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The document outlines the defining features of A* GCSE students, highlighting their characteristics in reading, writing about reading, and writing in general. A* students exhibit a deep attention to language, use embedded quotations and a tentative tone in their writing, and demonstrate confidence and polished punctuation. They achieve this by engaging with a wide range of high-quality reading materials.

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Myat Myat Oo
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22 views

3-defining-features-of-A_

The document outlines the defining features of A* GCSE students, highlighting their characteristics in reading, writing about reading, and writing in general. A* students exhibit a deep attention to language, use embedded quotations and a tentative tone in their writing, and demonstrate confidence and polished punctuation. They achieve this by engaging with a wide range of high-quality reading materials.

Uploaded by

Myat Myat Oo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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3  defining  features  of  A*  GCSE  work  
 
 
What  A*  students  characteristically  do:  
 
 

1   In  reading:  relentless  attention  to  language  –  WHY  the  writer  may  have  
chosen  a  word,  phrase,  sentence,  tense,  figure  of  speech,  structure,  and  
HOW  this  affects  or  influences  the  reader  
 
 

2   In  writing  about  reading:  short  embedded  quotations;  a  tentative  tone  


(‘this  suggests’,  ‘there  may  be  a  hint  of  ..’);  an  authoritative  impersonal  but  
not  complicated  style.  
 
 

3   In  writing:  a  confidence  to  take  risks;  an  understanding  of  the  


conventions  of  polemical  articles,  letters,  leaflets,  speeches;  a  balance  of  
formal  and  colloquial  language;  polished  use  of  punctuation,  including  
parenthetical  commas,  semi-­‐colons  for  balance  and  contrast,  and  colons;  
the  sense  of  a  ‘voice’  
 
 
 
How  they  do  it:  
 
They  read  a  lot  –  fiction,  history,  books  about  ideas,  and  articles  by  people  
who  write  well  (eg  Andrew  Rawnsley,  Jeremy  Clarkson,  Melanie  Philips,  
Oliver  Burkeman,  Christopher  Hitchens,  Nigel  Slater,  Polly  Toynbee,  
Allison  Pearson).  
 
 
 
Geoff  Barton  
May  2012  

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