Task 1: Close Reading: Model Answer (OCR A Level English Literature)

Task 1: Close Reading: Model Answer

The best way to improve any essay is to know how you are assessed, and what skills you are being assessed on. This page has been created to give you a sense of what examiners are looking for in a full-mark response. It contains:

• Overview

• Mark scheme

• Example task

• Model answer and commentary

Overview

Task 1: Close Reading requires you to write a critical response to an extract of a text or poem taken from a collection. Although the dominant assessment objective for this task is AO2, you are required to write a coherent, well-argued response that integrates your wider reading of the text or collection in a sophisticated way. Your response must also be supported with direct quotations or close reference to the text.

Mark scheme

The mark scheme in English Literature is quite broad and can seem difficult to understand. This is because there is no “correct answer” for any response: the exam board does not provide points that need to be included in any essay, and instead, examiners have to use the mark scheme to place an answer into a level. For Task 1: Close Reading, AO2 is the dominant assessment objective. The weightings for the assessment objectives in this task are:

AO2 - 67%

AO1 - 33%

In simple terms, to achieve the highest marks (Level 6 = 13–15 marks), this means:

Example task

The following task is an example of one submitted and approved by OCR for the Close Reading question. The text chosen is a poem entitled “Morning Song”, taken from Sylvia Plath’s collection of poems called Ariel:

Comment closely on the ways in which Sylvia Plath portrays parenthood in “Morning Song”, considering how far this is reflected in the Ariel collection as a whole.

This question clearly focuses on a close analysis of the theme of parenthood in the chosen poem, and also directs the response to include thematic links to the rest of the poems in the collection.

Model answer and commentary

Below you will find a possible approach to the above task that hits the top levels of the assessment criteria. This example establishes a clear understanding of the task, text and context, and then works through the poem in a logical way, stanza by stanza, making thematic links to other poems in the collection at relevant points. 

It is not a full answer, but the commentary provided below gives a sense of what is required in order to achieve the highest marks for Task 1: Close Reading.