The Merchant of Venice extract question — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
The Merchant of Venice extract question
Exam skills
What you need to know
How the Shakespeare question works: moving from the extract to the whole play, the assessment objectives and the 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
How to plan and structure an answer, using The Merchant of Venice as the worked example, with a model answer and commentary.
A question set out as AQA sets it, with its wording and marks.
Paper 1 Section A: one question with no choice, closed book, about 50 minutes of the 1 hour 45 minute paper.
A model answer of about 800 words, with its extract printed, that uses the extract and the whole play, including the trial and the ring plot.
The level the model answer would reach and why, with a Grade 5 and a Grade 8 paragraph side by side.
Worked from the June 2023 question on loyalty, which begins with Bassanio and Antonio in Act 1 Scene 1.
How to use the time: reading and annotating the extract, planning, and balancing the extract against the rest of the play.
