A-LEVEL CLASSICAL CIVILISATION CIV2B Homer, Odyssey Report on the Examination 2020 June 2017 Version: 1.0
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General Comments This option continues to be popular with students who have enjoyed their study of Homer s Odyssey. Almost all revealed a thorough grasp of the storyline (including the rather confusing timeline with Books 9-12 as the earliest section). This year the majority of students chose to answer the Option A questions on the Wanderings, rather than the Option B questions on the Suitors and Penelope. There was however very little difference in performance between the two options. For the 30 mark essay very few students chose the Option D question on Zeus in the first half of the poem; fewer than 10% attempted this and these generally did not perform as well as the majority who chose Option C on Penelope and the other women. Section 1 Option A Teiresias was known by almost all students for 01, while the sad end of Elpenor in 02 was clearly an incident which students recalled; hence most made an excellent start. The ten mark question, Question 03, however, was often a disappointment: despite comments in previous Reports on the Exam, there was again a plethora of Level 3 answers. The question requires some reference to effectiveness and all too often this was missing, as students made use of two or three of the more obvious quotations from the passage followed by comment of the most basic nature. Fewer than 10% of responses reached Level 4. These quoted extensively from the passage, analysing their choices in some detail. For example, the theme of blood was not merely mentioned in passing, but the draining of blood from Odysseus cheeks was contrasted with the dark blood of the victims and the blood-stained armour of the late warriors, leading to some interesting discussion. Similarly in 04 there was a clear distinction between those (about a third of students) who considered the degree to which Odysseus took responsibility for the loss of his crew and so reached Level 4, and the majority who ran through the key incidents in a narrative fashion, perhaps referring to responsibility briefly in a concluding paragraph. Some students referred in detail to the tone of Odysseus account to the Phaeacians; others confined the discussion of responsibility to a judgement on each of Odysseus key actions. Either approach was equally acceptable. Option B By contrast to the excellent start made by many in Option A, knowledge of Eurymachus words to Odysseus for 05 was often disappointing. Similarly in 06, fewer than half of students could identify the two survivors of Odysseus rage, either by name or job description. The passage offered clear evidence for discussing both deaths in 07. The piercing of Eurymachus liver was often cited as evidence of Homer s ability to suggest the agony of such a death; some saw the beating of the ground by both men s foreheads as rather repetitious, while others considered this a strength, reinforcing the pain of their death throes. The feelings of Telemachus were often misread; terrified here was quoted by many to imply a criticism of Telemachus for his youth, rather than seen in its more positive context (as much a precautionary terror as an emotional one). In Question 08 regarding Odysseus need for assistance, some students opted for the default approach of producing an isolated narrative paragraph on each potential helper, concluding with a general statement so he needed/didn t need help or similar. A sizeable minority considered the relative degree of help each assistant provided, and differentiated between the necessity of their interventions, as well as tackling the general question of whether Odysseus could have coped alone. The better answers often provided detailed and insightful comment on the vital assistance of 3 of 5
Athene; other students, dismissing her in a few lines and then discussing Eurycleia at greater length, wrote an answer that suggested a lack of balance. Section 2 Again it is necessary to repeat that, for the 30 mark questions, 12 marks only are allocated to AO1 knowledge. This continues to be the main reason why many responses do not reach the Level 4 boundary. To gain the 18 marks allocated for understanding and evaluation, students must make use of their knowledge to respond directly to the question. Generally a more concise and thoughtful answer will achieve the higher levels of the mark scheme than a rushed longer essay. This year the questions asked whether Penelope alone had a significant effect on events, and how much control Zeus actually had over the events of the pre-ithaca books. Essays that did not supply a focused answer did not achieve many understanding and evaluation marks, however much factual content they contained. Option C The students who answered this question, Question 09, on the women in the Odyssey did well to note the words significant effect and events in the title as well as the fact that Penelope is named in the wording. A number of students barely discussed Penelope, dismissing her with phrases such as utterly insignificant without advancing any evidence whatsoever. The better answers looked at both the passive and active effects that Penelope has on the events of the story. Those who restricted themselves to her active interventions often struggled to back up their highly significant judgement regarding her importance. Better responses talked also of her passive importance, often quoting Odysseus rejection of Calypso in Book 5, his discussions in Hades etc, as reinforcing her role as the object of his mission. While the question did not demand comparison between the women, a significant number of students found this a helpful mechanism in keeping focus. As ever far too many adopted the long-standing paragraph per bullet point approach, writing about each woman at similar length. Often, as no convincing conclusion was produced as to how important each woman was, the result was a Level 3 effort which implied that for example Ino, Arete and Circe were all very significant without proving any distinction through concise and appropriate evaluation. The 10% or so of students who achieved the top half of Level 4 and above, took these points into consideration and produced some excellent responses which were a delight to read and mark. Option D The level of performance on Question 10, which looked at divine control (or lack of it) in the first half of the Odyssey, was lower at each level than for the equivalent question on Option C. That said, relatively few students attempted this essay. The relationships between Zeus, the other gods and fate are challenging ones, and a number of students spent much of their essay going round in circles, ending up with a thoroughly confused and confusing summary. Some of the better responses took each of these elements, particularly fate, in a degree of isolation: having established that fate in some ways overrides all else (and there were some thought-provoking discussions here), they settled to consider the key triangle involving Zeus, Athene and Poseidon, as well as the side issues such as the apparent lack of any significant divine control over Books 9-12, or Odysseus own degree of control of his mission. The very best answers returned to the apparent contradictions here and the apparently immutable demands of fate, recognising the problems if not proposing any all-embracing solution. Most responses included enough analysis to reach Level 3 so there was a good deal of creditable work produced. 4 of 5
Use of statistics Statistics used in this report may be taken from incomplete processing data. However, this data still gives a true account on how students have performed for each question. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. 5 of 5