Graduated Identify (Fiction)

The four marks that eat time

The first reading question on this paper is worth four marks, and it is the one that costs candidates the most. Not in marks. In time. It comes in three parts. Part (a) asks you to identify one word, for one mark. Part (b) asks you to identify one phrase, for one mark. Part (c) asks you to explain two things, for two marks. ⭐ Here is the idea that changes how you answer it. The mark next to a part is not just a score. It is an instruction about how much to write. One mark means one thing. Two marks mean two things. ⭐⭐ So parts (a) and (b) need no explanation at all. A single word, a single phrase, and you move on. Students find that genuinely hard to believe, and it is the most useful fact about this question. Because this is a fiction text, the thing you are asked to find is often SUGGESTED rather than stated outright, so you read for what the words hint as well as what they say. ⚠️ Carry one habit through everything below: count the marks, then count what you are being asked to produce, and make the two match before you write a word.

Text 1: waiting on the platform

Read this short opening, which is Text 1 for the questions that follow. The platform was almost empty. Maya stood close to the yellow line and watched the far end of the track, where the rails narrowed into the dark. Her bag hung heavy on one shoulder, and she moved it twice without seeming to notice. A cold wind travelled the length of the platform and lifted the corner of a dropped newspaper. She looked up at the clock above the waiting room. It read eleven minutes past ten. She had looked at it moments before. Behind her a door shut, and she turned quickly, then turned back. The train was late. She did not sit on the empty bench. She stayed on her feet, watching the dark, as though standing there might bring the train in sooner.

Part (a): tap the one word

Part (a) is worth one mark. Tap the ONE word that most clearly shows the platform was nearly deserted.

• empty
• platform
• watched
• heavy
• cold

What the question words mean

Five words the question and the mark scheme use. Knowing exactly what each asks for is half the skill.

Part (b): tap the one phrase

Part (b) is worth one mark. Tap the ONE phrase that most suggests Maya was on edge, even though the text never says so directly.

• turned quickly, then turned back
• A cold wind travelled the length of the platform
• the clock above the waiting room
• the empty bench
• where the rails narrowed into the dark

Identify, and explain

The three parts split cleanly into two kinds of task. Getting the kind right is what saves the time.

The full-sentence habit

A student answers part (a) by writing a careful full sentence explaining why the word fits. The word inside it is correct. Why is this a mistake?

• It earns the same single mark as the word alone would, so the extra sentence is time taken from the questions worth far more later in the paper
• A full sentence makes the answer wrong
• You are not allowed to write in sentences anywhere on the paper
• Explaining the word twice loses a mark

Read the mark, then answer

One routine turns this question from a time sink into the quickest four marks on the paper. ⭐ Read the mark first. Before you read the question, look at the number of marks beside it. That number is telling you how many things to produce. ⭐ Match what you write to that number. One mark, one thing, and stop. Two marks, two separate things. Never give more than the marks ask for. ⭐ For an identify part, lift it straight from the text. The exact word or phrase is the answer. Do not rewrite it in your own words, and do not justify it. ⭐ For the explain part, make your two points genuinely separate. Two versions of the same point score once. Two different things the text shows score twice. ⭐ Then move on fast. This question is worth a small share of the paper, so the moment you have the marks, the best thing you can do is leave. ⚠️ The check that works on every question here: count the marks, count what you have produced, and make the two match before you write.

Match each part to what it wants

Build a part (c) answer

Part (c) asks what two things the opening suggests about Maya. Assemble a two-point answer worth both marks.

True about this question

Select the TWO statements that are true of the graduated identify question.

• A one-mark part wants one thing, and a two-mark part wants two
• On a fiction text, a detail that is only implied can still be a correct answer
• Longer answers to the one-mark parts score more highly
• You may take the answer from either text on the paper

Order how to work the question

Put these moves into the order that gets the four marks in the least time.

• Look at the marks beside each part before reading it
• Read the part, and decide whether it says identify or explain
• Find the word, phrase or points in Text 1
• Write exactly as many things as the marks ask for, and no more
• Move straight on to the higher-mark questions

Complete the question 1 rules

Part (a) asks for one _____, and part (b) asks for one _____, each taken straight from the text with nothing added. Part (c) is worth two marks, so you must make two separate _____. On a fiction text, a detail that is only _____ still counts as a correct answer. Every part of this question is about Text _____ only.

The question 1 run

Five quick decisions on the graduated identify question. Three lives.

Judge three answers

Three students answer the same part of Question 1. Decide what each has done, using the mark as your guide.

• Part (a), one mark, asks for one word showing the platform was empty. A student writes a neat paragraph ending in the right word. What is your verdict?
• Part (c), two marks, asks what two things the text suggests. A student makes one point extremely well and stops. What is your verdict?
• Part (b), one mark, asks for a phrase. A student picks a perfect phrase, but from Text 2. What is your verdict?

Advise a classmate

A classmate answers every part of this question with a full paragraph, gets almost all four marks, and then runs out of time before the highest-mark question. Write them the advice that fixes it.

• Explain what the mark beside each part is actually telling them to do
• Explain why parts (a) and (b) need only a word or a phrase, and no explanation
• Explain how part (c) reaches two marks, and why one long point cannot
• Explain why the extra writing costs marks elsewhere, even though it is not wrong
• End with the check they should run on every question: count the marks, count what they have written, and make the two match