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AQA GCSE English Language at a glance

Two papers of 1 hour 45 minutes and 80 marks each, plus a spoken language endorsement that sits outside the grade. Every question, its marks, a workable timing and the assessment objective it tests, as the papers have stood since June 2026.

Quick guide for teachers · 5 minute read

Both papers in AQA’s GCSE English Language (8700) last 1 hour 45 minutes and carry 80 marks, so each is half the GCSE. Each has a reading section (Section A, 40 marks) and a writing section (Section B, 40 marks). The cover of each paper advises about 15 minutes to read the source material and the questions, then about 45 minutes on each section.

June 2026 was the first exam series for AQA’s updated papers. Its summary of the changes is clear about what stayed put: “We haven’t changed the structure of the papers. There are the same number of questions on each paper with the same number of marks and the same assessment objectives (AOs) allocated to each.” The wording of several questions did change, and past papers from 2025 and earlier show the old versions. The changes are listed at the end of this page.

Paper 1: Explorations in creative reading and writing

Section A is one extract of prose fiction from the 20th or 21st century. The minutes below are our suggested split of AQA’s 45.

  • Question 1 (4 marks, AO1, about 5 minutes): four multiple-choice questions on the opening lines of the source. Students shade one circle for each.
  • Question 2 (8 marks, AO2, about 10 minutes): how the writer uses language in a short section named by line numbers.
  • Question 3 (8 marks, AO2, about 10 minutes): how the writer has structured the whole source to create one named effect, such as tension.
  • Question 4 (20 marks, AO4, about 20 minutes): how far students agree and/or disagree with a statement about a named later part of the source.
  • Question 5 (40 marks for AO5 and AO6, 45 minutes including a plan and a check): a description or a story, chosen from two tasks. The story task may ask for just the opening of a story.

Paper 2: Writers’ viewpoints and perspectives

Section A has two non-fiction sources, one from the 19th century and one from the 20th or 21st, and two of its questions work across both.

  • Question 1 (4 marks, AO1, about 5 minutes): students shade the four statements that are true of a named part of Source A.
  • Question 2 (8 marks, AO1, about 8 minutes): what students can infer about differences between the two sources, using details from both. In the sample paper it asks about the differences between two trains.
  • Question 3 (12 marks, AO2, about 12 minutes): how a writer uses language in one source.
  • Question 4 (16 marks, AO3, about 20 minutes): a comparison of the writers’ ideas and perspectives, and the methods they use to convey them, across the whole of both sources.
  • Question 5 (40 marks for AO5 and AO6, 45 minutes): writing to present a viewpoint, such as a speech to a local council.

On both papers Question 5 has 24 marks for content and organisation (AO5) and 16 for technical accuracy (AO6).

The assessment objectives

Language has six assessment objectives in the exams, with these shares of the GCSE from the scheme of assessment:

  • AO1, 10%: find and interpret explicit and implicit information, and select and synthesise evidence from different texts.
  • AO2, 17.5%: explain and analyse how writers use language and structure, with subject terminology.
  • AO3, 10%: compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, and how they are conveyed.
  • AO4, 12.5%: evaluate texts critically, with textual references.
  • AO5, 30%: communicate clearly and imaginatively, in a tone and register that suit the form, purpose and audience.
  • AO6, 20%: use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures, with accurate spelling and punctuation.

Writing is half the qualification: AO5 and AO6 together make 50%. Students who also sit Literature meet two different AO4s. In Language, AO4 is evaluation and accuracy is AO6. In Literature, AO4 is the accuracy mark (see Literature at a glance).

The spoken language endorsement

Every student gives a prepared presentation, responds to questions and feedback, and uses spoken Standard English (AO7 to AO9). Teachers set and mark it, and it carries no weight in the GCSE grade. The specification says it “will appear on all students’ certificates as a separately reported grade, alongside the overall grade issued”: Pass, Merit, Distinction or Not Classified. A student who does not attempt it is recorded as Not Classified. Running the spoken language endorsement covers the requirements and deadlines.

Resits in November

The exams run every May and June, and again in November. All papers must be sat in the same series, and AQA accepts November entries only from students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August.

What changed in 2026

From AQA’s summary of the changes and its sample Paper 1:

  • Paper 1 Question 1 became multiple choice, in the same shade-a-circle layout as Paper 2 Question 1. Students used to list four things.
  • Paper 1 Question 3 now names a single effect. The sample asks how the writer has structured the text “to create tension”, where earlier papers, such as June 2023, asked how it was structured “to interest you as a reader”.
  • Paper 1 Question 4 lost the student who used to make the statement, always says which part of the extract it covers, and allows students to agree and/or disagree.
  • Paper 1 Question 5 reminds students that they do not have to describe the exact picture, and the story option can be an opening.
  • Paper 2 Question 2 was reworded for clarity, and the bullet point about methods in Question 4 was reworded.
  • An AQA blog post in March 2025 described a new “typical features” column in the mark schemes for Question 5 on both papers.

If your department’s practice papers predate these changes, Questions 1, 3 and 4 on Paper 1 are the ones to rewrite first. Teaching the structure question covers the new Question 3 in detail, and Teaching the perspectives question gives the new wording of the Question 4 bullet.

Sources

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