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AQA (A)

Writing essays by numbers

Cara Flanagan explains how to meet the assessment objectives when writing A2 essays

Aggressive behaviour in children is learned through observation and reinforcement
Deyan Georgiev/Fotolia

All exam boards include essay questions in their exams (sometimes called extended writing questions). This column focuses on the demands of the AQA (A) A2 exam, but the principles can be applied to other boards and exams.

The key feature of such questions is that both description (AO1) and evaluation (AO2) are required. For AQA (A) A2 the marks for each of these skills is not balanced — there are 8 AO1 marks and 16 AO2 marks overall for each essay question.

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Previous

So you want to study psychology at university?

Next

The influence of childhood on adult relationships

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