The Mark-Scheme Vocabulary You Need

📖 The Mark-Scheme Vocabulary You Need

AO1

Read, understand, respond — use textual references to support interpretations. A quotation without analysis is AO1 only; it earns a maximum of Level 2.

AO2

Analyse language, form and structure using subject terminology. Named technique + explained effect = AO2. Technique without effect = Sin 3 (technique-spotting).

AO3

Understand the contexts in which texts were written. Context that illuminates a specific word or technique choice = AO3 integrated. Context that describes an era without linking to text = Sin 2 (bolt-on context).

Level 5-6 descriptor keywords

"Perceptive" (Level 5): a claim the examiner did not expect; a reading beyond the obvious. "Convincing" (Level 6): sustained throughout the essay, not just in one paragraph.

Interpretive claim

An opening sentence that states what the writer achieves or argues — not what happens, not what a character is like. Starts with: "The writer presents/constructs/positions/uses X to argue Y."

Embedded quotation

A quote woven into a sentence rather than dropped in isolation: "the 'vaulting ambition' that 'o'erleaps itself'" reads more naturally than beginning a sentence with the quote alone.