Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

Critical essays
Assessment criteria
Band Mark Descriptors
Band 1 25 Answers in this band have all the qualities of Band 2 work, with further insight,
24 sensitivity, individuality and flair. They maintain sustained engagement with both
23 text and task.
Band 2 22 Sustains a perceptive, convincing and relevant personal response
21
• shows a clear critical understanding of the text
20
• responds sensitively and in detail to the way the writer achieves her/his
effects
• integrates much well-selected reference to the text
Band 3 19 Makes a well-developed, detailed and relevant personal response
18
• shows a clear understanding of the text and some of its deeper implications
17
• makes a developed response to the way the writer achieves her/his effects
• supports with careful and relevant reference to the text
Band 4 16 Makes a reasonably developed relevant personal response
15
• shows understanding of the text and some of its deeper implications
14
• makes some response to the way the writer uses language
• shows some thoroughness in the use of supporting evidence from the text
Band 5 13 Begins to develop a relevant personal response
12
• shows some understanding of meaning
11
• makes a little reference to the language of the text
• uses some supporting textual detail
Band 6 10 Attempts to communicate a basic personal response to the task
9
• makes some relevant comments
8
• shows a basic understanding of surface meaning of the text
• makes a little supporting reference to the text
Band 7 7 Some evidence of simple personal response to the task
6
• makes a few straightforward comments
5
• shows a few signs of understanding the surface meaning of the text
• makes a little reference to the text
Band 8 4 Limited attempt to respond
3
• shows some limited understanding of simple/literal meaning
2
Below Band 8 0–1 No answer/Insufficient to meet the criteria for Band 8.

6 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –Written Assignments

Example candidate response – Band 1

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 7

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

8 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –Written Assignments

Examiner comment – Band 1

This is a sustained and perceptive response to the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. The first paragraph sets
out the focus of the essay: in the candidate’s words ‘Akhmatova’s desire to be acknowledged for the
sacrificial decisions she made as a poet’ and ‘her determination to resist the norm that encourages self-
preservation over sacrifice’. There is in the body of the essay detailed examination of language and effects:
e.g. ‘Lot’s wife “turned into transparent salt”...”transparent” emphasizes her invisibility, and how easily
she is forgotten and blown away, like dust, reiterating her insignificance.’ There is also consideration of
how structure contributes to the poetry’s meanings: ‘This stanza links with the fourth, where Akhmatova
expresses her dissatisfaction in love, with the repetition of “too” in “Earth’s drinks much too sweet /
Love’s nets too close together” to stress that love is not right for her’. The analysis is sustained with the
observation: ‘Her feelings of capture and almost enslavement in relationships are conveyed...’

The response shows insight and individuality in its sustained exploration of detail from the poems. This is a
Band 1 performance.

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 9

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

Example candidate response – Band 1

10 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –Written Assignments

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 11

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

12 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –Written Assignments

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 13

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

Example candidate response – Band 1

The essay title appears prominently at the top of the essay: ‘How is the destruction of nature showcased
in both Report to Wordsworth and Lament?’ The first and final paragraphs make reference to both the
poems in connection with the essay title. Apart from this, the poems are analysed separately. The second
paragraph sensibly limits background on Wordsworth to the dates of his birth and death. Other contextual
comments relate to the text: e.g. ‘Cheng thinks all is lost so he uses lines like “You should have been
here”...because if Wordsworth was here, maybe he could convince others to save nature ... I think the
“report” Cheng is giving is a duty he feels towards Wordsworth, as if to show nature has been affected’.
The bulk of the essay consists of a detailed exploration of effects, showing a sensitive and perceptive
appreciation of detail: e.g. ‘Flowers, which are vibrant and represent beautiful life, are now “mute”, which
is a symbol of shock and fear.’ The exploration of imagery and its effects is particularly effective when
discussing Clarke’s Lament: e.g. ‘...underneath the “veil” the oil hides a deadly effect, and the images
created like “the veil of iridescence on the sand” are beautiful, but mask something of great menace’.

The response sustains a clear focus on the question and engages sensitively with the ways in which the
poets achieve their effects, showing insight and individuality. This is a Band 1 response.

In poetry (and short story) assignments, candidates should refer to two poems (stories). Experience shows
that, where candidates write about more than two, the writing can become superficial. Comparison is not a
requirement at IGCSE level.

14 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –Written Assignments

Example candidate response – Band 4

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 15

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

16 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –Written Assignments

Examiner comment – Band 4

No title is given, but it is possible to determine some focus in the first paragraph: ‘what is wrong with the
way humans treat the earth’. There then follows some elaboration in respect of each of the two poems to
be discussed. There is an overall understanding of key issues as the candidate works through each poem,
adopting an almost line-by-line approach. This is particularly noticeable in the treatment of the second
poem Report to Wordsworth. Perhaps as a result of not having the full essay title near to hand, there is
occasionally a sense of the candidate explaining the content without explicit reference to the overarching
task. Nonetheless, deeper implications are grasped: e.g. ‘both poems describe how nature has gone down
a dark road’. The candidate makes some response to the poets’ use of language, but it is uneven. There is,
for instance in paragraph three, some attempt to evaluate the phrase ‘pulsing burden’ in Lament. However,
comments on language tend to be general: e.g. ‘The metaphor “nest of sickness” conveys the feeling that
war has reached so far that there is a not a safe place left in which to dig a nest.’

In all, this response is certainly better than Band 5 ‘begins to develop a relevant personal response’, but it
does not have the clear understanding and developed response to writers’ effects that characterise a secure
Band 3 response. This is a ‘reasonably developed’ response, placing it in Band 4.

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 17

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

Example candidate response – Band 6

18 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408

 Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) –WrittenAssignments )

Cambridge International IGCSE World Literature 0408 19

Component 1: Portfolio (coursework) – Written Assignments

Examiner comment – Band 6

This is a relatively brief and under-developed response to two poems. In the absence of a title, the focus
of the essay can perhaps be gleaned from the first paragraph: ‘both show the theme of death’. This
candidate is hampered by the mistaken impression that the poems must be compared. In practice, this
leads to a simple essay structure of a couple of sentences on one poem followed by a couple of sentences
on the other, and so on. There is some relevant comment but it is not developed: e.g. ‘The author uses
onomatopoeia to describe the baby’s speech’ [in Heaney’s Mid-Term Break]. There is also other comment
that is not secure: e.g. ‘The author uses the word “stride” to show that his father was not used to funerals’.

There is overall a basic understanding of surface meaning and an attempt to communicate a basic personal
response, which places this in Band 6. It does not begin to develop a personal response to the way death is
presented in each poem. The response is a little too fragmented for that.

20 Cambridge IGCSE World Literature 0408