FM2 Section A Planning Workshop The easy way to exam success! (Well, with a bit of work, obviously.)

Picture the scene... You are in the exam... You have only 50 minutes to answer each section! What should you do to ensure you get the best grade? SIMPLE: Plan the smart way to ensure you cover all the right points! Just watch my technique... It’s like me being there with you!

(You will obviously have a proper exam booklet.) Do you have the right things on the desk? Exam paper Resource booklet Answer booklet You will be reminded to check – please do check you have the Film paper (someone every year gets the wrong paper!)

Other retailers are available. Highlighters are essential – try 2 different colours (you’ll see why later). Obviously, make sure you have a pen  Best place for cheap highlighters = Poundland (6 for £1!) or Tesco (10 for £2.50). Other retailers are available.

Read the Instructions to Candidates! “Black ink? What if I only have a blue pen?” ASK FOR A BLACK ONE!

First, look at the question paper! Read the two questions and decide which of the two questions you want to answer (you must answer one of them!) Then, get your highlighter out! Remember not to look at the resource materials yet – use them later on.

I have chosen this question! But don’t just read it...

Highlight the key words (which are here.)

(Or something like that.) Then, rather than using the exam answer booklet to write your plan, put up your hand and ask for some more paper. The paper will help you keep your plan separate to the rest of the work, and you will be able to work without hindrance! (Or something like that.)

Paper arrives! You can now start to write your plan.

Notice how I have rewritten key words from the question at the top of the page, along with my name, the name of the school and centre number (20833, in case you didn’t know.)

If the question says, ‘How can we attract bigger audiences’, the implication is that UK films are not getting big audiences already. So I’m going to start my plan with that. Also, the first thing in my mind is marketing, so I’ve written that too.

Main ideas now sketched out on the page ready for me to add stuff to them!

So I’m adding more ideas to the plan now, starting with my first point.

The plan starts to take shape The plan starts to take shape. I might not even use all of these ideas, but I can always cross them out if I don’t want to use them.

Now our initial ideas are done, let’s turn our attention towards the Resource Material!

This article appears to contradict my initial idea that (UK) audiences aren’t watching British films.

This article tells me that some British companies, like Channel 4, are becoming more vertically integrated, like American film companies, to compete.

This article tells me that people inside the industry would like the government to take a more protective attitude towards British film and actively promote it in cinemas at the expense of American imports.

Time to add the key ideas from the resource material to my plan. Notice I have highlighted it – so I can be sure I mention it in my answer and I’m not waffling on without using it. After all, the question does mention the Resource Material specifically.

Sequence ideas in a different colour so you notice them more. This is my finished plan. I spent around 20 minutes working on the plan: 5 minutes to read the question, highlight and write my ideas down 5-10 minutes to read the resource material and gain a general understanding of each article 5 minutes sequencing the plan and making sure I incorporated ideas from the resource material into it, especially if they disagreed with what I was saying. 1 minute to check I had mentioned all the films I could remember from lessons! Sequence ideas in a different colour so you notice them more.

Now, all I have to do is write the answer. Of course, I need to include as many different case studies as are relevant, as well as writing good-quality writing.