This is an extract from my guide.
Introduction to Question 2
You have learned the skills for this question since primary school. The idea is this: can you quote and explain why the writer has used those particular words? Can you explain what the writer wanted the reader to think, feel or predict?
So it is very difficult not to get at least 6 out of 8 marks for this question. You have been doing it for years, probably since you were 10 years old.
In literature essays it often pays to have several interpretations for a quotation – for a start it means you can revise only 25 quotations, yet they will fit every question. But, in a language exam coming up with lots of interpretations for the same quotation might take time. You don’t have time. If it comes easily, do it. But it is usually much quicker just to move on to the next quotation. Points make prizes.
Mark Scheme
The mark scheme tries to grade this in all sorts of abstract ways.
Perceptive, detailed analysis 7-8 marks
Clear, relevant explanation 5-6 marks
Some understanding and comment 3-4 marks
Simple, limited comment 1-2 marks
What’s the difference between simple and some? Between understand and explanation? Between clear and perceptive? You get the idea. Put two English teachers together, and they will probably disagree. The marks scheme is nowhere near as helpful as AQA would have us believe.
In fact, trained AQA examiners are allowed to give wildly different marks before their marking is checked. 8 marks out of 40 is the tolerable limit. So, a 20% difference. In other words, a chief examiner might give a question 2 response 6 marks, while two normal examiners might give it 5 and 7 respectively. All these marks would be considered ok!
That’s because the wording of the mark scheme is vague, abstract, and open to interpretation.
The mark scheme makes the question suddenly seem pretty difficult. It isn’t.
The Mr Salles Method
After analysing over 100 exam answers which have been marked by senior examiners, I have worked out a method for getting the mark right in every single one.
I know this sounds unlikely, but it is true.
1. Introduce the quotation, naming a literary technique only if you can.
2. Explain what the choice of words makes us think, feel or predict. 1 mark.
3. Do this 8 times.
4. Make sure that you write about 8 different thoughts, feelings or predictions.
Why don’t the examiners publish that as the mark scheme?
1. Ofqual, who oversee all the exam boards in the UK, might not let them.
2. AQA, like all exam boards, want to pretend that their exams test skills that are 100% relevant to English, rather than simply random exam technique. If you need proof that AQA know that the mark scheme is a problem, here it is. This is from an email AQA sent me just today:
“GCSE English Language: Mark scheme guidance and application – This free course is available virtually from 5th September – 31st December.”
That’s right, the mark scheme is so confusing that trained English teachers, who also have degrees in English and have taught hundreds or thousands of students, can’t agree what it means! And the course lasts 2 hours. Forgive me, but WTF?
3. If AQA made the mark scheme really easy to understand, too many average students would start to score many more marks, so it would be really difficult to work out sensible grade boundaries.
4. For example, Paper 1 is worth 80 marks. Examiners are allowed to differ by 16 marks. 10 marks across a paper more than a grade difference, and often 2 grades. So, already, there is a high probability that a student can be given a wrong grade. Now, if the mark scheme helps average students get more marks, a massive problem happens. Imagine that the difference between grades is only 5 marks. 16 marks is now worth 3 grades. What are the chances that a student will be given the wrong grade for the paper? Huge.
5. Am I really saying that AQA can’t afford for lots of students to start doing well in the exam? Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying.
When You Read the Student Exam Answers
You will notice that I lay out each answer as numbered bullet points.
You don’t have to write your exam answers this way. However, if you did, you would help the examiner. They would easily be able to see how many quotations you are using, how many points you are making, and how many explanations you are giving about what we think, feel or predict.
But it will also make your task easier. You will write less, and still get the marks. You will know when you have written a full mark answer. This is especially useful in your exam practice and revision.
Many of you will find that you can write more than 8 of these points in 10 minutes. That’s fine – sometimes you might write a point which doesn’t score, so having more than 8 is a good insurance.
But never go over your time limit! (You have 12 minutes to read the question and the extract and write your answer).
Finally, question 3 is also worth the same marks as question 2. But students tend to have to write more for question 3 to get each mark. So you can’t afford to spend extra time on question 2 – you’ll need it for the next question.
Adapted From Language Paper 1 November 2020
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 14 to 23 of the source.
Robert had carried out a brief assessment of the strange field, then allowed the kids to enter it. The far end of the field was an unkempt jungle, a jumble of bushes and forest.
A majestic oak dominated this patch. Its ancient, twisting branches bent to the grass, like a monstrous arthritic fist knuckling the ground. The watery sunlight lay on the horizon and the malformed oak sent twisting shadow over the struggling plants it caged. The body of the oak was choked with strangling ivies twisting around the shattered brickwork and cracked masonry, smothering it.
A track leading to the wall at the end of the field, which separated it from the countryside, was smothered by a profusion of weeds and blackthorn until it met a chained gate.
How does the writer use language here to describe the field?
You could include the writer’s choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms
8 Marks
Student Response
Describing the field as “strange” suggest that the field may be unusual. This description becomes sinister with the “twisting branches”. This portrays the field as sinister. We associate the word “twisting” with evil.
This links to the simile describing the branches as a “monstrous arthritic fist knuckling the ground”. Then the writer creates a sense of fear, “The body of the oak was choked with strangling ivies twisting around the shattered brickwork”. We associate “strangling” and “choked” with sinister events.
How Will You Mark It?
Perceptive, detailed analysis 7-8 marks
Clear, relevant explanation 5-6 marks
Some understanding and comment 3-4 marks
Simple, limited comment 1-2 marks
Is it too short? Does that mean it only has “some understanding?” Or is it long enough for be “clear and relevant” ? Or is the quality good enough to be “perceptive” ?
So, I would say it is perceptive but too short to be detailed. So, it would therefore come out at the top of ‘clear’ and ‘relevant’.
Great.
How did you do? Because I was wrong!
Now Look at the Answer with The Mr Salles Method
The explanations are in italics:
1. Describing the field as “strange” suggest that the field may be unusual.
2. This description becomes sinister with the “twisting branches”. This portrays the field as sinister.
3. We associate the word “twisting” with evil.
4. This links to the simile describing the branches as a “monstrous arthritic fist knuckling the ground”.
5. Then the writer creates a sense of fear, “The body of the oak was choked with strangling ivies twisting around the shattered brickwork”.
6. We associate “strangling” and “choked” with sinister events.
5 marks
My Commentary
a) The student has identified 5 effects on the reader.
b) Point 4 doesn’t score a mark, because it does not explain an effect on the reader. Adding this: the personification suggests the tree has evil intentions would have been enough to get the mark.
c) The student occasionally zooms in on the effects of individual words, which is a quick way to link to an effect on the reader.
d) The student has realised that the writer is trying to create an overall effect or impression. So the effects they write about are linked. Notice how they follow through the description as a journey, and explain where the writer is developing our reactions. This makes them a better student of English. But, annoyingly, it doesn’t get you any extra marks.
e) Explaining another effect on the reader will!
f) However, writing about the overall effect is evidence that you are being perceptive, so it could tip your answer into the top band.
g) Clear, relevant explanation 5-6 marks
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