paper 2 question 5 essay

AQA Language Paper 2 Q5: A* / L9 + Example Answer

Just in time for Halloween, here’s a spooky letter that argues persuasively in defence of keeping the festival going! I wrote this answer with the mark scheme in mind, so it ticks all the boxes that you would expect for a top-level grade – a clear, thorough argument with counter paragraphs, an evaluative conclusion, lots of rhetorical devices, a logical structure and more! The answer wasn’t written in timed conditions, but it is roughly the right length for the AQA GCSE Paper 2 Writing question – which you have around 45-55 minutes to answer.

If you have time, have a go at planning and maybe even writing your own piece first, before you look at the example. If you’re feeling unconfident, take a look at the planning notes for some ideas and inspiration!

Wilfred Owen’s Last Letter – Practise for GCSE and A-level English Literature

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AQA GCSE Language Paper 2

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THE QUESTION

A local priest in your community stated:

“Halloween is Satanic and encourages children to celebrate evil. It should be banned.”

Write a letter to your local newspaper, arguing against or in support of this viewpoint.

• Figure out the type of writing: LETTER 
• Audience: LOCAL NEWSPAPER, readers who live in your area 
• Opinion: (when you have more than one part to the argument, you can choose which parts to agree and disagree with) 

1. Halloween is Satanic and encourages children to celebrate evil. 

2. It should be banned. 

AGAINST: Halloween should not be banned  

• Depends on a personal choice – not everyone is religious, so some people see it as a dress up opportunity, others see it as evil 
• Children have fun trick or treating
• They pick their own outfit and dress up as whoever they want which builds their creativity.
• It is a good time to spend with family. 
• Horror and fear are natural, so we should be in tune with those 
• Most festivals have a reason behind them 
• Relgiously, Halloween is a Christian festival – the day after is called ‘All Saints Day’ – it symbolises the purification of evil 

FOR: Halloween should be banned  

• Films that are sinister and scare the children
• Brings up questions about ghosts being real or not and can traumatise people. 
• Seems to encourage evil – villains, the devil, idealising evil things 
• Encourages lack of control / chaos / disorder 
• C an be mentally scarring – frightening young children 
• Can be traumatising to people who have had genuine frightening experiences in their lives – ghosts / spirits, flashbacks of trauma or  d ifficulty 
• Religiously ‘evil’ should not be encouraged 

My opinion: Halloween should not be banned. 

Dear Local Newspaper, 

I am writing regarding the recent opinion you posted that ‘Halloween should be banned’. Personally, I feel that this is such a strange idea – especially coming from a Priest! Who are we to say what other people should, or should not, celebrate? Imagine if we banned Christmas, just because it offended some people. Imagine if birthday parties or weddings or funerals were suddenly no longer allowed. All of these ideas should sound absurd to you, and hopefully, by the end of this letter, you’ll realise that the notion of cancelling Halloween is equally bizarre and inappropriate. 

So firstly, let me address the idea that Halloween is evil. At first glance, I can see why some would view it this way: on Halloween, we dress in spooky clothes, watch spooky films and take part in spooky activities. It is a time where ghosts, demons, ghouls, monsters, witches, goblins, vampires, zombies and other nefarious entities seemingly walk the earth – pervading both our minds and our homes with fear and forcing us to confront things that usually we would avoid like the plague. Hate horror movies? There’s no escape from them on Halloween. Frightened by costumes and spooky decor? Too bad, they’re everywhere!  

However, just because we are exposed to evil things, doesn’t mean that we are ourselves, bad people! It’s a fact that throughout our lives we will all encounter evil or suffering in one form or another – perhaps we’ll get bullied at school, or cross paths with a manipulative and cruel work colleague. Perhaps a random event in our lives will lead us down a path of darkness and suffering. Halloween has an extremely important function, then, in our society: like horror films, it allows us to engage with the idea of ‘evil’ in a safe context, so that when we encounter it in our real lives we are more prepared. 

Sure, you could say that children need protection from danger. But most of them have protection for the other 364 days in the year, don’t they? We really must allow kids to experience a little horror every once in a while. It significantly contributes to their growth and maturity as human beings – giving them a more realistic and well-rounded perspective on the world. 

Besides, it’s so much fun to dress up and play games on Halloween! The very act of choosing the theme of your costume, planning or designing the outfit, and executing the finished piece – as well as the fun of seeing everybody’s else’s fancy dress concepts – is an excellent way of encouraging both strategic planning and creativity. 

It’s also a highly social occasion that fosters strong bonds with friends and family alike. When I was a teenager, I always used to take my little sister out trick-or-treating – these are some of my fondest memories of our time together, battling against the cold October nights with our witches’ hats and cauldrons brimming with sweets, we felt like we were in a film or a dream! These experiences are priceless. People who don’t celebrate Halloween are missing out. 

