GCSEEnglishLanguage 5thJune12thJune
HowisPaperOneassessed? SectionA:Reading(40marks) •oneliteraturefictiontext SectionB:Writing(40marks) •descriptiveandnarrativewriting AssessmentBreakdown •Awrittenexam:1hour45minutes •80marksavailable •Worth50%oftheGCSE InSectionAyouwillbegivenanextract fromeithertheC20thorC21stnovelor shortstory.Thisextractwillbefroman unseentext(oneyouhaven’tpreviously studied).Thisisatestofyourfiction readingskills. InSectionByouwillbeprovidedwitha stimulus(animage)andthengivena choiceoftwotasks;youonlychooseone. Youwillbeaskedtoproduceapieceof creativewriting(eitheradescriptionora narrative).Thisisatestofyourfiction writingskills(AAAMOPS/developinga lineofthought).
HowisPaperTwoassessed? SectionA:Reading •OneC19thnon-fictiontextand onethatiseitheraC20thorC21st non-fictiontext SectionB:Writing •Transactional,persuasiveand/or discursivewriting AssessmentBreakdown •Awrittenexam:1hr45mins •80marksavailable •Worth50%oftheGCSE InSectionA,youwillbeaskedtoreadtwo linkedsourcesfromdifferenttimeperiodsand genresinordertoconsiderhoweachpresents aperspectiveorviewpointtoinfluencethe reader. InSectionB,youwillbeaskedtoproduceawritten texttoaspecifiedaudience,purposeandformin whichyougivetheirownperspectiveonthetheme thathasbeenintroducedinsectionA. Youcouldbeaskedtowriteinanyofthefollowing forms:aletter/essay/report/speech/presentation/ newspaperarticle/magazinearticle/onlinearticle
WheretostartwithRevision? •HeadtoAQA’swebsiteandreadthespec: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-language-8700 •Thiscontainsalltheinformationlinkedtotheexamspecificationand alsohaspracticepapersthatstudentscanaccessandattemptintimed conditions. •Lookbackatpreviousexampapersandthemarksyou’vereceived. Readthroughtheoriginalextractandyouroriginalcommentsandthen attemptthispaperagain!
RevisionGuides •CanbepurchasedonAmazonorinanybookstore •Providespecificactivitiesthatarecateredtoeachquestionoftheexam •Eachguidewillhaveavarietyofdifferentextractswhichwillpreparestudentsforthe ‘unseen’aspectofthecourse •Someprovideanswersatthebackofthebooklet,enablingstudentstoreflecton theirworkandcontinuallyimprove
Examiners’Report2022 “Technicalaccuracycountsforasignificantproportionoftheavailablemarksin writinganditisaweaknessfortoomanycandidateswithtoomanybasicerrorson display.Oneofthemostalarmingissuesinnarrativewritingisthewidespread inabilitytocontroltensesbutproblemsinspelling,punctuationandsentence constructionarestillverymuchinevidence.” Sohowcanstudentsrevisetotacklethisproblem?
HowtoreviseforSPAG Spellings: 1.Lookthroughexercisebooksandidentifyspellingerrors. Select10atatimeandgetfamily/friendstotestyou. 2.Readavarietyofextractsfromdifferentsources-anywords youareunsureof,createawordbankandfindoutthe definitionsandpractisespellingthese. 3.Backtobasics-look,cover,copy,check! Punctuation: 1.It’sacaseofrevisingthekeytermsanddefinitionsofeach punctuationtypeandapplyingthemtotheircreativewriting. 2.Goingthroughyourexercisebookandcorrectingerrors. 3.Conscientiouslythinkingaboutyouruseofpunctuationwhen you’retextingfriendswillalsohelp,aswellasinother subjectareas. 4.Readworkaloudtoseeifit‘sounds’correct.
Sowhatarethetop10tipsforrevisingforLanguage? 1.Practicepapers-andmakesureyouarerigorouswithyourtimings! 2.Planningforthewritingaspects-youcanlookatanystimulusanduseitasa startingpointfordescriptivewriting-useitasabasetomakeaplan! 3.Reading!Obviousbutsoimportant!Youneedtobefamiliarwitharangeof vocabularyinordertoaccesstheoldertexts! 4.Usetherevisionguides. 5.Practise/reviseyourpunctuation-32marksisaLOTandreallycanbethe differencebetweenawiderangeofgrades! 6.Lookatdifferenttopicsinthenews-Brexit/veganism/sport/etcandread articles,highlightingandlabellinglanguagedevicesused! 7.UsethesetopicstocraftyourownPaper2writtentasks. 8.SignuptointeractiverevisionsiteslikeSenecaorquizlet (https://www.senecalearning.com/) 9.WatchYouTubevideosbyMrBruffifyou’rereallystuck! 10.Lookatdifferenttexttypesandhowtheyareformattedsothatyoucan replicatethis.
