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Flashcards · 9093 · AS Topic 1
Paper 1 – Reading (AS Level) flashcards
14 cards on AS Topic 1, subtopics 1.1 to 1.2. Pick a subtopic or study them all.
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1.1 Knowledge and understanding
- How is 9093 Paper 1 Reading set out?
- 2 hours 15 minutes, 50 marks: 50% of the AS and 25% of the A Level. Two compulsory questions of 25 marks, each on an unseen text of roughly 550–750 words. No dictionaries.
- What are the seven language frameworks for analysing a text?
- Phonology, lexis, semantics, grammar, pragmatics, discourse and graphology. Working through them keeps an analysis systematic rather than impressionistic.
- What are the three components of register?
- Field (the subject matter), tenor (the relationship between writer and reader) and mode (spoken, written, or somewhere between).
- Why does a register mismatch in a text matter?
- It is usually deliberate. Informality in a serious context creates intimacy or humour; formality in a casual context creates distance, authority or irony. The mismatch is the finding, not an oversight.
- Which features of spoken language should you recognise in a transcript?
- Fillers (er, um), false starts, repetition, overlaps and interruptions, adjacency pairs, turn-taking, discourse markers (so, right, anyway) and deixis (this, here, now).
- Are fillers and false starts in a transcript errors?
- No. They are normal features of speech. Comment on what they achieve: planning time, holding the floor, signalling a topic shift or managing the relationship between speakers.
1.2 Skills and techniques
- What does Paper 1 Question 1(a) require?
- Directed writing of 150–200 words that reshapes material from the unseen text for a new audience, purpose or form. 10 marks (AO1, AO2).
- What does Paper 1 Question 1(b) require?
- A comparison of your own 1(a) response with the original text by form, structure and language, relating each feature to purpose, audience and context. 15 marks (AO1, AO3), more than the writing itself.
- What does Paper 1 Question 2 require?
- Analysis of a second unseen text: comment on its form, structure and language, relating features to meaning, context and audience, in an organised answer. 25 marks (AO1, AO3).
- How do you transform a text in directed writing without losing marks?
- Fix form, audience and purpose first; change the register for the new audience; select only relevant material; rephrase rather than lift; and follow the conventions of the target form.
- Why does naming a technique on its own score little?
- The mark is for the effect of the feature in this specific text, tied to its audience and purpose, not for identifying it.
- What is the effect of high and low modality?
- High modality (must, will) asserts certainty and authority. Low modality (might, could) hedges and softens, lowering the writer's commitment to the claim.
- What is the effect of the passive voice?
- It can conceal or remove the agent ("Mistakes were made"), so responsibility is obscured, which is why it recurs in institutional and political language.
- What do the pronouns "we" and "you" do in persuasive texts?
- "We" builds solidarity or implies shared responsibility. "You" creates direct address and synthetic personalisation, making a mass audience feel individually spoken to.