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GCSE 2018

Aims of this evening • To know the format of the exams that students will be sitting in June • To understand the requirements of each of the questions on the exam papers • To go over some of the issues from the mock exams. • To provide some revision strategies for the run up to the exam

Format for the session • An introduction to the exam • A question by question guide to exam with revision tips for key sections • A review of the issues from the mock exam an guided revision advice. • Q&A

Why this session? • Since last year there have been huge changes to the GCSE 1. We have moved to 100% terminal examination for both Literature and Language 2. The grading system has changed from A*-G to the 1- 9 system 3. The curriculum has been significantly expanded 4. There are no tiers of entry for English 5. All GCSE Literature exams are closed book. • Meaning..? – There is more need than ever for students to be exam ready and parents to be in a position to help them.

The Generalities ENGLISH LITERATURE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Paper 1- 1 hr 45 mins Paper 2- 2 hrs 15 mins Paper 1- 1 hr 45mins Paper 2- 2 hrs (60%) (50%) (50%) (40%) Section A (25%) Section A (25%) Section A (15%) Section A (35%) 19 th Century Fiction Shakespeare Unseen 19 th Century Comparison of two Two questions Two questions Fiction unseen texts from the One based on a 30 line One based on a 400 20 th and 21 st century 1 extract approx 650 extract and one on the word extract and one on words. One non-fiction; one whole play the whole novel 4 Questions literary non-fiction 1, 2, 6, 15 marks Extracts will be respectively. approximately 1000 Section B (25%) Section B (25%) words in total Post-1914 British Drama Poetry or Prose One question comparing Section B (25%) Section B (25%) one named poem from the Either DRAMA or PROSE Creative Writing Transactional Writing chosen anthology collection Choice of essay Choice of 2 tasks Choice of two tasks with another of the questions student’s choice from the linked to the theme of linked to the theme of SPaG is assessed collection the 19 th century fiction the texts One question comparing the One task will include Newspaper articles, two unseen contemporary images to help letters etc. poems students address the task.

So? • That’s a lot of exams… (7 ½ hours) • That’s a lot of texts… (3 full texts, plus 15 poems) • However every student, regardless of their examination board is facing the same thing.

Literature… • This will be a whistle-stop tour of the literature papers. • These papers have changed the least – students are being asked to write about the ideas and techniques in pieces of writing. • This is pretty much the same as it has always been. • The main change is the fact that the exams are closed book.

Paper 1 Our students have studied ‘ Romeo and Juliet ’ for their Shakespeare text and either ‘The Woman in Black’ by Susan Hill or ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J B Priestly

Students will need to navigate to the appropriate section of the exam booklet – there will be a contents page to guide them

This section is two Section A distinct questions Question A is around the 3 (a) Explore how Shakespeare presents extract – this is where close Juliet’s relationship with her mother in this language analysis is extract. required. Refer closely to the extract in your answer. Students will need to use (20) PETER paragraphs to analyse the text in detail. (b) In this extract, Juliet talks about taking revenge on Tybalt’s murderer. Explain the importance of revenge elsewhere in the play. Question B is about the In your answer you must consider: wider play – it requires • where revenge is shown knowledge of the plot, • how revenge affects those involved. characters themes and how You should refer to the context of the play in they appear in the play – it your answer. also means the students (20) need to reference the context of the play too. (Total for Question 3 = 40 marks)

Section B Essay writing style and accuracy is marked in this question A single short quotation is the only source from the text. Again context is featured in the question

General points • 1 hour and 45 minutes means that with reading time built in there is about 45 minutes of answering the questions per section. • Students will need to work fast and keep an eye on the clock. • The questions with an extract also mean that students need a good understanding of the play – this can only come through revision. • They also need to understand and remember the mechanics of the paper – – Section A Shakespeare has two components and they do both. – Section B ‘An Inspector Calls’ or ‘The Woman in Black’ is a choice of two questions – they only do one.

Paper 2 Our students have studied either ‘ A Christmas Carol ’ by Charles Dickens or ‘ Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ’ by Robert Louis Stephenson for their 19 th Century fiction text the relationship cluster from the Edexcel poetry anthology (all students have been issued with this).

Section A Extract focused with a need for language analysis – PETER paragraphs. Broader response taking in the whole novel is required here. Students must talk about the rest of the novel – the mark scheme limits responses that only refer to the extract to less than half the marks

Section B Students are given a copy of one poem – they must compare it to another from their knowledge of the anthology A very specific focus will be given in the questions The close language analysis will come from the poem that is printed – much broader points will be drawn from the second text. A 20 mark question needs to be timed accordingly

Unseen Poetry Comparison Students are given two short poems to compare. Again the focus is on the language, form and structure – poetic techniques The question is a short and comparative response and timing is again crucial

Key messages for the literature papers • Reading and revising the set texts is vital – the questions with an extract or printed text always also require additional knowledge from the students, either of the broader text or of the poetry in general. • But so is practising the questions – especially where timing is a factor – namely in paper 2. • Any form of revision notes and guides can be a useful supplement, but the first port of call should be the notes from class and the exam booklets.

The Language Exams…

This is where exam technique is vital… • Unlike the literature exams there no set texts that can be revised… • …however there is a large body of knowledge that students can return to in their note books. • The second component to their preparation needs to be practise and exam technique.

What will the students have to do? • Both paper 1 and paper 2 follow a roughly similar format – reading unseen sources and answering increasingly demanding questions followed by a choice of two writing tasks. • The reading sections will test students’ abilities in reading and interpreting information, analysing language and structure and looking closely at the overall impact of a text.

Q1 and Q2 There will be only one acceptable answer to this question – it is simple information retrieval – in this instance a quotation will be needed. Again a limited number of acceptable answers will be available for this question – it is information retrieval, but can involve some interpretation as students can use their own words as well as quotations.

Specific lines are focused Both language on – the answer must and structure must be written come from these about to get more than 2/6 marks. Q3 Quotations and direct references are required This is a fairly substantial question that should produce a1-2 sided response from students and cover at least 3 – if not 4 – points.

Question 4 • This is the big question for this section of the paper. • It is worth 15 marks of the 24 for the entire section. • If there is a place to focus attention in this paper this would be it.

• The final question in section A of the Evaluate is paper is a focus on ‘evaluation’. the key operational • This is a difficult skill, but in essence it is verb in this question about looking at taking analysis a step further and looking at the overall impact. • Analysis is taking the text and looking at how individual bits work. • Evaluation is looking at how the whole text works together.

This question should… • Take 30 minutes or thereabouts • Be planned before being written • Use evidence in the form of quotations • Analyse language and evaluate the overall impact on the reader. • Some useful key words – A Hint from the exam board – Good – Powerfully responses seem to – Effectively identify the aspect of – Completely the text that is most – Successfully effective .