Part A Mark Scheme And Model Answer edexcel 1-Shakespeare

Part A: Mark Scheme and Model Answer

The best way to improve any essay is to know how you are assessed, and what skills you are being assessed on. This page has been created to give you a sense of what examiners are looking for in a full-mark response. It contains:

• Overview

• Mark scheme

• Example task

• Model answer

• Unannotated model answer

Overview

In part (a) of Section A, you are required to analyse a short extract (approximately 30 lines) from the play in close detail. You should only refer to the extract in this part of the question. For part (a) the only assessment objective is AO2, which requires you to analyse the ways in which Shakespeare has used language, form and structure to shape meaning.

Mark scheme

The mark scheme for Edexcel GCSE English Literature can seem intimidating at first. However, it is crucial that you have a thorough understanding of the mark scheme because once you do, you will know exactly what you are being assessed on and how to improve.

For part (a) AO2 is the only assessment objective. Therefore the weighting for this question is:

• AO2 – 100%

Here is a simple version of the Edexcel mark scheme for the Shakespeare part (a) question.

What makes a level 5 answer?

• Accurate identification of language, form and structural features, which are supported by correct terminology:

  • Your response should cover all three and your evidence should be selected from across the entire extract

• Integration and analysis of more than one feature should be used to support each of your points

• Quotations need to be integrated within the response and used to develop your discussion

• Clear and sophisticated discourse markers and topic sentences are needed to link back to the question or to introduce new ideas

Below are some key questions which your response should always adhere to

Example task

The following task is taken from the June 2019 Edexcel GCSE English Literature Paper 1, based on Romeo and Juliet. However, the commentary is designed to highlight how to structure your response and integrate all aspects of the assessment objectives, and therefore the model could be applied to any of the Shakespeare plays. 

A close reading is an in-depth, careful analysis of a short extract. In part (a) you are required to give a mеticulous and in-dеpth analysis of thе languagе, form and structure usеd in thе extract from the Shakespeare play you have studied.

The illustration below shows an example of how you might start annotating the extract.

Once you have read through the extract, it is useful to analyse Shakespeare’s use of language in the following way:

• Find a quotation from the text

• Identify the language, form or structure techniques used

• Note the effect of the technique or the meaning that is shaped

• Write up what you’ve found in a coherent and logical manner

 Below is an example of how you might approach this process:

The final step is to show you can write your analysis in an accurate and coherent manner.

Once you have analysed your quotation, you could choose another quote from the extract. Below is another example of how you might do this:

Again, the final step is to show you can write your analysis in an accurate and coherent manner:

Model answer

Model Answer

Below you will find a full-mark, grade 9 model answer for this unseen extract task. The commentary labelled in each section of the essay illustrates how and why it would be awarded a grade 9. Despite the fact it is an answer on Romeo and Juliet, the commentary is relevant to any of the other Shakespeare plays because it is modelling how to structure an answer incorporating the relevant assessment objectives. AO2 is demonstrated throughout in terms of the essay’s focus on language, form and structure.