OCR Sample Answers

G325 Samples answers - booklet 1
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/286030-a2-level-exemplar-candidate-work-unit-g325.pdf

G325 Sample answers - booklet 2

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/179236-example-candidate-answers-from-june-2013.pdf

Useful Site for Revision

This is a good site for supplementing what we do in class and revision. Take a look

http://www.alevelmedia.co.uk/

A good additional resource: Youtube Channel - Media Wizards

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXfqzVEZr0XaZLWG3_HniA

Employability - finding work experience

QE Media will be posting and tweeting about how and where you can find work experience. Building up a portfolio of experience is vital for your employability and it's easier than you think!

Here are some links to 'BIG' and 'LOCAL' companies that offer work experience programmes (they are competitive but worth trying for). Any media work experience is worth having so APPLY NOW! Ring them direct - it's harder to be declined over the telephone.

http://careers.sky.com/starting-out/work-experience-opportunities

https://gothinkbig.co.uk/

http://www.capitalfm.com/northeast/contact/

http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/contactus/news/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/work-experience

Women in Sports Media

A Fantastic opportunity has arisen for female students.....

Sunderland University and Sky Sports are hosting an all-day event that focusses on women in sports media. The event is Wednesday 16th November and you will be involved in a series of workshops and Q&A sessions including;

• Presenting
• PR
• Production / Reporting
• News Gathering
• Digital Media
• Interviewing

The following Sky Sports personnel will be attending;

• Gemma Nash (Sub-Editor and Digital Bulleting Presenter at Sky Sports News)
• Sian Parry  (Senior Football Planner at Sky Sports News)
• Lawrie- Anne Brown (Fixer / Planner at Sky Sports News)
• Sophie Coombe (Sky Sports Publicist)
• Sophie McQueen is in the running to host the event.  

The cost is £7 which covers the cost the coach. 

There are only 27 places available and you can secure your place from Monday 10th October at 10.30am.

Media Studies Workshop and Drop in sessions

QE Media Vimeo Account

Here is the link to our Vimeo account which houses your final products

https://vimeo.com/qesfcmediastudies

Creating Progress Targets.

All students need to reflect on feedback and set appropriate targets following every piece of work submitted and at formal college assessment points. Remember, if it isn't a challenge, it isn't worth doing!

Please remember that your targets must be SMART!

S - specific (to your work)
M - measurable (can Nic or Al measure the progress made?)
A - attainable (can you actually achieve it?)
R - realistic (is it rigourous and result focussed?)
T - timely (can you do this within the allotted time frame?)




 Here's a link to a really useful article about setting targets. https://www.examtime.com/blog/smart-goal-setting-students/

Interested in an apprenticeship in Media, Marketing, Social Media or Graphic Design??

Blogger (s) of the week

Blogger(s) of the week will be announced every Monday!

What gets me blogger of the week?

• All class work completed and published
• All homework completed and published
• Blog posts are detailed and offer critical, theoretical and technical depth
• Evidence of ongoing research and idea updates are evident

There are prizes up for grabs each week!

Progress Grades and Setting actions for AS & A2

Every student should have had or be in the process of having a progress chat with one of your media teachers. Progress grades will be available on the portal (progress tracker) following your discussion. Remember this is an indication of your current performance. You should proceed to set yourself a target that is SMART 

 S - Specific (related to your current work and following discussion with your teacher)
M - Measurable (can we track it's progress / see the impact that it is having easily?)
A - Attainable (Is it realistic - can you achieve this?)
R - Relevant (Is it relevant to the subject and your current work?)
T - Timed (can your achieve this before the next round of assessments? Before the end of your current unit of work?)

Read up on setting yourself targets here https://www.examtime.com/blog/smart-goal-setting-students/

Writing an exam response by Pete Fraser (chief exmainer)

I have posted quite a lot in the past about the OCR G322 and G325 media exams, so have a look at those for more specific advice. This post is general advice for any exam paper and follows on from the previous post about preparing for exams.

1. After dividing up your time for the paper, so you know how long you will spend on each question (related to the marks available), your next step is to see, where there is a choice of question, which one you will choose. You may be lucky and spot a question straight away that absolutely suits your material. But if not, the key is to read the question carefully and look for key words or triggers which will help you. Are there media terms in it that point you to what it is looking for, like 'distribution' or 'regulation'? Even if it doesn't make absolute sense to you at first glance, those key words are likely to be designed to help you rather than catch you out.

2. A little planning goes a long way. Spend the first couple of minutes of the time you have allocated mapping out how you are going to answer the question- bullet points for each paragraph with examples you intend to use. This is useful should your mind go blank and in simply structuring the next 45 minutes or however long you are spending on it, but also in flagging up to the examiner where you would have gone if you do by chance run out of time.

