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GCSE English Literature tutor

Reading and writing about literature

The four assessment objectives as skills that work on any text: an argued personal response (AO1, 37.5%), analysis of language, form and structure (AO2, 42.5%), relevant context (AO3, 15%) and accurate written expression (AO4, 5%). Topics: Personal response and argument, Analysing a writer's language, Analysing form and structure, Using context, Vocabulary and accuracy.

Paper 1 Section A: Shakespeare

The Shakespeare play studied whole, examined by one question in Section A of Paper 1: detailed writing about a printed extract, then writing about the play as a whole. Topics: Reading dramatic method in a Shakespeare play, Moving from the printed extract to the whole play, Elizabethan and Jacobean context.

Paper 1 Section B: the 19th-century novel

The nineteenth-century novel studied whole, examined by one question in Section B of Paper 1 with the same extract-then-whole-text shape as Section A. Topics: Reading narrative method in a 19th-century novel, Moving from the printed extract to the whole novel, Nineteenth-century contexts and conventions.

Paper 2 Section A: modern texts

One post-1914 prose or drama text studied whole, examined by a single essay chosen from two questions in Section A of Paper 2. Topics: Answering an open essay question without an extract, Post-1914 dramatic and prose methods.

Paper 2 Section B: the poetry anthology

One cluster of 15 poems from the AQA poetry anthology, studied in full. Topics: Reading poetic method, Comparing the named poem with one you choose.

Paper 2 Section C: unseen poetry

Two poems no one has studied, printed on the paper: one question worth 24 marks on the first, and one worth 8 marks comparing the two poets' methods. Topics: Analysing an unseen poem cold (24 marks), Comparing the methods of two unseen poems (8 marks).

Working closed book

Every assessment in this qualification is closed book, and the only text available in the exam is what is printed on the paper. Topics: Building and using a quotation store, Timing, tariffs and what the mark scheme rewards.