First of all, lets look at an overview of marks in the whole exam:

What Marks Mean				to get 70%	to get 60%
Folio	PR	40	34%	28	24
	Essay	25		18	15
Paper I	Int	40	38%	28	24
	Report	35		24	21
Paper II	CR	25	28%	18	15
	Essay	30		21	18
		195		137

So, although a lot can be prepared in advance, there is still a very high proportion of marks to be earned on the day in the Interpretation and the Report.

Here is a guide to what marks mean in the Interpretation.

Mark	Meaning
1	Often a single word will suffice
2	The answer+ a quotation to back it up
3	either: 3 words/phrases and their meanings or: 1 phrase and how it links to the previous paragraph and looks ahead to the next
4	normally: 2 words/phrases and their meanings/uses in the passage

And now for examples of each of these:

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1 Mark question:

What single word in paragraph 10 prepares us for this proposal?

All you need to do here is quote the word.

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2 Mark question:

Show how the first sentence provides a context which enables you to understand the word "detritus".

You have 2 things to do. You should say something like: "We know that detritus means "waste" because the first sentence is full of examples of waste.

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3 Mark question:

Show how the punctuation of these lines is particularly helpful in following his argument at this stage.

Unsurprisingly, there are 3 puntuation marks; in each case show how they are helpful.

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4 Mark question:

Explain fully, in your own words, the contrast Halliwell makes between "frequent filmgoers" and "sophisticated twentieth-century people".

You have to explain what each phrase means in context (2 marks) and what the contrast is between these different groups (2 marks).

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We will deal with the difficulties of the Report on a separate page...

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