Summer 2022 – advance information – FAQs for GCSE, AS and A Level Latin and Classical Greek

Alex Orgee – Classics Subject Advisor

In the past weeks, we’ve been running online Q&A events to give you a chance to ask subject-specific questions about this year’s advance information (AI). This followed our more general FAQ blogs for teachers and for students. In this blog, I’ve summarised the questions relating to GCSE, AS and A Level Latin and Classical Greek that were asked at our recent Q&A event.

For GCSE Literature components, could a part of the text not in the advanced information be used for a question where a translation is provided?

The AI for both Latin and Classical Greek provides a narrower selection of material from which the passages printed on the question paper will be drawn from. 

The AI covers all of the passages that will be printed on the question paper. Therefore, the AI includes the passage which will have an accompanying translation. 

In the advanced information for Latin GCSE J282/05, Verse Literature B, it gives one of the sections as lines 544-549 which is the speech Pyrrhus gives to Priam before he kills him. However it misses out the last two words of this speech ‘nunc morere’ which appear at the beginning of line 550. Is this deliberate? 

I can confirm that the Advance Information is correct and that the section from 544-549 ends with ‘narrare momento’. ‘nunc morere’ is on line 550, so is not part of the passages listed in the AI that might be printed in the question paper. 

Please note that students are still expected to have studied the whole set text, but the material not listed in the AI can be studied and revised in translation. This is to ensure that students understand the context of the passages listed in the AI but also to ensure that they are fully prepared for the 10-mark essay question. 

Could a contextual question draw upon information not in the passages selected in the AI? 

Yes. The AI for GCSE, AS and A Level lists a narrower selection of the set texts from which the passage(s) printed on the question paper will be drawn from. “The rest of each prescribed text should be studied in English both to provide the necessary context …” 

Therefore, it could be possible for a question to target some of the contextual knowledge that students would have gained by studying the material not listed in the AI. 

Will the insert for the Literature and Culture paper include unseen sources? 

Yes, the format and structure of the Literature and Culture papers have not changed for 2022, so the question paper insert for both Latin and Classical Greek will contain ‘unseen sources’, i.e. sources not listed in the prescribed sources booklet. 

The prescribed sources for Literature and Culture have nearly all been cut. Is it possible that sources originally prescribed will be set in the exam as “unseen” sources? 

The prescribed sources for the GCSE Latin and Classical Greek Literature and Culture papers have not been cut. The AI for the Literature and Culture papers list the prescribed sources that will be printed on the question paper insert.

The AI has not reduced the prescribed sources to just those on the AI. Therefore, the only prescribed sources printed on the question paper insert are those listed in the AI. The unseen sources that will be printed on the question paper insert will be other sources that link to the topics listed on the AI.

Therefore, students still need to the study the prescribed sources from the prescribed sources booklet as well as other ‘unseen’ (i.e. non-prescribed sources) in order to be fully prepared for the exam. 

What about prescribed sources listed under topics which have been cut? So the Acropolis is cut – can we assume they will not need to refer to the plan of the Acropolis? 

As mentioned to the previous question, the prescribed sources have not been cut. 

When writing the AI, the author of the notice looked at the questions in the 2022 exam paper and the sources in the question paper insert and decided which specification topic area they directly targeted. Therefore, given that ‘The Acropolis’ topic area is not listed on the AI, there will not be any direct questions about the contents listed under this topic area in the Classical Greek Literature and Culture paper, nor will a plan of the Acropolis appear on the question paper insert. If this had been the case, then this topic would have been included in the AI. 

The policy intention of the AI is that all specification content is taught, and our advice is that all of the content is revised. This is to ensure that candidates are as well prepared as possible for the exams. For example, students could, depending on the precise question asked, bring in relevant information or sources relating to the acropolis topic area. This is most likely to be the 8- and 12-mark questions which ask students to bring in other sources. If it was relevant to the precise question asked, students would gain credit for this information and any associated analysis and evaluation.

Students can, however, focus their revision on the areas listed in the AI. 

For the Group 1/3, is there any need to learn the text in English outside the AI sections if a different text is being done for Group 2/4 and Section C? 

Yes, students, regardless of whether they are studying Group 1/3 and Group 2/4 texts from the same author or mixing and matching different authors, will need to study all of the texts listed in the specification for the Group 1 and Group 3 texts. This is to ensure that students have the appropriate contextual knowledge for any of the questions that may appear in Section A of the Literature question papers. 

The material not included in the AI can be studied/revised in translation rather than Latin or Greek though. 

For A Level literature, do pupils still need to refer to the provided English reading for Groups 2 and Groups 4 for the 20-mark essay in Section C? (i.e. the sections which the specification dictates should be read in English.) 

Yes. The rest of the set texts not listed in the AI must still be studied but this can be in translation rather than in Latin or Greek. For the Group 2 and Group 4 A Level texts, which are assessed in the 20-mark essay question, this means: 

• The material that is listed in the specification to be studied in Latin / Greek but is not listed in the AI must still be studied/revised, although this can be studied in English rather than the ancient language 
• The material listed in the specification to be read in English must still be studied and revised. 

For the 10-mark (GCSE) and the 20-mark (A Level) essay questions, do students need to memorise quotes? Does this become more of a necessity now with the AI? 

There has never been a requirement for students to quote either the Latin or English in their 10-mark (GCSE and AS Level) or 20-mark (A Level) essay questions. A close paraphrase of events / episodes they are describing is sufficient to demonstrate the required knowledge and understanding. 

Thinking ahead, do you know if there will be any allowances made in 2023 for current Year 10 and 12 students who have also suffered the cumulative effect of the pandemic on their language skills? If not, can this concern be passed on? 

Please be reassured that these concerns have been logged. 

As stated in the JCQ FAQ document, the current AI approach only applies to the summer 2022 examinations to help mitigate for the level of disruption to teaching and learning as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Will the level of the difficulty of the papers be the same as usual? 

We are not adjusting the level of the difficulty of the papers as a result of the pandemic. The 2022 GCSE, AS and A Level papers should be at the similar level of difficulty to previous past papers. 

You say the grade boundary will be a mid-point between 2019 and 2021. Does that mean that for a particular grade, you will take a simple average of the published % required in June 2019 and November 2021? 

The approach outlined in September 2021 in Jo Saxton’s blog states that a staged approach will be taken to return to the pre-pandemic standard. This means that that outcomes in 2022 will represent a mid-point between the outcomes in 2019 and 2021. Outcomes in 2022 will be higher than 2019 but not as high as 2020. In 2023, the aim is to return to the pre-pandemic 2019 standard. 

When will the specification be replaced? 

Not yet. 

The texts and topics listed in the current specification will be examined until 2023 (AS Level) and 2024 (GCSE and A Level). We are currently in the process of updating the specifications with the texts and topics for examination in the fourth cycle. These texts and topics will be examined until 2025 (AS Level) and 2026 (GCSE and A Level).

We also received questions about why the set text cycles are two years. Given that this blog has been written about the AI, I will address this concern in a future blog.

Stay connected

If you have any questions about this summer’s assessment and would like to talk to us, please get in touch at classics@ocr.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @OCR_Classics. You can also sign up to subject updates and receive email information about Classics resources and support.

About the author

Alex has worked at OCR since 2009, first joining the Classics team in 2012. Since then, he has been involved in the redevelopment of all the Classics qualifications. In his spare time, Alex enjoys cycling, watching sport, and gardening.