Finally – and this is probably the most compelling argument of all – Halloween actually is a Christian festival! To say that it’s un-Christian, evil or Satanic completely undermines the whole point of the event. Traditionally, Halloween was named ‘All Hallows Eve’, and it took place before the hallowed (a word meaning ‘holy’) day of All Saints Day on November 1st. It is clear that the festival comes from a Catholic, and therefore Christian, tradition: its original intention is to draw out all of the souls and evil spirits into the world on All Hallow’s Eve, in order to purify and purge them the following day. Therefore, even from a religious Christian perspective, it is inaccurate to view Halloween as Satanic. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and I hope you will pass on my regards to the Priest who denounced Halloween in your original article. I would very much like him to consider my thoughts, and perhaps even reply with his own responses if he feels that he has the time. Ultimately, whether a person is religious or not, I’m sure we can all unanimously agree that there are both recreational and spiritual benefits to celebrating Halloween and that if an individual doesn’t like to celebrate it then there’s nothing forcing them to do so. 

Yours sincerely, 

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AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2 – Revision Guide

Welcome to the complete revision guide for AQA GCSE English Language paper 2. Keep reading for our top tips and advice on each question, as we break down the English Language paper 2. Find out what to expect from each question, how to revise effectively and how to get top marks. 

To revise effectively for GCSE English Language you do need to set aside plenty of revision time. Our tutors always hear students say that they don’t need to – or even can’t – revise for English Language. That’s all wrong. You must   revise for the subject, you just need to know how. 

You should focus on:

• understanding how each of the papers is structured; 
• knowing what the examiner is looking for on each question; and
• doing lots of practice questions and marking your own work to improve quickly. 

You can also find our guide to AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 here .

Alongside our revision guides, our team of top English tutors provide one-to-one lessons designed specifically to help you succeed in the exams. Contact us directly to book your first lesson. 

Overview of the paper

AQA GCSE English Language paper 2 explores non-fiction writers’ viewpoints and perspectives. Section A consists of 4 questions, in which you’ll analyse two linked sources across different time periods and genres. Section B consists of a single big question where you will write your own text for a specified audience, purpose and form. Here you’ll provide your own perspective on a task related to the theme that was introduced in section A. 

There is 1 hour 45 minutes to complete the paper. There are 80 marks at stake, making up 50% of your GCSE English Language qualification. 

AQA English Language Paper 2 Section A

Read the sources carefully – spend 15 mins here.

Make sure you spend the first 10-15 minutes of the exam carefully reading the sources. You should: 

• read the texts carefully and thoroughly;
• read the questions; and
• highlight important parts of the sources for use later. 

Question 1 – select 4 true statements – spend 5 mins here

The first question should be fairly straightforward but do ensure you take a few minutes to think it through carefully. You’ll be asked to focus on a small part of source A and select four true statements from a selection of eight. Be a little careful here because there will be some statements that you think could possibly be true, but you should be able to point to where you’re told this in the text for it to be true. That will confirm your choice. 

Things to remember on this question: 

• focus only on the specific section of source A; 
• pinpoint where in the text the writer tells you each of your choices; and
• don’t spend more than 5 minutes here. 

Question 2 – summary of differences or similarities – spend 10 mins here

For question 2 you need to refer to both source A and B. The question is out of 8 marks. You’ll be asked to write a summary of the differences or similarities between something/ someone in source A and something/ someone in source B. You don’t need to worry about analysing language or structure here, simply identify 3-4 differences or similarities (focused on what is in your specific question). Summarise each of the differences in turn, with quotations, and explore perceptive inferences from both texts. Inferences are not explicitly said, they are the extra layers of understanding that are suggested by the writer and which you pick up  from “reading between the lines”. To get top marks you need to examine what the writers imply about the issue.  

Things to remember for this question: 

• you do  not  need to analyse any language or structure here;
• focus on explaining perceptive inferences from both texts to explain the key differences or similarities; and
• cover three or four points with quotations. 

Question 3 – the writer’s use of language to describe something – spend 12 mins here

There are 12 marks up for grabs here. You will always be asked, ‘how does the writer use language to describe…’ followed by something specific from part of one source. You need to analyse the effects of the writer’s choice of language. Make around four points and explore them using good quotations and sophisticated use of subject terminology. The language features you pick out could include things like: metaphors, similes, alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, sentence forms and the use of specific types of words or phrases. 

• focus on analysing the effects of the writer’s choice of language; 
• use accurate subject terminology by identifying specific language techniques; and
• cover four points with excellent quotations. 