3. Get on with it. You need an introduction, but you need it to be short and to the point. Don't ramble. Even if you have a formula that you practice beforehand, that usually won't do any harm. You need something to guarantee getting you started and fast! So how about 'In this essay I shall show how (whatever is being asked about) applies to (text 1) and (text 2).' This gets you moving and tells the examiner what you will be using as your main example. Same thing with endings. You need to conclude, so that the essay doesn't appear to have stopped in mid-air, but it can be quite brief: 'So as we have seen, (whatever is being asked about) can be applied to (text 1) and (text 2)'. Of course it's not precisely these words that you'll use, but keeping it simple means you've got time to get on with the main body of it!

4. Paragraphs. Use them. And leave a gap between each one so the marker can read them. Ideally, each paragraph will deal with one main idea and support that idea or point with examples. But even if your paragraph  doesn't do what it should, just physically  breaking up the page makes a huge difference for the reader. Most students don't have beautiful handwriting, especially these days when we use keyboards so much, so make it easy for the examiner to read what you have written! Leave spaces between paragraphs and keep paragraphs relatively short. a rule of thumb is that if you have less than two paragraphs on a page, you probably aren't breaking it up enough. Aim for three.

5. Examples. Use them. they are the thing that most frequently go AWOL in a student exam answer. Students tend to trot out arguments and then not back them up. that is true in lots of subjects. So make sure each point you make has something solid to back it up- a sequence from the TV programme that shows what you are arguing about representation, some figures from that film marketing campaign that support your point.

6. Structure. Have one. If you plan your answer as an argument, this will ensure you follow it through. Point, Example, Explanation is all very well, but if the points are all disjointed, that's not much use!

So there you go- good luck!

After QE

Where can you go after QE??

Below are a few ideas............

Undergraduate Degree? 

Media degrees cover a broad range of subjects, from the highly practical to the theoretical and allow access into a number of careers, not just media related!

Use this link to find out more information http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_media_studies.htm

Foundation Degree?

A typical full-time Foundation Degree takes two years and students can graduate with an FdA or FdSc or progress to the final year of an appropriate Honours Degree. Entry requirements are often lower than undergraduate degrees but can ultimately lead to the same standard of qualification.

Level 3 Higher Apprenticeship? 

Apprentices work towards work-based learning qualifications such as a Level 4 Competence Qualification, Functional Skills and, in some cases, a knowledge-based qualification such as a Foundation Degree.

Here's a link about creative industry level 3 apprenticeships http://www.creativeskillset.org/qualifications/apprenticeships/article_8733_1.asp

BBC Trainee Schemes?

You can earn money working at the BBC whilst gaining a degree find out more here http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes/

Employment?

Follow Media Jobs UK on twitter. There are many vacancies in the media/film/journalism/advertising industries despite popular beliefs! These range from assistant roles, internships, trainee schemes and full time positions.

Useful App for revision & definitions

The app is available for free (with 3rd party advertisements) or £1.49 (no ads) on IPhone and IPad and for £1.49 (no ads) through google play for android. 

A worthy investment for all AS and A2 students.

Here's the link to Paul Gibson's (creator) website http://www.schoolrevisionapps.com/media.html

Are you on Twitter?

Like any form of social media Twitter can be beneficial to your studies but also full of self indulgent updates that are worthless to you. As part of your media course there are a number of reasons why you MIGHT want to use twitter.

1. The chief examiner and principal examiners tweet links to useful case studies, provides tips for coursework and the exams.
2. Theorists whose work we analyse tweet new findings and theoretical perspectives.
3. You get first hand experience of how the internet and social networking is transforming media industries such as news, film and music, all of which are vital for our study of media in an online age.

Read this article from the Guardian about why twitter is important and beneficial http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/19/alan-rusbridger-twitter?CMP=twt_gu

So who is worth following for A level Media?

FOLLOW US @QEMEDIASTUDIES.

Check out who we follow... it might be of some us!!!!!

@julianmcdougall wrote the OCR textbook and he tends to use his tweets to send out useful links for the A2 exam in particular

@henryjenkins is the American academic who wrote 'Convergence Culture' and has done a lot of research on fans

@petesmediablog is the chief examiner - he doesn't say much but you might find other people he follows quite interesting!

Accessing Level 4 in Coursework

You must be aware that to access level 4 - the A/B grades - your blog must have over 50 posts in it and within those posts you must be constantly;

1. Reflecting on progress.
2. Reflecting on skills development.
3. Offering comparison of your work against real media products and suggesting how you can improve.
4. Gaining regular audience feedback and reflecting upon this suggesting how you can make improvements to your work.
5. Using a range of digital technology and ICT CREATIVELY.

Welcome

Welcome to the central hub for A/AS Media Studies.
Here you will find links to the unit blogs and general course information.