Evaluation Station II

Fifteen marks on Text 2

Question 6 tells you what the writer attempts in a specified part of Text 2, in the form "In this extract, the writer attempts to...", and asks you to evaluate how successfully this is achieved. It is worth 15 marks and tests AO4, evaluation. You have met this question before on Component 1, on a fiction extract. Component 2 is different in one way that changes everything: the writer is a real person making a real point. That opens a trap the fiction paper cannot set, and the next card is that trap.

Judge the writing, not the argument

On a non-fiction text you will have an opinion about what the writer says. That opinion is worth nothing here. The question never asks whether the writer is right. It asks how successfully the writer does what the question says they attempt: conveys a feeling, persuades a reader, makes a place vivid. "I disagree, libraries should be modernised" answers a question nobody asked. "The writer conveys the loss more convincingly in the second half, because..." is the same student, ten marks better off.

Where is the work being done?

Text 2 is below. The question reads: "In this extract, the writer attempts to convey a sense of loss without ever complaining. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved." Tap the TWO phrases that convey that loss without stating it directly.

• They have painted the old library yellow. It sits at the top of the hill
• like a slice of cake nobody ordered
• , and inside, where the reference section used to be, there is now
• a coffee machine that hums all day
• . I am told this is progress. I am told the town needed somewhere for young people to go,
• and that is true
• . Nobody borrowed the encyclopaedias. Still, I stood in the doorway for a long time and
• could not make my face do the right thing

Which one is evaluating?

All four sentences below are about that extract. Which one is actually evaluating?

• The understatement of "could not make my face do the right thing" conveys the loss more powerfully than a complaint would, because the reader is left to supply the feeling
• The writer goes back to the library and finds it has been painted yellow
• The writer uses a simile, "like a slice of cake nobody ordered"
• I agree with the writer, because old libraries are better than modern ones

Two ways to start a sentence

The difference between a grade 4 and a grade 8 answer is often visible in the first six words of each paragraph.

Where does he give ground?

The strongest answers find the place where the text complicates their judgement. Tap the phrase where the writer admits the other side has a point.

• They have painted the old library yellow. It sits at the top of the hill
• like a slice of cake nobody ordered
• , and inside, where the reference section used to be, there is now a coffee machine that hums all day. I am told this is progress. I am told the town needed somewhere for young people to go,
• and that is true
• . Nobody borrowed the encyclopaedias. Still,
• I stood in the doorway for a long time
• and could not make my face do the right thing.

Rank these answers

Four students answer the question. Put them in order, weakest first.

• "I agree, because old libraries are nicer than new ones."
• "The writer describes going back and finding the library painted yellow."
• "The writer uses a simile, 'like a slice of cake nobody ordered', to describe the library."
• "The simile makes the new library seem unwanted rather than ugly, so the loss is conveyed as a feeling rather than a complaint, which is why the attempt largely succeeds."

What makes a strong Q6 answer?

Select the TWO things that would strengthen an evaluation answer.

• Finding a moment in the text that complicates your judgement of how successful the attempt is, and saying so
• Explaining the effect a method has on the reader, not just naming the method
• Ranging across the whole of Text 2 rather than the specified part
• Calling the attempt completely successful throughout, so the answer stays consistent

Plan it

You have fifteen marks and about twenty minutes. Make each decision.

• You have read the question and the specified part. What do you do first?
• One sentence in the extract does not fit your judgement. What do you do with it?
• Five minutes left, and you have two more points planned. What now?

Sentences that carry a judgement

Keep these in your head. Each one forces you to evaluate rather than describe, because none of them can be finished without a reason:

Order one paragraph

Put the parts of a single evaluation paragraph into a workable order.

• State how successfully this moment achieves the attempt
• Give a short quotation from the specified part
• Name the method the writer is using there
• Explain the effect it has on the reader
• Return to the question and say how far this shows the attempt succeeding

What Question 6 tests

Question 6 is worth _____ marks and tests _____. You evaluate a specified part of Text 2, which means making a _____ about how well the writer does something rather than describing what they did. Every point needs a short _____ from that part of the text. And the marks are for judging the _____, never for agreeing with the writer's opinion.

Write the answer

Answer the question: "In this extract, the writer attempts to convey a sense of loss without ever complaining. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved." Use the extract you have been working on.

• Open with your overall judgement of how successfully the attempt is achieved
• Use at least two short quotations, naming the method and its effect on the reader each time
• Include the moment where the text complicates your judgement, and say what it does to it
• Keep every point about the writing rather than about whether the writer is right