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Component 02: Exploring effects and impact

6 dot points across 6 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you analyse the way a fiction writer uses language to create effects and impact on the reader, moving from method to effect?

Analysing how a literary writer uses language to achieve effects and impact (AO2), the language question on Component 02 Section A, naming methods with subject terminology and explaining the effect on the reader.
How to answer the AO2 language question on OCR GCSE English Language Component 02: selecting precise evidence from a literary prose extract, naming the method with subject terminology, and explaining how the writer's choices create effect and impact on the reader.
8 min answer →

How do you analyse the way a fiction writer structures a whole extract to create effects and guide the reader's attention?

Analysing how a literary writer structures a whole extract to achieve effects and impact (AO2, structure), the structure question on Component 02 Section A, tracking how the text opens, shifts focus and develops across the whole extract.
How to answer the AO2 structure question on OCR GCSE English Language Component 02: analysing how a whole literary extract is structured, including openings, shifts in focus, contrasts and endings, and explaining the effect of those whole-text choices on the reader.
9 min answer →

How do you compare two literary writers' ideas and perspectives, and the way they convey them, across the two unseen prose texts?

Comparing writers' ideas and perspectives, and how these are conveyed, across the two literary prose texts (AO3), the comparison element of the final question on Component 02 Section A, building linked, evidenced points about both idea and method.
How to handle the AO3 comparison on OCR GCSE English Language Component 02: comparing the two literary writers' ideas and perspectives and how they convey them, building linked points that set one prose text against the other with evidence from both.
9 min answer →

How do you evaluate a literary extract critically, forming a personal judgement on how successfully the writer creates an effect on the reader?

Evaluating a literary text critically and supporting the judgement with textual references (AO4), the highest-tariff element of the final question on Component 02 Section A, responding to a statement about the extract with a clear, evidenced personal view.
How to answer the AO4 evaluation element on OCR GCSE English Language Component 02: forming a clear personal judgement on how successfully a literary writer creates an effect, responding to the given statement, and supporting it with analysed textual evidence.
9 min answer →

How do you identify and interpret explicit and implicit information in an unseen literary prose text under exam pressure?

Identifying and interpreting explicit and implicit information and ideas in an unseen literary prose text (AO1), the short opening question of Component 02 Section A, reading the question stem precisely and staying inside the named lines.
How to answer the short AO1 question that opens Section A of OCR GCSE English Language Component 02: locating explicit and implicit information in an unseen literary prose extract, staying inside the named lines, and matching the number of points to the marks.
8 min answer →

How do you plan and craft an imaginative narrative or descriptive piece that engages the reader while protecting the accuracy marks?

Producing imaginative narrative or descriptive writing (AO5 and AO6), the Section B writing task on Component 02, crafting an engaging piece with controlled structure, vivid language and accurate technical writing under time pressure.
How to answer the imaginative writing task in Section B of OCR GCSE English Language Component 02: choosing narrative or description, structuring a controlled piece for AO5, crafting vivid showing-not-telling, and writing accurately for AO6.
9 min answer →