Question 4 – comparing different perspectives – spend 18 mins here

Question 4 is a bigger, extended question with 16 marks at stake. As such, the examiner is expecting more from you. The question will always ask you to “compare how the writers convey their different perspectives/attitudes about…” something specific to the sources. You need to perceptively compare their different perspectives or attitudes, and most importantly,  compare the methods the writers use  to convey their different perspectives or attitudes. Everything is in scope here, so you can analyse any methods, including both language and structure. Aim to write about four good comparison points. These four paragraphs will cover both sources (in order to compare them properly) and they’ll be more developed than in the earlier questions. 

• keep focused on the specific task in the question;
• analyse the methods used by the writers to convey their attitudes to the topic; and
• consider both language and structure. 

AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2 Section B

Question 5 – writing to present a viewpoint – spend 45 mins here.

Question 5 provides your opportunity to show the examiner how you can write effectively to explain your point of view on a specific issue. There are a whopping 40 marks up for grabs here, so make sure you spend the full 45 mins doing this question. You’ll be given a statement on an issue related to those discussed in section A. Your task will be to write in a specific form, for a specific audience, to present your point of view on the issue. You might be asked to write a newspaper article, letter or speech, amongst other forms. The marks are allocated specifically, with 24 marks available for content and organisation and 16 marks for technical accuracy (spelling, punctuation and grammar). 

To do well in this question we recommend spending the first 5 minutes thinking deeply about the task and planning your answer. This plan will ensure your answer has a good, consistent argument and structure. When writing, make sure your style and use of language reflects the form and audience of the task. Use ambitious vocabulary, language techniques and structural features to really demonstrate what you can do. You should, of course, always ensure your spelling, punctuation and grammar are spot on. Leave a couple of minutes at the end to double check your technical accuracy. 

• match your style of writing to the purpose and audience of the task; 
• plan your answer first;
• leave the full 45 minutes to complete the task fully; and
• use ambitious vocabulary, language and structural features to present your viewpoint and really show the examiner what you can do. 

Now Keep revising for your AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2

The key thing after reading this guide is to practise. Do as many past papers and practice questions as you can. Mark your own work and try answering the questions again focusing on areas to develop. You can find all of the past AQA papers here . For fully personalised advice and support, why not try a lesson with one of our online GCSE English experts? Simply drop us a quick message and we’ll arrange your free tutoring consultation. 

Mr Hanson's English

Discovering english and film, writing skills: english language paper 2 question 5.

You can skip the boring bits if you want and use the slides here: https://1drv.ms/p/s!AnpvBTL12aDNijdfIacMS01HHAfB

Here’s a series of slides that might be of some use if you’re teaching writing skills for Language paper 2. I delivered this remotely to a whole cohort of Year 11s. The question is based on experiences of lockdown and certainly elicited some enthusiastic, varied, and passionate responses from the children. The simple structure of ‘because – but -so’ is, of course, stolen completely from Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler’s book, The Writing Revolution.

The reason I adopted this framework is to move children towards a form of dialectical thinking . Often, as an examiner on this paper, I encounter responses which are dominated by one opinion (thus becoming a bit of a rant); on other occasions I find that responses offer a ‘pro-con’ approach which make an effective argument for both sides but also tend to obscure the writer’s position. Whilst there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this form of ‘discussion writing’ (see Extending Literacy, Wray and Lewis, 1997), the mark scheme and exemplar material for the writing question on paper 2 call for a nuanced approach which adopts a clear point of view (at least to get into level 3). Thus, the ‘ beca use-but-so ‘ structure encourages writers to think around the provocative statements that characterise this question. Now, like any framework, the ‘because-but-so’ structure is not a universal elixir which resolves the challenge of children’s writing, in fact you could argue that it is more of a cognitive stimulus that draws on classical models of dialectical thought (Socrates), filtered through Hegel before landing here for my reductive approach (sorry, all you classical thinkers). Indeed, I find the ‘but’ and the ‘so’ a bit constraining at times (you will see from the slides that I offer alternative conjunctions and connectives to the children). Anyway, here are the slides:

The above grid provides an ‘at a glance’ assessment model. The levels refer to AQA levels and, of course, level 3 is often perceived as the ‘holy grail’. I’ve adapted some of the mark scheme statements here. The important thing here is that a ‘mark-scheme clear’ is achieved through an essay that offers an identifiable point-of-view (hence the title of the lesson, ‘Taking a Stand’). It requires writers to take a step back from the provocative statement and consider their own opinions. This has been variously described as the ‘thesis statement’ or the ‘big idea’. The notion of a thesis is, of course, part of the dialectical process.

In the above slide, you can see how I’m adapting the ‘BBS’ model to provoke wider, more considered and more original responses from children. I was running this session with over 90 children at a time, so individual responses were at a premium, but the children who did engage in the ‘chat’ were able to express some strong opinions using these sentence stems (and, of course, how wonderful it will be when we can get them in a room together and use these stems to reinforce children’s oracy skills).

