Reading non-fiction (Paper 2 Section A)
4 dot points across 1 inquiry question. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.
How do you read two unseen non-fiction texts closely enough to retrieve, synthesise, analyse and evaluate them under exam time?
- Evaluating a non-fiction text critically for Paper 2 Question 6 (AO4), judging how successfully the writer achieves an effect using the SITE focus (setting, ideas, themes, events) and supporting it with apt evidence.
How to answer the 15-mark AO4 evaluation question (Question 6) on Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 2: judging how successfully the writer of Text 2 achieves an effect, using the SITE focus, and sustaining a critical overview with evaluative language and evidence.
10 min answer → - Identifying and interpreting explicit and implicit information in the Paper 2 non-fiction texts (AO1), for the short retrieval questions on each text (Questions 1, 4 and 5), answering the precise focus from the named lines.
How to answer the short AO1 retrieval questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 2 (Questions 1, 4 and 5): reading the named lines of each non-fiction text, answering the exact focus, and banking the easy marks quickly so you protect time for the high-tariff questions.
8 min answer → - Reading unseen 20th and 21st century non-fiction on Paper 2 (the question order, text types and literary non-fiction), so you understand both texts well enough to answer the retrieval, analysis, synthesis, comparison and evaluation questions.
How to read the two unseen non-fiction texts on Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 2: the text types and literary non-fiction you may meet, the order of the questions across the two texts, and how to read both closely enough to answer accurately.
9 min answer → - Selecting and synthesising information across the two non-fiction texts for Paper 2 Question 7a (AO1), drawing together similarities with evidence from both texts, briefly and on focus.
How to answer the synthesis question (Question 7a, 6 marks) on Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 2: drawing together similarities across the two non-fiction texts with evidence from both, focusing on shared ideas, and keeping it brief and on focus.
8 min answer →