French A EE exemplar A · May 2015

approached me shortly before the summer break to discuss the possibility of doing her Extended Essay on Victor Hugo. Unfortunately, her initial idea was far too broad for an extended essay so we discussed the notion of crime and punishment. The following meeting it felt as though we had gone backwards as she wanted to relate the writings of Hugo, from the first half of the nineteenth century, to the Mitterand era abolition of the death penalty in France. This was an unworkable idea so I referred her back to the notion of crime and punishment in Hugo's works. An added problem, faced is that she had not read the texts she intended to use while these discussions were going on. After her return from the summer break, I met with her again to discuss the progress she had made. The question was finalised and she made progress with her primary sources but had not completed them by the end of September. She later abandoned the inclusion of Les Miserables as she simply could not find time to read the text (and the sections of it that were relevant to her question). Despite her enthusiasm she showed for the subject matter, there were long periods when was struggling with writing the essay as she was unable to find the required time. When she met me next she expressed a concern about the organisation of her essay; after some discussion regarding breaking the question down into different sections she found this easier. She completed the essay in December prior to the winter break. I suggested amendments she could make in feedback I gave her but this was largely not acted upon. Despite stressing the importance of finding other sources for her essay her bibliography reveals that struggled with finding sources to support her essay. Her work, however, did show good personal engagement and she was able to relate her observations meaningfully to the question she had posed.