Eduqas A-Level English Language: Component 3 Creative and Critical Use of Language overview quiz quiz

A single extended analytical essay on one set literary text from the prescribed list

Two annotated transcripts of recorded spontaneous spoken conversation between speakers

Two original writing pieces and one reflective commentary, from a stimulus

An independent language investigation researched and written up entirely by the candidate

2 hours exactly, worth 30 percent

3 full hours, worth 40 percent

1 hour only, worth just 10 percent

1 hour 45 minutes, 20 percent

Expertise and creativity together: technical control and effective, distinctive writing

Only correct spelling, punctuation and accurate grammar throughout the whole piece

Only the use of ambitious and varied vocabulary, regardless of how well it is actually controlled

Only a long word count, since a fuller piece always shows more sustained creative range

Length, font, colour and title

Form, audience, purpose and context

Spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary

Past, present, future and conditional

It is not really a problem at all, since freely varying the register actually keeps the reader engaged right the way through

Its only effect is to make the finished piece noticeably too short to reach the expected length

A register that slips (e.g. formal to colloquial) loses control marks; it should be sustained consistently

It only matters when the chosen form happens to be a formal speech written to be read aloud

It is not better at all; packing in more named devices always reliably scores higher in this component

Techniques should never be used at all in original writing, since plain and completely unadorned prose is the style that is always rewarded most highly

Only similes genuinely count as techniques worth crediting, so the other devices can safely be ignored

The mark scheme rewards purposeful craft; devices with no controlling purpose are weaker than choices that build a clear effect

To take usable material (an idea, voice, situation, facts) and rework it into a new form, audience or purpose

To copy the stimulus across word for word into your own piece, changing as little of it as possible

To ignore the stimulus material completely and instead simply write whatever original piece you most happen to want to write

To summarise the stimulus accurately and faithfully, reproducing its content in a condensed form

AO5 only, the creative writing objective

AO1, AO2 and AO3 (the analytical objectives)

AO4 only, the language diversity objective

It is not assessed and carries no marks at all

Retelling the content of the piece, walking the reader through what happens in it

Writing yet more expressive and creative prose, treating the commentary as a fourth piece

Analysis, not narration: analysing the language and choices with the frameworks

Praising the piece warmly and explaining why you are pleased with how it turned out

It is not assessed at all; the examiner simply ignores pacing entirely and judges only the overall quality of the finished written work

Because the paper is so very short that finishing in time is effectively impossible for any candidate

Because only the first of the two original pieces is ever marked, so the rest of the time is free

Three tasks must be complete and consistent in the time; poor pacing leaves a piece rushed or the commentary thin

It is the fastest way to absorb a genre's conventions (structure, register, voice, devices) so you can write them convincingly

It is not useful at all, because the conventions of every genre are intuitively obvious to any competent writer without any reading

It actually replaces the need to practise writing, since wide reading alone is enough to score top marks in the original pieces

Only the set syllabus texts are worth reading, as anything outside the specification can never help you in this particular paper

Planning simply wastes precious minutes that would be far better spent actually getting more words down on the page under strict timed exam conditions

A few minutes fixing form, audience, purpose and structure prevents drift and unfinished writing, and makes the writing faster and more controlled

The plans themselves are marked instead of the finished writing, so the plan is the only part that really needs to be done well

Only the reflective commentary ever needs planning, because the two creative pieces should be written freely and spontaneously