Ambitious GCSE vocabulary

Does Vocabulary Matter in English Language Paper 1?

Vocabulary does matter, whichever GCSE examination board you are sitting your exams for. Paper 1 will either concentrate on fiction or non-fiction, depending on the board, and you will receive a certain number of marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar, alongside content. The content mark is where vocabulary comes in, and ambitious vocabulary will certainly help to improve your mark.

How Important is Vocabulary for English Language Paper 2?

Whether English Language Paper 2 concentrates on non-fiction or fiction, vocabulary is still important. Tone is crucial in a free writing task, and clear and concise vocabulary can help to establish both tone and mood for your piece of writing. Some exam boards ask for creative writing based on a picture, and some for transactional or personal writing based on a topic. For all these questions, ambitious vocabulary is one component which will help you to achieve higher marks.

Why Vocabulary is Vital for GCSE English Literature

GCSE English Literature requires you to analyse texts and to establish a critical response. For the top bands across all exam boards, a personal response is also required, which means something that is personal to you and preferably has not been said before. Extensive and ambitious vocabulary will help you to achieve this, as you will sound authoritative and confident when discussing both poetry and prose.

Using Vocabulary Effectively in Exams

It may be useful, particularly if English is not your first language, to have a word bank and practise with this to start with. You could also develop your vocabulary through use of a thesaurus online, looking for synonyms and replacing your own words with these until they become normalised for you. Finally, do as much reading as you can; both fiction and non-fiction will help to improve your vocabulary. Above all, do remember to express yourself clearly. No-one likes struggling to understand something they are reading, especially a busy examiner with hundreds of papers to mark! Sometimes this can mean using simple language alongside more complex terminology.

Resources for Further Reading:

Website

1. Government Research into Reading

Book

1. Reading for Pleasure by Michael Rosen

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