Understanding the AQA Mark Scheme: English Language Grades 1-9

When I was studying English Language at GCSE, my English teacher (still my favourite to this day) shocked me when she told me that, from Grade 1-9, the English Language questions asked are the same for all students. This may seem obvious at first, but compare it to Science, or Maths, which have separate papers for Foundation and Higher tiers, where questions are different according to grade studied. The difference for AQA English is that all students get the same questions, and this makes the range of answers examiners will receive incredibly varied. 

In this blog post, an addition to the series on understanding the AQA Assessment Objectives, we’re going to break down the mark scheme and ask, if every student from Grade 1-9 will get the same question, what actually distinguishes between answers?

Key Words in the Mark Scheme

Another teacher told me that the “mark scheme is king”, and looking back as a tutor I can see just how right that is. If we want to understand what separates a Grade 1 answer from the Grade 9, even to the same question, we have to understand what the mark scheme is looking for to categorise them. The AQA mark scheme does this through some pretty neatly packaged key word descriptors. Take Paper 1 Question 2 for example, the question will always be phrased as “how does the author use language to describe X?” Often, a simple question will invite a simple answer, but the difference between grades is being able to break that apart and give a complex, thought-out, well-reasoned answer, even when the question is pretty bland.

Level 1 (1-2/8 marks) is ‘key-worded’ as being simple, limited content. It shows simple awareness of the language being used, as asked by the question, and can offer a simple comment on the effect of what that might be. For example, a hyena being “ugly beyond redemption” may be simply analysed as being an animal that you would not really want to be alone with. The comment is clear and gets the point across that the author has created a pretty unattractive animal.

Level 2 (3-4 marks) covers a little bit more ground. The comment might move into trying to explain why a specific language technique may have been used. For example, ‘ugly beyond redemption’ suggests that the hyena is so horrible to look at that there is nothing that could be done about it - there is no chance that anyone could ever see a hyena as attractive. The comment is a little bit more exploratory, and explains the effects in slightly more detail.

Level 3 (5-6 marks) is where the key words change to clear and relevant, the answer is becoming more aware and demonstrates a clearer attempt to engage with the author’s intentions and the effects on the reader. We can see this in the model response:The writer makes the hyena’s unpleasant appearance clear from the start when he says ‘it was ugly beyond redemption’. This short sentence is deliberately blunt and the adjective ‘ugly’ introduces the animal as hideous. The addition of the phrase ‘beyond redemption’ exaggerates its ugliness further by claiming there is nothing that could ever be done to improve its appearance and save it from being unattractive.

In this analysis, the response now comments on what kind of technique is being used, a short sentence that cuts harshly to the core of the hyena’s appearance. It’s moving towards complexity and has multiple aspects to the break down that individually pick up more marks.Another little bite of wisdom from my old teacher is that “it is always better to say a lot about a little, than a little about a lot.”

Level 4 is the highest, and here the key words develop again into perceptive, detailed analysis. It is confident, clearly understands what the author may have been trying to do, and perceptively (being able to see through the layers) links that to a feeling in the reader.

The writer’s description of the hyena criticises its unpleasant appearance and introduces the idea of it being a malicious threat. The adjective ‘ugly’ labels the hyena as grotesque straight away and this is further emphasised by the harshness of the dismissive short sentence. The writer has also chosen the phrase ‘beyond redemption’ because ‘redemption’ has connotations of being saved from evil, as if the hyena’s ugliness is symbolic of a deeper sinister nature that cannot be reversed.

This response really takes its time unpacking the effects of individual word choices and never strays from the central line of the analysis which is the unpleasant appearance of the animal. It makes sure to mention the individual instances of language used, and how they tie together to flesh out a really unattractive picture, that goes even beyond what it looks like on the outside, the suggestion from the author being that this goes to the very core of the hyena, that they’re not very nice on the inside too. This is where being ‘perceptive’ is really shown off, the response has identified that the reader is suggesting the evil goes beyond just appearance and gets marks for being able to demonstrate a perceptive understanding of the authors intentions.

What Does This Show Us?

So, there we have it! A level by level breakdown of how, even with the same question, a student can unpack the same quote with varying levels of effectiveness to get more marks in their answers.What this really shows though, is that there is a clear path of progression for English Language to move from Grade 1 to Grade 9 very smoothly. Each level demonstrates a more developed understanding of how to unpack a quote and talk about its effects, going from simple to perceptive. It’s different from maths where you cannot answer certain questions if you do not know the formula required. With English, everything centres around how much you’re able to pull out and suggests reasons for, with evidence.

The mark scheme is king, but in the case of English Language it’s also a guideline and checklist for understanding how, slowly but surely, you can move from a simple answer to a perceptive and developed one – even just by using the same quote!

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