I used the above slide to signpost the rest of the lesson and to illustrate how the BBS structure will be used.

Taking one section at a time, I asked pupils to complete the sentence stems (see above) and modelled a response (see the slide below).

Here I demonstrated how the BBS connectives can be replaced by others that might be more appropriate to the tone or shift in ideas.

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11 thoughts on “ writing skills: english language paper 2 question 5 ”.

Hope it helps!

This looks great and I’d really like to use it. Are the slides available/shared anywhere as a PowerPoint file? Thanks

I’ll put a link to the PPT on the blog a little later on today!

Like Liked by 1 person

Dear Mr Hanson,

This is really useful. If you are happy for me to use your power point with my GCSE classes, please could you send the ppt as an attachment?

With thanks,

Alison Rawle English teacher and Professional Tutor ________________________________

Hi Alison I’ll put a link to the PPT on the blog a little later on today!

A couple of other points too. I notice that you do not include many AFOREST ingredients in your argument. Is this because what you have provided is just the “bare bones” of your argument, or have we moved away from rewarding these rhetorical devices for the variety they provide?

Secondly, I would normally discourage the use of “I” in my students’ writing, preferring a direct appeal to the reader “Have you…Could you…”. Is this unnecessary? Could you get a grade 9 while using I repeatedly?

Thanks for your enlightening resources and thoughts so far – I always enjoy and benefit from your insights.

Alison Rawle ________________________________

Hi Alison. I focused solely on the structure of ‘because-but-so’; I think I address some of those other points in other blogs. When I delivered the lessons, I talked with children about ‘levelling up’ our language, using rhetorical features, and adopting a style that is suitable to the argument, and I would expect English teachers would do the same. This is merely a structural framework, so please use, change, and adapt as you wish. Happy to help!

This website has not helped me in any way possible, it is too worded and does not give you a straight answer. I could not recommend anyone here in a million years.

Your feedback is welcome. Thank you.

Thank you very much – this is really clearly explained and I will be using it with my students. Thanks for making the slides available to all.

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Paper 2 Marked Answers

Looking at examples of marked answers is a great way to help you understand the skills you need to show for each question and the level of detail you need to include. on each answer you'll see annotations from the examiner in the margin. these show where the student has included a skill and at what level. at the end you'll see the final mark., these are example answers from the june 2019 paper 2. you can find the whole paper  here ..

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English A: Language and Literature Support Site

Practice paper 2 questions.

What do Paper 2 exams look like? The document below shows several Paper 2-style questions. Feel free to 'make a copy' of these Google Docs and edit them for your own purposes. These questions were inspired by colleagues and past papers. They are not 'official' in any way and are intended for in-school practice and guidance. There are no marking notes or suggested answers. 

Study the questions in the Practice Paper 2s. What kinds of trends and patterns do you notice? If you were to make a prediction about the kinds of questions that will appear on this year's exam, what would you predict?

Compare the questions from the Practice Paper 2s to the Areas of Exploration. How are they similar or different? Check out the page on the 7 concepts from this course. How do these questions encourage you to explore these concepts ?

The Practice Paper 2s consist of four questions. Actual IB Paper 2 may not be organised this way, but these practiced questions are designed to help you prepare for the following types of questions: 

The first question is about a stylistic or structural feature. These types of questions lend themselves well to Criterion B: analysis and evaluation. If the feature is about 'narrative perspective', for example, you may want to write body paragraphs on related features, such as flashbacks, dialogue and characterisation. As always, connect form to meaning, while answering the question. 

The second question is intentionally difficult. The IB has been known to include questions that require deeper understanding of literature and contexts. Questions about how the meaning of a work has evolved over time or how the author 's life has influenced the work are difficult (if not impossible) to answer. If you do not feel confident exploring answering these types of questions, avoid them! 

The third question is often about some kind of conflict or struggle. These struggles may be between competing concepts , such as 'new' and 'old', or juxtaposed settings, like 'rural' and 'urban', or characters, such as 'men' and 'women'. As you prepare your works, consider conflict, paradox and juxtaposition. You may be able to do something with these ideas or your Paper 2 response. 

The fourth question in these Practice Paper 2 questions relates to an abstract concept, such as justice, faith, home, wealth or identity. These may or may not be related to one of the 7 concepts from the course: identity, communication, creativity, representation, transformation, perspective or culture. Discussing literary works in relation to these concepts is good preparation for Paper 2. 

Even though you will not know the essay questions before the exam, you can still prepare for the exam. You can practice connecting works, by making diagrams like the diagram on this page . You can practice unpacking P2 questions , using activities like the one on this page . You'll notice on both pages that novels, plays and graphic novels tend to work well for Paper 2 responses, as question often ask about setting, events, characters, conflicts and other literary features of these literary forms. 

