AQA English Language GCSE 2ND JUNE 2015 *OFFICIAL THREAD*

It depends how badly people do on question 4 - it's the question where majority of the people drop the most marks I feel because they don't analyse language but start talking about sentence structure etc..

Does anyone have any tips on answering question 4?

Sorry if these are really obvious but I'd suggest ensuring your main focus is the purpose and effect of the particular language choice. Avoid generalising anything- be specific with your identification of writing techniques!

Also with the comparison, make sure you are drawing the two sources together in some way- what is it that makes them similar/different? To conclude your paragraph it might be useful to summarise with a concluding sentence that links the two sources together.

Hope some of this helps!

Thank you! Do you think it's better to compare the techniques (e.g. repetition) or compare the word/phrase choices?

Personally, I find it easier to compare techniques as I find them easier to spot, but I think it is probably better to do a bit of both. From what I've found, a good model answer would be 4 paragraphs- maybe one on an interesting verb, 1 simile from each text, a paragraph on facts used, and another on the effects of emotive language (Just a guideline, obviously this may not always be the case )

I would avoid talking about repetition though as it is easy to start talking about structure in there, which would be less likely to be credited as it is a language question.

How's everyone preparing for the Writing part of the exam?

Im not revising . Just watching mr bruff before I go to bed

Did you do the same for English Literature?

Yep got an A

No need to stress. Trust in ability if you can write well

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ok.



Problem is, I can't write well.

Wait, you guys are telling me that 90% isn't theboundary for A*


My english teacher lied to me :P


So in my mock i got 80%, was that an A* then (i was told it is a high B)

Tips for this exam would just be to stick to the timings you've been given, if you run over move on because you're better off to have an answer for each question.

With Question 1 to get into the top band you need to show a progression of something you have learnt in the text, also remember to put your evidence into your own words instead of just repeating what is in the Source as this shows you truly understand it.
Question 2 is probably the easiest, make sure you look at headline and picture and their links to the text but don't state things like 'The heading is bold to stand out.' You can't link that to the text and it can't be expanded, focus on the language used and techniques.
Question 3 again isn't hard, but you need to infer thoughts and feelings of the writer not just repeat the quote. For example if there was a sentence saying 'This made me feel scared.' DON'T say 'The writer feels scared.' Find other language to prove this.
Question 4 is the hardest question in the paper in my opinion. My main tips would be to find quite broad comparisons (these can be similarities and differences). Stuff like figurative language, facts and opinions and lexis instead of finding a simile in one source and spending forever trying to find one in the other. Also you should link these comparisons to the Genre, Audience and Purpose of each text.

I disagree with doing these questions backwards because you build up to Question 4 by doing them in order, and also if you compare Source 3 and Source 1 (which are recommended) you will already have analysed the techniques in Source 1, and so you waste less time. By doing this backwards you are actually making it more difficult for yourself, but that's just my opinion.
However, I do think its a good idea to do Questions 5 & 6 first if you have problems with time management, but remember often they use Sources which can help your arguments to Question 6 so don't ignore the Sources.

I hope this kind of helps some people struggling, and good luck for Tuesday

Thnx Tara but I've got into the habit of doing it backwards as my strengths are questions 4, 5 and 6! I've done well using this method so would you recommend sticking with it?

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