The devising log: documenting and evaluating the creating, developing and performing of the devised piece across the three required stages.

What this dot point is asking

The devising log is the written part of Component 2, worth 10% of the GCSE (Component 2 as a whole is 40%, split between the log and the devised performance). It documents and evaluates your devising journey. You need to know its three required stages and how to write each with specific detail and genuine evaluation, not just description. AQA caps the log's length, so every sentence has to earn its place by reflecting and justifying rather than narrating.

The three stages

Treat the three stages as three different jobs. Creating records the start: the stimulus, the ideas, the agreed intention. Developing and refining records the middle: the choices you made and tested in rehearsal and how the piece improved. Analysing and evaluating records the end: how successful the performance was and what you would change. Balancing the three, rather than spending all your words on the story of the project, is what hits the mark scheme.

Write about your own work

Examiners reward "I" sentences with substance: "I chose to deliver this line at a slow pace and low volume because I wanted the audience to feel the character's fear." A log that says "we decided" and "the group did" throughout loses sight of the individual, which is what is actually being marked. Keep yourself at the centre even when describing collaborative work.

Reflect and evaluate

Genuine evaluation is willing to say what did not work. "The transition into the final scene was unclear, so I added a freeze-frame to mark it, which made the change of time obvious to the audience" shows reflection, a choice, and its effect, all in one sentence. That density of reflection, justification and evidence is what raises the band.

It also helps to weave in the correct vocabulary as you reflect, naming the vocal and physical skills, the dramatic devices, the structure and the design elements you used, because accurate terminology shows the examiner you understand the choices, not just that you made them. Where possible, link your reflection to the intended effect on the audience rather than to your own feelings: "I was pleased with the scene" is weaker than "the slow build of pace held the audience in suspense until the reveal landed". Keeping every judgement anchored to a specific moment and to the audience's response is the habit that separates a top-band log from a project diary.

Try this

Q1. What are the three stages the devising log must cover? [3 marks]

• Cue. Creating, developing and refining, and analysing and evaluating the final performance.

Q2. Why is reflection more important than narration in the log? [2 marks]

• Cue. The marks reward explaining and judging your own choices, not retelling what happened.