Related pages

• Paper 2 instructions
• Guide and outline: Concepts
• Paper 2 example: The Great Gatsby and The Reluctant Fundamentalist

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AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 Scheme of Work

Subject: English

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

17 March 2022

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NEW AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 SOW that works in conjunction with this pack of resources.

Includes differentiated activities and resource ideas throughout, as well as links to all relevant resources, PowerPoints and further student and teacher notes and guidance.

Covers non-fiction writing (speeches, magazine articles, newspaper articles, letters, essays and more).

Check out our English Shop for loads more free and inexpensive KS3, KS4, KS5, Literacy and whole school resources.

AQA English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2 Knowledge Organisers AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A package AQA English Language Paper 1 Sections A and B package AQA English Language Paper 1 package AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 package AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5 package AQA English Language Paper 2 Section A package AQA English Language and English Literature revision package

An Inspector Calls whole scheme package An Inspector Calls revision package

Macbeth whole scheme package Macbeth revision package

A Christmas Carol whole scheme package A Christmas Carol revision package

Jekyll and Hyde whole scheme package Jekyll and Hyde revision package

Romeo and Juliet whole scheme package

Power and Conflict poetry comparing poems package Power and Conflict poetry whole scheme package

Love and Relationships poetry whole scheme package

Unseen Poetry whole scheme package

Or check out some Citizenship GCSE, RE, PSHE + RSE resources at EC Resources

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Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 79%

A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

English Schemes of Work

We've put this bundle together so people can find our English schemes of work quickly: An Inspector Calls AQA English Language Paper 1 AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A and B Macbeth AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5 AQA English Language Paper 2 Section A and B A Christmas Carol A Midsummer Night's Dream With more to come soon! **Check out our [English Shop](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Lead_Practitioner) for loads more free and inexpensive KS3, KS4, KS5, Literacy and whole school resources.** [AQA English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2 Knowledge Organisers](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12063979) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11757237) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Sections A and B package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11747224) [AQA English Language Paper 1 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11561370) [AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11899610) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11483869) [AQA English Language Paper 2 Section A package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11828984) [AQA English Language and English Literature revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11449199) [An Inspector Calls whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11711589) [An Inspector Calls revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/an-inspector-calls-gcse-9-1-exam-practice-11850503) [Macbeth whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11702645) [Macbeth revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11904820) [A Christmas Carol whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11718691) [A Christmas Carol revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12080244) [Jekyll and Hyde whole scheme package ](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11607362) [Jekyll and Hyde revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11904852) [Romeo and Juliet whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11903624) [Power and Conflict poetry comparing poems package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11843215) [Power and Conflict poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11563766) [Love and Relationships poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11924178) [Unseen Poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11843275) Or check out some Citizenship GCSE, RE, PSHE + RSE resources at [EC Resources](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/EC_Resources)

AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5

A collection of TWENTY English Language Paper 2 Question 5 lessons (17 x1 hour and 3x 2 hour) that cover writing to argue, writing to advise, writing to persuade, letter writing and essay writing. A great collection of differentiated activities, modelled examples, scaffolded sentences and guided peer and self reflection that enables students to learn from others and improve their non-fiction writing in preparation for AQA English Language Paper 2 Section B or Question 5. The suggested order of lessons is as follows (although this is by no means obligatory): * AQA Paper 2 Section B Speech Writing * Speech Openers * Churchill Speech Writing * Lincoln Speech Writing * Speech Structure * Newspaper Writing * Magazine Article Writing * Writing to Persuade - Football * Greta Thunberg Speech Writing * Black History Month - Essay Writing * Writing to Advise * Letter Writing - Writing A Formal Letter * Writing to Persuade - Letters of Complaint * AQA English Language Exam Prep/Mock prep lesson Pack also contains: * Assessment planning for writing to argue - could be used as a separate writing to argue lesson * Assessment planning for letter writing - could be used as a separate letter writing lesson * Paper 2 Question 5 revision pack * Knowledge organiser for revision * June 2018 AQA exam review lesson if you use this paper as a mock/prep **Check out our [English Shop](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Lead_Practitioner) for loads more free and inexpensive KS3, KS4, KS5, Literacy and whole school resources.** [AQA English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2 Knowledge Organisers](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12063979) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11757237) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Sections A and B package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11747224) [AQA English Language Paper 1 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11561370) [AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11899610) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11483869) [AQA English Language Paper 2 Section A package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11828984) [AQA English Language and English Literature revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11449199) [An Inspector Calls whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11711589) [An Inspector Calls revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/an-inspector-calls-gcse-9-1-exam-practice-11850503) [Macbeth whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11702645) [Macbeth revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11904820) [A Christmas Carol whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11718691) [A Christmas Carol revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12080244) [Jekyll and Hyde whole scheme package ](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11607362) [Jekyll and Hyde revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11904852) [Romeo and Juliet whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11903624) [Power and Conflict poetry comparing poems package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11843215) [Power and Conflict poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11563766) [Love and Relationships poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11924178) [Unseen Poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11843275)

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Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024

Confidence in U.S. public opinion polling was shaken by errors in 2016 and 2020. In both years’ general elections, many polls underestimated the strength of Republican candidates, including Donald Trump. These errors laid bare some real limitations of polling.

