Year 11 mock exams (Part Two)!

English Paper Two Section A (Different Cultures Poems)

The rules

• You have 45 minutes.
• You must answer one question (you will have to answer the first one of the two options at this stage, as we have not done any poems from Cluster Two).
• You must compare two poems in an essay.

My advice

1. Spend 10-15 minutes planning your answer. If you plan well, half an hour is plenty of time to write it. You will want to plan the structure and the content of your answer. The easiest way to structure your answer is chronologically (start at the beginning and go through the poems). If you do it this way, remember to talk about the beginning of both poems before moving to the middle of both poems and then the end of both poems. There are other ways of structuring your answer. You could structure it by technique, for instance. You might do a section on the layout of the poems, a section on the subject and ideas in the poem and a section on the language techniques used.
2. Try to make your writing interesting and enthusiastic by showing your interest in the similarities and differences between the poems. If you do structure your answer chronologically, remember not to tell the 'story' of the poems. What you must do is look at the techniques the poet uses at the various stages of the poem.
3. Remember to use lots of terminology for poetic writing. Keep your quotes short and use your vocabulary for technique, effect and evaluation. Look at this example and the colour-coding that shows how you can show all four skills. 'In 'Nothing's Changed', the narrator describes his "inward-turning hate", and this animated and almost personified feeling shows a tragic and uncomfortable aspect of being an oppressed person. As it is surprising, it strongly encourages the reader to reflect that the oppressed person comes to dislike himself, just as those who oppress him do, which is doubly upsetting.'
4. When comparing the poems, try to find quotes that go well together in some way. It might be that the technique is the same in both, but it may be interesting to notice that the effects are slightly different in some way. Here's an example. 'In 'Two Scavengers' and 'Island Man', the poets both use irregular indentation, but in the former poem it is used repetitively to show the different social status of the garbagemen and the professional people, whereas in the latter poem it is used once to show the character moving from a dream state to waking.'
5. Your planning should therefore have your structure for your answer (chronological or thematic: point 1 above), the terminology you need for technique, effect and evaluation for your different bits of evidence (point 3 above) and any comparative points you want to make: you don't need more than three good ones (point 4 above).
6. Finally, try to show enthusiasm for the poems in the way you write. Good luck!

Year 11 mock exams!

GCSE English Paper One Section A



Non-fiction media section



The rules

• You have one hour.


• You will be given two non-fiction media texts (newspaper articles, websites, advertisements, etc).


• You will have to answer four questions on the texts (adding up to 27 marks).


• Some of the questions will only be about one of the texts and some will ask for comparative comments on both.


• The questions will typically be about the argument of the text, the use of fact and opinion, the presentation or layout of the text and the type of language used.

My advice

1. Don't spend a lot of time reading the texts carefully. Read for a purpose. If your question is about the argument of the text, scan the opening paragraph for the main argument. It will probably develop the headline. Then, scan the subsequent paragraphs to see how the argument develops. Find one or two short quotations to integrate into your answer.


2. Either divide your time by the number of marks (2 minutes per mark roughly) or allocate 15 minutes to each question. Either way, spend a third of this time scanning the text for the information and techniques you need and two thirds of the time writing your answer.


3. Remember that you must link evidence, technique, effect and evaluation to get the highest marks. Look at the following example and how it is colour-coded for the four skills demonstrated. 'The clause "the silver tongue has been replaced by a tin ear" juxtaposes the body parts for speaking (tongue) and listening (ear) simply and effectively. Obama's decline is thus explained in terms of his relative strengths and weaknesses as a communicator.'
4. Notice how the above quote manages in two sentences to show all four skills. This is concise writing, using short phrases of well-chosen vocabulary for effect. When scanning for information before writing your answers, think of some of the vocabulary you want to use for evidence, technique, effect and evaluation so that you can write more quickly.
5. Be disciplined with your time! Remember that you should use the main argument of the text as a way of linking your answer properly. So, if you thought the Obama article was mainly arguing that the American public was overreacting to Obama's weaknesses, this would be something you could link your fact/opinion, layout and language answers to.
6. Try to show enthusiasm for the text by using phrases like 'highly effective', 'strikingly clear' and so on. Good luck!