How to answer the extract question

Literature Paper 1 lasts 1 hour 45 minutes, and you answer two questions. Section A is on the Shakespeare play and Section B is on the 19th-century novel. This page uses Macbeth and A Christmas Carol, but the method works for any text on the paper.

Each question prints an extract, a short passage from the text. You write about the extract first, then about the text as a whole. The paper is closed book, so every quotation from outside the extract has to come from memory.

The marks

Each question is worth 30 marks. AQA’s mark scheme splits them into 12 for your response to the question and your quotations (AO1), 12 for what you say about the writer’s methods (AO2) and 6 for context, the world the text was written in (AO3).

The Macbeth question has 4 extra marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar, called AO4. The front of AQA’s 2024 paper says: “AO4 will be assessed in Section A.” A Christmas Carol, in Section B, has no AO4 marks.

Timing

The paper itself gives no advice on time. AQA’s examiners are clear that it matters, and their 2025 report tells students: “Timing is really important. Try to spend an equal amount of time on both sections.”

So give each question about 50 minutes. Spend about 10 minutes reading and planning, 35 minutes writing and 5 minutes checking. On Macbeth, those last 5 minutes are where you pick up the AO4 marks.

Read the question

The question names a focus and tells you to start with the extract. In 2024 the A Christmas Carol question began: “Starting with this extract, explore how Dickens presents the lessons Scrooge learns about life in A Christmas Carol.” Two bullet points follow it. The first is about the extract. The second is about the novel as a whole.

Underline the focus: the character, theme or idea the question names. Every paragraph you write should answer it. Then write one sentence that answers the whole question. This is your thesis, the argument your essay will prove. How to start an essay with a thesis statement shows how, and the free Thesis Statement Builder gives you frames to start from.

Use the extract

AQA’s examiners put it simply: “The extract is there to help you answer the question”. Read it twice. On the second reading, underline three or four short quotations that fit the focus. Label the method in each one, such as a metaphor, a question or a change of tone.

Start your answer with the extract. It is printed in front of you, so you can quote it exactly.

Then the whole text

After the extract, your answer moves to other parts of the text. Choose moments from the beginning, the middle and the end. In their 2025 report on the Shakespeare question, the examiners warned that “just taking material from the opening act can be somewhat limiting”.

The best links show how something changes, or comes back. In Act 1 Scene 2 a captain calls Macbeth “brave Macbeth”. By Act 5 Scene 8, Malcolm calls him “this dead butcher”. In Stave 1 of A Christmas Carol, when two gentlemen ask Scrooge to give to the poor, he asks, “Are there no prisons?” In Stave 3 the Ghost of Christmas Present throws his words back at him: “Are there no prisons?” and “Are there no workhouses?” A link like that shows you know how the whole text is built.

A ten-minute plan

1. Read the extract twice and underline three quotations that fit the focus (2 minutes).
2. Write your thesis in one sentence (2 minutes).
3. Plan three or four points, starting with the extract and then moving to other parts of the text (5 minutes).
4. Note one quotation and one piece of context for each point, then number the points in the order you will write them (1 minute).

The model paragraph below answers the question “Starting with this extract, explore how Dickens presents Fred in A Christmas Carol.” The extract was from Stave 3, and the paragraph ends in Stave 5.

What

Dickens presents Fred as the voice of Christmas forgiveness, a man who refuses to give up on his uncle.

How

When his wife says she has no patience with Scrooge, Fred replies, “Oh, I have!”, and insists, “I couldn’t be angry with him if I tried”. His question “Who suffers by his ill whims!” is answered in two words, “Himself, always”, which shows that Fred sees Scrooge’s meanness as a punishment Scrooge gives himself.

Why

Dickens uses Fred to show readers that kindness should not depend on being liked in return. His patience is rewarded in Stave 5, when Scrooge finally asks, “Will you let me in, Fred?”, and is “at home in five minutes”.

What moves an answer up a level

AQA marks these essays in six levels, from Level 1 “Simple, explicit comments” to Level 6 “Convincing, critical analysis and exploration”.

At Level 3, “Explained, structured comments”, an answer explains its quotations and keeps to an order. To reach Level 4, “Clear understanding”, keep your argument going from the first paragraph to the last, and answer the question in every paragraph. Use quotations from across the text, and say what each method does to the reader.

Level 5 is “Thoughtful, developed consideration”. Here you develop each point further: two ways to read a quotation, or how one moment connects to a later one. At Level 6 the whole essay reads as one argument, and context explains why the writer made their choices. Using context in your answers shows how to do that.

Check before you finish

On Macbeth, use your last 5 minutes for AO4. Check capital letters and full stops, and the spelling of names: Macbeth, Banquo, Macduff, Duncan, Malcolm. On A Christmas Carol, use them to fix a misquoted line or add a link to another stave.

Sources

• AQA, GCSE English Literature 8702 specification (Paper 1, closed-book exams)
• AQA, Question paper: Paper 1 Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel, June 2024
• AQA, Mark scheme: Paper 1, June 2023
• AQA, Report on the examination: Paper 1, June 2025