AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1: Questions, Marks and How to Prepare

AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1, Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (8700/1), lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and carries 80 marks, worth 50% of the GCSE. It comprises five questions across two sections: reading a literature fiction text in Section A, then writing a description or a narrative opening in Section B. Together with Paper 2, it makes up the whole of the written examination for the qualification.

The GCSE splits into two written papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2, each worth 50% of the final grade with no tier of entry for either. Spoken Language is assessed separately by teachers in the classroom and carries 0% weighting towards that grade. Preparing well for Paper 1 comes down to understanding what each of its five questions rewards, then practising against AQA's own past papers and mark schemes.

How is Paper 1 structured?

Paper 1 splits into two sections worth 40 marks each. Section A, Reading, runs through Questions 1 to 4 and is based on one literature fiction text, printed as Source A in a separate insert from the question paper. Section B, Writing, is Question 5 alone: a single description or narrative task. AQA advises around 15 minutes reading the source and the questions, roughly 45 minutes on Section A and roughly 45 minutes on Section B.

• Section A, Reading: 40 marks, Questions 1 to 4, based on Source A
• Section B, Writing: 40 marks, Question 5 only

What does Question 1 ask?

Question 1 carries 4 marks and assesses AO1: identifying and interpreting explicit and implicit information and ideas. It is multiple choice: students reread a specified set of lines from the start of the source, then answer four one-mark statements by shading one box for each. Every answer must draw only on the lines given in the question. Worth only 4 of the paper's 80 marks, it should take a few minutes, leaving most of Section A's 45 minutes for Questions 2 to 4.

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What does Question 2 ask?

Eight marks are available for Question 2, which assesses AO2: analysing how writers use language to achieve effects. It asks how the writer uses language in a specified extract from the source, and the question prompt suggests considering words and phrases, language features and techniques, and sentence forms. Selecting precise quotations from within the given extract and explaining their effect carries more weight than simply naming techniques or describing what happens in the passage.

What does Question 3 ask?

Structure, not language, is the focus of Question 3, which is also worth 8 marks and assessed against AO2. It asks how the writer has structured the whole source to create a single named effect, for example suspense, so the answer needs to track that effect across the whole text without concentrating on one extract. Useful points to cover include what the writer introduces at the opening, how the focus shifts partway through, and how the source closes.

What does Question 4 ask?

AO4, evaluating texts critically and supporting judgements with references to the text, is assessed by Question 4, worth 20 marks, the largest single allocation in Section A. The question gives a statement about the second part of the source, states which part of the extract it covers, and asks to what extent the student agrees and/or disagrees. Its bullet points prompt consideration of the student's impressions, comment on the writer's methods, and support for the response with references to the text.

What does Question 5 ask?

Forty marks are on offer for Question 5, split between 24 marks for content and organisation, assessed against AO5, and 16 marks for technical accuracy, assessed against AO6: range and accuracy of vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation. Students choose between writing a description, often linked to an image that they may use or ignore and write from imagination instead, or writing the opening of a story. AO6 must make up 20% of the marks across the whole GCSE specification, which is why technical accuracy carries real weight within this single task. AQA advises planning Question 5 before starting to write.

What separates higher-band answers in Questions 2 to 5?

Higher-band answers to Questions 2 and 3 select precise, well-chosen references to language or structure and explain their effect using accurate subject terminology, going beyond a list of techniques without analysis. In Question 4, the strongest responses build a sustained evaluative argument that keeps returning to the specified part of the source, weighing the writer's methods without retelling events. In Question 5, marks reward content and organisation that hold a reader's interest throughout, alongside vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation accurate enough to meet the AO6 criteria. Checking a completed answer against AQA's published mark scheme is the most direct way to see which references and phrasing separate one band from the next.

How should a student prepare, and how does Paper 1 differ from Paper 2?

Preparation across Year 10 and Year 11 works best when built around AQA's own materials: past papers, their mark schemes, the updated sample assessment materials, and the Answers and commentaries document, which gives marked answers written to the current question wording. Examiner reports, also published by AQA, explain common misconceptions from each series. Practising Questions 1 to 4 as timed exercises against a fiction extract, then checking each answer against the mark scheme's assessment objective, builds the pattern recognition needed under exam conditions; practising Question 5 separately, with attention to technical accuracy, prepares for the extended writing task.

Paper 1 differs from Paper 2, Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives (8700/2), mainly in its source material and writing task, keeping the same overall structure: Paper 2 is also 1 hour 45 minutes, 80 marks and 50% of the GCSE, but its Section A reading questions are based on one non-fiction text and one literary non-fiction text, unlike the single fiction extract in Paper 1, and its Section B writing task asks students to present a viewpoint, unlike the description or narration required in Paper 1.

Related guides

• AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2 guide
• How to get a grade 9 in GCSE English Language
• GCSE English revision guide
• GCSE English tutors

How many marks is each question in Paper 1 worth?

Each of the five questions on Paper 1 carries a different number of marks and assesses a different assessment objective, set out in AQA's specification and its published timing guidance for the paper. Before Question 1 begins, AQA advises 15 minutes to read Source A and all the questions; the times below for Questions 1 to 4 cover answering only, so Section A takes about an hour in all and Question 5 has the remaining 45 minutes.

