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Preparing for GCSE (9–1) English language exams (AQA 8700) 2020/21. 1. 8700/1 Explorations in creative writing and reading. Unseen texts.
Typology: Study notes
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Now you will see a breakdown of the questions for each paper and tips and advice for answering each one as best you can.
We strongly recommend that you annotate the extract whilst you are first reading it.
Question 2: 8 marks – 10 minutes AO2 Analyse writer’s use of language Example wording: Look in detail at this extract, from lines 16 to 26 of the source. How does the writer use language here to describe _____________________? You could include the writer’s choice of:
This question is still focused on AO2 skills but assesses structure. As in Q2, there are bullet points as a guide but they do not have specific marks allocated to them. Marks are given for the quality and level of response rather than number of points made. You need to respond to the structure of the whole text. This focus of the question: ‘ interest you as a reader’ will be consistent in every paper. It allows you the freedom to choose your own examples but should also remind you to consider the effects on you as a reader. The most effective answers will demonstrate a detailed analysis of the writer’s choices of structural features, and frequently offer an overview of the source’s structure before then focusing on one or two specific examples. Look below for an example of what that might look like: “The text is divided into two parts that are linked by one character and an increasing sense of foreboding. At the beginning, the writer immediately establishes person, place and time by focusing our attention on Alexander waking in his bedroom ‘at dawn, startled by a nightmare’, before narrowing to the specific details of the dream, where a black bird ‘carried off his mother’. The use of the word ‘startled’ in the first sentence creates an urgent, abrupt opening, and this, together with a focus on the nightmare which follows, generates an atmosphere of unease in the reader that is carried over into the second half of the text when Alex interacts with the rest of the family at breakfast.” As with Q2,to analyse the structure of the text effectively, you should be asking 3 important questions:
You might find the acronym OFFICE SHIFTS helpful as a reminder of structural features to look out for. We recommend writing in detail about three or so well-chosen structural features:
Paper 1 Writing section: Question 5 Question 5: 40 marks – 45 minutes AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Example wording: Describe a market-place as suggested by this picture Or Write a story with the title ‘Abandoned’. For Paper 1 you have a choice of two questions. There will always be a photograph that is loosely related to the text in some way. You may be asked to describe , and you may be asked to narrate. The two questions are most likely to be one describe and one narrate, but they won’t always be so and there will be years where there will be two descriptions or two stories. In other words, don’t only prepare for one! You could find that the task related to the photo is to describe, but it could also be to narrate. There are 40 marks available for Question 5, and they are divided into 24 marks for content and organisation, with 16 marks for technical accuracy. Content and organisation: Technical accuracy:
Descriptive choice Much descriptive writing is vastly improved through careful planning. Since there is no natural order to description, it’s important that you plan it carefully, even if you are only including a short paragraph of it in a story. A useful strategy to use for description sometimes is to start with prepositions. These placing words will help you order your writing later on. They also help you think beyond ‘in front’, and should help if you want to take a ‘guided tour’ approach. Look at this example from Bleak House by Charles Dickens Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards, and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon, and hanging in the misty clouds. The prepositions are highlighted – they are not fancy or flashy. We have no ‘ betwixts ’ or ‘ yonders ’. There are lots of ons and ins. But what you have is patterning. Can you see how we have up and then among , down and then among? That’s a pattern on which the description rests. There is a thoughtfulness about that. All of those i ns, ons, downs, intos, overs … they all support that notion of ‘Fog everywhere’. When you plan like this, try and think of 360° around you, as Dickens has done. So if it were a passage entitled ‘The Park’ you could think § through the gates § up above § yet higher still § far in the distance § beyond that § just out of reach § beneath § below § beside me § alongside that § through the gates, [sound] the laughter of children, squawks of pleasure, squeals of joy § up above [sight] kites soared, making busy stitches on the fabric of the sky § yet higher still [sight] birds circled and plummeted, aerial acrobatics, weaved and dived, § Above it all [sight] a cloudless sky, cold, deceptive, § far in the distance, [sight]a dog chasing squirrels [sound] yips of joy § beyond that, [sight], trees, the woods, [sight] the alien structures of the city,[sight] towers rising up like… (simile?) § next to me, [sight] a family picnic underneath a cherry tree, picnic rug showered with blossom, excited children in brightly-coloured coats, parents shivering over a flask, discarded sandwiches, crinkled napkins. “Zak, no!” and parents trying to wipe the dirty, chocolate-smeared faces of their uncooperative offspring. § behind them, [sight] the lido, drained for winter. [flashforward] In the summer, busy with families, teenagers, gossip, sunbathers, office workers. [now] drab, flash of fake turquoise, forlorn § in the very heart of the park, [sight] an overgrown, derelict manor house, conservatory – a lost world, sanctuary from the icy spring winds § Inside, [sight] warm, air rich with the [smell] smells of tropical plants, heavy, muggy, unpleasant
§ Don’t feel like you need to give an explained ending. If you get to the point where you can’t find a solution to your story, just leave it open. This is much better than a ‘and then I woke up’ or ‘it was all a dream’ ending.
We strongly recommend that you annotate both extracts whilst you are first reading them.
Question 2: 8 marks – 10 minutes AO1 Synthesis of implicit and explicit ideas Example wording: You need to refer to Source A and Source B for this question. The writers in Source A and Source B are travelling on very different types of boat. Use details from both sources to write a summary of what you understand about the different boats. To begin this question, make sure you underline the focus point that you are looking for in each question, as in the example below. Next, locate everything to do with the focus point in Source A and underline all of it. Do the same with source B. Then go back to Source A, having Source B fresh in your mind, and focus in on the points that are connected or come under a bigger idea. For instance, both sources refer to the boys making noise, or their relationship with adults, enjoying contact with parents. Underline once again and pick out a few pairs of things that are different. Follow the guidance from the examiners’ report (box above) and start with a difference, a quotation, some inferences, then contrast, more quotations, more inference. In Source A, the boy seems to enjoy making a lot of noise, as he ‘throws his entire body’ into ‘bark[ing] gibberish’ which suggests that he is so enthusiastic about this shouting that he does it whole-heartedly and without any reserve or hesitation. However, in Source B, whilst the boy also seemed to enjoy making noise as a child, as he had a ‘a habit of whistling’ and his mother mentions a number of noisy toys or behaviours such as ‘pop guns’, ‘a hearty shout, a shrill whistle, the crack of little whips’, it seems that he has a wider range of noises. Also, it may be that the ‘barking gibberish’ is related more to the fact that the younger child in Source A is ‘tired’ rather than actually enjoying it. It could be frustration rather than pleasure which is causing
Example wording: For this question, you need to refer to the whole of Source A, together with the whole of Source B. Compare how the writers convey their different perspectives and feelings about their experiences at sea. In your answer, you could:
_- compare their different perspectives and feelings
information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. Example wording: “Homework has no value. Some students get it done for them; some don’t do it at all. Students should be relaxing in their free time.” Write an article for a broadsheet newspaper in which you explain your point of view on this statement. This writing task is loosely linked to the topic or theme of the reading sources and the following aspects of the writing task will remain the same :
Look at the grid below to see how tone and style can change depending on the genre/form, audience and purpose but with the same statement to respond to.
