Where the marks actually live

Three body paragraphs. Same question, same play, same quote available to all of them. One scores a C, one a B, one an A. Your job: read them clean, guess which is which, then open them up and see exactly which sentence earns which marks.

Ideas

18 of 45

Structure

16 of 45

Craft

11 of 45

The rule

Marks follow argument, not plot

The question · all three answer this

One question, three attempts

2025 exam

What comment does the play make about the importance of reputation?

How to run this page:

Read all three paragraphs without touching anything. Rank them best to weakest in your head.
Hit Reveal the grade on each and check your ranking. Getting the ranking right matters more than anything else on this page.
Then hit Show the marking and read the marker notes. That is where the marks live.

Ideas, the argument Structure, the shape Craft, the writing Earning nothing

Paragraph one

Shakespeare shows that reputation is treated as more valuable than life itself. After the brawl, Cassio cries “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation, I have lost the immortal part of myself.” The repetition of “reputation” and the hyperbole of calling it the “immortal part” of himself show how much Cassio values his public name, as though losing it is worse than dying. This suggests that in Venetian society a man’s reputation defines his worth. Therefore Shakespeare comments that reputation is extremely important to the characters.

Solid and safe. Every part of the shape is present, techniques are named, the effect is explained. What holds it at a B: the analysis stops at “shows how much he values it,” which is one step of thinking, and the link sentence just restates the question instead of pushing the argument anywhere new.

Marker notes

StructureClear point sentence that takes a position. The marker knows the paragraph’s job from line one.
StructureEvidence introduced with context (after the brawl) and woven into the sentence, not dropped in cold.
IdeasTwo techniques named and tied to an effect. This is real analysis, and it is what separates this from the C.
IdeasA step toward the wider world of the play (Venetian society). Good, but it asserts rather than proves.
Earning nothing“Therefore Shakespeare comments that reputation is extremely important” repeats the question back. A link should say what the play ARGUES about reputation, not that it is important.

Paragraph two

In the play reputation is very important to the characters. Cassio gets drunk at the party and gets into a fight, so Othello takes away his job as lieutenant. Cassio is very upset and says “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation.” This shows that reputation is important to Cassio. Othello also cares about his reputation because he is an important general in Venice, and Iago uses reputation to trick people. This shows that reputation is very important in the play.

Notice what this paragraph is NOT: it is not wrong. Every fact is accurate, the quote is real and relevant. It scores a C because it retells what happens instead of arguing why it matters. “This shows reputation is important” is the question handed back, not an answer to it.

Marker notes

Earning nothingThe opening repeats the question. A point sentence has to take a position the question did not already give you.
Earning nothingTwo whole sentences of plot summary. The marker has read the play. Retelling earns zero across all three columns.
Ideas“This shows reputation is important to Cassio” is the one flicker of analysis, worth a mark or two, but it names no technique and explains no effect.
Earning nothingThree ideas crammed into one sentence (Othello, Venice, Iago) with none developed. Breadth without depth reads as a list, not an argument.
Earning nothingThe link is the opening sentence again. The paragraph ends exactly where it started, which tells the marker no thinking happened in between.

Paragraph three

Shakespeare presents reputation as a currency so precious it can be counterfeited, and the play’s sharpest comment is that the men who prize it most are the easiest to rob. Cassio’s cry that he has lost “the immortal part” of himself elevates a public name to the level of a soul, and the tripled “reputation, reputation, reputation” turns his grief into something close to prayer. Yet it is Iago, who calls good name “the immediate jewel” of the soul while systematically shredding Othello’s, who exposes the truth beneath the hyperbole: reputation is not the self but a story others tell about the self, and any skilled liar can rewrite it. By letting the play’s most dishonest man deliver its loudest praise of a good name, Shakespeare positions the audience to see reputation as both indispensable and dangerously fake, a jewel worth guarding precisely because it can be stolen without ever being touched.

This paragraph ARGUES. The opening sentence says something about reputation the question never handed it. It uses two quotes and plays them against each other, it tracks how the audience is positioned, and the last sentence lands somewhere the first one could not have reached. Also worth noticing: it is barely longer than the B.

Marker notes

IdeasThe point sentence is an interpretation (reputation as counterfeit currency), not a topic. This single sentence is the biggest gap between B and A.
CraftQuotes are woven mid-sentence and the analysis rides on precise verbs: elevates, turns, exposes. No “this quote shows.”
IdeasTwo pieces of evidence set against each other. The Iago contrast is doing argument work, not just adding a second example.
IdeasNames how the AUDIENCE is positioned, which is exactly what “what comment does the play make” is asking for.
StructureThe link extends the idea (guarded because stealable) instead of repeating it. The paragraph travels.

The gaps

What actually separates them

Read down each column. The C is not full of mistakes and the A is not full of fancy words. The difference is what each sentence is DOING.

The move	C does	B does	A does
Point	Repeats the question	Takes a clear position	Offers an interpretation the question did not contain
Evidence	Quote after plot retell	Quote with context, woven in	Two quotes set against each other
Analysis	“This shows it is important”	Techniques named, effect explained	Effect traced to how the audience is positioned
Link	Opening sentence again	Question restated	Idea pushed one step further
The tell	Retells what happens	Explains one step, then stops	Argues, and every sentence travels

The one-line takeaway

The C tells the marker what happens. The B tells the marker what a technique does. The A tells the marker what the play argues and how it makes the audience feel it. Same play, same quote, roughly the same length. The 45 marks follow the thinking, not the word count.

Now use it

Take your most recent practice paragraph and hold it against these three. Which column does each of your sentences belong to? Then go to the practice page and rewrite one C-move into an A-move. One sentence is enough for today.

The next level up

The full-essay comparison

This page’s sibling zooms out to whole essays: two complete exam pieces on the same question, one a solid B, one an A, with a spot-the-five-differences scaffold. Best saved for when you are writing full essays, but it is ready whenever you are.

The Comparison Bench →

from Nat

Rough day? Just do step one: read the three paragraphs and rank them. If your ranking is right, your marker instincts are already working, and that is the whole skill this page is building.