Exam code:1EN0
Question 7(a), the synthesis question, is a 6-mark question which tests your ability to bring together similarities across two texts.
The following guide includes:
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Question 7(a) example
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Question 7(a) model answer
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Why would this get full marks?
Question 7(a) example
The following example is taken from the November 2022 exam paper:
Following the advice given in the How to answer Question 7(a) revision note, you should be able to identify the focus of this question as:
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The similarities the animals share
The next step is to note down three or four similarities the animals share, and find the evidence in the texts that show these similarities.
You can find both texts in full at the bottom of the November 2022 question paper (opens in a new tab).
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Remember, you will already be familiar with Text 1 and Text 2 by this stage of the exam, so use this knowledge to quickly identify the similarities you remember. You can then go back and scan each text to find the evidence to support your points. This is quicker than trying to carefully re-read each text in full, as you only have limited time to answer this 6-mark question.
Question 7(a) model answer
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In both texts, the animals are shown in their natural habitats. [Marking comment] In Text 1, even though the lioness has been raised in captivity, she is being returned to her natural environment, as the writer tells us that she “appeared from across the river” in both letters and the country is described as “very dry” and “everything has to come to the river to drink”. [Marking comment] In Text 2, the penguins are in the Antarctic, “trapped in gully as a storm raged around them”, and it also features an elephant calf which “starved to death in a drought” in Africa, as well as cheetahs and hyenas in their natural habitats. Also, in both texts, there are animals which are supported by humans. [Marking comment] In Text 1, even though Adamson is trying to return Elsa to the wild, he still “brought her meat on Sunday morning”, and in Text 2, the penguins are saved from “freezing to death with their chicks” by the film crew’s intervention. In addition, the animals featured in both texts are hunters. In Text 1, Elsa appears looking “very fit” and with “plenty of flesh on her bones”, which leads the writer to believe that “she must have killed at least once”. In addition, the fact that other animals come to the river to drink “makes it easier for Elsa to hunt”. In Text 2, we are told that everyone who makes wildlife films has “witnessed a predator and prey scenario” and the text gives the example of hyenas “coming to kill” some cheetah cubs. [Marking comment] Finally, in both texts the animals behave independently. [Marking comment] In Text 1, Elsa becomes increasingly independent as the text progresses, and at the end Adamson says “she is becoming more independent” and “does not mind being left alone”. In Text 2, even though the film crew “dug a ramp in the snow” for the penguins to escape, it was made clear that the choice to use it was the birds’ to make, as “if the birds wanted to they could get a grip and escape”. [Marking comment] |
Why would this get full marks?
The top level of the mark scheme for this question rewards the following:
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Level 3: 5–6 marks |
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This answer would receive full marks because it meets all of the criteria for a Level 3 response:
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The answer synthesises the relevant similarities from both texts, using phrases such as “both texts”
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It focuses specifically on the similarities the animals share
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The understanding of the similarities is detailed, and includes both texts equally
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A good range of quotes is used to support each similarity, and references are taken from both texts
Responses