There is no top secret formula to achieving the Holy Grail that is the A*. Yet there are a number of things you can add to an exam essay or piece of coursework that could add a little bit of spice and zing to your work.

In the past I have marked for the OCR exam board and (like most people will tell you) it is extremely mundane and repetitive (marking potentially 360+ of the same answer.) The challenge therefore to achieve the A* first of all is twofold:

Continue reading “Going for Gold: Achieving that A*” →

You will have been developing the art of essay writing throughout your school life. As you start to write more mature and sophisticated essays you need the language to be able to do this properly.

Firstly there is a language (which I call ‘critical words’) that introduces an argument. By ‘argument’ I mean the assessment or evaluation of any point made. So for example in Philosophy an argument would be raised once you have presented a philosophical perspective, point or idea. In order to make it clear to your reader/ examiner that you are showing evidence of evaluation, which is necessary for top marks (not just stating facts or other people’s perspectives) use critical words.

Continue reading “Adding the ‘critical’ to your critical analysis: Developing A02” →