creative writing english paper 1

AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 – Revision Guide

Welcome to the ultimate revision guide for the AQA GCSE English Language paper 1. In this guide we’ve collected all of the best advice from our experienced English tutors. We tell you what to expect from each question, how to get top marks and how to revise. We’ve also linked to some practice papers. Follow the advice in this guide and you will have everything you need to ace the exams.

To begin with, let’s address and popular myth. We hear many students saying things like: “you don’t need to revise for English language because you’re given the extract on the day”; or even that “you can’t revise for English language”. Believe me – nothing could be further from the truth. You absolutely need to revise for GCSE English language and following a few simple steps can make all of the difference. Overall you need to:

understand what each of the papers will be like;
know what the examiner wants from you on each question; and
do lots of practice questions – marking your own work to improve further.

Check out our revision guide for AQA English language paper 2 as well to make sure you’re confident with both papers.

For focused help and support with your GCSE English Language revision, why not try a lesson with one of our expert online tutors? They’ll deliver personalised lessons for you to help you achieve your potential in the exams. Contact us today to book your trial lesson.

Overview of the paper

Language paper 1 is all about exploring creative reading and writing. You’ll be looking at an example of a fiction text and doing some creative writing. You will need to answer five questions, separated into two sections. In section A you are asked four questions about a fiction extract from the 20th or 21st centuries. In section B you answer one question form a choice of two, where you demonstrate your own creative writing skills.

You will have 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete the paper. There are 80 marks at stake, which contributes towards 50% of your GCSE English Language grade.

Revise AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1

AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A

Read the text carefully – spend 15 mins here.

It’s really important to take some time at the beginning to carefully read the extract in full. You should:

spend 15 minutes reading the text in detail;
read it carefully, do not skim read the text; and
annotate the text to highlight any important parts.

Question 1 – list 4 things – spend 5 mins here

Question 1 should hopefully be quite straightforward for you. You will be asked to find four specific bits of information (such as a description of something) from a specific part of the text. It’s likely there will be more than four pieces of information available, so you’ll have plenty to choose from. You can either put your answers in your own words, or quote directly from the text.

The key things to remember are:

read the question carefully;
only refer to the specific section of the text in the question;
don’t spend too long on the question. Get your four points down, get the four marks in the bag and then move on.

Question 2 – language analysis – spend 10 mins here

Question 2 is worth 8 marks and is all about language analysis. There is quite a lot to do in a short space of time. You will be asked to analyse how the writer has used language to achieve something. Consider how the following things help to create the specific effect set out in the question:

any uses of interesting words and phrases;
language techniques; and
sentence forms

Make sure you use well selected quotations directly from the text and explain how these quotes show your points. Aim to make four clear points across two paragraphs. Each time, make your point, provide a good quotation and explain how the techniques or use of language creates the effect set out in the question. Ensure you only refer to language in your answer (you won’t get any marks for commenting on structure here). Use plenty of the technical vocabulary you have learnt at school.

Question 3 – structural analysis – spend 10 mins here

This is a tough one as students tend to spend more time at school looking at language features than structure. Again, there’s a lot to do in this question in a short space of time. You will be asked to identify and analyse how the writer uses structural features to achieve a specific effect.

Your analysis of structure here should focus on shifts – or continuity – in focus across a whole text. Look, for example, at what the writer focuses on at the beginning, how that focus changes during the main body of the text and then how they end the piece. Look for shifts in focus, changes in perspective or elements of continuity. Use quotations directly from the text to demonstrate the structure point and then explain how the quote proves your point.

You need to identify the structural feature and analyse how it is effective. Again, look to make four clear points across two paragraphs. Make the point on structure, prove it with a quotation and then explain how your quote proves your point.

Do not analyse language in this question – you won’t get any marks for talking about language in question 3.

Question 4 – evaluate texts critically – spend 20 mins here

This is the big one in section A – there are 20 marks available. Everything is in scope here. They expect you to analyse both language and structure. You need to evaluate how successfully language and structural points build a particular effect.

You’ll be given a statement from a student about the extract and asked about the extent to which you agree with it. In your answer you need to evaluate how successful the writer has been in achieving the points raised in the question. This will include your own interpretation.

The key points to remember are:

identify language and structural features;
use quotations from the text to demonstrate these features;
analyse how the quotation proves your point;
evaluate how successfully this achieves the effect from the question;
focus on the specifics of the question; and
provide your own clear opinion of how far you agree with the statement in the question.

Top tip – remember to refer to the effects on the reader. What do they think about what they’re reading. Think about what your opinion is, explain it and back it up with evidence.

You can find even more great revision guides, advice and practice questions on our free resources page.

AQA English Language GCSE Paper 1 Section B

Question 5 – creative writing task – spend 45 mins here.

