Review a response using all four assessment objectives
Check knowledge, interpretation, methods and personal response together · Use evidence to locate a specific weakness · Revise without treating a device count as a grade
Section REVIEW · Holistic self-review and authentic revision
Exam scope and assessment notes
0408 preparation for exam year(s) 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030. The assessment changes in 2028; follow the component and selected texts for your year. Original StudyForA teaching and practice, with fictional examples labelled. Other well-supported literary readings can be valid. Model answers are for self-checking and do not award Cambridge marks or grades. Full set-text reading and text-specific teaching, complete timed papers and qualified literature-teacher assessment remain unfinished. Coursework must be the candidate’s own work, assessed through the centre and moderated by Cambridge.
Before you begin
- Confirm your exam year and centre-selected full texts. Coursework and both papers are compulsory; private candidates cannot enter 0408.
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
What should support a claim about a literary text?
What you will learn
- Check knowledge, interpretation, methods and personal response together
- Use evidence to locate a specific weakness
- Revise without treating a device count as a grade
Look at the whole response
Ask whether the response is accurate and supported, explores meaning, analyses choices and communicates a task-focused judgement. These four aspects work together. An exact quotation without interpretation or a fluent opinion without evidence leaves a gap. Holistic marking is not a fixed reward of one point for every metaphor named.
Use feedback as a revision question
A comment such as “be more analytical” becomes useful when translated into a specific action: choose one phrase, explain its associations, connect it to the argument and consider a complication. Website models support self-review but do not supply an official 25-mark judgement. Coursework assessment and moderation remain with the centre and Cambridge; retain your own authorship and follow the centre’s permitted-feedback rules.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
Can an official grade be calculated just by counting named devices?
Worked example
Revise “The writer uses a metaphor, which is effective.”
Show the worked solution
- Identify the actual metaphor and the relevant associations.
- Explain what those associations contribute to the task and test the reading in context.
Answer Replace the empty label with a precise, supported explanation of the choice’s effect.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
An answer quotes accurately but explains nothing. Identify the main revision needed.
Give me a hint
Connect the words to meaning and effect.
Compare my reasoning
- Knowledge is evidenced by the quotation.
- Interpretation and analysis need explanation linked to the task.
Explain how the quoted choice shapes meaning and supports the argument.
Look for these in your work
- Identify the specific gap
- Keep the evidence purposeful
An answer gives a persuasive opinion but no textual reference. How should it improve?
Give me a hint
Make the personal judgement accountable to the work.
Compare my reasoning
- Choose relevant details.
- Explain how they support or qualify the opinion.
Add accurate textual support and analysis so the personal response becomes informed.
Look for these in your work
- Ground the opinion
- Develop the explanation
A student copies a model paragraph into assessed coursework as their own. What is the appropriate use of the model instead?
Give me a hint
Use it to study reasoning, not substitute authorship.
Compare my reasoning
- Notice its evidence–explanation relationships.
- Write your own response to the approved work and follow citation and centre guidance.
Use the model as a learning example, preserving authentic authorship of submitted work.
Look for these in your work
- Separate study support from submission
- Follow centre requirements
Common mistakes
- Do not confuse self-review with official marking.
- Keep submitted coursework authentically your own.
What can you explain now?
Can an official grade be calculated just by counting named devices?
Compare with the explanation
No; assess the developed response and its evidence holistically.
Labels without understanding and analysis do not establish achievement across the objectives.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
Your review choice appears on Today. Sign in to sync it across devices.
Make it stick
Can an official grade be calculated just by counting named devices?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.