At the C/D borderline, I find that intervention is always most needed with the reading paper. They usually know what to do with the writing, but they find the reading bit really hard.

I would begin by making reading a focus at the beginning of each lesson with a 10-15 minute starter based on a short extract from a text and getting students to unravel it using their 'reading toolkit'. By this, I mean a routine they go through with each new text to examine what the writer is doing. According to the chief examiner, mnemoncs like SMILES etc are not very useful and students need training to look at words, phrases and sentences rather than just identifying techniques.

I know that's not very clear but it's best I've got at the moment.

Eva Smith and Media Dave thanks for this. I began to think I was the only one thinking about this.  Many thanks

markuss:

Writing as someone on the assessment side

"It is good because it flows."