Exam Questions: 1) List 4 things about the dream from Paragraph 2 and 3of the text. 2) Look in detail at Paragraph 6. How does the writer use language to describe the mood of the room? You may want to write about the following in your answer: Words and phrases Language features and techniques Sentence forms 3) You now need to think about the whole of the source. The text is an opening of a novel. How has the writer structured the text to interest you as a reader? You could write about: What the writer focusses your attention on at the beginning How and why the writer changes the focus as the extract develops Try other structural features that interest you 4) A student having read this text said: The writer uses a range of vocabulary to create fear. To what extent do you agree?
Mark Scheme: 1) Indicate content: candidates may include- They were in the cellar She was with her mother The door shatters There are men in white suits The men have gun (Or any other valid responses that you are able to verify by checking the source) 2) Candidates may make comments about: Personification (clock, even the clock I read the time off didn t have the strength to carry on ticking. (any other sources that can be verified)) Juxtaposition ( seeing his face looking so peaceful as he sleeps enhances the brutal reality of what had happened. Everlasting ghost ) Comment on strived (effort to do something, foreshadowing effect, worse things to come) Connotations of specific quotes (Any other valid responses that can be verified by quotes from the given source and backed up by evaluative and analytical comments) 3) Candidates may make comments about: Paragraph structure Sentence structure Order of events (through a dream and back to reality) Variation in paragraph and sentence length
(Any other valid responses about the structure of the text that can be verified by clear quotations and backed up with evaluative and analytical comments on the variation and the impact) 4) Candidates may make reference to: Nuances (higher level of statement) Comment upon adjective/adverb use and the effect and/or impact they have on the reader and within the text Comment on foreshadowed ideas Comment on language, structure and form Critical evaluative texts Comment on subtle inferences
Year 10 Created GCSE Style Paper - TEXT I sit bolt upright; my lungs constrict in the harsh winter air. As I take a sharp and painful breath, panic rushes through my veins and then I realise- it was only a dream. But the truth suddenly overwhelms me, the dream is my reality. I replay the visions of the nightmare I had just experienced over and over, treasuring the last moments I stole from my parents. We were ensconced in the neighbour s cellar, huddled behind gritty, slimy ale kegs. My heart was pounding in my chest; my mother comforted me with her soft, warm hands. I look at her, her aged face draining what was once, a beautiful smile. I jump. The door flies off and shatters, splinters of wood soaring through the air. The crisp white suited men enter the room in sync. They shout orders through their masks, pointing guns straight at me. Glowing in the half extinguished light, their Machiavellian features were enhanced. The stench of explosives arrives with them and I choke on what was once, crisp, pure air. My pulse again rises and I begin shaking uncontrollably. My pleading eyes make contact with one of the suited men s. Nothing but pure hatred engulfed his stare. In an instant they shoot. That s where I wake up. I turn my head and look dismally at my brother; they risked it all for us. Seeing his face looking so peaceful as he sleeps enhances the brutal reality of what had happened. The withered room we strived to make half inhabitable still owned and uncomfortable, everlasting ghost of what happened that day like time itself had stopped. Even the clock that I read the time off didn t
Year 10 Created GCSE Style Paper - TEXT have the strength to carry on ticking, everything seemed like it had really ended. Clambering to my feet, I brush off the memories of the rough night s sleep I d experienced. I adjust my vision to the dimly lit room and pull on the jacket I salvaged from the store across the street. I feel my body sigh with relief as my muscles warm up. A comforting buzz of energy now surrounds my body and I feel slightly safer in this torn landscape. My brother continues to sleep, his innocent features extenuating the sanctity of life. I smile to myself whilst I creep past, trying not to wake him from the only distraction he gets. The deteriorating stairs lay an uneasy path for my feet. I carry on down, and open the door. My eyes are then reunited with the sight of the place I have to call home.