Understanding and producing non-fiction texts

What does it mean?

Its a 2 hour exam at the end of Yr
You will be given some texts to read and answer

questions on. There are 40 marks. You will be asked to write 2 non-fiction pieces. One will be to inform or advise The other will be an experience you may have had (though you can make it up) Another 40 marks

GCSE English Literature

Course Outline
2 examinations
1 controlled assessment

Unit 1: Exploring modern texts

External examination
40% of the total GCSE marks 1 hour 30 mins

60 marks
Section A: Modern prose or drama

20% of the total GCSE marks

45 mins (30 marks) Candidates answer one question from a choice of two

on each set text).

Unit 1: Exploring modern texts

Section B: Exploring cultures 20% of the total GCSE marks 45 mins (30 marks)
Candidates answer one question on the set text they

have studied. The question will be in two parts (30 marks). Part a will ask candidates to respond to a passage from the text. Part b will ask candidates to link this passage to the whole text.

Unit 2: Poetry across time External examination 35% of the total GCSE marks 1 hour 15 mins 54 marks

Section A: Poetry cluster from the Anthology 23% of the total GCSE marks 45 mins (36 marks) Candidates answer one question, from a choice of two, on

the poetry cluster they have studied. The question will ask candidates to compare a named poem with another poem, chosen by the candidate, from the cluster.

Unit 2: Poetry across time Section B: Responding to an unseen poem 12% of the total GCSE marks 30 mins (18 marks) Candidates are given one compulsory unseen poem.

Unit 3: The significance of Shakespeare and the English Literary Heritage

Controlled Assessment 25% of the total GCSE marks

3 4 hours
40 marks

Unit 3: The significance of Shakespeare and the English Literary Heritage Candidates complete one Controlled Assessment task which asks them to make links between a play from Shakespeare and any other text, of any genre, from the English (or Welsh or Irish) Literary Heritage (40 marks).

To be able to respond to a poem using evidence to support your opinion

In pairs, list what you believe examiners are looking for in an C+ answer to an unseen poem.

What do you think the poet is saying about the ways that some students approach poetry, how it should be approached? How does he present his ideas? (18 marks)

Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

 What message are the examiners trying to pass onto

their students? What have you learned about achieving the higher marks?

"Using technical detail as a framework and foundation for writing, rather than an aid to understanding meaning, limits candidate performance. Statements pointing out the use of enjambment for example, or the fact that a poem is written in free verse or with a rhyme scheme, tended to lead to some rather generalised comments which offered very little in terms of developing understanding of ideas and themes. Language and technique is most successfully analysed when linked explicitly to themes and ideas rather than in isolation."