Task 2: Model Answer (OCR A Level English Literature)

Task 2: 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

For Task 2: Comparative Essay, you are required to make connections between the writing and concerns of two texts. The task should ask you to compare or contrast between the texts, and focus the comparison or contrast on a literary aspect of the texts (such as the presentation of a key theme). The recommended word count for this task is 2000 words, excluding quotations, task title, footnotes and bibliography. 

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 essay: 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. This task is worth 25 marks and all five assessment objectives are equally weighted.

In simple terms, to achieve the highest marks (Level 6 = 22–25 marks), this means:

Example task

The following task is an example of one submitted and approved by OCR for the Comparative Essay. The texts chosen are “North” by Seamus Heaney and “Translations” by Brian Friel.

Both Friel and Heaney delve into history in order to consider contemporary Irish politics. Compare the methods they use in “Translations” and “North” to create a link and illuminate their own time by an examination of the past.

This question clearly focuses on the methods the writers have used and directs the response to an exploration of context and interpretation.

Model answer and commentary

Below you will find a part of a Level 6 candidate exemplar taken from OCR’s English Literature Non Exam Assessment Guide Version 2 for the above task, which can be accessed here. The guide contains the full model answer, along with other, lower-marked examples.