According to the first examiner report on the AS exams in the Summer of 2015,

“candidates have struggled to achieve high levels on all the extended open response questions of of 8 marks and above as they tended to provide generic descriptions that were often unconnected to their evaluative points, rather than developed chains of reasoning underpinned with AO1 knowledge and understanding points as required in the level mark bands”

In the send round of exams in June 2017, it became clear that the exam board felt that pupils were NOT injecting enough AO1 into their evaluative answers. However, it is essential that a balance of AO1 and AO3 is established  and it you write a block of Ao1 which ins too long, you jeopardise your chances of having enough time to properly develop your Ao3 points wot underpinning ao1 knowledge.

The exam board also highlighted how critical it is to draw conclusions throughout the essay, and most importantly, at the end of the 8+ mark questions.

They also note the importance of engaging thoroughly with the command term in the question, e.g. assess and evaluate are not the same in the exam board’s option and although they both require a conclusions to be drawn, assess and evaluate are not quite the same thing.

Try using this essay planner sheet to plan for 8 plus markers which ask you to evaluate or assess an explanation/theory :)))):

THEORIES: essay-planner-sheet-8

STUDIES: essay-planner-sheet-8-studies

DISCUSS an EXTRACT (8): DISCUSS essay-planner-sheet-8