Comparing ideas and perspectives (AO3)
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Language A · 4EA1
Component 1 | Section A: Non-fiction Reading
Fifteen per cent of the qualification, assessed on Component 1 only, in a question that compares the anthology text with the unseen extract.
Specification coverage
Component 1, Section A — the comparison question
Assessment objectives: AO3. Suggested learning time: 55 minutes.
Required knowledge
- AO3 is 15% of the qualification and appears on Component 1 only
- The specification's wording is 'explore links and connections between writers' ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed'
- You compare an anthology text with a previously unseen extract
Required skills
- Compare ideas AND the methods that convey them — the objective names both
- Sustain comparison throughout rather than in a final paragraph
- Handle a text you have never seen alongside one you know well
How it is examined
- A longer comparison question at the end of Section A
Common mistakes
- Writing about the anthology text at length and the unseen text briefly, because one is familiar.
- Comparing only what the writers think and never how they write.
- Structuring as text A then text B, which puts the comparison in a single closing paragraph.
- Bringing in a second anthology text. The comparison is with the unseen extract.