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Planning your writing for Section B

Question 5 is worth 40 marks on each Language paper, and 16 of them are for accuracy. Five minutes of planning and five of checking protect both parts of the mark.

Quick guide for students · 4 minute read

Both English Language papers end with Section B, one writing task worth 40 marks. On Paper 1 you write a description or a story. On Paper 2 you give your point of view on a statement, in a form and for an audience that the task sets. In June 2023, for example, the Paper 2 task was a speech to a meeting of the local council.

The 40 marks come in two parts:

  • 24 marks for content and organisation (AO5): what you say, how you shape it and how well it suits the task.
  • 16 marks for technical accuracy (AO6): sentences, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary.

AQA’s specification says that this accuracy requirement must make up 20% of the marks for the whole qualification. Across the two papers, that is 32 marks.

AQA’s papers advise about 45 minutes for Section B. They also remind you of “the need to plan your answer” and to “leave enough time to check your work at the end”. We suggest 5 minutes to plan, 35 to write and 5 to check.

Choosing your task on Paper 1

You get two tasks and choose one. Pick the one where you can already picture a single moment. If a task comes with a picture, use it for ideas. AQA reminds students that they “do not have to describe the exact picture”.

From 2026 the story task can ask for just the opening of a story. In AQA’s sample paper it was: “Write the opening of a story about a human meeting an animal.” An opening still needs a shape: a moment, a change, and a last line that makes the reader want more.

A five-minute plan for a description

Write six short lines:

  1. Your viewpoint (where you stand to see the scene).
  2. The mood (one word for what the reader should feel).
  3. A wide view for your first sentence.
  4. Two or three closer details, using sound, smell or touch as well as sight.
  5. One small detail to finish on.
  6. One very short sentence, saved for the right moment.

For example, a description of a village in winter could start with smoke hanging over the roofs and finish on a pair of red gloves left folded in a phone box. The reader moves from wide to close, and the last detail raises a question.

A five-minute plan for a story

  1. One moment (one place, one short stretch of time).
  2. One main character, and what they want.
  3. An opening image.
  4. A turn (the moment things change).
  5. An ending, or, for an opening, a last line that holds something back.
  6. One short sentence for effect, saved for the turn.

A plan keeps the piece focused. In 2023 AQA’s examiners found that students who focused “on a moment in time” did better, and that planning “can often maintain the original focus”. Six events will not fit into 35 minutes of writing, so plan one moment.

A five-minute plan for an argument

  1. Underline the form, the audience and the claim in the statement.
  2. Decide your stance (whether you agree, disagree or partly agree).
  3. Choose an opening that hooks the reader: a short anecdote (a personal story), a scene or a bold statement.
  4. Plan three or four points in an order that builds, including one counter-argument (the other side’s view) that you answer.
  5. Plan an ending that comes back to your opening.
  6. Hold back one method for effect, such as a short sentence straight after your anecdote.

Write the plan in notes. Full sentences take too long.

Paragraphs

Start a new paragraph when the time, the place, the speaker or the idea changes. Vary the length of your paragraphs. A one-line paragraph after a long one makes the reader stop.

In an argument, open each paragraph with a sentence that says what it is about. Use linking words such as however or as a result to show how one idea leads to the next.

Checking for the 16 marks

Use your last 5 minutes. Read your work slowly in your head, one sentence at a time, and look for:

  • full stops and capital letters in the right places.
  • two sentences joined only by a comma (a comma splice), which need a full stop.
  • apostrophes, such as it’s (it is) and its (belonging to it).
  • spellings, especially words you copied from the task.
  • missing words.

Correct a mistake with one neat line through it, and write the right word above.

Sources

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