Evaluating texts critically — agreeing or disagreeing with writers’ methods or claims, judging the success or failure of a writer’s strategy, supporting evaluations with textual references. The strand asks the reader to take a position, not just describe.
Critical evaluation is an explicit strand in AQA GCSE (AO4). In Edexcel IGCSE it is woven into AO2 and the wider analytical task rather than separated as its own AO. FS Level 2 includes some critical reading but at a different register (e.g. detecting bias in everyday non-fiction).
Tested by
- AQA GCSE 8700 AO4 — evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references
- Edexcel IGCSE 4EA1 AO2 (partial — critical evaluation woven into language/structure analysis rather than separately assessed)
- Pearson Edexcel FS English L2 — Reading (partial — at the everyday-non-fiction level: detect persuasion, bias, and reliability)
Suggested evidence types
- Evaluative essay (“how successfully does the writer…?“)
- Spoken debate on a text
- Annotated agreement/disagreement record
- Critical reading log
Mastery descriptors
- emerging — states a personal opinion about a text without textual support
- developing — offers an evaluation supported by simple textual reference
- secure — evaluates fluently, citing apt textual evidence; recognises the writer’s choices as choices
- mastering — sustained critical engagement; weighs evidence; recognises strategies and limits; takes nuanced positions