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Language Paper 1, question by question

One fiction extract, four reading questions and a piece of your own writing, in 1 hour 45 minutes. AQA changed some of the questions from summer 2026, so this is the paper as it now stands.

Quick guide for students · 4 minute read

Paper 1 is called Explorations in creative reading and writing. It lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and is worth 80 marks, half of your English Language GCSE. Section A (reading, 40 marks) is about one extract from a novel or short story written in the 20th or 21st century. Section B (writing, 40 marks) asks for a description or a story of your own.

AQA changed the wording of some questions for exams from summer 2026. It kept the same number of questions, the same marks and the same assessment objectives (the skills each question tests). Past papers from before 2026 look different in places, especially Question 1.

How long to spend

AQA’s papers advise you to spend “about 15 minutes reading through the source and all five questions”, then about 45 minutes on each section. We suggest this split, which gives the most time to the questions with the most marks:

  • Reading the source and the questions: 15 minutes.
  • Question 1 (4 marks): 5 minutes.
  • Question 2 (8 marks): 10 minutes.
  • Question 3 (8 marks): 10 minutes.
  • Question 4 (20 marks): 20 minutes.
  • Question 5 (40 marks): 45 minutes.

Question 1: four multiple-choice questions

Question 1 is four short multiple-choice questions on the first part of the source. In AQA’s sample paper for 2026 that was lines 1 to 9, and each question had three possible answers. You choose one answer for each question, and each correct answer earns 1 mark.

Read the lines named, then read every option before you choose. The answers come from those lines only, so check each option against them. Mark your answers exactly as the paper tells you. AQA has said that from summer 2027 it will use “a consistent tick-box format for all multiple-choice questions”.

Question 2: language

Question 2 points you to a short part of the source (lines 10 to 19 in the sample) and asks how the writer uses language to describe something. In the sample it was “How does the writer use language here to describe the hyena’s appearance?” The bullet points suggest you write about words and phrases, language features and techniques, and sentence forms. It is worth 8 marks.

Choose three or four short quotations. For each one, say what it suggests and how it makes the reader feel, and zoom in on one word. In 2023 AQA’s examiners noted that some students still used “excessively long quotations”. A few words are enough.

Name a method only when you can say what it does to the reader.

Question 3: structure

Question 3 asks about the whole source. From 2026 it asks about one effect, for example: “How has the writer structured the text to create tension?” It is worth 8 marks.

Structure means the order of things: what the writer shows you first, where the focus shifts, and how the source ends. Trace your effect through the source. Where does the tension start? Where does it rise or fall? What does the ending leave you with? The sample’s bullet points ask about “how tension has increased or decreased by the end of the source”.

A common mistake is staying at the start. In 2023 the examiners found that “Many students focused on the beginning of the extract only.” Leave single words to Question 2. Here you write about the shape of the whole source.

Question 4: evaluation

Question 4 gives you a statement about the second part of the source. In the sample the statement said that the hyena in the story is no serious threat, and the question asked: “To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?” It is worth 20 marks, more than Questions 1 and 2 together, so protect its 20 minutes.

Decide how far you agree. You can agree with one part of the statement and disagree with another. The bullet points ask you to give your impressions, comment on the writer’s methods and back up your view with references to the text. From 2026 AQA removed the line saying that a student had made the statement, so your answer is about the statement and the text.

Question 5: your own writing

You choose one of two tasks. Each asks for a description or a story, and a task often comes with a picture to use for ideas. AQA reminds students that they “do not have to describe the exact picture”. For a story, AQA now gives you “the option to write an ‘opening’, rather than a whole narrative”.

Question 5 is worth 40 marks: 24 for content and organisation (AO5) and 16 for technical accuracy (AO6), which covers spelling, punctuation, sentences and vocabulary. Spend about 5 minutes planning, 35 writing and 5 checking. Planning your writing for Section B has a five-minute plan for each kind of task.

Keep it small. In 2023 the examiners found that students who focused “on a moment in time” did better. One moment, written well, fits into 45 minutes.

Keep to the order

Answer the questions in order, and start Question 5 when there are 45 minutes left, wherever you have reached in Section A.

Sources

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