Paper 9MT0/03 · Component 3 · Section B · Question 6

Section B · Extended writing

The technology essay

One recording, one named technology, two demands: how it is used in this song, and what it did to music production at large — right up to the present day.

(Total for Question 6 = 20 marks)

AO3 knowledge · 5 of 20 marks AO4 evaluation · 15 of 20 marks
Stimulus
One recording + one named technology
The task
Evaluate the use of the technology within the song, and its wider impact on music production to the present day
How it is marked
Levels-based (2024 and 2025 were exceptions — see below)

01Learn the machine

Twenty marks, one ceiling

The single most valuable fact about this question is printed in its own mark scheme — and most candidates have never seen it.

The ceiling — description alone stops at 5

The mark scheme prints it: an answer that is only AO3 — only what the technology does in the song — is awarded its AO3 level as its whole mark. Try it.

Level 5 — sophisticated throughout
AO4 — any wider-impact evaluation at all?
Level 11–4
Level 25–8locked without AO4
Level 39–12locked without AO4
Level 413–16locked without AO4
Level 517–20locked without AO4
5

The five bands of the 20-mark ladder. Grey bands cannot be reached; the pin is the mark an AO3-only answer receives.

Five out of twenty — a perfect description with no evaluation stops exactly here.

One recording, one technology — seven years of it

The pairing changes; the architecture never does. Whatever the technology, the two demands are the same.

YearThe recordingThe technology
2019Tears For Fears — ShoutSequencing
2020Portishead — Glory BoxDistortion
2021Eric B. & Rakim — Eric B. Is PresidentDigital sampling
2022Michael Penn — FigmentReverb
2023Michael Kiwanuka — HeroLo-fi / retro production
2024Keane — AtlanticDelay
2025Jean-Michel Jarre — Oxygène, Part 2Synthesis (split into 6a/6b that year only)

Every core production technology has now had its year — revising the wider history of each one is revising for this question.

What earns marks

  • Pair AO3 with AO4, element by elementThe 2025 examiner commentary credits a Level 5 answer element-by-element — a slow synth-string attack (AO3) paired with its sweeping cutoff effect (AO4), a fast bass attack (AO3) paired with its percussive character (AO4) — and calls it sophisticated because "there is AO4 for almost every synth timbre ‘throughout’". It drops its one mark exactly where the AO4 runs out.
  • Use subheadingsThe 2025 examiner FAQ, in the examiner’s words: the indicative content "is divided up with subheadings to help examiners navigate; candidates should do the same when writing their responses."
  • Specific, non-repeated points tied to the stimulusThe full-marks 2024 script earned its total through distinct, song-specific delay observations plus wider-impact evaluation — every point new, every point anchored in the track on the paper.
  • Name real equipment and plug-insThe 2023 scheme carries explicit closing awards for "naming an appropriate old piece of equipment" and "an appropriate plug-in" for each retro/lo-fi process discussed.

What loses them

  • Length without linkageThe longest Q6 script in the 2019 pack scored 5 of 20. A long typed 2025 answer scored 0: "Although the answer is quite long, it is not worthy of any credit… The response is too general… Examiners can’t give credit to work where it’s not clearly linked to the question or stimulus recording."
  • Repeating yourselfThe arrow notation exists because candidates repeat points — a repeated point earns nothing the second time, however well it is written.
  • Restating the question paper2025 commentary: no credit where the candidate "hasn’t expanded on the information already present in the question paper."
  1. Level 11–4 marks

    Demonstrates limited knowledge and understanding of production techniques/technology used, some of which may be inaccurate or irrelevant (AO3). Applies limited analysis and deconstruction with little attempt at chains of reasoning (AO4). Makes limited connections between the technology used in the recording and its wider impact (AO4). Makes limited evaluative and/or critical judgements about that wider impact (AO4).

  2. Level 25–8 marks

    Demonstrates knowledge and understanding which is occasionally relevant but may include some inaccuracies (AO3). Applies some analysis and deconstruction, with simplistic chains of reasoning (AO4). Makes some connections between the technology and its wider impact (AO4). Makes some evaluative and/or critical judgements about that wider impact (AO4).

