Exam structure, technique and advice

COMPONENT ONE: MEDIA PRODUCTS, INDUSTRIES AND AUDIENCES

Component one is called “Media Products, Industries and Audiences”. There are two sections. In section A, you will be given some unseen material (either print based or audio visual), and you will have to use this and your case studies to explore media language and representation. Section B looks at industry and audience, and you will use your own case studies to answer it. You will not know for sure what will come up in component one. Not everything you have been taught will come up. This means it’s important to revise everything. The industries that may come up are:

• Section A: Advertising, music videos, newspapers
• Section B: Advertising, newspapers, film, industry, radio, video games

COMPONENT TWO: MEDIA FORMS AND PRODUCTS IN DEPTH

Component two is called “Media Forms and Products in Depth”. There are three questions, and the same products will come up every year. So you will have a pretty clear idea about what you will be writing about, but you will be required to go into significantly more detail. Questions will focus on one or more of media language, representation, industry and audience.

COMPONENT THREE: CROSS-MEDIA PRODUCTION 

Component three is the cross-media production. Most of your mark here comes from two interlinked media products. You are not marked separately for these, as they are supposed to be closely related to one another. The other ten marks come from a short essay called ‘aims and intentions’. This guide does not focus on component three. For this, check out the blog, along with the information, tutorials and feedback provided by your teachers. 

tips and advice

• Some words and concepts in media studies are particularly versatile. Terms like hegemony, ideology, negotiate and anchor can be used in a variety of contexts to spruce up sentences.
• You will fail your exam if you do not include media language.
• For every response, particularly in component one A and component two A, B and C, you will need to use explicit reference to case studies.