English Literature
Dealing with extract questions
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-8702-INSIGHTEXTRACT-WHOLE.PDF
Examiner commentary on sample answer
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-8702-EXCOMMENTARY.PDF
Specimen assessments
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-literature8702/assessment-resources
Example Literature Questions
Paper 1:
Instructions:
Pick one question from the Romeo and Juliet slide and one question
from the novel slide. Spend 1 hour 45 minutes completing the two
questions. SPaG counts for the first question.
Example Questions Romeo and Juliet
Extract from Act 4 scene 3 (Juliet talking to Friar after her father has told her to marry Paris)
Starting with this conversation, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Juliet as desperate and
reckless.
Write about:
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how Shakespeare presents Juliet in this extract
how Shakespeare presents Juliet in the play as a whole.
Extract from Act 2 scene 4 (Nurse talking to Romeo to find out his intentions)
Starting with this conversation, examine how Shakespeare presents the Nurse as a being loyal to Juliet.
Write about:
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•
how Shakespeare presents the Nurse in this extract
how Shakespeare presents the Nurse in the play as a whole.
Example Questions Novel (Either Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or The Sign of the Four
• (Dr J and Mr H) Extract from start of ‘Incident of the Letter’ chapter to ‘he
will never more be heard of.’
Starting with this extract, how does Stevenson create a sinister atmosphere
in the novel?
(TSOTF) Extract from chapter 1: “No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit’
to “those which are commonplace have any function upon earth.”
Starting with this extract, how is Holmes presented as an extraordinary
character?
Example Literature Questions
Paper 2:
Instructions:
Pick one question from the ‘An Inspector Calls’ slide, one question from
the poetry section B slide and the Unseen poetry slide. Spend 2 hours
15 minutes completing the paper. SPaG counts for the first question.
Example Questions An Inspector Calls
• How does Priestley explore different attitudes towards men and
women in An Inspector Calls?
• How does Priestley explore the character of Eva in An Inspector Calls?
• How does the character of Eric mature as the play develops?
• How does Priestley make the ending of the play so significant?
• How is the arrival of the Inspector presented as significant?
Example Questions Poetry Section B
• Compare how poets explore longing in Sonnet 29 and one other poem.
• Compare how poets portray memories in ‘Follower’ and one other poem.
• Compare how poets explore unhealthy relationships in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and one other
poem.
• Compare how poets explore bitterness in ‘When We Two Parted’ and one other poem.
• Compare how poets present love for a family member in ‘Before you were mine’ and in one
other poem.
(When completing, make sure you only have the named poem in front of you. You must
compare it with a second poem that you do not have in front of you)
Example Question Poetry Section C
How are the speaker’s feelings towards her child presented in the poem?
Catrin
A pregnant woman at a window
Picture courtesy of Mahalie Pech
I can remember you, child,
As I stood in a hot, white
Room at the window watching
The people and cars taking
Turn at the traffic lights.
I can remember you, our first
Fierce confrontation, the tight
Red rope of love which we both
Fought over. It was square
Environmental blank, disinfected
Of paintings or toys. I wrote
All over the walls with my
Words, coloured the clean squares
With the wild, tender circles
Of our struggle to become
Separate. We want, we shouted,
To be two, to be ourselves.
Neither won nor lost the struggle
In the glass tank clouded with feelings
Which changed us both. Still I am fighting
You off, as you stand there
With your straight, strong, long
Brown hair and your rosy
Defiant glare, bringing up
From the heart's pool that old rope,
Tightening about my life,
Trailing love and conflict,
As you ask may you skate
In the dark, for one more hour.
Students need to be reading a widely as possible. Here are some
suggestions:
Nonfiction:
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Newspapers
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Articles
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Essays
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Travel writing
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20th-century classics
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* A Room with a View by E M Forster (Penguin Classics)
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* Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Virago Modern Classics)
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* Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Pan Books)
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* 1984 by George Orwell (Penguin)
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* Animal Farm by George Orwell
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* Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger (Penguin)
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* Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Faber & Faber)
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21st century texts
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Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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The Time Traveller’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger