Bury Church of England
High School
GCSE English Language
OCR Revision Guide
Section A – Reading
Foundation Tier
Mrs Brannon-Barnett 2015
 Select an article (from a suitably challenging source – not a
tabloid newspaper) and summarise it. Remember to use your
own words and draw similar points together.
 Go through your mock papers and any feedback on exam
questions, and use the skills audit sheet to help you target your
revision on the right questions. Your RAG analysis should help
with this too.
 Look carefully at the sample answers to the Grizzly Bears exam
paper. Compare them to your answers in the mock exams.
 Annotate a magazine advert, exploring the use of
presentational devices to help sell the product.
 Look carefully at the past papers you have been provided with.
Use them as revision aids.
 Collect together all the information you have on question 1d
and create a single flash card of advice/ top tips to revise how
to tackle it.
 Look carefully at all the examples of qu2a you can find from
your mock and classwork you have been doing. Create a single
flash card.
 Repeat for question 2b.
 Select two texts which share a common theme and see if you
can create your own exam paper – we tried this in class back in
November however you will be much better at this now that
you are more familiar with the style of exam questions.
Use this sheet to audit
your skills for the
reading section of the
Information and Ideas
paper.
1d
2a
2b
In the reading section of the exam you will need to write your answers in the
boxes and spaces provided. You need to read the questions very carefully to
make sure you get the answers from the correct paragraph.
Ways to revise for question 1d:
1. Look at your December mock exam paper. Once you have read through the
above advice, read the text and your response again. Look at the advice
your teacher gave you for this question (your EBI) and then have a go at the
question again. Have you responded to your EBI this time?
2. Repeat the previous activity using the March mock exam paper. Did your
mark go up or down this time? Why?
3. Write for yourself what you did that worked for you and also note any
classic mistakes you need to avoid – compare the WWW and EBI for
question 1d on BOTH mock papers. If you have the same EBI on both
mocks for this question then you really must do something about it.
4. Try writing your own question 1d based on a leaflet, news or magazine
article.
5. Practise writing summaries using the past papers you have or the one
included in this pack or just by summarising texts in general.
Have a go at this past paper to try out your
Question 1 skills.
Look at this past question and the text that goes with it. Although
this question doesn’t seem like it is worth lots of marks it can
make a difference of a grade if you through these marks away.
. . . so sneak a peek at
question 2b to get a clue!
Use words from this
question to form your
opening sentence in your
answer to question 2a.
One of the
key things is
knowing
what the
effect of the
text is. . . .
Eg. This newspaper conveys the power
of the tropical storm through the use
of its headings and images.
Eg. This newspaper conveys the power
of the tropical storm through the use
of its headings and images.
Why do you
think they
have included
this image of a
street on the
edge of the
background?
It is powerful
enough to
wipe out part
of the
American flag.
What does this verb
suggest about the storm?
What does this
word mean?
Times Square is one of the most famous places in New
York. These teenagers – usually rebellious figures in
society – are here as they “defy” the storm. It suggests
that the storm should have authority over them and
should be respected because of how powerful it is.
Why do you think they have used a photograph of a taxi
cab? Look at howhigh the watch is compared to the
wheels – how does this show us that the storm was
powerful? Why have they used the word “stranded” –
what emotions do we attach to this word usually?
Now you have read the notes, attempt the question.
How = PEEL
chain!
Have a read of the text and see if you
can identify three quotations you can
use which show the storm as powerful.
Use these are the basis for your PEEL
chains in your answer to this question.
“Mercifully”
“Knocking out”
“dumped”
“dodged a
missile”
Detailed statistics
show the huge
numbers of people
affected.
Only o “handful” of people weren’t worried.
Metaphor and this works as the antithesis to the
figures and facts used in the article.
Quotation Ideas to write about
“Mercifully”
Personification – makes it sound like it has taken pity on the people/ it could have
been much worse/ almost God-like in its power.
“knocking out”
Metaphor – sounds violent/ as if the storm was fighting/ triumphant
“dumped”
Again – metaphorical. Suggests the rain was very sudden/ in control/ idea that
the people were powerless to stop it.
Lots of statistics – large
numbers
Why use facts and figures? What do all these big numbers do for our
understanding of how big (and powerful) this storm was?
“handful” of rebels!
Antithesis to the large numbers?
Complete this table before writing your answer to
the question. Can you add any additional quotes of
your own finding?