Explore how the writer presents the sea as a powerful and majestic force in this poem.

Yes. Based on the 2018–2024 questions you supplied, I would make only a couple of small tweaks. The proposed set is broadly well balanced, but Malcolm and Gerald need slightly more careful wording, while suffering is stronger than deception if originality is a priority.

1. An Inspector Calls – Gerald Croft

Proposed:

How does Priestley present Gerald Croft in An Inspector Calls?

Comparison with published questions

Gerald has appeared before, but not recently as a straightforward single-character question.

  • 2019: Gerald and Mr Birling
  • 2022: Sheila and Gerald's relationship
  • 2023: Gerald appears in questions about Eva and the older/younger generations
  • 2024: Gerald as a character who shows selfishness

So your question is similar in character focus, but broader and different in wording. It does not ask specifically about his selfishness or his relationship with Sheila.

Suitability for your students

It is suitable provided the students have studied Gerald's early Act 3 material. They can discuss:

  • his engagement to Sheila;
  • his relationship with Eva;
  • his treatment of Eva;
  • his explanation to the Inspector;
  • his attitude towards the Inspector's investigation;
  • his concern about reputation/social position.

My recommendation

Keep it.

It is a good character question and complements the theme question on hypocrisy.

If you want to make it slightly more analytical and closer to the style of the published papers, I would use:

How does Priestley present Gerald Croft as an important character in An Inspector Calls?

This is slightly better because “important character” encourages students to discuss Gerald's significance rather than simply describe him.

2. An Inspector Calls – Hypocrisy

Proposed:

Explore the theme of hypocrisy in An Inspector Calls.

Comparison with published questions

This is different but closely connected to several published questions:

  • 2019: responsibility
  • 2020: selfishness
  • 2021: reputation
  • 2021: truth
  • 2023: appearance and reality
  • 2024: public image
  • 2024: family

Hypocrisy overlaps with these ideas, particularly appearance and reality, reputation and public image, but it is not the same question.

The key difference is that hypocrisy asks students to examine the gap between what characters claim to be/believe and how they actually behave.

For example:

  • Mrs Birling → charitable woman but refuses Eva help.
  • Mr Birling → respectable businessman but behaves selfishly.
  • Gerald → respectable gentleman but secretly has a relationship with Eva.
  • The family → concerned with respectability but often unwilling to accept responsibility.

Suitability for the taught range

Yes, this is very suitable for the early Act 3 material you have taught.

You do not need the final telephone call/police inspector ending to answer it.

My recommendation

Keep it exactly as it is.

It is a good thematic question and gives you a different angle from the published reputation/public image/appearance and reality questions.

3. Macbeth – Malcolm

Proposed:

How does Shakespeare present Malcolm as an important character in Macbeth?

Comparison with published questions

This is where there is some overlap.

You supplied:

  • 2022: How does Shakespeare present Duncan and his son, Malcolm, in the play?
  • 2018: two morally good characters
  • 2021: characters who influence Macbeth
  • 2023: Macduff contributing to Macbeth's downfall
  • 2024: Banquo's significance

Therefore, Malcolm himself has already been directly examined, particularly in the 2022 question.

However, your question is still different because the 2022 question asks students to discuss Duncan and Malcolm together, whereas yours asks specifically about Malcolm's importance.

Suitability for your students

Yes, if they have reached the Malcolm material in Act 5, Scenes 1–3.

But there is a bigger issue here: if students have only read the early part of the play, Malcolm does not have enough material for a strong whole-text character question.

If, as you clarified, students have read up to Act 5 Scenes 1–3, then there is enough material.

My recommendation

I would tweak the question slightly:

In what ways is Malcolm significant in Macbeth?

Why?

Because this is closer to the established Edexcel style of:

In what ways is Banquo significant in Macbeth?

and it encourages students to discuss Malcolm's role, importance, kingship, succession and contrast with Macbeth.

This is preferable to “How does Shakespeare present Malcolm as an important character?”

4. Macbeth – Deception

Proposed:

Explore the theme of deception in Macbeth.

Comparison with published questions

This is the one where I would be careful about calling it unique.

Your supplied questions include:

  • 2020: appearance and reality
  • 2021: trust
  • 2019: loyalty
  • 2023: good versus evil
  • 2024: inner conflict

And, importantly, deception is very closely related to the 2020 appearance and reality question.

There is also a Pearson sample/coursework question on deception, so I would not call this an entirely original theme.

However, it is still a perfectly legitimate examination question.

Suitability for your students

Excellent.

It is particularly easy to answer from the material students have studied:

  • ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’
  • the Witches' prophecies;
  • Banquo's warning about the ‘instruments of darkness’;
  • Lady Macbeth's ‘innocent flower’ / ‘serpent’;
  • Macbeth's ‘faces vizards to our hearts’;
  • Macbeth deceiving Duncan;
  • appearance versus reality.

So in terms of coverage of the taught text, this is one of the safest questions.

My recommendation

If your priority is strong suitability, keep it.

If your priority is being as different as possible from published questions, I would replace it with suffering.

5. Macbeth – Suffering

Proposed:

Explore the theme of suffering in Macbeth.

Comparison with the published questions

This is more distinctive than deception.

The published questions you supplied have examined:

  • death – 2019
  • fear – 2018
  • guilt – 2020
  • violence – 2022
  • power – 2022
  • good versus evil – 2023
  • inner conflict – 2024
  • courage – 2023
  • betrayal – 2022

Suffering is connected to several of these but is not simply a repetition of them.

It gives students a broader concept through which they can explore:

  • physical suffering;
  • mental suffering;
  • guilt;
  • fear;
  • violence;
  • consequences of ambition.

Suitability for your students

Very good.

Students can use evidence from the material already studied, including:

  • the bloody battle;
  • Macbeth's fear and inner conflict;
  • the dagger;
  • Duncan's murder;
  • ‘Macbeth does murder sleep’;
  • ‘Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?’
  • Macbeth's inability to say ‘Amen’;
  • Lady Macbeth's initial response to the murder.

It therefore does not require students to know the final scenes.

My recommendation

I would choose Suffering over Deception if the purpose is to create a paper that feels less like a repeat of recent published questions.

Final recommendation

I would use this set:

An Inspector Calls

Question 1 – Character

How does Priestley present Gerald Croft as an important character in An Inspector Calls?

Question 2 – Theme

Explore the theme of hypocrisy in An Inspector Calls.

Macbeth

Question 3 – Character

In what ways is Malcolm significant in Macbeth?

Question 4 – Theme

Explore the theme of suffering in Macbeth.

Overall judgement

This is a stronger combination than Gerald + hypocrisy + Malcolm + deception.

The reason is:

  • Gerald is a fresh single-character focus compared with the recent Gerald questions, which focused on his relationship/selfishness.
  • Hypocrisy is related to previous themes but gives students a genuinely different conceptual angle.
  • Malcolm is suitable, but the wording “In what ways is Malcolm significant?” avoids sounding too similar to the 2022 Duncan/Malcolm question.
  • Suffering is more distinctive than deception and still gives students plenty of evidence from the studied material.

Most importantly, the questions remain within the students' reading range: Macbeth up to Act 5, Scenes 1–3, and An Inspector Calls up to the early Act 3 material you have taught. You can therefore restrict the indicative content in the mark schemes to that material without changing the authentic Edexcel-style wording.

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