Next up: Section B (the Othello essay) – 50 mins
This is the trickiest question on
the paper. It requires you to go through the following steps:
- interpret the key words in the question
- understand the debate you are entering into, and your position on it
- decide on a sensible starting point and key moments to explore
- structure a coherent line of argument
- analyse the writer’s dramatic methods as you write
- reach a confident conclusion
That’s a lot to juggle. The initial
thinking about interpreting the question and deciding the structure is
make-or-break, and it can lead to vastly different responses to the same
question. In contrast, Section A is formulaic and Section C is much easier to focus
and plan an argument.
We need to practice the planning stage
of Section B questions… LOTS.
Here’s another powerpoint from a senior examiner on our A Level spec to help you with
Section B. It contains some practice questions, lots of advice and a sample
answer.
This document contains more practice questions, both for Section B & Section C (but more on C tomorrow):
Don’t forget, I’ve already posted model Section B answers here and here and here and here.
Next time – Section C. Won’t be
long.
Mr M
No comments:
Post a Comment