Core Skills Toolkit

Worked examples (6)

• 1Getting started: generating the strongest case FOR and AGAINST a claim
• 2Getting started: steelmanning the counterargument (not strawmanning)
• 3Building confidence: the concede-then-refute move
• 4Building confidence: setting a criterion to weigh by
• 5Stretch: reaching a judgement that COMMITS (avoiding the fence)
• 6Stretch: rebuilding a one-sided argument into a balanced, judged one

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar

Worked examples (6)

• 1Getting started: spotting whether the question wants analysis or evaluation
• 2Getting started: moving from description up to analysis
• 3Building confidence: moving from analysis up to evaluation
• 4Building confidence: writing analysis well — chaining the 'how/why'
• 5Stretch: writing evaluation well — judgement, criteria and weighing
• 6Stretch: using analysis AND evaluation in one answer

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar

Worked examples (6)

• 1Getting started: choosing and scheduling your weekly reading
• 2Getting started: active-reading an article (argument / example / counter)
• 3Building confidence: turning a news story into a deployable example
• 4Building confidence: organising the bank by theme so you find examples fast
• 5Stretch: keeping examples specific, accurate and current
• 6Stretch: deploying a banked example precisely inside a paragraph

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 essay-skill exemplar

Worked examples (6)

• 1Getting started: upgrading vague vocabulary to precise (Paper 1)
• 2Getting started: deducing an unknown word from context (Paper 2 Q5)
• 3Building confidence: choosing a word for connotation and register (Paper 1)
• 4Building confidence: varying vocabulary to avoid repetition (Paper 1)
• 5Stretch: giving the contextual meaning, not a dictionary gloss (Paper 2 Q5)
• 6Stretch: explaining a figurative / metaphorical word in context (Paper 2 Q5)

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 Paper 2-style question (illustrative extract)
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 Paper 2-style question (illustrative extract)
• ✓Model answer — 8021 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 Paper 2-style question (illustrative extract)

Worked examples (6)

• 1Getting started: fixing subject-verb agreement and tense consistency
• 2Getting started: fixing comma splices, run-ons and sentence fragments
• 3Building confidence: apostrophes and confusables (its/it's, their/there)
• 4Building confidence: a spelling strategy for academic words without a dictionary
• 5Stretch: keeping the register consistent across a paragraph
• 6Stretch: the 2-minute proofread (the five-pass routine)

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — 8021 AO3 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 AO3 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 AO3 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 AO3 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 AO3 skill exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 AO3 skill exemplar

Worked examples (6)

• 1Getting started: building the Paper 1 75-minute plan
• 2Getting started: splitting Paper 2's 105 minutes across both sections
• 3Building confidence: allocating time WITHIN a section by marks
• 4Building confidence: reading the insert efficiently
• 5Stretch: triage — deciding what to do first under pressure
• 6Stretch: recovering when you are running behind

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — 8021 exam-technique exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 exam-technique exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 exam-technique exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 exam-technique exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 exam-technique exemplar
• ✓Model answer — 8021 exam-technique exemplar