Question 5 is an extended creative writing task. There are a lot of marks available here, so you should spend around 45 minutes answering the question. You will get a choice of two questions – either writing a descriptive piece based on a picture, or writing part of a story on a given topic.

There are 40 marks at stake. 24 marks are available for the content (so how effectively and imaginatively you write using a range of language and structural techniques). 16 marks are available for good old SPAG (spelling punctuation and grammar), so make sure you use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures with accurate spelling and punctuation.

Put simply you need to write a quality, engaging, imaginative piece of fiction. You could use an experience as inspiration, or completely make everything up. Make sure your writing is appropriate to the specific purpose and audience set out in the question. Make sure you really show the examiner what you can do. Use plenty of different language techniques and a variety of vocabulary and sentence forms.

Top tip – spend 5 minutes planning your answer. Write a simple bullet point list planning each of your paragraphs. Make a note of any interesting language technique ideas that spring to mind. This will really help make he most of your writing time.

How to revise for your AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 exam

Once you’ve read this revision guide you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the paper and what the examiner wants to see from you. Now you need to practice the skills we’ve discussed in this guide. The best way to do that is by doing as many past and specimen exam questions as possible. You can find all of the available past AQA exam papers here .

We also offer expert online tuition to provide personalised support with learning and revision. We’ll help you to achieve your full potential with your exams. Simply contact us and we’ll provide some free advice and set up a lesson with the perfect tutor for you.

7 thoughts on “AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 – Revision Guide”

Thank you so much hopefully this will help me with my exam

Thank you so much this will help me get a 3 tomorrow

Super useful! My exam is tomorrow, hopefully I will do well.

very helpfull i got a 7 thanks

Thanks you so much i got a grade 4!

Thank you so much, this is a life saver. Hopefully it helps with my exam

So useful. Hopefully it helps for tomorrow.

Comments are closed.

Paper 1: Creative Writing

In the exam you're normally given two options: a descriptive piece or a narrative piece. neither is worth more or less than the other so it's up to you to choose which suits you best. though describing the same thing for 45 minutes can see a little tough, i'd argue that the description is actually easier than the narrative. the problem with writing a short narrative, is its shortness., to do this well you need to make sure that your plot is very, very , very , very simple . you'll only have 45 minutes to write it, and that doesn't leave a lot of space for character development or events., really, you should be able to tell your storyline in one sentence, any more than that and it's probably too complex for the exam., i've included some of my own below to give you an idea of how much plot i've managed to include....

The Simple Scene

Perspectives

An Unreliable Narrator

Using Description

Read over the stories above and pick one structure that you think you could use. then, google some images and see if you can find a way for your chosen structure to become a story connected to that image. the key with a structure is that you can practice with it, but it will still fit any end you choose., but also, there are literally millions of short stories on the web, simply because writing is such a pleasure and sharing stories is so fundamentally human. to help you filter through some of them, you'll find a list of some of my favourite places below:, https://themolotovcocktail.com/, https://wigleaf.com/, https://blog.reedsy.com/short-stories/, https://www.flashfictiononline.com/.

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GCSE English Language Paper 1 - Creative Writing Revision

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Other

Last updated

22 February 2018

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AQA English Language Paper 1: Exam Summary and Timings

Paper 1 : Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing

50% of your GCSE English Language Grade.

The paper is 1 hour and 45 minutes or 2 hours 10 minutes with 25% extra time.

It has two sections: Reading and Writing .

There are a total of 80 marks: 40 for reading & 40 for writing

Students targeted grade 5 or under should begin with Q5 on both papers

Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing

Download a paper copy of this page here: English Language Exam Guidance docx

Edexcel GCSE English Language Past Papers

This section includes recent GCSE English Language (9-1) past papers from Pearson Edexcel. You can download each of the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language past papers and marking schemes by clicking the links below.

November 2022 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

Paper 1: 1EN0/01 English Language - Fiction and Imaginative Writing Download Paper – Download Mark Scheme

Paper 2: 1EN0/02 English Language - Non-Fiction and Transactional Writing Download Paper – Download Mark Scheme

June 2022 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2021 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2020 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

The above papers are labelled June 2020

June 2019 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2018 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

June 2018 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2017 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

June 2017 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

English: June 2016 Edexcel GCSE Past Papers

Unit 2: 5EH2F/01 The Writer’s Craft – Foundation – Download Paper – Download Mark Scheme

Unit 2: 5EH2H/01 The Writer’s Craft – Higher – Download Paper – Download Mark Scheme

English Language: June 2016 Edexcel GCSE Past Papers

Unit 2: 5EN2F/01 The Writer’s Voice – Foundation – Download Paper – Download Mark Scheme

Unit 2: 5EN2H/01 The Writer’s Voice – Higher – Download Paper – Download Mark Scheme

English: June 2015