How to Answer Question 4 (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language)
Revision Note
Written by: Deb Orrock
Reviewed by: Kate Lee
Paper 2, or Component 2, is the “non-fiction” paper. You will be given two reading extracts: one written in the 21st century which will be printed in a separate resource booklet, and one written in the 19th century which will be printed on your question paper. The two texts will be linked by a theme. You will have six reading questions to answer in 1 hour, as follows:
Source | Question number |
|---|---|
21st-century text | Questions 1 and 2 |
19th-century text | Questions 3 and 4 |
Both texts | Questions 5 and 6 |
The following guide details how to answer Questions 4. It includes:
Question 4 overview
How to answer Question 4
Exam tips
Question 4 overview
Question 4 is the second of the 10-mark questions in this exam paper and will be about the 19th-century text. This is an “evaluation” question, meaning that you will be asked to give your opinion about a specific aspect of the writer’s thoughts and perspectives. You will normally be given a statement and asked “to what extent do you agree” or “how far you agree”.
The text will not be divided into sections, so you will be expected to support your critical evaluation with reference from the whole of the 19th-century passage. Once again, tracking methodically through the passage is the best way to do this.
As this is a 10-mark question, you should allow 15 minutes (including time for reading and text annotation).
How to answer Question 4
The following example of Question 4 is taken from the Summer 2022 exam. The “theme” of this exam was Punch and Judy shows, a traditional type of puppet show once popular in English seaside towns.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
The statements given in Question 4 assume that there will be more evidence in the passage to support agreeing than disagreeing. You do not need to make a balanced argument or try to find points to support both agreeing and disagreeing. The best answers decide on a clear argument and then sustain it, working methodically through the text to find evidence that supports the argument.
In order to achieve full marks in this question, you should:
Read the question carefully and highlight the focus (what you are being asked to find evidence of in the text)
Decide on your argument (bearing in mind that the question assumes agreement)
Work through the text methodically:
Highlight any information that supports your argument from the start, middle and end of the passage
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:
Punch and Judy shows were popular in Victorian England. In the book, ‘London Labour and the London Poor’, published in 1851, a man who owned and performed a Punch and Judy puppet show gave an account of his work. I am the owner of a Punch and Judy show, and I perform inside the booth behind the green cloth front. I have a partner now to play the drum to let people know the performance is soon to start. He stands outside the booth whilst I am performing inside it and collects the money afterwards. I have been five-and-twenty years now at the business and in the early days I made five pounds regular, but a good day now seldom gets beyond five shillings. That shows how times have changed. When we perform a show in the street, we take on average only threepence. We sometimes make better money from private shows. The best hours for these are in the morning from nine till ten, because the children are at home, before they go out with the maids for a walk. We do best in wet weather. You see, the wet keeps the children indoors all day, and then they need something to quiet ‘em a bit; and the mothers and fathers, to pacify the dears, pay us to perform in the house. Sometimes, even if the mothers of the dear little children have given them an extra penny to give us, well, the maids take it from them and keep it to buy fancy ribbons. Monday is the best day for street performances; Friday is no day at all, because then the poor people have spent all their money. We perform about twenty shows in a day. We start on our rounds early in the morning and remain out till dark at night. We generally walk from twelve to twenty miles every day, and carry the booth, which weighs a good half-hundredweight. After this great exertion, my voice very often fails me, from speaking all day through. I used to attend very wealthy gentlemen’s houses for their children’s parties and get as much as two pounds for the performance. Lord Townsend was particular partial to me and I was booked regular for his children. But the business gets slacker and slacker every season. Where I went to ten children’s parties twenty years ago, I don’t go to two now. People aren’t getting tired of our performances, but stingier — that’s it. Everybody looks at their money now afore they part with it, and haggle us down to shillings and sixpences instead of pounds in the olden time. When we do a street show, of those who watch us, soldiers never have any money and when a gentleman stops to watch, his footman will take some of what his master sends to pay us. But the boys are the greatest nuisances we have to contend with. Wherever we go, we are sure of plenty of boys for a hindrance. Why, the boys are such an obstruction to our performance, that often we are obliged to stop the show because of ‘em. They’ll throw one another’s caps into the booth while I’m inside it, and we can’t keep ‘em from poking their fingers through the cloth and making holes to peep through. But the worst of all is, the most of ‘em ain’t got a halfpenny to bless themselves with. Bother ‘em! |
4. Start your answer using the wording of the question and a summary statement, stating your opinion:
For example: “I agree that the account shows that making a living as a Punch and Judy man was hard and unrewarding work because the writer shows how much harder and how much less money they make now compared to the early days.”
5. Now you need to support your argument, based on evidence from the passage:
For each point you make, support it with evidence from the text
Try to use multiple pieces of evidence to support a point; do not just limit yourself to one quote when there is more evidence available
Ensure you take evidence from the start, middle and end of the text
Break any quotes down into individual words or short phrases, rather than copying out long sentences
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember, this question is not about writing what you know about life in Victorian times or the social history of the 19th century. You are being asked to focus on a specific viewpoint or perspective of the writer of the 19th-century text and find evidence which supports that view. Do not be tempted to make generalisations or write about anything not directly supported by what you read in the passage.
Exam tips
Adopt a methodical approach and make sure you make a range of points from the whole of the text:
Do not just limit your answer to the first couple of paragraphs
The examiners are looking for a well chosen “range of evidence”
Do not try to find an equal number of points of agreement and disagreement:
This will lead to incorrect conclusions or inappropriate use of evidence
Embed your quotations so that they form part of your sentence:
However, do not forget to give your quotations context; it needs to be clear what the quote refers to
For an exemplar model answer to Component 2, Question 4, please see Question 4: Model Answer
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