How is the WJEC GCSE Music Appraising paper structured, and what do the questions ask you to do?
The structure of Unit 3 Appraising: a written listening paper of about one hour worth 72 marks (30 percent), with eight questions, two on each of the four areas of study, including two on the set works, testing aural skills, analysis of the musical elements, musical context and correct terminology.
How the WJEC GCSE Music Appraising paper (Unit 3) is built: a one-hour listening exam worth 72 marks and 30 percent, eight questions, two per area of study, including the two set works, with extracts played on CD or MP3 and answered against the musical elements.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point covers the shape of the WJEC Appraising paper, Unit 3, and what its questions ask you to do. Appraising is the only written exam in WJEC GCSE Music: the other two units, Performing and Composing, are practical coursework. You need to know how the paper is built (how long, how many marks, how many questions, how they are spread across the four areas of study), how the set works appear, and the listening technique that turns a played extract into marks. The exam tests aural skills, analysis of the musical elements, musical context and the correct terminology.
The two practical units and the one written exam
How the Appraising paper is built
The four areas of study in the paper
What the questions actually ask
Listening technique in the room
Try this
Q1. How many questions are on the Appraising paper, and how are they spread? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Eight questions, two on each of the four areas of study (Musical Forms and Devices, Music for Ensemble, Film Music, Popular Music), including two on the set works.
Q2. Explain why listening technique matters more here than in a normal written exam. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Because each extract is played a fixed number of times and the recording controls the timing, so you must read ahead, listen for one named feature at a time and write in the gaps, since the recording will not wait for you.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC (Unit 3)2 marksThe Appraising paper is worth what percentage of the GCSE, and how long is it?Show worked answer →
A recall question on the shape of the paper. Reward the two facts.
Percentage. The Appraising paper, Unit 3, is worth 30 percent of the whole GCSE.
Length and marks. It is a written listening exam of about one hour, worth 72 marks, with eight questions, two on each of the four areas of study.
Top marks. Both facts stated, with the link that the other 70 percent comes from the two practical units, Performing and Composing.
WJEC (Unit 3)4 marksDescribe how the extracts are presented in the Appraising exam and what you should do as you listen.Show worked answer →
A question on exam method (how the paper works in the room). Reward developed points on presentation and technique.
Presentation. Each question is built around a recorded extract played to the whole room a set number of times, with short gaps for writing and reading the next question. The recording, not the invigilator, controls the timing.
Technique. Read the question before the first play, listen for the specific feature it names, and use the named musical elements in your answer rather than vague impressions.
Top marks. Both halves covered, with the point that you must keep pace with the recording because it will not wait for you.
Related dot points
- The musical elements used to appraise music: melody, harmony, tonality, rhythm and metre, tempo, dynamics, texture, timbre and instrumentation (sonority), and structure or form, together with the technical vocabulary and notation knowledge needed to describe them precisely.
The toolkit of musical elements every WJEC Appraising answer is built on: melody, harmony, tonality, rhythm and metre, tempo, dynamics, texture, timbre or sonority, and structure, plus the technical vocabulary and notation needed to describe what you hear precisely.
- The Area of Study 1 set work, Anitra's Dance from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.1: its ternary structure, light string-and-triangle scoring, triple-time mazurka dance character, minor tonality with chromatic colour, and the use of pizzicato, grace notes and dynamic contrast to paint Anitra's seductive dance.
A complete guide to the WJEC Area of Study 1 set work, Anitra's Dance from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No.1: its ternary form, light string and triangle scoring, triple-time mazurka character, minor tonality with chromatic colour, and the use of pizzicato, grace notes and dynamics.
- The Area of Study 4 set work, Everything Must Go by the Manic Street Preachers: its verse-chorus structure, rock-band line-up enriched by strings, its major tonality and anthemic chorus, the use of riffs, layered texture and dynamic build, and how the band create a powerful, uplifting pop-rock song.
A complete guide to the WJEC Area of Study 4 set work, Everything Must Go by the Manic Street Preachers: its verse-chorus structure, rock-band-plus-strings line-up, major tonality and anthemic chorus, and the use of riffs, layered texture and dynamic build, described in musical terms.
- How film music supports storytelling, atmosphere and character in Area of Study 3: leitmotif and thematic transformation, underscore, diegetic and non-diegetic music, mickey-mousing, the use of tempo, dynamics, instrumentation and tonality to set mood, and techniques such as minimalism and music technology.
How film music supports a film in WJEC Area of Study 3: leitmotif and thematic transformation, underscore, diegetic and non-diegetic music, mickey-mousing, and the use of tempo, dynamics, instrumentation and tonality to set mood and character, plus minimalism and music technology.
- The genres, forms and features of Area of Study 4, Popular Music: pop, rock, soul, hip-hop and fusion styles, the common forms (verse-chorus, twelve-bar blues, thirty-two-bar AABA), and the typical features such as riffs, hooks, sampling, looping, improvisation and vocal techniques.
The genres, forms and features of WJEC Area of Study 4, Popular Music: pop, rock, soul, hip-hop and fusion, the common forms (verse-chorus, twelve-bar blues, thirty-two-bar AABA), and typical features such as riffs, hooks, sampling, looping and vocal techniques.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCSE Music specification (from 2016) — WJEC (2016)
- WJEC GCSE Music Guidance for Teaching — WJEC (2016)