OxfordAQA IGCSE English Language: Non-Exam Assessment Project — 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. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Non-exam assessment revision notes, Non-exam assessment study guide

The NEA project in OxfordAQA International GCSE English Language (9270) is marked out of 60, with 30 marks for reading (research and use of at least five sources) and 30 for writing (the task and commentary). These tasks practise each stage: planning research, judging sources, synthesising information, writing for a specified audience and writing the Candidate record form commentary. The source notes in Section B are invented for this resource. Mark tariffs are for self-checking.

Section A: The rules and the task

1. State three things the Candidate record form must include. [3]

2. A student lists their sources as “Google, a book, YouTube, my teacher, a website”. Explain why this would not meet the requirement, and rewrite one entry correctly. [3]

3. Your centre sets this task: “Your school is producing a guide for new international students. Write an article explaining how to settle into life in a new country, using your research.” Identify the purpose, audience and form. [3]

4. Suggest five sources of different types, as the specification allows, for the task in Question 3. [5]

Section B: Synthesising sources

You have made these (invented) notes from three sources for the task in Question 3:

Source A (university welcome booklet): homesickness most common in first 6–8 weeks; advice: keep a routine, join one club early. Source B (autobiography of a migrant writer): describes feeling “invisible” until a neighbour invited her to cook together; food as a bridge. Source C (documentary on student life): interviews; several students mention language anxiety in shops and on public transport.

5. Write one paragraph (about 120 words) for your article that synthesises all three sources for your audience. [8]

6. Explain one piece of information you would reject from your research, and why, as you might do in your commentary. [2]

Section C: The commentary

7. Write a commentary extract (about 120 words) explaining how and why you organised your article and one stylistic feature you chose to achieve your purpose. [6]

Section D: Applying the bands

8. A student’s article is clear and well organised with integrated discourse markers, but shows little personal voice; the commentary explains choices clearly. Which writing band best fits, and what would move it higher? [3]

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Answers

1. Any three [1 each]: details of all sources sufficient for a moderator to access them; at least five sources; how and why sources were chosen; the processes used to gather information; one example of note-making; a commentary on the final assignment.

2. The entries are too vague for a moderator to access [1]; sources must be identified precisely [1]. Corrected example [1]: the title, author or producer, and date of the specific video or book, and the web address of the specific page.

3. Purpose: to inform/explain and advise [1]; audience: new international students at the school [1]; form: an article in a guide [1].

4. Any five of different types [1 each], for example: a university or school welcome booklet (research text); an autobiography or memoir of migration (non-fiction); a novel or poem about arriving in a new country (literary text); a documentary or film (media text); an interview or survey of current international students (other valid source).

5. Guidance (8 marks: reading and writing together). Credit: integration of all three sources rather than a list (reading Band 5–6: “integration and adaptation”); adaptation to the audience (second person, reassuring tone); condensing (homesickness timing summarised, not copied); a personal voice.

Model paragraph: “If the first few weeks feel hard, you are not alone. Welcome guides note that homesickness is most common in the first six to eight weeks, which means it usually passes. Two small habits help: keep a daily routine, and join one club early, before shyness sets in. Language worries are normal too; students interviewed in one documentary admitted that buying a bus ticket felt harder than any lesson. The writer of one memoir describes feeling invisible until a neighbour asked her to cook together. Food, it turns out, is a language everyone speaks, so say yes to that first invitation.”

6. For example [2]: rejecting detailed statistics about university mental-health services because the audience is school students and the information would not be relevant to them; or rejecting one source because it was outdated or from a different educational system.

7. Guidance (6 marks). Credit: explanation of structure (for example, chronological organisation from arrival to settling in, mirroring the reader’s experience); justification by purpose and audience; a specific stylistic feature (direct address, short reassuring sentences, a closing call to action); and reference to how sources were selected or rejected.

Model extract: “I organised the article chronologically, from the first day to the first term, because new students will read it in the order they live it. Each section opens with a question a new student might ask, which makes the article feel like a conversation. I used second-person address and short sentences at the start of sections to reassure readers, then longer sentences to explain advice from my sources. I chose the memoir anecdote for the ending because a personal story makes the advice memorable in a way that statistics cannot.”

8. Band 4 (16–20) [1]: it “clearly engages the audience” with “deliberate structure” and integrated discourse markers [1]. To move higher, it needs a more developed, sophisticated vocabulary and phrasing that begins to manipulate the reader’s response (Band 5), and a sustained personal voice (Band 6) [1].

Frequently asked questions

Can my research include a film? Yes. Media texts such as films and documentaries are among the source types the specification lists.

Should my article include quotations from sources? Short quotations can help, but the reading bands reward integration, condensing and adaptation of source material for your audience, so most material should be in your own words.

What if my centre sets a word limit? Follow it. The specification says a word limit may be set where appropriate.

Official specification

OxfordAQA International GCSE English Language (9270), Version 5.1, 3.3 Non-exam assessment and 4.4 NEA marking criteria — oxfordaqa.com.