Reading- English Language Paper 2

Hi, this question is specifically on Language Paper 2 for GCSE. Does anyone have any tips on actively reading the texts and picking apart the writer’s viewpoint and perspective. Lmk please!

Reply 1

misa!!

Original post by subbhy

Hi, this question is specifically on Language Paper 2 for GCSE. Does anyone have any tips on actively reading the texts and picking apart the writer’s viewpoint and perspective. Lmk please!

hiii is this one of the last questions where you need to compare the 2 texts ? what exam board do you do ? i

Reply 2

subbhy

Original post by misa!!

hiii is this one of the last questions where you need to compare the 2 texts ? what exam board do you do ? i

Hey! I do AQA. This is about Q4 specifically and how to read the texts actively and take information in.

Reply 3

misa!!

Original post by subbhy

Hey! I do AQA. This is about Q4 specifically and how to read the texts actively and take information in.

ahh sorry i do edexcel good luck though!!

Reply 4

freys_eliii

Hey, I don't know how much help I can be but in my January mocks of this year (i'm a current yr 11) I got an 8 for the language paper 2 specifically so I hope I can be of some help, (I also do AQA). For Q4 read the question thoroughly and make sure you understand the focus. So I just brought up the past paper from June 2020 and the focus of Q4 for that is 'mountains', so then I suggest going back to the texts. The majority of the time the exam boards use two texts with contrasting views so what you need to do is get the overall gist, for example, in Text A the narrator might be bored of the mountains therefore you should highlight all of the words and phrases that capture these feelings, whereas in Text B the narrator might be scared of the mountains and therefore you should highlight all of the words and phrases that capture those views, (btw I haven't read the extracts for the June 2020 paper so I could just be making this up but the principles I used here can be applied to any extract).
As it is a 16 mark question you should do 4 paragraphs with a small conclusion (this isn't necessary but it shows the examiner that you're constantly thinking about the question). In each paragraph, you must state a comparison, then use evidence (quotes) from text A that demonstrates this, analyse how this is beneficial to the text and why the writer included it, then do the same for Text B using 'whereas' or 'however' to represent how it is a comparison, then you must always do at least a sentence at the end of every paragraph where you talk about both Texts within the same sentence.

Also, this is really important, remember that it is a point of view and perspective exam paper, so also refer to how the evidence used helps capture the points of view of the narrator and the perspective, as that is the entire point of the paper.

And lastly, although question 4 is 16 marks, it is vital that you get at least 29, 30 onwards out of 40 in question 5 to secure your top grade for english language in both paper 1 and 2 as it secures the basic marks you need if you made any silly mistakes in the first half of the paper.

Good luck :smile: