1. About a Boy
Exam Prep

2. Preparing for the WJEC GCSE English Literature
You will be given an extract from the novel to analyse for question 2 part (i).
The marks for this task make up one third of the total marks available for this text.
Complete the following example question as practice.

3. Sample question Read chapter 9 pages 54 and 55 up to ‘maybe he didn’t hate him after all.’
NB: In the real exam, the extract will be printed on the exam paper. Then answer one of the following questions:
Higher tier: With close reference to the extract, show how Nick Hornby suggests Marcus’ thoughts and feelings here.
 Foundation tier: What are your thoughts and feelings as you read this extract? Give reasons for what you say, and remember to support your answer with words and phrases from the extract.

4. Try to find and discuss at least ten features that address the assessment objectives (AOs) listed below. Also comment on how these features are typical of the novel and how they link the extract to the overall concerns of the novel.
Assessment
Your answer will be given a mark out of 10 for AO1 and AO2, with equal weight to each:
AO1 assesses your critical response to the text as a whole, its characters and relationships; sub-text and hidden meanings; ideas, themes and settings
AO2 assesses your understanding and analysis of language, structure and form, especially how these help shape ideas and meanings in the novel.

5. Marks awarded
Higher tier
Foundation tier
0 marks
Nothing written or nothing worthy of credit
1 mark
Brief, simple, narrative
Very brief, very little detail
2-4 marks
Underdeveloped, some
empathy for 3-4
Brief, simple comments on
what is happening
5-7 marks
Focused and supported by
detail; for 6-7 thorough and
thoughtful discussion
More focus and selection,
with some discussion for
6-7
8-10 marks
Evidence of close reading;
assured, evaluative, analytical
Clear and detailed
discussion of the extract

6. Peer marking activity
After you have answered the sample question, read the following list of features that you may have included.
Swap answers with another student and use this list, together with the assessment information above, to give the work a mark and a positive, helpful comment on how they might improve.
Tick or underline any of the following features in their answer.
Also credit any other relevant discussion, but remember that just re-telling the story doesn’t attract many marks.
Use the assessment grid to decide on a mark out of ten.

7. Extract analysis
Themes: Important incident marks beginning of Marcus and Will’s friendship, and is also the day Marcus’s mother attempts suicide. Referred to by Marcus as the ‘Dead Duck Day’ throughout the rest of the novel.  Character and relationship: Marcus’s point of view conveys his pessimistic outlook at this point as he assumes ‘nobody would believe him’. His shifting opinion of Will is also revealed in ‘Marcus hated him even more’ then ‘maybe he didn’t hate him after all’.  Tone: Chapter opens with short sentences to convey Marcus’s shock at having killed a duck. First paragraph continues with a kind of interior monologue, or even stream of consciousness, where Hornby uses rhetorical questions, such as ‘How come he managed to pick a duck that pathetic?’, irony and hyperbole (exaggeration) ‘he’d be imprisoned’ to convey feelings of dismay.

8. Extract analysis
 Form: Extract is written in the third person, from Marcus’s point of view, which encourages us to feel both empathy and sympathy with his situation.  Structure: Novel alternates between Marcus and Will’s points of view, which creates humour as we get to know what each character thinks of the other, e.g. when Marcus refers to Will as ‘that trendy bloke who was trying to get off with Suzie’.  Structure of the extract: Narrative, showing Marcus’s thoughts in reaction to the incident, followed by dialogue between Marcus, Suzie and Will reflecting both the conflict and humour of the situation. Free indirect style: Conveys Marcus’s voice and feelings e.g. the repetition of ‘tried’ in italics to convey the irony of achieving something he didn’t want when he often can’t achieve what he wants.

9. Extract analysis
 Informal language: Helps convey a spoken quality, e.g. ‘OK’ and the slang term ‘kids’ and euphemism ‘keel over’ to mean died in Marcus’s thoughts; elision of ‘do you’ to ‘D’you’ and the expletive ‘bloody’ in Will’s direct speech.  Humour: Will’s comment, ‘That’s not a sandwich, that’s a bloody French loaf.’ creates some humour both here and later at the end of chapter 23 when Will reminds Marcus how they first met.  Direct speech: Interaction with other characters allows for more of Marcus’s thoughts and feelings to be given in response to what others say, e.g. Will’s sarcastic repetition of ‘maybe’ leads to the comment, ‘Marcus didn’t like this bloke.’