• Question 1, retrieval (AO1): 4 marks, about 5 minutes
• Question 2, writer's use of language (AO2): 8 marks, about 10 minutes
• Question 3, writer's use of structure (AO2): 8 marks, about 10 minutes
• Question 4, evaluation (AO4): 20 marks, about 20 minutes
• Question 5, extended writing (AO5 and AO6): 40 marks, about 5 minutes planning, 35 minutes writing and 5 minutes checking

Students aiming higher can read our separate guide on reaching agrade 9 in GCSE English Language, which covers what separates top-band responses from mid-range ones across both papers.

How are the Section B writing marks split?

Question 5's 40 marks split into 24 for content and organisation, assessed against AO5, and 16 for technical accuracy, assessed against AO6, confirmed in AQA's mark scheme for the paper. AO5 rewards a register convincingly matched to audience and purpose, ambitious vocabulary, varied and inventive structural features and fluently linked paragraphs with discourse markers. AO6 rewards consistently secure sentence demarcation, a wide range of accurately used punctuation, a full range of sentence forms, controlled Standard English grammar and a high level of accuracy in spelling, including ambitious vocabulary.

• AO5, content and organisation, 24 marks: register and tone matched to audience and purpose, ambitious vocabulary, varied structure, coherent paragraphing
• AO6, technical accuracy, 16 marks: accurate sentence demarcation and punctuation, varied sentence forms, controlled grammar, accurate spelling

How Paper 1 marks turn into a grade

Paper 1 and Paper 2 each carry 80 marks, and AQA adds the two together to give a total out of 160, with grade boundaries set on that combined total for each series. Boundaries shift slightly between series, so no single Paper 1 mark corresponds to a grade; AQA publishes notional boundaries for each paper for illustration only. Reading and writing each carry 40 of the 80 marks, so each section is worth a quarter of the whole GCSE.

Dividing a question's marks by the 160 available across both papers shows how much of the final result it carries, and Question 5 alone is worth as much as the whole of Section A. AQA's weighting table gives these approximate shares of the GCSE for Paper 1, which also explains why Question 4 repays the longest answer in Section A:

• Question 1 (AO1): 2.5% of the GCSE
• Questions 2 and 3 (AO2): 10% of the GCSE between them
• Question 4 (AO4): 12.5% of the GCSE
• Question 5 content and organisation (AO5): 15%, and technical accuracy (AO6): 10%

Pupils sitting both GCSEs can read the separate guide toAQA English Literature Paper 1, since the two papers share a number yet belong to different qualifications.

Pupils on an international course can compare this structure withEdexcel IGCSE English Language A, which is set by a different board with its own paper format.

What changed in AQA's updated Paper 1 question wording

AQA reworded four of the five Paper 1 questions for its updated papers, and its answers and commentaries document sets out each change. The list below sets the current wording beside the earlier wording and notes what it means for the student.

Question 2 keeps its familiar form, asking how the writer uses language in a given extract, with prompts on words and phrases, language features and techniques, and sentence forms. The Question 5 mark scheme also gains a typical features column for descriptive and narrative writing, which gives a closer picture of what each level tends to contain.

• Question 1: now four multiple-choice questions on a given set of lines, answered by shading one box each; the earlier wording read "List four things which happened that night from this part of the source." Students now choose from options and no longer write out their own points.
• Question 3: now names the effect, as in "How has the writer structured the text to create tension?"; the earlier wording read "How has the writer structured the text to interest you as a reader?" Students track one effect through the source, and the bullets point to features such as changes in mood, tone or perspective.
• Question 4: the statement is no longer attributed to a student, and the closing prompt is "To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?" in place of "To what extent do you agree?" Students can weigh both sides of the statement.
• Question 5: the description option adds "You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas", and the story option asks for "the opening of a story" where it once asked for a whole story. Students may write from imagination and plan a beginning with room to develop it.

Paper 1 past papers and source texts

AQA publishes past papers, mark schemes and reports on the examination for Paper 1, and each paper uses one fiction extract in a separate insert, followed by a Section B choice between a description based on a picture and a story. The published papers below run from the earliest to the latest, each with its source extract and Question 5 options.

For timed practice, print the insert, spend 15 minutes reading the source and all five questions, then give about 45 minutes to Section A and about 45 minutes to Section B, which matches the advice printed on the paper. Mark Questions 2 to 4 against the level descriptors in the published mark scheme, and read the report on the examination for the same series to see the answers examiners found most common.

• The Silk Factory by Judith Allnatt: a description of a mysterious place, or a story about an event that cannot be explained
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: a description of a place at sunset, or a story about a new beginning
• The Pearl by John Steinbeck: a description of an unusual place to stay, or a story about a life-saving rescue
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: a description of a fishing village, or a story about an unlikely friendship
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel: a description of a zoo or wildlife park, or a story about a human meeting an animal
• The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham: a description of a town or village, or a story about a day when technology stopped

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