GCSE English Language (AQA)

Paper 1 – Fiction and Creative writing

• Read one text and answer four questions on it.  (The question stems are always the same.)
• Write a description based on the picture OR write a narrative in response to the title given.  (The image and title will usually be linked to the extract from the story they have just read.)

Paper 2 – Non-fiction and transactional writing

• Read two texts on the same topic and answer four questions on them.  (The question stems are always the same.)
• Write a letter/speech/essay/article/leaflet in response to the question given.

GCSE English Literature (AQA)

Paper 1 – Pre-20^th century texts.  For our boys, this means ‘Macbeth’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’.

• They will be given an extract to read from the play and novel and will be asked to answer a question in response to the extract and the whole text.  This could be character or theme based.

Paper 2 – 20^th century texts.  For our boys, this means ‘Blood Brothers’ and 15 poems about power and conflict. 

• For ‘Blood Brothers’, the boys will be given a choice of two questions which they will need to write a detailed response to.  This could be character or theme based.
• They will be given one of the poems from the anthology they have studied and will be asked to compare it with one of the other poems they have studied.
• They will be given two unseen poems to analyse and compare.

Power & Conflict Poetry Anthology:

Reality of War  

1. 'Remains’ – Simon Armitage
2. 'War Photographer’ – Carol Ann Duffy
3. 'Charge Of The Light Brigade’ – Alfred Lord Tennyson
4. 'Bayonet Charge’ – Ted Hughes
5. 'Exposure’ – Wilfred Owen
6. 'Poppies’ – Jane Weir

Power of Nature

1. 'Kamikaze’ – Beatrice Garland
2. 'Storm On The Island’ – Seamus Heaney
3. 'The Prelude’ – William Wordsworth
4. 'The Emigree’ – Carol Rumens
5. 'Tissue’ – Imtiaz Dharker

Power

1. 'My Last Duchess’ – Robert Browning
2. 'Ozymandias’ – Percy Bysshe Shelley
3. 'London’ – William Blake
4. 'Checkin’ Out Me History’ – John Agard