Selecting facts and opinions second line of header

My learning objectives

This lesson will help you to:

6

grade answerC

grade answer

Make theGrade

Assessment practice

Now you are going to have a go at an exam-style question. Attempt the task in the time suggested and then complete the assessment activity that follows.

Examiner tips● Always underline the points in pencil

as you read through.● Don’t repeat points.● Don’t include di� erent examples of

the same thing.● What you are being asked to � nd

may be in just one part of the text or it may be found through the whole text.

as you read through.● Don’t repeat points.● Don’t include di� erent examples of

the same thing.● What you are being asked to � nd

may be in just one part of the text or it may be found through the whole text.

This task asks you to look for ways you can save money. You have to be careful not to include everything the text says about money. You are just looking for different ways to save money.

Read the article below then take 10 minutes to answer this question:

What, according to the article, are the ways in which you can save money?

Make your money grow furtherFancy some great green savings for

yourself and the environment? Get into

eco-friendly gardening.It’s fun, less work and really does put

the pounds back in your pockets.Which is great news for recession-hit

gardens!The cost of water is on the up, so

if you’ve got a meter (and by a very

rough rule of thumb if your home has

more bedrooms than people you could

probably save cash by having one

installed) collect the free stuff by installing

a butt or two on every downpipe.In a drought, use bath-water pumped

out with a cheap Water Green garden

siphon (£19.99, biggreensmile.com).

Big savings!Thrifty gardeners have long used

rinse-water from the kitchen too. When

you’ve washed your veggies, just pour it

over your thirsty plants.

To up your eco-credentials ten-fold,

make your own compost and get

free soil conditioner from stuff you’d

otherwise throw away.If space is tight, a wormery or Bokashi

bin will do (try wigglywigglers.co.uk).If you have a large garden, save more

money still and build a bin from recycled

wooden pallets.Seeds aren’t fussy whether they’re

sown in yoghurt pots, loo-roll inners or

plastic veg supermarket trays, so start

collecting. Just be sure there are drainage

holes in the base. With a Paper Potter,

you can make biodegradable pots from

strips of old newspaper. Simply plant

out the whole thing, the newspaper will

rot away (just-green.com, £8.99).Pesticides are expensive so don’t buy

them if natural methods work. Find out

how to make easy, free and effective

solutions to pests and fungal attack

by typing in ‘natural garden pesticide

remedies’ on the internet.

Home-made

To cut back on using weed killer spread

home-made compost around plants to

keep weeds down.For hardscape, recycled materials not

only look better but are often cheaper.

Reclamation yards can be pricey, so

trawl junk yards and charity shops.

Check on ebay.co.uk, freecycle.co.uk

and supermarket classifi eds.And don’t forget to look closely around

your own garden. Who knows what

gems you might unearth!

News of the World, 8 March 2009

7

Here are two student answers to the following task:What, according to the article, are the ways in which you can save money?Remind yourself of the ‘Make your money grow further’ text on page 00. Read the following student answers together with the examiner comments around and after the answers. Then check what you have learnt and try putting it into practice.

My learning

This lesson will help you to: practise an exam-style question assess your answer by

looking at other responses.

clear attempt to answer question several points made most material chosen to focus on

ways to save money

clear and e� ective attempt to engage with task

range of relevant points clear understanding of material

C

B

1 Check your answer to Activity 3.• Did you include all the different points you could fi nd?• Have you avoided repetition and examples of the same thing?• Is your answer clear and detailed?

2 Now try to grade your answer to Activity 3 using the mark scheme alongside this activity. You will need to be careful and precise in your marking. Before you do this, you might like to read some sample answers to this task on page 00.

Peer/Self-assessment activity identi� cation of two or more

points main points unstructured response some extra material

D

6

Activity 3

Make the Grade

GradeStudio

grade answer

Examiner summaryThis answer has four clear, relevant points and a general one at the end. Everything is relevant to the task but the answer doesn’t have all the points made in the article. It misses out some sections. It is in the C band.

Clear point

Clear pointClear pointVague and general point

Clear point

You can save money on water by a� aching a water bu� to every downpipe or by using leftover rinse water. You can make a bin. Use home-made compost rather than using pesticides. You can use things you fi nd around your garden.

Student A

7

Clear point Clear point Clear point

Clear point Clear pointClear pointClear point

Clear point

Examiner summaryThis is a complete answer which would have got full marks and therefore in the B band. The student has found all the relevant bits for the answer. It’s worth noting that this student didn’t know what everything meant – they didn’t know what a pallet was or what hardscape was, but the student knew that they were relevant to the answer about saving money and so included them without trying to explain what they might mean. Try not to be put off by bits of the text that you don’t understand.

Student B

Save money on water by collecting rain water in a bu� a� ached to every downpipe, by pumping bath water to use in the garden and by using water you use to rinse vegetables. Make your own compost. You can build a compost bin from old pallets. Use yoghurt pots or loo rolls or plastic trays or even strips of old newspaper for your seeds instead of buying pots. Find out about free pesticides on the internet. Use recycled materials for hardscape.

Finding information: how to go up the gradesTo move up the grades you need to make a wider range of points and to be exact and specifi c in the points you make. This is clearly shown in the difference between Answer A and Answer B. To be sure of a C grade you need to make sure that you have found all the sections of the text which give you information for the question. Then you need to make sure that you include it all. Don’t add material to your answer that doesn’t answer the question. To get top marks fi nd all the points and make them clearly.

What have I learnt?

Discuss or jot down what you now know about:• fi nding information in texts• separating the points out• answering the question• what makes the difference between grade E, C and A answers on

understanding texts exam questions.

Putting it into practice

• You can practise this exercise with any information text you come across.• Use any newspapers, magazines, pages from textbooks, letters and adverts.• Give yourself about 10 minutes to practise this skill.

GradeStudio

B

AQA Eng Lang SB Book C pp6-7.indd 6-7 13/8/09 14:43:39