| | The use of “deafening chaos” is a sophisticated description which effectively crafts a mood |
| The sounds of the market are developed with detail | |
The verbs “yelled” and “argued” successfully create a mood based on the sensory language of sound | ||
The adverb “angrily” contributes to the overall effect | ||
Adjectives such as “frustrated” and “annoyed” emphasise the mood |
Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation |
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| | The description includes a short sentence to emphasise the point of no doors |
A list in the longer sentence creates a sense of being overwhelmed, which suggests panic and builds tension |
Below is an example of a full mark Level 4 model description:
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Sam is a graduate in English Language and Literature, specialising in journalism and the history and varieties of English. Before teaching, Sam had a career in tourism in South Africa and Europe. After training to become a teacher, Sam taught English Language and Literature and Communication and Culture in three outstanding secondary schools across England. Her teaching experience began in nursery schools, where she achieved a qualification in Early Years Foundation education. Sam went on to train in the SEN department of a secondary school, working closely with visually impaired students. From there, she went on to manage KS3 and GCSE English language and literature, as well as leading the Sixth Form curriculum. During this time, Sam trained as an examiner in AQA and iGCSE and has marked GCSE English examinations across a range of specifications. She went on to tutor Business English, English as a Second Language and international GCSE English to students around the world, as well as tutoring A level, GCSE and KS3 students for educational provisions in England. Sam freelances as a ghostwriter on novels, business articles and reports, academic resources and non-fiction books.
Narrative writing is a traditional form of creative writing and is telling a story. Which narrative perspective do you want to convey your story in the most compelling fashion?
Literary pieces are usually are often set within a particular time or era. Different tenses can create different effects and require different skills from the writer to be a successfully engaging piece.
The most common practice is that stories develop in sequential order. The plot moves in an order that would have logically taken place. Sometimes though, it is more engaging when writers manipulate the order in which events are revealed to the reader. This method of withholding information and controlling time can have a dramatic effect. Using a non-chronological structure increases reader engagement, as they have to mentally reorder and piece the events together.
Move the reader either backwards or forwards in time to a memorable event or situation. Moving between these episodes can give the reader more insight into a character and can offer some justifications for certain behaviours or occurrences in the present time.
The conclusion of the plot echoes the details or events that were presented right at the beginning. The reader is forced to compare what has changed in the middle and whether or not it has made a lasting impression on the outcome. Employing this device creates a positive impression, as the reader is taken on a complete journey.
I am sure you have heard the phrase, ‘There are two sides to every story’. Sometimes using a first person narrative perspective can only offer a limited and bias account of the events. Whereas, using a dual narrative is effective, as it provides the reader with two accounts about the same event that are presented alongside each other. Then, it is left to the reader to determine which side they prefer.
Include motifs or patterns that are repeated throughout a text. Use them to either reflect a genre or act as a symbol. Do not overuse motifs, as they should be aim to emphasise key ideas and concepts.
For example, having a crow flying low in the sky on multiple occasions. The bird acts a symbol of death.
Alternatively, repeating a sentence or a paragraph in the text, creates a recognisable framework.
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Find past papers and mark schemes, and specimen papers for new courses, on our website at aqa.org.uk/pastpapers
This specification is designed to be taken over two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course.
GCSE exams and certification for this specification are available for the first time in May/June 2017 and then every May/June and November for the life of the specification.
This is a linear qualification. In order to achieve the award, students must complete all exams in November or May/June in a single year. All assessments must be taken in the same series. November entries will only be available to students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August. See Resits and shelf life in the General administration section for November entry restrictions.
The final reading question on each paper - Question 4 on Paper 1 and Question 4 on Paper 2 allows students to fulfill this requirement.
All materials are available in English only.
Courses based on this specification should encourage students to:
read fluently and write effectively. They should be able to demonstrate a confident control of Standard English and they should be able to write grammatically correct sentences, deploy figurative language and analyse texts.
Courses based on this specification should enable students to:
The Spoken Language endorsement will be reported on as part of the qualification, but it will not form part of the final mark and grade.
The paper will assess in this sequence, AO1, AO2 and AO4 for reading, and AO5 and AO6 for writing. Section A will be allocated 40 marks, and Section B will be allocated 40 marks to give an equal weighting to the reading and writing tasks.
The source for the reading questions will be a literature fiction text. It will be drawn from either the 20th or 21st century. Its genre will be prose fiction. It will include extracts from novels and short stories and focus on openings, endings, narrative perspectives and points of view, narrative or descriptive passages, character, atmospheric descriptions and other appropriate narrative and descriptive approaches.
As a stimulus for students’ own writing, there will be a choice of scenario, written prompt or visual image that is related to the topic of the reading text in section A. The scenario sets out a context for writing with a designated audience, purpose and form that will differ to those specified on Paper 2.
The sources for the reading questions will be non-fiction and literary non-fiction texts. They will be drawn from the 19th century, and either the 20th or 21st century depending on the time period assessed in Paper 1 in each particular series. The combination selected will always provide students with an opportunity to consider viewpoints and perspectives over time. Choice of genre will include high quality journalism, articles, reports, essays, travel writing, accounts, sketches, letters, diaries, autobiography and biographical passages or other appropriate non-fiction and literary non-fiction forms.
In section B, there will be a single writing task related to the theme of section A. It will specify audience, purpose and form, and will use a range of opinions, statements and writing scenarios to provoke a response.
Students must undertake a prepared spoken presentation on a specific topic. The topic is at the discretion. As a guide, the duration should be no more than ten minutes. The key requirements are:
Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all GCSE English Language specifications and all exam boards.
