Two sections, both two-part & extract-based

Component 01 is a 2 hour exam worth 80 marks — 40% of the whole GCSE. It is closed book — you get no copy of your texts except the printed extract. You answer two questions, and each has two parts:

• Section A — Modern prose or drama (~40 marks): one two-part question on your set modern text. Part (a) is extract-based (analyse a printed passage); part (b) links out to the whole text as a discursive essay. Rewards AO1, AO2, AO4 (SPaG).
• Section B — 19th-century prose (~40 marks): one two-part question on your set literary-heritage novel. Part (a) is extract-based; part (b) is a whole-text essay. Rewards AO1, AO2, AO3 (context).

Set texts differ by school: your modern text might be Anita and Me, An Inspector Calls, Animal Farm, Never Let Me Go, Leave Taking, DNA or My Mother Said I Never Should; your 19th-century novel might be Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, Jekyll and Hyde, Pride and Prejudice or The War of the Worlds. The skills here work for any of them.

How do the questions work?

What the examiner rewards

Every mark is tied to an Assessment Objective (AO). Component 01 rewards AO1 and AO2 across both sections, plus AO4 (SPaG) on the modern text and AO3 (context) on the 19th-century prose:

Key split: AO1 and AO2 are rewarded in both sections. AO4 (SPaG) is assessed only on the modern text; AO3 (context) is assessed only on the 19th-century prose and is not foregrounded on the modern text.

Name the Assessment Objective

Tap the AO that each sentence in an essay is mainly serving.

Method → effect, every time

Naming a technique earns almost nothing. The marks come from linking the method to the effect it creates on the reader or audience:

Useful methods to spot in prose & drama: metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, symbolism, pathetic fallacy, semantic field, dramatic irony, foreshadowing, tone, narrative voice, first-person narrator, stage directions, structure and form.

Golden rule: never stop at "this is a metaphor." Always finish the sentence: "…which suggests / creates / emphasises / makes the reader feel …".

Annotating an extract

Here is a short, made-up prose line (not a set text) annotated the way you'd mark up a real extract in part (a) of the exam:

• "held its breath" — personification: the street feels tense and alive, mirroring the narrator's unease.
• "grey" — colour imagery / pathetic fallacy: a bleak, drained mood settles over the scene.
• "watched me like a stranger" — simile: the narrator feels alienated and observed, an outsider.
• "heavy as a stone" — simile: the silence becomes oppressive and physical, weighing on the reader.

Notice the pattern: each note is quote → method (with terminology) → effect. That is exactly the sentence shape your essay paragraphs need.

Method & effect

Context: the world behind the text

On the 19th-century prose (Section B), AO3 asks you to show you understand the context a text was written in — but only where it illuminates a choice in the text. Useful contexts include:

• Class & poverty: Victorian social divides, the workhouse, wealth and status (e.g. A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations).
• Science, duality & morality: Victorian anxieties about respectability, reputation and the double self (e.g. Jekyll and Hyde); the role of women (Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice).

Reminder: for the modern text (Section A) it is AO4 (SPaG) — not AO3 — that is assessed. Save context for Section B, and even there keep it woven in, not a history essay.

Extract → whole text

Strong Component 01 answers move outward: part (a) analyses the printed extract closely, and part (b) ranges across the rest of the text:

Pick the strongest answer move

Write a method → effect sentence

Literary term ↔ definition

Tap a term on the left, then tap its correct definition.

Answer with a thesis, not a plot summary

Open with a thesis — a clear line of argument that answers the exact question about the writer's method and purpose. Everything after it is proof.

Why it works: it takes a position (belonging must be fought for), names methods (narrative voice, imagery) and points to a purpose/effect (shared feeling). Now every paragraph proves one part of it.

Build paragraphs with PEA / PEEL

Each body paragraph follows a reliable shape so it always hits AO1 and AO2:

Embed quotes — keep them short

Because Component 01 is closed book, learn a bank of short, flexible quotations. Weave them into your own sentence rather than dropping in a whole line:

Misconception: long quotations don't earn more marks — they waste time and bury your analysis. Quote the few words you'll actually analyse.

Which uses evidence best?

Context serves the analysis

On Section B, context can enrich your points — but only if it explains a choice in the text. It must be woven in, not bolted on as a history lecture.

Misconception: context is not a paragraph you paste in. One relevant clause that illuminates a method or theme beats a page of dates.

Where does context belong?

AO1, AO2 or AO3?

Tap a skill, then tap the Assessment Objective it belongs to.

Planning under the clock

Split your 2 hours: roughly 1 hour on each section (modern text + 19th-century prose). Spend the first 5 minutes of each planning:

• Underline the key words in the question (the focus + the command word "how").
• Read the extract twice, annotating 3–4 methods and their effects for part (a).
• Jot 3 points for part (b) — each ranging from the extract to the whole text.
• Write a one-line thesis, then write. On Section A, leave a minute to check SPaG (AO4).

Closed book: only the extract is printed — the rest of the text is not. Learn a bank of short, flexible quotations in advance.

Smart use of the first 5 minutes

A paragraph in action

Watch how one paragraph moves from the extract to the whole text, with method, effect and a touch of context (Section B):

Spot the moves: extract analysed (method + effect), linked to the whole text, context woven in to explain the effect — AO1, AO2 and AO3 together.

The five marks-killers

• Feature-spotting: naming techniques without explaining their effect.
• Extract-only: never linking part (a) out to the whole text in part (b) (you cap your marks).
• Bolted-on context: a history block that doesn't serve a point (and on the modern text, remember it's AO4 SPaG, not AO3).
• Fat quotes: long copied lines instead of short, embedded ones.
• Plot retelling: narrating the story instead of arguing an answer.

Fix them all with one habit: every sentence should either make a point, prove it with a short quote, or explain a method's effect — and keep linking the extract to the whole text.

The skills to take into the exam

You've covered the structure and the skills of OCR GCSE English Literature Component 01. Press Finish to see your score.