1
Retelling the poem or writing 'everything you know' instead of answering the set question
“failed to reference the question, with candidates simply writing all they knew about the poem”— 4EA1 Paper 2, June 2023 — Introduction (less successful responses)
How to fix: Before writing a single word, underline the key focus of the question (e.g. 'sympathy', 'tension', 'loss'). Every paragraph must begin by linking your point directly back to that focus word. If you can remove a paragraph without weakening your answer to the specific question, it does not belong there. Practise filtering your anthology knowledge: ask 'does this point answer the question set, or just show I know the poem?'