The exams and Spoken Language endorsement will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives.
Assessment objectives (AOs) | Component weightings (approx %) | Overall weighting (approx %) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Spoken Language NEA | ||
AO1 | 2.5 | 7.5 | N/A | 10 |
AO2 | 10 | 7.5 | N/A | 17.5 |
AO3 | N/A | 10 | N/A | 10 |
AO4 | 12.5 | N/A | N/A | 12.5 |
AO5 | 15 | 15 | N/A | 30 |
AO6 | 10 | 10 | N/A | 20 |
AO7 | N/A | N/A | endorsement | 0 |
AO8 | N/A | N/A | endorsement | 0 |
AO9 | N/A | N/A | endorsement | 0 |
Overall weighting of components | 50 | 50 | 0 | 100 |
The marks awarded on the papers will be scaled to meet the weighting of the components. Students’ final marks will be calculated by adding together the scaled marks for each component. Grade boundaries will be set using this total scaled mark. The scaling and total scaled marks are shown in the table below.
Component | Maximum raw mark | Scaling factor | Maximum scaled mark |
---|---|---|---|
Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing | 80 | x1 | 80 |
Paper 2: Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives | 80 | x1 | 80 |
Total scaled mark: | 160 |
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The style of the writing (sentence structure and overall structure) is dynamic and engaging; Below you will find a detailed creative writing model in response to an example of Paper 1 Question 5, under the following sub-headings (click to go straight to that sub-heading): Writing a GCSE English Language story; Structuring your story
First, draft a plan with main character(s), setting and the basic elements of the plot. Then think about the points in the Checklist below. • Reveal past and present information fluently by your use of tenses. • Hint or indicate mood or tone through your use of conjunctions or sentence order.
Overview of Paper 1 Question 5. Paper 1 Question 5 is the writing question. It asks you to apply what you know about imaginative and creative fiction writing, such as in the text you read in Section A, and use these same techniques in your own writing. AO5 rewards you for your ideas, as well as the style and the fluency of your writing.
READ MORE: > 10+ GCSE creative writing ideas, prompts and plot lines Mastering Narrative Structure. A good story has a clear structure - a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning should hook the reader, the middle should build the story, and the end should provide a satisfying conclusion.
Paragraphs are the building blocks of creative writing, allowing our writing to take on an interesting structure. We should plan an interesting paragraph structure before we begin creative writing to engage the reader. We can begin with a wide perspective, narrow into a scene and end with a moment of tension.
Step 1 Determine a level. Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptor for that level. The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student's answer for that level. If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one and decide ...
Information. The marks for questions are shown in brackets. The maximum mark for this paper is 80. There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
Structuring an Answer to Question 2 Paper 2 (AQA) Have a go at a Question 5 Paper 1 creative writing question using this planning sheet to help build your ideas. Submit your full creative writing piece for marking and feedback.
Tips and strategies for writing a high scoring GCSE creative writing paper: 1. Learn the formats. Know the different formats and conventions of the different GCSE writing tasks. There is a standard layout for a leaflet, for example, where including contact details and a series of bullet points is part of the mark scheme.
Notes and guidance: Further insights - how structure is assessed - Paper 1 Question 3 Published 21 Nov ... Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing - November 2020 ... AQA Education intends to apply for an injunction preventing interference with public examinations. This notice is to alert you to the application and the proposed ...
In this post I will concentrate upon the AQA English GCSE Paper 1.The step-by-step guide to question 5, the writing question, is an example of embedding in the students' brains a metacognitive process for tackling the 40 mark writing tasks.
Paper 1:Creative Writing. Paper 1: Creative Writing. In the exam you're normally given two options: a descriptive piece or a narrative piece. Neither is worth more or less than the other so it's up to you to choose which suits you best. Though describing the same thing for 45 minutes can see a little tough, I'd argue that the description is ...
Descriptive Writing. Though there's no formula for great creative writing, there are some strategies you can use that will make sure you're able to cross the two biggest hurdles on the day: finding something to write about and writing about it in a way that actually engages your reader. 1. Creating atmosphere.
2 Grade 9 Creative Writing Examples. I recently asked my year 11s to pen a piece of description and/or narrative writing for their mini assessment. I gave them the following prompts: Your school wants you to contribute to a collection of creative writing. EITHER: Write a short story as suggested by this picture:
Lessons and activities. Creative and descriptive writing is a great opportunity for students to explore different themes, audiences and purposes as well as demonstrate their understanding of how structure and punctuation can be used to impact a reader. From creative writing prompts to technique booklets and descriptive writing planning mats, we ...
Writing a GCSE English Language description. Remember, Paper 1 Question 5 is worth 40 marks, broken down into two Assessment Objectives: AO5 (24 marks) Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural ...
Sometimes though, it is more engaging when writers manipulate the order in which events are revealed to the reader. This method of withholding information and controlling time can have a dramatic effect. Using a non-chronological structure increases reader engagement, as they have to mentally reorder and piece the events together.
a language investigation (2,000 words, excluding data and quotations) a piece of original writing and commentary (750 words each, excluding quotations) Overall, the NEA forms 20% of the overall marks of the A-level. The language investigation is marked out of 50 and the original writing and commentary out of 50 (25 for each).
Scheme of assessment. Find past papers and mark schemes, and specimen papers for new courses, on our website at aqa.org.uk/pastpapers. This specification is designed to be taken over two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course. GCSE exams and certification for this specification are available for the first time in May/June ...