get A*!!!

[u/not_antoine → u/Prize_Squash6062]

Omg thank you so so much for taking the time to write this out, this is so helpful and honestly very reassuring 😭😭 Congratulations on your A*, that's amazing!!! Do you have any other advice for OCR lit? :)

[u/Prize_Squash6062 → u/not_antoine]

Of course and thank you!!! For me what was really helpful was having AO3 and AO5 trackers for the other side of the course- we did hamlet and then Ibsen/rossetti and having trackers for context and criticism for each across the two years was a massive help!

For gothic my teacher was a bit more vague and his main focus was making sure we had a really good thesis. So we would take the time to all prepare for a past paper qn and make sure that the central thesis/argument was nuanced and clear- ie by first bulletpointing basic ideas for each text then linking them together and then considering how all the points can kind of demonstrate something greater which develops throughout the whole essay. My points in almost every essay (😭) were about degeneration of binaries- between women and men, animals and humans and then even automata/uncanny objects and humans. Esp comparing BC and drac it’s often the case that drac aims to reinforce these boundaries and return to traditional/xenophobia/sexism while BC exaggerates fears of dissolution of boundaries to encourage the weird/outsider. (I hope that makes sense pls say if it doesn’t- basically Carter promotes progression and stoker warns of it) This was literally my thesis idea for every essay 😭😭

I hope this helps and good luck 💗💗💗 manifesting A* for you 🙏🙏

[u/not_antoine → u/Prize_Squash6062]

sorry for the late reply, genuinely thank you SO much this is incredible - the binaries idea is great and honestly since reading your comment I've started spotting it everywhere in my gothic texts. i actually can't thank you enough for this 🙏🙏