An Inspector Calls: Exam Technique (the Modern Text Essay)

An Inspector Calls is examined in Paper 2, Section A (Modern texts), the first section of the 2 hour 15 minute Paper 2. You answer one question on your studied text.

The most important feature to understand: there is no printed extract. AQA gives you a choice of two questions on the play, and you write about the whole play from memory. This is different from your Shakespeare and nineteenth-century novel questions in Paper 1, where an extract is printed for you.

Because nothing is provided, you must arrive knowing the play in detail: its structure, its key moments, and a bank of short quotations you can recall under pressure.

The two questions usually take one of two shapes:

• A character question, for example how Priestley uses a character to explore an idea.
• A theme question, for example how Priestley presents responsibility, class or an aspect of society.

Spend around 45 to 50 minutes on this essay so you leave enough time for the poetry and unseen sections that make up the rest of Paper 2.

Read both options carefully and choose the one for which you have the strongest evidence and ideas.

The An Inspector Calls question is worth 34 marks in total: 30 marks for your response to the question plus 4 marks for AO4 (spelling, punctuation and sentence structures). AO4 is assessed in this section because it is a modern-text essay.

Within the 30 marks, three assessment objectives are tested, and they are not weighted equally.

Objective	What it rewards	Marks (within the 30)
AO1	Informed personal response; using references and quotations to support it	12
AO2	Analysing Priestley's language, form and structure, with terminology	12
AO3	Understanding the contexts the play was written and set in	6

On top of this sits AO4 (4 marks) for accurate, controlled writing.

The lesson from these numbers is clear. AO1 and AO2 together are worth 24 of the 30 marks, so your two priorities are a strong personal argument and close analysis of Priestley's methods. Context (AO3) is worth 6 marks: it matters, but do not let it crowd out analysis.

A response that retells the plot with a little context but no method analysis is capping itself: without AO2 it cannot reach the higher levels.

AQA marks this essay using six levels, deciding the level by "best fit" across the whole answer rather than by ticking boxes. Understanding the direction of travel between levels tells you exactly what to aim for.

The published level descriptors move like this (paraphrased from the June 2024 mark scheme):

• Lower levels reward simple or supported comments: some awareness of the writer's methods and of context, with references used to back up points.
• Middle levels reward clear, explained responses: a focused answer that explains the effects of a range of Priestley's methods with appropriate terminology and specific links to context.
• Top levels reward a thoughtful, developed and then a critical, exploratory, conceptualised response: a considered argument about the whole play, judicious use of precise references, and insightful analysis of Priestley's methods.

Two words in the top-level descriptor are worth memorising: conceptualised and judicious.

• Conceptualised means the essay is driven by an overall argument, not a list of unconnected points.
• Judicious means every quotation is well chosen and used precisely, not padded.

The examiner is judging how you think about the play. Move from "this happens" to "Priestley does this in order to...".

Spend around five minutes planning. A good plan turns a scattergun answer into a conceptualised one.

Plan around an argument (a thesis), then track it across the play. For "How does Priestley present the theme of responsibility?" a plan might run:

1. Thesis: Priestley presents responsibility as a duty we owe to everyone, using the play to convert his audience to that view.
2. Beginning: Birling rejects responsibility ("a man has to mind his own business") and the dramatic irony of 1912 makes us distrust him.
3. Middle: the Inspector systematically forces each character to face their part in Eva's death.
4. The young change: Sheila and Eric accept responsibility, representing hope.
5. The old refuse: Mr and Mrs Birling deny it, embodying the attitude Priestley condemns.
6. Ending: the cyclical phone call warns that the lesson must be learned or repeated.

Structure your essay by idea developing across the play, not by working through one character after another. Tracking a theme from beginning to end is what "response to the whole text" means.

Choose four or five points, each with a method and a short quotation, and know how they build your overall argument.

Every analytical paragraph should do three things: make a point about Priestley's method, support it with embedded evidence, and connect it to his purpose. A reliable paragraph shape is often called Point, Evidence, Analysis.

Embed quotations inside your own sentence rather than dropping them in alone, then zoom in on a specific word.

Here is a model paragraph on responsibility:

Priestley uses dramatic irony to discredit Birling's rejection of responsibility. When Birling insists that "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself", the verb "look after" reduces morality to self-interest, and the audience, knowing the wars and disasters to come, recognises how blind this view is. By undermining Birling's judgement so early, Priestley steers us towards the Inspector's opposing message of collective responsibility.

Notice the moves: the method (dramatic irony) is named, the quotation is short and embedded, one word ("look after") is analysed, and the paragraph ends on Priestley's purpose.

Weave context (AO3) into your analysis rather than adding a separate paragraph. A single sentence linking the play to 1912 Edwardian class divisions, or to Priestley's 1945 socialist outlook, earns AO3 without derailing your argument.

1. Retelling the plot

The single most common way to lose marks. The examiner knows the story. Every sentence should analyse how Priestley presents an idea, not narrate what happens next. If a paragraph could appear in a plot summary, rewrite it.

2. Writing character by character instead of building an argument

A "Sheila, then Eric, then Mr Birling" structure produces a list, not a conceptualised response. Organise around your thesis and track how an idea develops across the whole play.

3. Neglecting AO2 (Priestley's methods)

AO2 is worth 12 of the 30 marks, matching AO1. Analyse structure, the Inspector as a dramatic device, dramatic irony, stagecraft and dialogue, and use terminology accurately. An essay without method analysis cannot reach the top levels.

4. Dropping in long or clumsy quotations

There is no extract, so you quote from memory. Learn short quotations and embed them inside your sentences, then zoom in on a single word. A precise three-word quotation analysed closely beats a long one copied out.

5. Ignoring AO4

Four marks are reserved for spelling, punctuation and sentence variety in this section. Leave two or three minutes to proofread, and vary your sentence openings; controlled writing lifts your AO4 mark and makes your argument clearer.