Information for the Year 10 GCSE Lit exam

1. Of Mice and Men
YEAR 10
Literature Exam
Summer 2014

2. The Literature Exam
Thursday 3rd July
• This will be a ONE HOUR exam.
• This will take place in Lesson 5.
• Seat numbers are outside the English
Office.
• Make sure you know whether you are in
the HALL or THE GYM.

3. You will be sitting one half of a
LITERATURE PAPER
• This exam is usually 2 hours long and the second section is
comparison of 2 unseen poems.
• BUT you WILL NOT be examined on unseen poetry for this
exam.
• The exam is a CLOSED BOOK exam. This means that you will
not take the book into the exam with you.
• You will be given an extract to analyse.

4. The Questions
• You will complete an EXTRACT question.
• This should take you 20 MINUTES
• There will then be a choice of two longer questions.
• You must do ONE of these questions
• This part of the exam should take you 40 minutes
• No one will tell you when 20 mins is up and so you have to
remember to move on to the second question.

5. Extract Questions (20 mins)
• You should follow the structure below when answering extract
questions:
• 1.) Set the extract in context by briefly explaining what has
happened before and where the extract appears in the novel.
• 2.) Think about why it has been chosen. It might be a
turning point, a new character, a different aspect of a
character.
• 3.) Answer the question in a sentence – if it asks about
mood and atmosphere then summarise the mood and
atmosphere.
• 4.) Track through the extract – keeping a clear focus on the
question – using POINT EVIDENCE EXPLAIN/ANALYSE

6. Longer Questions (40 mins)
• You will choose from an empathy question and a character
question.
• In empathy questions you should write in first person as if you
are the character. You should use quotations through the
answer and try to make the response as authentic as you can.
• The character question will ask you to focus on key characters
and their relationships.

7. How will the exam be marked?
• The extract question is marked out of 10 marks.
• The longer question is marked out of 20.
• The following slides give you an insight into the marking
criteria.

8. Critical response to texts (AO1)
Candidates will:
display some
understanding of main
features;
make generalised
reference to relevant
aspects of the text,
echoing and paraphrasing;
begin to select relevant
detail.
Candidates will
make more detailed
reference to text;
discuss thoroughly, and
increasingly thoughtfully,
characters and
relationships;
probe the sub-text with
increasing confidence;
select and evaluate relevant
textual details; understand
and demonstrate how
writers use ideas,
themes and settings to
affect the reader;
convey ideas clearly and
appropriately.
D / E GRADE
C/B GRADE A / A* GRADE
Candidates will:
make increasingly assured
selection and incorporation of
relevant detail;
are able to speculate/offer
tentative judgments;
are able to evaluate
characters/relationships and
attitudes/motives;
at the highest level,
consistently handle texts with
confidence, have an overview
and ability to move from the
specific to the general: convey
ideas persuasively
and cogently with apt textual
support.

9. Language, structure and form (AO2)
Candidates will
be able to recognise
and make simple
comments on
particular features of
style and structure.
Candidates will
see how different
aspects of style and
structure combine to
create effects;
show increasingly
clear appreciation of
how meanings and
ideas are conveyed
through language,
structure and form.
D / E GRADE
C/B GRADE
A / A* GRADE
Candidates will
show appreciation of
how writers use
language to achieve
specific effects;
make assured
exploration and
evaluation of the ways
meaning, ideas and
feeling are conveyed
through language,
structure and form;
at the highest level,
make assured
analysis of stylistic
features.

10. Social, cultural, and historical contexts (AO4)
Candidates will
show a limited
awareness of
social/cultural and
historical contexts.
begin to be aware how
social/cultural and
historical context is
relevant to
understanding the
texts(
Candidates
are able to set texts in
contexts more securely;
begin to see how texts
have been influential.
have a clear grasp of
social/cultural and
historical context;
begin to be able to
relate texts to own and
others' experience.
D / E GRADE
C/B GRADE
A / A* GRADE
Candidates will
show a clear understanding of
social/cultural and historical
contexts; are able to relate texts
to own and others' experience;
are able to identify and
comment on importance of
social/cultural and historical
contexts; Awareness of literary
tradition shown; at the highest
level, show a clear
understanding of social/cultural
and historical contexts; Able to
relate details of text to literary
background and explain how
texts have been / are influential
at different times.

11. FINAL ADVICE
• Don’t PANIC
• Remember to keep your eye on the timing
• Read the question carefully and highlight the key words
• Highlight key points in the passage that you will analyse