AQA A Level Drama Working Notebook Guide with Real A* Student Exemplar

Help your A Level students write a top-band Working Notebook with this step-by-step guide to AQA A Level Drama Component 2: Creating Original Drama, built around a complete real Working Notebook from a student who achieved an A* in A Level Drama.

The Working Notebook is worth 40 of the 60 marks in Component 2, twice as much as the devised performance itself. Yet it’s often the part students find hardest. This guide breaks down exactly what moderators look for, and shows students how to turn their rehearsal process into clear, detailed, high-scoring writing.

What’s inside:

The essentials: marks, formats, word limits and the AQA rules students must know, including what does and doesn’t count towards the word limit
The mark scheme in plain English: what separates Band 4 from Band 3, and the most common mistakes that cost marks
Getting started: matching the stimulus to the practitioner, a rehearsal diary template and a word budget for every part of the notebook
Every part of Section One and Section Two broken down: what to include, top tips, an extract from a real student notebook, why it works, and how to push it further
Sentence starters for every part of the notebook
Writing frames for research paragraphs and refinement paragraphs
A hand-in checklist so nothing is missed
A complete real student Working Notebook, reproduced in full with a commentary on its strengths and how it could be even better

The exemplar notebook is a verbatim piece influenced by Alecky Blythe. The guidance throughout applies to any practitioner on the AQA list.

Perfect for:

introducing the Working Notebook at the start of the devising unit
independent study and homework
supporting students who are stuck on a section
final checks before hand-in

Teacher note: the exemplar quotes real remarks by politicians, including offensive language, as part of its verbatim research.