MEST3 mock exam - Learner Response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

• Need Sophistication.
• Wrote 4x as much for a 8 mark question as oppose to a 12 mark question.
• Need wider examples.
• All very general.
• Completely superficial, no depth at all.
• We studied news for 15 weeks, where is it.

2) Read through the mark scheme. Pay particular attention to page 9 that has suggested content for each of the questions in Section A. How many of these potential points did you make? Did you successfully answer the questions?

Contrast similarities in celebration/social ritual
Catchy soundtrack
Appeal to a range of audiences through use of different nationalities / ages etc.

3) Now look at page 15 of the mark scheme. How many of the broad areas suggested by AQA did you cover in your Section B essay? Did you successfully answer the question?

Agenda setting via consumption

Agenda setting via production

Role of e-commerce

4) Read the Examiner's Report in full. For each question, would you classify your response as one of the stronger answers or one of the weaker answers the Chief Examiner discusses? Why? What could you do differently next time? Write a reflection for EACH question in the paper.

the use of sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic, and how this impacted upon an audience’s response to the products

Question 1:

• the use of graphics that appear on screen.
• representational issues, particularly those that show attitudes of acceptance and community.
• the use of montage to celebrate the universality of marriage.
• the use of direct address in the “Who are you?” questioning.
• the use of editing, particularly to generate pace in order to create audience appeal.
• the notion that one text creates a desire to own a product, while the other encourages self-realisation.

Question 2:

• The use of sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic, and how this impacted upon an audience’s response to the products:

• The use of graphics that appear on screen.

• Representational issues, particularly those that show attitudes of acceptance and community.
• The use of montage to celebrate the universality of marriage.
• The use of direct address in the “Who are you?” questioning.
• The use of editing, particularly to generate pace in order to create audience appeal.
• The notion that one text creates a desire to own a product, while the other encourages self-realisation.

Question 3:

• a positive audience response being key to advertising/marketing revenue for producers

• the growth of the e-Media economy and the impact of this upon traditional media producers

• the illusion of empowerment offered by new media technologies and platforms

• direct audience feedback and how producers used these to their own ends

• demographic targeting

• cross media promotion.

Question 6:

One of the great benefits of new and digital media is that they have enabled audiences to set their own agenda in terms of how they use the media. Does evidence from your case study support this view?

Successful responses to this question explored the issue from the perspective of both audiences and producers. In doing so, they debated the extent to which audiences are now able to set their own agenda and also discuss the ways that media producers have had to respond as a result. Students therefore explored the different ways that audiences could use a variety of media services and platforms to enhance their individual lives and look at the impact of hashtags, online voting systems and website forums as part of that debate. This led to the question being debated from both sides, rather than revolving around a fixed binary position. 

Weaker students, however, tended to take a binary position and run with it, using their case study to force a point, rather than consider the nuances and subtleties that exist within the question. Weaker students also tended to explore the more basic features of new and digital media, such as the ability to create an individualised avatar as a method of self-expression, rather than explore the concept of having an agenda. Arguments therefore became quite simplistic, suggesting that having an individual Snapchat or Twitter account was enough to allow audiences to be in control of how they use the media.

5) Choose your weakest question in Section A and re-write an answer in full based on the suggested content from the Examiner's Report. This answer needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme. This will be somewhere between 3-6 well-developed paragraphs (depending on the number of marks).

In what ways are issues of personal identity presented in the media?

• identification with celebrity

• response to lifestyle activities and celebration of choices

• modification of audience behaviour

• online identity and manipulation

• creation of personal spectacle

• pros and cons of social networks

• increased opportunity for members of the public to control their own representations.