Skills (8702): Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers and their unseen extracts. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

The two poems in Section C are original short poems written for this resource; the two prose extracts are short quotations from out-of-copyright novels on the 8702 set-text list.

Related: Skills revision notes · Skills study guide

These questions practise the 3.3 Skills of AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) one strand at a time, using two short extracts from 19th-century novels on the 8702 list (both out of copyright) and two original poems. Mark tariffs are for self-checking; the real papers set longer essay questions that combine all these skills. Apply the same method to whichever texts you study.

Section A: Comprehension and critical reading

Extract 1 (Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Chapter 1; Enfield describes Hyde):

“He is not easy to describe. There is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why.”

1. State one thing that is explicit and one thing that is implied in Enfield’s description. [2]

2. Explain what this description suggests about Enfield’s motivation for telling the story. [2]

3. Identify a theme of the novella that this extract introduces, and explain how. [2]

4. “Stevenson makes Hyde frightening by refusing to describe him.” Give one reason to agree and one reason to question this view. [4]

Section B: Evaluating a writer’s choices and using context

Extract 2 (Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Stave One):

“Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”

5. Analyse how Dickens uses language in this extract to present Scrooge. Use subject terminology. [6]

6. Explain how one piece of contextual knowledge could inform a reader’s evaluation of this description. [3]

Section C: Comparing texts

Poem A: Lighthouse All night it speaks one word across the water, the same word, patient as a parent who knows the child will not listen and says it anyway.

Poem B: The Night Shift She leaves as we come home, a coat on a hook, then no coat. In the morning, toast already cut, a note in her careful hand: Eat something. Sleep.

7. Compare how the poets present care in Poem A and Poem B. [8]

Section D: Writing skills

8. Rewrite this paragraph in a critical style with accurate Standard English. [6]

“In the story jekyll is a scientist and he makes a potion and turns into hyde which is really evil, I think Stevenson is saying people are good and bad. its quite scary because you dont know whats going to happen.”

9. Explain the difference between “summarise” and “analyse” as purposes for writing about literature, as listed in the specification. [2]

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Answers

1. Explicit [1]: Enfield dislikes Hyde intensely (“I never saw a man I so disliked”). Implied [1]: something about Hyde is unnatural or inhuman, beyond physical appearance.

2. Any reasonable inference [2]: Enfield is disturbed and cannot rationalise his reaction, so he tells the story to make sense of it; or he wants Utterson to share his unease.

3. For example [1 for theme, 1 for how]: the limits of rational explanation or the hidden nature of evil, introduced through a respectable man’s inability to say why Hyde is “detestable”.

4. Agree [2]: vagueness (“something wrong”) lets readers imagine the worst, and the repetition of “something” makes the unnamed quality more threatening. Question [2]: the novella does describe Hyde’s violence in detail (for example, the trampling of the child and the Carew murder), so fear also comes from his actions, not only from mystery.

5. Level-style guidance (6 marks):

• 5–6: Analyses several choices with precise terminology and effect: the simile “Hard and sharp as flint” makes Scrooge cold and unyielding; the extended image of steel striking fire implies no one has ever drawn warmth from him; “generous fire” pairs warmth with generosity; the tricolon “secret, and self-contained, and solitary”, with repeated “s” sounds and polysyndeton, emphasises his isolation; the closing simile “solitary as an oyster” is comic as well as critical, and hints that something valuable may be hidden inside him.
• 3–4: Explains one or two techniques with some effect.
• 1–2: Identifies a technique or paraphrases.

6. Any one, linked to evaluation [3]: Victorian debates about the poor and the 1834 Poor Law make Scrooge’s isolation a social criticism, not just a character flaw; or the novella’s Christian framing of Christmas charity makes his lack of “generous fire” a moral failing; or the oyster image prepares for a redemption plot that suits a Christmas story’s purpose.

7. Level-style guidance (8 marks):

• 7–8: Sustained comparison of ideas and methods. Poem A presents care as constant and unrewarded, through the extended metaphor of a lighthouse and the simile “patient as a parent”; the repetition of “the same word” suggests endurance. Poem B presents care through absence and small actions: the contrast “a coat on a hook, then no coat” shows the mother’s departure, and the italicised note presents love as practical instruction. Both use a single scene and end on a moment of speaking or writing, but Poem A generalises while Poem B is domestic and specific.
• 4–6: Clear comparison of ideas with some analysis of methods.
• 1–3: Describes each poem separately, with simple comment.

8. Model answer [6]: “Stevenson presents Jekyll as a respected scientist whose experiment releases Hyde, a figure of pure evil. Through this transformation, Stevenson suggests that human nature is divided between good and evil impulses. The novella’s suspense comes from withholding information: because the reader, like Utterson, does not know the connection between the two men, the tension builds until the final revelation.” [Credit capital letters for names, correct sentence boundaries and apostrophes (2); critical style and present tense (2); analysis replacing retelling (2).]

9. Summarising gives a brief account of what happens or what a text says [1]; analysing explains how the writer’s choices of language, form and structure create meanings and effects [1].

Frequently asked questions

Which skills matter most for the top grades? AO2 analysis carries 42.5% of the 8702 marks, so explaining the effects of writers’ choices is essential. It must be combined with a clear, personal argument (AO1).

How do I practise comparison without my anthology? Use any two short poems on a shared theme, as in Section C, and compare ideas, methods and effects throughout your answer.

Is technical accuracy marked in every answer? AO4 is 5% of the qualification overall, but it is not assessed equally in every question; write accurately throughout as a habit.

Official specification

AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) specification, 3.3 Skills and 4.2 Assessment objectives — aqa.org.uk.