 Ho ho ho! First straight tutor, happy Christmas! Mr Sales, it's literally the first exams. Where's your Christmas spirit? Ho ho ho! Let's get serious. Now what we're going to do is focus on Christmas Carol and what our predictions would be based on the past exams that AQA has set out for you as students. So when it comes to making these predictions it can be a little bit tricky, right Mr Sales? Certainly can, especially when you've got no sense of humour. So what we're going to do guys is begin by going over a Christmas Carol and the past exam questions that came up so that we can kind of see if there's any trends and then based on those trends make our own predictions and what we think is going to come up in the exams that start tomorrow. So when it came to the 2017 exam what was really interesting based on looking at this is that this is the only question that came up that asked you to focus in on a particular set of characters which was the Cratchit family. So you were asked to look at how the Cratchit family's Christmas dinner is presented and discuss how the Cratchit family is used to present the struggles of the poor. So I love this question, in fact I love all of these questions because when I get to my prediction I'm going to argue that they're all exactly the same question. Now in terms of 2018 I think what was really interesting is now AQA just started broadening out the questions and focusing generally on just themes and ideas. So we were presented with an extract from State4, this is when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears and you were asked to focus initially on how Scrooge's fears are presented but across the entire novella. So I think Scrooge is coming up a lot now isn't he when we look at the later question so that's one top tip, you're definitely going to have to revise him. Okay and for 2019 we were presented with Manny's Ghost, he appeared wrapped in chains and the question asked how the ghosts are used to help Scrooge change his behaviour. Which again is exactly the same question as this one but you're just mentioning the ghosts who obviously keep showing him stuff in order to give him fears and so it's really the same question with different wording. And in 2020 we had yet another fairly general question that was taken from State3, this is when we see ignorance and want the two children that are presented to Scrooge and the question focused on how is the suffering of the poor presented which is actually very similar to the 2017 exam. Exactly because they're the main poor people in the whole novel so it's really a very similar question. And for 2021 we had a physics party that was presented with State2 and the question was still quite general, it was just how joy and happiness is presented which is a bit of an odd theme. Yeah I can imagine students panicking, thinking I've never even considered that when I'm writing, doing my revision or my practice essays but actually it's the same question because how do we overcome Scrooge's fears we teach him the value of joy and happiness. How do we get him to sympathize with the poor? We teach him how he can help them which therefore brings him joy and happiness in State5 and so for me going into the exam tactically I'm always thinking Scrooge's relationship with the poor whatever the question is, that's where I'm going because that's what's underlying the whole novel really, that's what the novel's about so I'm going to link that to any question that comes up no matter what. Okay and students who were in your position last year were asked to discuss the effects of loneliness and isolation and this was based on an extract from State2 where Scrooge is in boarding school and he's completely isolated. Brilliant so for me again, why is he lonely and isolated? Because he fears poverty that's why he's chosen this golden idol I go into all sorts of attachment theory which you don't have to worry about now you can see it in some of my videos but it's his fear of poverty that causes him to cut himself off from other people and it's again the same question Scrooge's relationship with the poor. Now in terms of what you think might come up in the exams, what are your predictions? So it's difficult to predict what the question will be although it's looking like we haven't had Scrooge himself for a while so that's a possibility but actually I don't really care about that so I'm going to go and prepare, what does the novel tell me about Scrooge's relationship with poverty? Why was Dickens trying to show that relationship with poverty in this Christmas tale? What did he want to change in society? Once I start writing about what Dickens wants to change in society then I'm automatically hitting the top of the mark scheme and what he wanted to change in society will always be relevant no matter what the question. Okay. So that's my plan. Well I kind of have a slightly different take on this. I personally think that a theme question is certainly going to come up. I think what's interesting based on these past questions there hasn't been actually an explicit mention of charity or generosity. So I think perhaps how charity is presented, how generosity is presented and perhaps on the extracts related to for instance when the charity men appear to Scrooge and he says are there no prisons, are there no workhouses of course also his words are reiterated back to him in Stave 3 by the ghost of Christmas present with ignorance and want and of course in Stave 5 when Scrooge says and promises to live in the past, present and future and this is again an allusion to charity. So I personally think that it's going to be a bit more direct to the question and I think we haven't seen a charity question I think that would be a really interesting one. I think that's a really good call but again I would come at it from the point of view of Scrooge's relationship to the poor you know that's why we need the charity. So I know in my revision if I get a theme question I've never thought of like that one I'm still going to be able to apply what I've revised so it's kind of mindset really. OK and what would be your final tips for students who are kind of panicking at this stage and what can they do if they have literally less than 24 hours So I would only write a plan and the plan would be the eight key moments that you would take from the novel that show you the most development in Scrooge because the way Scrooge changes will always be relevant wherever we are so a plan knows do them chronologically because when you do that you're automatically making a logical argument about why the change happens that gives you a conceptualised response which is always at least grade 7. Great. Thanks so much for watching guys I hope you enjoyed this video now if you are curious to know what mine and Mr Salese's predictions are for the upcoming Macbeth exam make sure you head over to his channel where I'll be going over with him all the past paper questions that came up in the Macbeth exams as well as our predictions for the upcoming Macbeth exams this year