January mock exams - what to revise for Media

Your January A Level Media mock exams are the real deal - the opportunity to put everything you have learned to the test.

Students typically do better in the summer exams than the last set of mocks - but usually only by around a grade. This means you need to make sure you are fully prepared for these exams with the aim of achieving your target grade or just off it.

The following will help you plan your revision:

Media Paper 1

Media Paper 1 Section A will always focus on Media Language and Representations. This means the following CSPs:

Advertising & Marketing
Score & Maybelline That Boss Life

Music Video
Letter to the Free & Ghost Town

Media Paper 1 Section B will always focus on Media Audiences and Industries. This means the following CSPs:

Film Industry

Blinded By The Light

Radio

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and War of the Worlds

Newspapers (not in January PPE - we haven't learned this yet)

The Daily Mail and The i

Unseen question

The first question in Media Paper 1 Section A will always be an unseen media product.

The second question will also relate to the unseen while also bringing in a CSP. This means it is likely the unseen product will link to advertising and marketing or music promotion.

20-mark essays

There will be TWO 20-mark essays in Paper 1 – at the end of each section. AQA states for your extended response questions:

“You will be rewarded for your ability to construct and develop a sustained line of reasoning which is coherent, relevant, substantiated and logically structured.” This means you need to write an essay that constructs an argument that answers the question you have been given.

You can look through this AQA Specimen Paper 1 paper to familiarise yourself with the structure of the paper.

Media Paper 2

The first question in Media Paper 2 will always be a 9-mark question on an unseen media product.

Aside from Q1, Media Paper 2 tests your in-depth topic areas:

TV

Capital and Deutschland 83

Magazines

Men’s Health and Oh Comely

Online, Social and Participatory

Teen Vogue and The Voice

Videogames

Tomb Raider Anniversary, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes & The Sims FreePlay

Indeed, the majority of Paper 2 will be THREE 25-mark essays on your in-depth topics. AQA states for your extended response questions:

“You will be rewarded for your ability to construct and develop a sustained line of reasoning which is coherent, relevant, substantiated and logically structured.”

Q4: Synoptic question

The final question in Paper 2 will always be the synoptic question – which requires you to demonstrate knowledge of the whole two-year course of study. AQA states:

“Question 4 is a synoptic question in which you will be rewarded for your ability to draw together different areas of knowledge and understanding from across the full course of study.”

How do we do this? Answer: Key concepts and CSPs. Try and answer the question by linking it to other key concepts (Language, Industries, Audiences, Representations) and by mentioning other relevant CSPs that link to the question. This will demonstrate your knowledge of the whole course - but make sure you do stay focused the question!

You can look through this AQA Specimen Paper 2 paper to familiarise yourself with the structure of the paper.

Finally, revise EVERYTHING you have learned over the last 18 months for A Level Media in preparing for these exams - terminology, theory and CSPs. Good luck!