A-level English Literature A (7712) - Modern times - resource package B - Introduction

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by dhado

A-level English Literature A (7712) Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day resource package B provides teaching materials and templates to plan lessons and create practice exam questions for Paper 2B, Section B. It includes guidance for constructing questions, sample assessment materials with mark schemes, specimen question commentaries aligned to assessment objectives, and exemplar student responses with marking commentary. The package explains how to adapt question wording and select unseen prose extracts for focused study and comparison practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Resources in this package

How to use these resources

Creating your own questions

Paper 2B, Section B: unseen text

Paper 2B, Section B: comparative texts

Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present dayresource package B A-level English Literature A (7712) For teaching from September 2015 Introduction We have developed a range of resources to help you plan your teaching and to create practice exam questions for each component of A-level English Literature A. In this package, you will find a variety of resources related to Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day , including: • creating your own questions guidance document, which gives you the power to create your own practice exam questions • sample assessment materials, which include question papers and mark schemes • specimen question commentaries, which explain how a question taken from the sample assessment materials addresses the assessment objectives, and which give some suggestions of how the task might be approached • exemplar student responses with marking commentary, including two responses of different mark bands are given to a specific question from the sample assessment materials. Resources in this package • Creating your own questions-Paper 2B, Section B-Unseen text • Creating your own questions-Paper 2B, Section B-Comparative texts • Exemplar student response-Paper 2B, Section B-band 4-Unseen text • Exemplar student response-Paper 2B, Section B-band 3-Unseen text • Exemplar student response-Paper 2B, Section B-band 5-Comparative texts • Exemplar student response-Paper 2B, Section B-band 2-Comparative texts • Specimen question commentary-Paper 2B, Section B-Unseen text • Specimen question commentary-Paper 2B, Section B-Comparative texts How to use these resources These documents are clearly an excellent starting point when planning your teaching. If you haven’t yet decided on which texts or text combinations to teach, the specimen assessment materials give you details about some of the aspects of Modern times the texts cover, which can help you decide. Don’t forget to consult the specification for a list of possible aspects. Once you have decided, these documents will help you to focus your teaching on those aspects and to work towards the relevant exam question in the specimen assessment materials. The exemplar student responses with marking commentary act as models for the students and help you to assess their work. Version 0.2. First published 12/05/2015 . Last updated 12/05/2015 . Creating your own questions A-level English Literature A (7712) Modern times – resource package B For teaching from September 2015 Introduction Below you will find instructions on how to use the accompanying resources to create your own exam practice questions. This example shows you how to use the Modern times resource package A to set questions for Paper 2B, Section B. Paper 2B, Section B , unseen text If you have used the relevant questions from the specimen assessment materials or want to set a question on a different unseen prose extract, you can use these documents in the following way: 1. Look at how the relevant questions from the specimen assessment materials are constructed, for example: Explore the significance of isolation in this extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed analysis of the ways that Ali shapes meanings. When setting a different extract, the question wording can remain unchanged with the exception of the area to be explored in the extract (here ‘isolation’) and the extract writer’s name (here ‘Ali’) . 2. Look for an extract which includes a key area of Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day; ideas for areas to explore can be found in the specification. This is important if you want students to go on to compare the significance of this area in two other texts as practice for the second question in Section B. Possible sources include: • extracts from any of the prose texts on the Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day set text list • extracts from other texts which explore this period

FAQs

What resources are included in Modern times: resource package B?

The package includes guidance for creating your own questions, sample assessment materials with mark schemes, specimen question commentaries explaining alignment to assessment objectives, and exemplar student responses with marking commentary across different mark bands.

How can teachers create their own Paper 2B, Section B unseen-text questions?

Teachers can reuse the construction of questions from the specimen materials, changing the specific area to explore and the extract writer’s name, then select an unseen prose extract that targets key areas covered by Modern times in the specification.

How can teachers create comparative-text questions for Section B?

Teachers can keep the comparative question wording structure while adapting the aspect to be explored and constructing an appropriate ‘view’ for debate, using examiner commentaries and considering both the presence and absence of relevant aspects in the texts.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by dhado