In the midterms that followed those elections, polling performed better . But many Americans remain skeptical that it can paint an accurate portrait of the public’s political preferences.

Restoring people’s confidence in polling is an important goal, because robust and independent public polling has a critical role to play in a democratic society. It gathers and publishes information about the well-being of the public and about citizens’ views on major issues. And it provides an important counterweight to people in power, or those seeking power, when they make claims about “what the people want.”

The challenges facing polling are undeniable. In addition to the longstanding issues of rising nonresponse and cost, summer 2024 brought extraordinary events that transformed the presidential race . The good news is that people with deep knowledge of polling are working hard to fix the problems exposed in 2016 and 2020, experimenting with more data sources and interview approaches than ever before. Still, polls are more useful to the public if people have realistic expectations about what surveys can do well – and what they cannot.

With that in mind, here are some key points to know about polling heading into this year’s presidential election.

Probability sampling (or “random sampling”). This refers to a polling method in which survey participants are recruited using random sampling from a database or list that includes nearly everyone in the population. The pollster selects the sample. The survey is not open for anyone who wants to sign up.

Online opt-in polling (or “nonprobability sampling”). These polls are recruited using a variety of methods that are sometimes referred to as “convenience sampling.” Respondents come from a variety of online sources such as ads on social media or search engines, websites offering rewards in exchange for survey participation, or self-enrollment. Unlike surveys with probability samples, people can volunteer to participate in opt-in surveys.

Nonresponse and nonresponse bias. Nonresponse is when someone sampled for a survey does not participate. Nonresponse bias occurs when the pattern of nonresponse leads to error in a poll estimate. For example, college graduates are more likely than those without a degree to participate in surveys, leading to the potential that the share of college graduates in the resulting sample will be too high.

Mode of interview. This refers to the format in which respondents are presented with and respond to survey questions. The most common modes are online, live telephone, text message and paper. Some polls use more than one mode.

Weighting. This is a statistical procedure pollsters perform to make their survey align with the broader population on key characteristics like age, race, etc. For example, if a survey has too many college graduates compared with their share in the population, people without a college degree are “weighted up” to match the proper share.

How are election polls being conducted?

Pollsters are making changes in response to the problems in previous elections. As a result, polling is different today than in 2016. Most U.S. polling organizations that conducted and publicly released national surveys in both 2016 and 2022 (61%) used methods in 2022 that differed from what they used in 2016 . And change has continued since 2022.

One change is that the number of active polling organizations has grown significantly, indicating that there are fewer barriers to entry into the polling field. The number of organizations that conduct national election polls more than doubled between 2000 and 2022.

This growth has been driven largely by pollsters using inexpensive opt-in sampling methods. But previous Pew Research Center analyses have demonstrated how surveys that use nonprobability sampling may have errors twice as large , on average, as those that use probability sampling.

The second change is that many of the more prominent polling organizations that use probability sampling – including Pew Research Center – have shifted from conducting polls primarily by telephone to using online methods, or some combination of online, mail and telephone. The result is that polling methodologies are far more diverse now than in the past.

(For more about how public opinion polling works, including a chapter on election polls, read our short online course on public opinion polling basics .)

All good polling relies on statistical adjustment called “weighting,” which makes sure that the survey sample aligns with the broader population on key characteristics. Historically, public opinion researchers have adjusted their data using a core set of demographic variables to correct imbalances between the survey sample and the population.

But there is a growing realization among survey researchers that weighting a poll on just a few variables like age, race and gender is insufficient for getting accurate results. Some groups of people – such as older adults and college graduates – are more likely to take surveys, which can lead to errors that are too sizable for a simple three- or four-variable adjustment to work well. Adjusting on more variables produces more accurate results, according to Center studies in 2016 and 2018 .

A number of pollsters have taken this lesson to heart. For example, recent high-quality polls by Gallup and The New York Times/Siena College adjusted on eight and 12 variables, respectively. Our own polls typically adjust on 12 variables . In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be necessary to have that much intervention by the pollster. But the real world of survey research is not perfect.

