How to Pass the OCR GCSE English Information and Ideas Exam

Your students (or children)certainly have their work cut out for them with the GCSE English exam. The OCR version, Information and Ideas, has no less than four questions to answer in the space of two hours. It doesn’t sound so bad until you take in to account the two pieces of (fairly lengthy) reading that they have to do in order to attempt the first three questions – in Section A – Non-Fiction and Media.

Then, of course, there is Section B – simply named Writing. On first inspection it too seems quite straightforward – and that’s what makes it easy for your students, pupils or child to fall in to a variety of traps.

This PowerPoint presentation aims to helps with the exam – most of all in how the questions should be approached, what should be done and what should never, ever be done! It will work within the classroom as a standalone lesson or your pupils can use it as a useful revision aid.  As such, parents will also find this a straightforward aid for their child - and it may even solve the mystery of what he/she has to do in the exam for you too!

Part of the presentation covers the key words that should be kept in mind for each question in each section. There is a list of dos and don’ts which should be kept in mind by your students when they do the exam. The suggestions will help them to differentiate between each task – and help them identify the differences between them.

The presentation emphasizes the importance of such things as focusing on the question fully, planning answers and what they should comment on and where. The key words of What, Why and Where are ever-present.

If you are like me and, each year, you spot pupils going off the beaten track in the exam and wasting valuable time, the lists of don’ts for each question will come in very useful here. This varies from avoiding doing things which aren’t asked (such as making Question 1 a creative task instead of waiting for Questions 4 and 5 to flex one’s imaginative muscles!) to avoiding things like making lists of literary devices and then just hoping for the best in Section A, Question 2 and/or 3.

This presentation could really make a difference in your pupil’s final grades if used well, to encourage discussion, individual revision and the proper separation of each task from another. If you are reading this as a parent, then yes – this may well be very useful for home study too.

Oh, yes. We also answer that question - How long should my answer be in the Writing Section, Miss?

The file you will receive will open directly in to the PowerPoint slide show which is driven by simple taps of the keyboard and of course, it looks lovely! It is, we hope, also done with a sense of humour which may make the process of preparation for GCSE English just that little bit easier! We hope that the four slides here are enough of a taster for you!

Once you have saved the file you can even tweak the presentation to suit your students and yourself by opening it from PowerPoint instead of double clicking the file name.We hope that these 29 slides will be adequate sufficiency however! If you would like it emailed to a different address, then please let us know by adding it during the purchase process.

No of Slides: 29
Size: 11MB

Once you have paid for the resource it will be emailed directly to you. Please allow 24 hours (as sometimes we sleep) although we do hope to get it to you within the hour.

Document Type

PowerPoint £9.99 GBP