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EnglandEnglish Literature

Modern texts (Paper 2, Section A)

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you study a modern prose or drama text for the closed-book, no-extract Paper 2 essay?

Approaching the modern prose or drama text for AQA Paper 2: reading method (prose or stagecraft), building a quotation bank from memory, and preparing for the essay with no extract (AO1, AO2 and AO3).
How to approach the AQA GCSE modern text for Paper 2 Section A: reading prose narrative method or dramatic stagecraft, building a flexible quotation bank for a closed-book essay with no printed extract, and preparing to choose between two questions (AO1, AO2 and AO3).
9 min answer →

How do you analyse character and stagecraft in a modern prose or drama text?

Analysing how a modern writer presents character through narrative method or stagecraft (stage directions, structure, dialogue), and what characters reveal about the text's ideas (AO1 and AO2).
How to analyse character and stagecraft in the AQA GCSE modern text: reading character as a construction shaped by narrative method or stagecraft, analysing stage directions, structure and dialogue, and showing what characters reveal about the text's ideas for AO1 and AO2.
8 min answer →

How do you analyse the themes and ideas of a modern text and link them to context?

Analysing the themes and ideas of a modern prose or drama text, how the writer develops them through method, and how 20th and 21st-century context shapes them (AO1, AO2 and AO3).
How to analyse the themes and ideas of the AQA GCSE modern text: identifying the writer's central concerns, tracing how they develop through method, and weaving in 20th or 21st-century context where it changes the reading (AO1, AO2 and AO3).
8 min answer →

How do you plan and write the modern text essay with no extract to lean on?

Planning and writing the Paper 2 modern text essay: choosing between two questions, building a thesis-led argument from memory, structuring paragraphs, and timing the response.
How to plan and write the AQA GCSE Paper 2 modern text essay: choosing the stronger of two questions, building a thesis-led argument from memorised evidence, structuring analytical paragraphs, and managing timing on a no-extract question.
9 min answer →