A basis for comparison — Choose a shared issue, such as attitudes to conflict or ways of presenting a place. Compare relevant similarities and differences, not unrelated lists. A useful comparison explains how or why the relationship matters.Original explanatory model. Full-size diagram
Balanced evidence — Select evidence from both texts and explain each in context. Equal quotation length is less important than fair treatment of the question. Do not assume an earlier text is automatically harder, more formal or less relevant.
Integrated comparison — A paragraph can move between texts: Both speakers seek peace, but one uses commands while the other asks for agreement. Follow with evidence and explanation. Separate blocks about each text can work, provided the final links are explicit.
Comparing form — A speech can use delivery and direct address; a written report can offer headings and information for rereading. Compare actual choices, not stereotypes: a speech may be calm and a report strongly opinionated.
Comparing interpretations — Different readings of one passage may emphasise different evidence. Explain where they agree, what each overlooks and which better accounts for the whole passage. Avoid treating disagreement as proof that all readings are equally strong.
Rereading for comparison — Return to an earlier passage after reading the second source. An original public account may present a crowded street as lively, while a private diary presents the same street as exhausting. Compare the actual details, attitudes and language in each rather than assuming their forms determine their views. Rereading can reveal an initially overlooked similarity.
GCSE synthesis and comparison
Different reading tasks — Paper 2 Q2 is an eight-mark AO1 task drawing together information or ideas across sources. Q4 is a sixteen-mark AO3 task comparing writers' ideas/perspectives and how they are conveyed. Follow each question's actual focus. Do not turn Q2 into a device analysis essay or make Q4 only a list of content differences.
Paired original examples — Source A: “Each morning I escaped the crowded flat for the river, where the air seemed to widen.” Source B: “The river path cost me an hour; every delay threatened my wages.” A presents the route as release, while B presents it as a costly obligation. The same place is experienced differently; neither account establishes what every visitor thinks.
Supported synthesis — For a task about the walkers' circumstances, A's crowded flat suggests limited space and a desire for relief; B's threatened wages suggests dependence on punctual paid work. Bring these interpretations together around the question. The word escaped can inform the inference without a long terminology discussion when the task is AO1.
Comparing methods — For a viewpoint comparison, A's escaped and widening air associate the river with freedom; B's cost and threatened frame the route through loss and insecurity. Explain how these choices convey contrasting perspectives. Saying one uses a verb and the other uses a verb merely identifies a shared word class.
Use both sources throughout — Organise a paragraph around a shared point: both writers experience pressure, but their responses to the river differ. Develop evidence from A and B and explain the relationship. Integrated comparison is useful, but no paragraph formula is compulsory. Avoid a long account of A followed by B with no explicit links.
Similarity with qualification — Two writers can both value a place for different reasons, or describe different conditions while sharing a concerned attitude. Use comparative words that match the relationship: similarly, whereas, more cautiously, in contrast. A difference in date alone does not prove a difference in viewpoint.
Perspective and reliability — An eyewitness's location, role and purpose can limit what they observe. Context helps interpret emphasis, but do not replace evidence with stereotypes about nineteenth-century poverty or modern progress. A first-person memory is a constructed account; it can be useful while remaining selective.
Evidence planning — Make two columns with the task focus, a relevant detail from each source, an inference and a method where the question requires it. Cross out a row that lacks support in one source. Then develop a comparison that preserves both writers' meanings, rather than matching quotations merely because they repeat a word.
Test yourself
30 questions · Random sets of 10. These quick checks support revision; practise longer explanations and justified judgements too.
Mind map
Use the branches to recall the ideas and explain their connections. Check the revision notes for the full detail.
EL5 · 1
View EL5 · 1 mind mapOpen the full-size map to zoom. Use the printable view for A4 landscape or enlarge to A3.
Mr Kidman's Classroom
