Thread by @MrBRRussell

I marked 500 GCSE Paper 2s this year. It was a genuine joy. Here are some top tips I learned to help your students access top marks! @Team_English1

1. Q2 works best when students take one like-for-like inference and create layers of inference. Depth is the best way forward!

2. Q3 - subject terminology often hindered rather than helped. The only way to move up the marks is focusing on effects and focusing on terminology often meant effects were placed second.

3. Q3 - comments on effects need to be contextualised. Get students to ask themselves “would my analysis work if I changed the key word/language I’m analysing”. If the answer is yes, they haven’t got to the key root of the effect of that word.

4. Q3 - for the HA get them to focus on how effects carry thorough the extract. Focusing on semantic fields and analysing the cumulative impact of word choices often helped here.

5. Q4 - ban the words positive/negative - these often limited students to simplistic/generalised comments on ideas and perspectives. Again layering helps here, e.g. his excitement is shown (L2), perhaps rooted in his love for nature and the simplicity camping brings (L3).

6. Q4 - methods work best when they inform viewpoints and perspectives. The *how* reveals something about the *what*. Methods also need to be contextualised in their analysis in the same way as Q3 and often they were not.

7. Q4 - the best responses often reflected on tone/attitude to reveal ideas and perspectives. Exposing students to a range of different tones and analysing how these are conveyed will pay dividends for those aiming for the top marks.

8. Q5 - PLAN! The best answers often showed clear evidence of planning. Remember organisation and clarity is the key defining feature of level beyond vocabulary and devices. Modelling and practicing planning needs to be the forefront of teaching!

9. Q5 - the defining feature of many top mark responses was adopting interesting, sustained tones and styles be it serious, conversational or in some excellent cases comical. Expose students to articles with different tones, explore how these are developed and practice mirroring!

10. AO6 - easy chest here is to focus on varying sentence types and structures that also mean a range of punctuation is needed. 2 birds, one stone. Also comma splicing. Please focus on comma splicing.

Hope this is of help. Please do share with others/RT if helpful! #teamenglish

And, finally, I must say marking was an absolute pleasure. The quality of some outstanding scripts shows how amazing young people are with a clear voice that the world needs to hear! 😁