In this video, Mrs Wear explains AQA Paper 2 Question 4, which is worth 16 marks and should take about 20 minutes. She stresses that the focus is always on comparing the writers’ views. Students must consistently use phrases like “the writer in Source A thinks…” and “the writer in Source B believes…” to show awareness of perspectives and ideas. The key is to prove what those views are by using quotations and then analysing them — looking at language, structure, genre, text type, or purpose. Importantly, she reminds students not to drift into historical context (like 19th-century background) — this is English Language, not History. Essentially, it’s about sticking to the views, supporting with evidence, and analysing how they are presented.
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AQA Paper 2 Question 4: Comparing Writers' Viewpoints
AQA Paper 2, Question 4 (16 marks)
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Sign inThis question is worth 16 marks, which means you should spend about 20 minutes answering the question. You would have also spent a little bit of time on it in your 15 minutes reading time where you would have had a chance to think and plan. This question is going to going to ask you to compare the views of the writers. Now, that is really important because you have to constantly use use phrases like the writer thinks, the writer in source A thinks this while the writer of source B thinks this. Keep using language like their views, their perspectives, their ideas so that you're clearly answering the question. Other than that, it's a typical analysis question. Make sure to prove what their ideas are, what their views are. You're
providing quotations that show their views, and you are analyzing absolutely anything you want in that. Language, structure, genre, text type, purpose, all of that. One thing you should not do is talk about 19th century context cuz this ain't history.
4 quick questions. Check what you remember from the video.