Reference · top band only · 2026
Annotated exemplars
Real top grade 7 student work, paragraph by paragraph, with the examiner lens overlaid. Use these for structure, the depth and range of adjectives and SOI integration moves, not for borrowing content.
The 2026 exemplar is a Brechtian PCUP with a different SOI. This year your style is Expressionism, so read it for how it is written, not what it says. Short extracts from an Expressionistic piece sit on the PCUP 2027 station pages, next to the points they show.
What the annotations mean
A move you should learn from. Sentence structure, SOI integration, depth and range of adjectives, specific evidence.
A solid move that does the job but could be sharper. Useful to see what 5 to 6 versus 7 to 8 looks like in the same paragraph.
A weak spot or risky phrasing even at top grade 7. Somewhere to do better than the exemplar does.
The exemplar
How to read an exemplar that responds to a different SOI
What transfers
Sentence level structure. The depth and range of adjectives used. The order of points in a paragraph: name, unpack, effect, impact on the audience, SOI. The use of timestamps. The way the SOI is woven through every paragraph rather than tagged on at the end. These are the band 7 mechanics and they work for any SOI.
What does not transfer
The specific SOI claims. The style studied and its influences. The production critiqued. The unit's stimulus. Borrowing these will read as a paraphrase of someone else's argument and will not match this year's assessment context.
“I am looking at how this is written, not what it says.”