English Language paper 1 q5

heyy,i got a 9 at gcse (2022) and here’s some advice.
make sure to hand write any exams you do, unless you’ll be typing in the actual exam. it takes longer to hand write so you need to be able to do it quickly and for a long time, through practising
don’t completely write off the description questions, as they can get marks (for example i did description in my final paper), and can often be easier as you can spend longer writing rather than taking ages to get an idea
try to write with a narrative voice, so from the perspective of a clear character. for example, you say talk critically about society, so it could be the perspective of an outsider, who sees everything as negative and pointless. this can also allow you to have a recurring motif (an idea repeatedly mentioned), for example repeatedly describing things like the 7 deadly sins
within your answer it sometimes seems like you’re using big words for the sake of it, when they don’t actually add value as they mess with the flow, for example what is a machination?? there’s a time and place, but sometimes it can take you out of the story
try to think about adding more techniques, even if you have to shoehorn them in. i find metaphors are great because they can be more natural, for example you could say like ‘the wind attacks me, my waterproof coat a shield against the world’. triples are also great, and a good way to include more advanced vocab
hope this helps x

Hi! Thanks so much for responding! I appreciate the time you took to respond I wrote this on word as i was actually on the train while writing this haha, it took me 20 minutes in total and I completely understand what you mean about the big words, I just feel without them my work is quite average if you get what i mean? In regards to your other advice about using metaphors and triples and motifs i will take those onboard so thank you for that! Thank you so much for the help and ps: machinations in this context means the inner workings/ operations of the brain, so like “ the inner machinations of my mind” pretty much translates to “the inner workings of my brain” it is a little far fetched but i feel it was relevant at the time haha. Many thanks- Clayton

i totally understand what you mean, I’d say not to worry too much about the words seeming super advanced, as it’s creative writing. try and focus on using better words when actually describing stuff. i think in order to make it less average (although id say it’s quite strong) focus on structural bits too, like what i said with having a character.