Exam Technique - In response to Jack's question/issue earlier

Earlier on this evening Jack (who has had a hair cut) said to me,

"Sir, I get how to spot things in a poem. I get that. But I don't understand how to explain why it's been done."

Without taking the mick, I actually get exactly what Jack means because the 'explain' part of PEE is often the hardest bit to get your head around - mainly because the TYPE of EXPLAINING you're expected to do is usually different for every task.

However, for many of you, this is the very last task you'll have to do - so it's worth doing it properly.

So here we go!

All you have to do for the EXPLAIN bit is really to say, WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF (THE THING YOU'VE SPOTTED) ON THE READER?

There is no DEFINITIVE LIST of ways you can explain why something is important. It's kind of like asking someone why they enjoyed their holiday. There are OBVIOUS REASONS and LESS OBVIOUS REASONS. The less obvious reasons will sometimes be the more ORIGINAL and PERCEPTIVE points, and offering more than one EXPLANATION will often get you more marks too.

I will put some example of good explanations on my next post...

NW