Predicting who will vote is critical – and difficult. Preelection polls face one crucial challenge that routine opinion polls do not: determining who of the people surveyed will actually cast a ballot.

Roughly a third of eligible Americans do not vote in presidential elections , despite the enormous attention paid to these contests. Determining who will abstain is difficult because people can’t perfectly predict their future behavior – and because many people feel social pressure to say they’ll vote even if it’s unlikely.

No one knows the profile of voters ahead of Election Day. We can’t know for sure whether young people will turn out in greater numbers than usual, or whether key racial or ethnic groups will do so. This means pollsters are left to make educated guesses about turnout, often using a mix of historical data and current measures of voting enthusiasm. This is very different from routine opinion polls, which mostly do not ask about people’s future intentions.

When major news breaks, a poll’s timing can matter. Public opinion on most issues is remarkably stable, so you don’t necessarily need a recent poll about an issue to get a sense of what people think about it. But dramatic events can and do change public opinion , especially when people are first learning about a new topic. For example, polls this summer saw notable changes in voter attitudes following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. Polls taken immediately after a major event may pick up a shift in public opinion, but those shifts are sometimes short-lived. Polls fielded weeks or months later are what allow us to see whether an event has had a long-term impact on the public’s psyche.

How accurate are polls?

The answer to this question depends on what you want polls to do. Polls are used for all kinds of purposes in addition to showing who’s ahead and who’s behind in a campaign. Fair or not, however, the accuracy of election polling is usually judged by how closely the polls matched the outcome of the election.

By this standard, polling in 2016 and 2020 performed poorly. In both years, state polling was characterized by serious errors. National polling did reasonably well in 2016 but faltered in 2020.

In 2020, a post-election review of polling by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) found that “the 2020 polls featured polling error of an unusual magnitude: It was the highest in 40 years for the national popular vote and the highest in at least 20 years for state-level estimates of the vote in presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial contests.”

How big were the errors? Polls conducted in the last two weeks before the election suggested that Biden’s margin over Trump was nearly twice as large as it ended up being in the final national vote tally.

Errors of this size make it difficult to be confident about who is leading if the election is closely contested, as many U.S. elections are .

Pollsters are rightly working to improve the accuracy of their polls. But even an error of 4 or 5 percentage points isn’t too concerning if the purpose of the poll is to describe whether the public has favorable or unfavorable opinions about candidates , or to show which issues matter to which voters. And on questions that gauge where people stand on issues, we usually want to know broadly where the public stands. We don’t necessarily need to know the precise share of Americans who say, for example, that climate change is mostly caused by human activity. Even judged by its performance in recent elections, polling can still provide a faithful picture of public sentiment on the important issues of the day.

The 2022 midterms saw generally accurate polling, despite a wave of partisan polls predicting a broad Republican victory. In fact, FiveThirtyEight found that “polls were more accurate in 2022 than in any cycle since at least 1998, with almost no bias toward either party.” Moreover, a handful of contrarian polls that predicted a 2022 “red wave” largely washed out when the votes were tallied. In sum, if we focus on polling in the most recent national election, there’s plenty of reason to be encouraged.

Compared with other elections in the past 20 years, polls have been less accurate when Donald Trump is on the ballot. Preelection surveys suffered from large errors – especially at the state level – in 2016 and 2020, when Trump was standing for election. But they performed reasonably well in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, when he was not.

During the 2016 campaign, observers speculated about the possibility that Trump supporters might be less willing to express their support to a pollster – a phenomenon sometimes described as the “shy Trump effect.” But a committee of polling experts evaluated five different tests of the “shy Trump” theory and turned up little to no evidence for each one . Later, Pew Research Center and, in a separate test, a researcher from Yale also found little to no evidence in support of the claim.

Instead, two other explanations are more likely. One is about the difficulty of estimating who will turn out to vote. Research has found that Trump is popular among people who tend to sit out midterms but turn out for him in presidential election years. Since pollsters often use past turnout to predict who will vote, it can be difficult to anticipate when irregular voters will actually show up.

The other explanation is that Republicans in the Trump era have become a little less likely than Democrats to participate in polls . Pollsters call this “partisan nonresponse bias.” Surprisingly, polls historically have not shown any particular pattern of favoring one side or the other. The errors that favored Democratic candidates in the past eight years may be a result of the growth of political polarization, along with declining trust among conservatives in news organizations and other institutions that conduct polls.

Whatever the cause, the fact that Trump is again the nominee of the Republican Party means that pollsters must be especially careful to make sure all segments of the population are properly represented in surveys.

The real margin of error is often about double the one reported. A typical election poll sample of about 1,000 people has a margin of sampling error that’s about plus or minus 3 percentage points. That number expresses the uncertainty that results from taking a sample of the population rather than interviewing everyone . Random samples are likely to differ a little from the population just by chance, in the same way that the quality of your hand in a card game varies from one deal to the next.

