Media Studies
Information for Parents
Topics to Revise
The exam board specifies the topic of the exam each year. For 2007 the topic is ‘The Music Press’.
Pupils have been given a revision booklet on this topic. Some activities will have been worked through in class, while others can be worked through at home.
Preliminary Materials
Pupils are issued with the exam questions on, or around the 1st May. This means they know what the questions are approximately three weeks before the actual exam. It is vital that pupils use this time to plan and prepare their answers.
Pupils are normally required to demonstrate awareness of:
- The history and background of the topic.
- The language and terminology used.
They also need to fulfil the production element which involves coming up with ideas of their own based on a stimulation activity. Pupils need to base their design on professional examples that they have looked at. The examiner wants to see that the pupil has recognised appropriate features and conventions when analysing existing examples, and can mimic them in their own design.
Revision Guides:
There are very few decent revision guides that just cover the examination topic. However, pupils should have enough notes from lessons. The more conscientious pupils will do their own independent research using the Internet.
Websites:
The Internet is also good for finding information on the history and background of the exam topic. For 2007 the topic is The Music Press so it would be valuable for pupils to look at different magazine websites.
Revision Tips:
The best revision tip for Media Studies is to be prepared. You know the questions, which should take away the panic of not knowing what to expect. However, it is no good knowing the question if you don’t know what you are going to write in your answer.
Use your notes, and research, to plan your answers. Show your answers to a Media Studies teacher who will be able to make sure you are on the right lines.
Once you have planned your answers and are satisfied that they cover what the examiner is looking for, it’s simply a matter of reading and re-reading the answers so that you can duplicate them in the actual exam.
Equipment:
For the production task in the exam you will usually be required to design something – a magazine cover, article or web page for example.
It is important to use colour so take colours, fine liners, rulers etc. into the exam.
Points to Remember:
- Try to complete the tasks in the order that they appear on the exam. The exam is split into two separate sessions. If you complete Task One and Two, which are usually the ones that require most writing, during the first session, then you will have some time before the second session to read over your notes. This means that during the second session you can add anything that you may have missed out.
- Make sure you refer back to the tasks. Quite often the tasks have more than one part. If you don’t do this you might not be answering the whole question correctly and you could be depriving yourself of marks.
- Make sure you complete all the tasks.
- If a question has bullet points use them to structure your answer. Each bullet point should equal at least one paragraph. Use the bullet points! They are the examiner’s clues as to what you need to put in your answer.
- Leave time at the end of the exam to check your answers for silly errors like spelling mistakes, missed words, paragraphs etc.
- Presentation counts for a lot in Media, especially on the Production Tasks. It is not an art exam; it is your ideas that will earn you marks. However, if you know you are not very artistic, use notes and annotations to explain your design.
- Use the time wisely. Any time sat doing nothing could be time used to add more detail to, or to check through, your answers.