GCSE-ready- Home
- Lessons
- GCSE & IGCSE English Literature
- Exam skills: the modern prose essay
Exam skills: the modern prose essay
🎬 The doodle video for this lesson is coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to see it first.
International GCSE Paper 1 Section C is one essay on your modern prose text, from a choice of two questions. It is worth 40 marks.
What is assessed
AO1 (20 marks): close knowledge of the text, a critical style and an informed personal response.
AO4 (20 marks): understanding of the relationship between the text and the context in which it was written.
Paper 1 is closed book, so learn key moments and short references.
AO4 (20 marks): understanding of the relationship between the text and the context in which it was written.
Paper 1 is closed book, so learn key moments and short references.
Using context well
Questions often ask you to consider the significance of a theme in relation to the novel's context.
Link context to the writer's purpose: for example, how the 1930s Depression shapes the characters' dreams in Of Mice and Men.
Link context to the writer's purpose: for example, how the 1930s Depression shapes the characters' dreams in Of Mice and Men.
Planning and writing
Choose the question you can argue best. Plan four or five points that cover the whole novel.
In each paragraph: point, reference to the text, explanation, and a link to context.
In each paragraph: point, reference to the text, explanation, and a link to context.
How could you link context to a point about Crooks in Of Mice and Men?
- Point: Crooks is isolated.
- Reference: he lives alone in the stable and is excluded from the bunkhouse.
- Context: racial segregation in 1930s America, which Steinbeck exposes to show the cruelty of prejudice.
Answer: By explaining that his isolation reflects racial segregation in 1930s America, which Steinbeck criticises.
Modern prose: one essay from two, 40 marks: AO1 (20) and AO4 (20). Closed book. Link context to the writer's purpose throughout.
Check you have got it
Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.