The problem is that sampling error is not the only kind of error that affects a poll. Those other kinds of error, in fact, can be as large or larger than sampling error. Consequently, the reported margin of error can lead people to think that polls are more accurate than they really are.

There are three other, equally important sources of error in polling: noncoverage error , where not all the target population has a chance of being sampled; nonresponse error, where certain groups of people may be less likely to participate; and measurement error, where people may not properly understand the questions or misreport their opinions. Not only does the margin of error fail to account for those other sources of potential error, putting a number only on sampling error implies to the public that other kinds of error do not exist.

Several recent studies show that the average total error in a poll estimate may be closer to twice as large as that implied by a typical margin of sampling error. This hidden error underscores the fact that polls may not be precise enough to call the winner in a close election.

Other important things to remember

Transparency in how a poll was conducted is associated with better accuracy . The polling industry has several platforms and initiatives aimed at promoting transparency in survey methodology. These include AAPOR’s transparency initiative and the Roper Center archive . Polling organizations that participate in these organizations have less error, on average, than those that don’t participate, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight found .

Participation in these transparency efforts does not guarantee that a poll is rigorous, but it is undoubtedly a positive signal. Transparency in polling means disclosing essential information, including the poll’s sponsor, the data collection firm, where and how participants were selected, modes of interview, field dates, sample size, question wording, and weighting procedures.

There is evidence that when the public is told that a candidate is extremely likely to win, some people may be less likely to vote . Following the 2016 election, many people wondered whether the pervasive forecasts that seemed to all but guarantee a Hillary Clinton victory – two modelers put her chances at 99% – led some would-be voters to conclude that the race was effectively over and that their vote would not make a difference. There is scientific research to back up that claim: A team of researchers found experimental evidence that when people have high confidence that one candidate will win, they are less likely to vote. This helps explain why some polling analysts say elections should be covered using traditional polling estimates and margins of error rather than speculative win probabilities (also known as “probabilistic forecasts”).

National polls tell us what the entire public thinks about the presidential candidates, but the outcome of the election is determined state by state in the Electoral College . The 2000 and 2016 presidential elections demonstrated a difficult truth: The candidate with the largest share of support among all voters in the United States sometimes loses the election. In those two elections, the national popular vote winners (Al Gore and Hillary Clinton) lost the election in the Electoral College (to George W. Bush and Donald Trump). In recent years, analysts have shown that Republican candidates do somewhat better in the Electoral College than in the popular vote because every state gets three electoral votes regardless of population – and many less-populated states are rural and more Republican.

For some, this raises the question: What is the use of national polls if they don’t tell us who is likely to win the presidency? In fact, national polls try to gauge the opinions of all Americans, regardless of whether they live in a battleground state like Pennsylvania, a reliably red state like Idaho or a reliably blue state like Rhode Island. In short, national polls tell us what the entire citizenry is thinking. Polls that focus only on the competitive states run the risk of giving too little attention to the needs and views of the vast majority of Americans who live in uncompetitive states – about 80%.

Fortunately, this is not how most pollsters view the world . As the noted political scientist Sidney Verba explained, “Surveys produce just what democracy is supposed to produce – equal representation of all citizens.”

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Scott Keeter is a senior survey advisor at Pew Research Center .

Courtney Kennedy is Vice President of Methods and Innovation at Pew Research Center .

How do people in the U.S. take Pew Research Center surveys, anyway?

How public polling has changed in the 21st century, what 2020’s election poll errors tell us about the accuracy of issue polling, a field guide to polling: election 2020 edition, methods 101: how is polling done around the world, most popular.

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Paper 2 Question 2: Model Answer ( AQA GCSE English Language )

Revision note.

Paper 2 Question 2: Model Answer

For Question 2, you will be set a question which assesses your ability to write a summary by synthesising and interpreting evidence from both sources, according to a given focus. You will be asked to comment on both source texts.

Below you will find detailed model answers to an example of Question 2, under the following sub-headings:

Choosing what to summarise in the summary question

Structuring your summary, developing your summary.

• Question 2: Level 4 model answer

Key points to remember for Question 2

• This is more beneficial than making a larger number of less precise inferences
• This is true regardless of whether the focus of the question is concrete or abstract
• Where the focus of the question is on similarities, comments on differences will also be rewarded if they are appropriate to the focus of the question

Whilst there will always be a number of textual details that you can use, in practice you should be selective about the ones that you can infer something about. 

You should always bear in mind that time is commensurate with the marks and weighting for this question, so you should not cite too many textual examples as this could lead you to treat each one superficially.

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Author: Nick

Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.