AO2 across the whole specification
AO2 is the analytical reading objective that runs through Components 1 and 2. It tests your ability to explain HOW a writer's choices produce specific effects on the reader, using accurate subject terminology.
The three AO2 ingredients
A complete AO2 paragraph contains three elements:
- A focused point about a writer's choice.
- Embedded textual evidence (a short quotation).
- Detailed analysis of HOW the choice creates the effect.
What counts as language?
- Word classes (verbs, adjectives, adverbs, abstract or concrete nouns)
- Imagery (metaphor, simile, personification, pathetic fallacy)
- Sound patterns (alliteration, sibilance, assonance, onomatopoeia)
- Connotation (the associations a word carries beyond its dictionary meaning)
- Sentence length and type (short declarative for impact, periodic for tension)
What counts as structure?
- Where the extract opens, develops, climaxes and closes.
- Shifts in focus (zoom in to a detail; pan out to a setting).
- Contrasts between paragraphs.
- Time-shifts (flashback, flash-forward).
- Repetition or motif.
- The final line and its function.
The PEEZL paragraph
A reliable WJEC paragraph uses Point — Evidence — Explain — Zoom — Link. Zoom is the highest-mark step: pick one word from your quotation and analyse its connotations.
Subject terminology
Use the right name for the technique only if you can also explain its effect. "Sibilance" without explanation is worth less than "the soft 's' sounds" with full analysis.
⚠Common mistakes— Common errors
Feature-spotting (listing techniques without effects); over-quoting; analysing what a character does instead of how the writer presents the character. Always make the writer the subject of your sentence: "Roberts uses..." rather than "John feels...".
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-wjec-english-language-leaves