  3. Level 39–12 marks

    Demonstrates clear knowledge and understanding, mostly relevant and accurate (AO3). Applies clear, mostly detailed analysis and deconstruction, with competent chains of reasoning (AO4). Makes valid connections between the technology and its wider impact (AO4). Makes clear evaluative and critical judgements about that wider impact (AO4).

  4. Level 413–16 marks

    Demonstrates detailed knowledge and understanding, relevant and accurate (AO3). Applies detailed and accurate analysis and deconstruction, with logical chains of reasoning on occasion (AO4). Makes detailed and valid connections between the technology and its wider impact (AO4). Makes detailed and valid evaluative and critical judgements about that wider impact (AO4).

  5. Level 517–20 marks

    Demonstrates sophisticated and accurate knowledge and understanding throughout (AO3). Applies sophisticated and accurate analysis and deconstruction with logical chains of reasoning throughout (AO4). Makes sophisticated and valid connections between the technology and its wider impact (AO4). Makes sophisticated and valid evaluative and critical judgements about that wider impact (AO4).

This wording ran unchanged from 2019 to 2023 — condensed here from the full descriptor sentences; the complete text is in the mark schemes. It is the ladder the single 20-mark question returns to from Summer 2026.

02Practise the craft

Pick up the examiner’s pen

You cannot sit next to the examiner — but you can mark your own drafts with exactly their notation, and mix the real 2023 answer at the desk to watch how the strands earn.

Mark your drafts with the examiner’s pen

The exemplar packs print the notation examiners actually use on scripts. Learn it, then turn it on your own practice paragraphs.

The notation, as printed in the packs
  • Single underline — an AO3 point — song-specific description
  • Double underline — an AO4 expansion — wider-impact evaluation
  • Arrows between passages — a repeated point — repeats earn nothing twice
A practice sentence, marked the examiner’s way

The snare’s gated reverb cuts dead before each backbeat — a sound only possible once 1980s digital gates reshaped how drums were produced.

One sentence, both strands: the single underline is the song-specific point (AO3); the double underline is its wider-impact expansion (AO4). This pairing, repeated point after point, is the whole game.

The self-marking protocol
  1. Single-underline every song-specific point in your draft.
  2. Double-underline every wider-impact expansion.
  3. Draw an arrow between any two points that say the same thing — the second one earned nothing.
  4. No double underlines anywhere? You are under the ceiling: 5 of 20 at best.
Also printed in the schemes
  • "For lines in italics, don’t credit twice (including opposites)" — printed in the scheme’s marking instructions.
  • "Don’t credit points in italics where they have already been awarded in song specific detail" — the AO4 impact list does not pay twice for one idea.
  • Era-linking points carry "[max. 1 for decades]" — one mark for connecting a decade to a technology, not one per decade.
Practise the craft · Summer 2023 past question · 20 marks

The Essay Desk

Four faders, one answer — this time on a real past question. Push a strand up and the essay rewrites itself on the page; the marks meter reads it against the real five-level ladder. No mix to hear here: Q6 hands you a recording, so the desk shows the writing craft alone.
Core points — what you hear in the trackTerminology — the technical registerDetail — parameters and named equipmentEvaluation — effect and wider impact
Core points
song-specific features you actually hear (AO3)
Terminology
plain words become the register examiners credit
Detail
parameters, timings and named equipment
Evaluation
effect and wider impact — 15 of the 20 marks (AO4)
Master · Marks
0/ 20
Level 1 · 1–4
Limited knowledge, little attempt at chains of reasoning.

03Do it for real

Write one, then hold the pen

A real past question, your own marking first — and if your class runs the dashboard, your teacher closes the loop.

First, mark it yourself

Write against a real past question, under the clock. Then pick up the pen: single underline for knowledge, double for evaluation — the board’s own notation — and set your script beside a marked exemplar to see the gap.

In a class that runs the dashboard?

Then the loop below closes it — your own teacher does the marking. Nothing on this page is sent anywhere.

  1. 1WriteYou write a set essay at your own student link.
  2. 2MarkedYour teacher marks it line by line, against AO3 and AO4.
  3. 3ImproveYou act on the notes in an improvement round.
  4. 4ReleasedMarks and feedback come back to your dashboard.
Open the grades dashboardSign in with your student link — ask your teacher if you’ve lost it.