Edexcel English Language Paper 2

Questions 1, 2, 4 and 5 are retrieval, and together they are worth 6 marks. Two are on Text 1 and two on Text 2, and each names the lines you must answer from.

• Answer from the named lines only. Material from elsewhere earns nothing.
• Give exactly the number asked for - two things, or one thing.
• A short phrase is enough. Full sentences waste time you need for the 15-mark questions.
• Questions 4 and 5 are worth one mark each. Do not write a paragraph for one mark.

On Text 1 only. The question asks how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage the reader. Both words are in the question and both are marked.

A shape that fits 15 marks

1. Two paragraphs on language: a short quotation, what the writer is doing, the effect on the reader, then one development.
2. One paragraph on structure: how the extract opens, where the focus shifts, how it ends.
3. One further paragraph on either, taken deeper than the others.
4. Four developed paragraphs is a full answer in about 22 minutes.

What separates the top band

Not more quotations. A second reading of a single word - why that one rather than the plainer alternative the writer could have used. The language analysis page shows the same quotation answered at three levels.

On Text 2 only. The question states a purpose the writer attempts - to show the impact of something, to persuade you of something - and asks you to evaluate how successfully it is achieved, supported by detailed reference.

• Answer the question in your first sentence. Say how successful, then justify it.
• Three or four developed paragraphs, each with a judgement and a short quotation.
• Use one paragraph to qualify: something the text does less well, or achieves by an unexpected route.
• Analysis without judgement is the commonest way to lose marks here. The writer uses a metaphor is analysis; the metaphor works because it makes an abstract problem physical is evaluation.

Question 7 comes in two parts and is worth 20 marks between them. Students routinely treat the two parts as one job. They are not.

7(a): synthesis, 6 marks

This asks what the two texts have in common, with evidence from both. It is about content, not method. Do not analyse technique here.

• Three clear similarities is a full answer.
• Each one: state the similarity, quote briefly from Text 1, quote briefly from Text 2.
• Keep it factual and quick. Six marks in about ten minutes.

7(b): comparison, 14 marks

This asks you to compare how the writers present their ideas and perspectives. The paper gives you bullets: the ideas and perspectives, how they are presented, and how they are similar or different.

Now method matters. Both halves - what the writers think and how they show it - are marked.

• Three paragraphs, and both writers in every paragraph.
• Name the difference in perspective first, then analyse how each writer conveys it.
• Use comparative connectives: where Text 1 asserts, Text 2 concedes.
• End at least one paragraph by weighing the two. The comparing viewpoints page has a full worked example.

Choose one of the two tasks. The tasks are linked by a theme to the reading extracts, and Pearson notes that the same form may appear on both tasks with a different focus or audience - so read both before choosing.

Text types include articles, letters, reviews, texts for speeches, and sections for guides, leaflets or booklets.

• Identify the form, the purpose and the audience before you plan anything else.
• The form must be visible from the first three lines - a headline, a salutation, an address to an audience.
• Plan three arguments and one concession. Five minutes.
• Leave five minutes to check accuracy. The transactional writing method transfers directly from the AQA page.