Candidates are offered the following advice:
• Read the passage in section A very carefully, identifying the different ways in which the
writer has tried to engage you as the reader.
• Pay particular attention to the opening and closing of the text as these are important
points for any writer and they will help you to see how the writer has shaped their text
to initially gain the interest of the reader and then to leave them at a particular point.
• On question 3, try to cover points on both language and structure within the space
you have been given and with a time allocation that is appropriate to the six marks the
question offers. There is no need for an introduction or conclusion on this question.
• Try to identify the different techniques that have been used by the writer and how
successful you feel the writer has been.
• When you are writing, always think about your reader, what you want them to
understand and how you want them to react at different parts of your writing; then
choose the best words, phrases or techniques available to you to achieve those effects.
• Think carefully about how you will begin to write so that it is imaginative and engaging
for your reader from the very start.
• As you begin to write, know where you will end. This will help you to write in a manner
that is cohesive and coherent for your reader.
• Take care throughout with accuracy of all sorts: spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Keep a close eye on the time during the examination and use the number of marks
available for each question as an indication of how long you should spend answering
each question.
