Eduqas GCSE English Language Component 2 non-fiction reading overview quiz quiz

Two unseen non-fiction texts, one 19th century and one 21st century

One 20th-century literary fiction extract studied closely in advance of the exam

A single poem and a single play, both seen and studied before the exam day

A single pre-released article shared with students well before the exam

1 hour 45 minutes, 40 percent

2 hours, 60 percent

1 hour, 25 percent

1 hour 30 minutes, 50 percent

AO5 and AO6 only, the two writing objectives

AO7, AO8 and AO9, the spoken language objectives

AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO4

AO3 only, the comparison objective

The title, the exact length and the date of the text only

The number of paragraphs and how many sentences are in each one

The rhyme scheme and the regular metre of the lines

The writer's purpose, viewpoint and audience

Read for sense and viewpoint, using context to infer unfamiliar words

Decode every single archaic word in the text fully before reading any further on

Skip the older text entirely and answer using only the modern one

Translate the whole text into modern English first before attempting any questions

Summarising each of the two texts in turn, one fully and then the other

Combining evidence from both texts into shared points

Analysing one single writer's language choices in close detail

Writing an imaginative story based on the themes of the texts

Because analysing any language at all is completely banned everywhere across the whole of the Component 2 reading section

Because there is no real language worth analysing in any non-fiction text you might be given

Because synthesis is an AO1 information task; language analysis is rewarded in the separate AO2 question

Because the synthesis question is worth the most marks of all the reading questions

Only metaphor and simile, with no other persuasive or rhetorical methods at all

Only spelling and punctuation, judged purely for technical accuracy in the writing

Stage directions, dramatic asides and other methods drawn from the study of plays

Rhetorical questions, direct address, emotive language, statistics and tricolons

Comparing both writers' perspectives and methods, woven together by point of comparison

Analysing the whole of text one fully and then the whole of text two, kept fully separate

Summarising the content of both texts without comparing them at all

Evaluating only one of the two texts in detail and ignoring the other completely

Spelling and punctuation, marked for technical accuracy across both texts

The writers' perspectives and how each conveys them

The opening paragraph and the closing paragraph of each of the texts

The overall length of each text and the date when it was written

A plain summary of the content of the text retelling what it says, with no judgement offered on it at all

A simple list of the devices the writer uses, with no comment on their effect

A critical judgement on how effectively the writing works, supported by analysed evidence

A comparison of the two texts, weighing one against the other point by point

It simply looks neater and more organised on the page to the person marking it

It saves a little time only, even though it actually makes no difference at all to the number of marks you are able to earn

Because one of the two texts is always clearly better written than the other one

Because the synthesis and comparison questions reward integration; a text-by-text structure leaves the answer thin