How to Answer Question 3 (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language)
Revision Note
How to Answer Question 3
Paper 1, or Component 1, is the “fiction” paper. You will be given five reading questions to answer about an extract from a longer piece of literature or a short story in Section A. You should always begin by dividing up the reading passage into the sections specified by each question, and you should complete these questions in the order they are given.
The following guide to how to answer Question 3 includes:
Question 3 overview
How to answer Question 3
Exam tips
Question 3 overview
Question 3 is the first of the 10-mark questions in this exam paper and will normally focus on a relatively short section of the text. The assessment objective for this question is AO2 and primarily tests your ability to analyse how a writer uses language to achieve particular effects. It is most commonly a “how” question about a character, character relationships or a character’s thoughts and feelings. It can, less commonly, be about an event or a situation in the passage, such as how the writer shows an event or situation becoming worse.
Exam Tip
Candidates are often tempted in a “how” or AO2 question to look first for the literary techniques that a writer may have used. However, this is not the correct approach. Instead, look for evidence, not techniques. By selecting the most appropriate evidence from the text, including individual words or phrases the writer has used to describe something, you are considering how the writer has shown a character or a situation.
When considering the presentation of a character, think about not only the language used, but also how other characters talk about them, to them or react to them, and consider a character’s movements and actions. When considering the presentation of an event or situation, consider whether the writer increases the tension or drama in the section and how they do this, maybe by varying sentence lengths or using comparative words.
The most common formats for Question 3 are:
What sort of character is “X”? How does the writer show this?
What are the character’s, or characters’, thoughts and feelings in these lines? How does the writer create or show these thoughts and feelings?
What impressions does the writer create of “X” in these lines?
How does the writer show the relationship between “X” and “X”?
As this question is worth 10 marks, it is important that you spend 15 minutes on it (including time for reading and annotation) and that you write enough in your response to warrant a full range of marks.
How to answer Question 3
The following example of Question 3 is taken from the Summer 2022 exam:
Just like Question 2, you should start by identifying the correct section of the passage which the question is about, and highlight the focus of the question.
The steps are:
Identify the correct section of the reading passage
Read the question and highlight the focus (what you are being asked about)
Scan the section of text:
Highlight any information directly relevant to the focus of the question
Annotate in the margins what your selected evidence tells you that answers the question
For the above question, you might highlight the passage like so:
Rachel had come across Bob before and didn’t like him much. She thought he wanted to use her work for his own advantage and she also felt that he was too close to the local farmers, too desperate to be accepted by them, rather than do his job properly. He lived locally and drove a Land Rover with a couple of labradors in the back, looking very much the country landowner. She had seen him drinking in the pub with the local farmers, all friends together. However, she knew better than to offend him — she might want to work for English Nature one day. When he invited her to lunch at the White Hart to discuss her work, she accepted graciously. ‘I’ve invited Peter Kemp to join us later,’ Bob said suddenly as the food arrived. ‘He’s doing the same sort of work as you for the Wildlife Trust. You might be able to help each other.’ As he mentioned Peter Kemp, Bob beamed at her across the table. Despite the Land Rover parked outside, he had had a couple of whiskies while they were waiting to order and then a pint of beer to wash down the meal. Rachel was irritated by Bob’s interference in her work and was certain she would dislike Peter Kemp. She needed no help with her work. Her mother would have dealt sharply with Bob’s patronising attitude, but Rachel always found it hard to be assertive without being rude. |
4. Start your answer using the wording of the question and a summary statement:
For example: “Bob Hewlett is the sort of man who is not universally liked, and who presents himself as one type of person on the surface but is another type of person in reality.”
5. Make as many separate points that answer the question as you can in the time:
For each point you make, support it with evidence from the text
Try to use all of the evidence to support a point; do not just limit yourself to one quote
For example: “It is clear that Rachel thinks Bob is manipulative and does not like or trust him, as the writer makes it clear that she ‘didn’t like him much’ and thought that ‘he wanted to use her work for his own advantage’.”
Exam Tip
You can use the “summary and support” format to answer this question, just like in Question 2, but you do need to explore the question in more depth. The examiners are again looking for a range of accurate and perceptive comments about the focus of the question, along with an exploration of the subtleties of the writer’s techniques in crafting an impression of something.
This means considering how the writer has manipulated you as a reader to think in a certain way. As this is a 10-mark question, it is important to use as much evidence as you can in your answer, working through the section of text in a logical order and exploring more than just the explicit information you are presented with.
Exam tips
Once again, do not “feature spot”:
This means identifying literary techniques a writer may have used without any context of how the technique contributes to the impression being created
You are rewarded for the use of well considered, accurate and relevant subject terminology only where appropriate and where it supports your comments effectively
Make sure you make a range of points from the whole of the section of text:
Do not just limit your answer to the first few lines you read
The examiners are looking for a well chosen “range of evidence”
Ensure that you provide substance and detail in 10-mark questions:
Responses that are too brief, or that use a PEE structure that only makes 2–3 actual points, will only score 2–3 marks out of 10
Exam Tip
Embedding your quotations means that your quotes form part of your sentence, rather than standing alone. This means, instead of writing “This is shown by the quote…”, the quote is embedded as part of your point. This enables you to include more specific references to the text in your point and avoids overly long quotes which do not focus on the specific words or phrases that are important.
For an exemplar model answer to an example of Component 1 Question 3, please see Question 3: Model Answer.
You can find a more detailed guide to analysing language in our article How to Analyse Language in an English Language Exam, as well as a guide to Narrative Perspective and a Writer’s Point of View.
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