Paper 1: How to Answer Question 1 (AQA GCSE English Language) : Revision Note
Paper 1: How to Answer Question 1
Paper 1 Question 1 of the AQA GCSE English Language exam is changing:
If you are sitting your exam in 2025 (including any resits), you will be tested on the existing style of question
If you are sitting your exam from 2026 onwards, you will be assessed with the new question style
Please refer to the appropriate part of this page to understand how to answer Question 1 on your exam paper.
How to answer Question 1 in 2025
Paper 1, Section A: Question 1 is the search and find question.
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How to answer Paper 1 Question 1
Let’s look at Question 1 from the June 2023 exam:
In order to get the full 4 marks, you should:
Grab your highlighter:
Read the question carefully
Highlight which lines you need to use in the source text for your answers
Highlight the focus of the question
Scan the section of the source:
Highlight only the information directly relevant to the focus of the question
Write your answers:
Write four separate answers
Each answer must clearly relate to the focus of the question
Write each answer as a complete sentence
For example: “It is snowing” or “She is standing on a mountain”
Examiner Tips and Tricks
To achieve high marks, you may directly quote from the source document, or paraphrase (rephrasing the information in the text in your own words). Whichever technique you use, you must be specific and your answers must relate to the focus of the question.
Responses that just copy the whole section of text will not get any marks, as you are not demonstrating that you understand the focus of the question and/or that you are able to identify explicit and implicit information.
How to answer Question 1 from 2026
Paper 1, Section A: Question 1 is the comprehension question.
Question 1 summary | |
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How to answer Paper 1 Question 1
This is what Question 1 looks like:
In order to get the full 4 marks, you should:
Grab your highlighter:
Read the question carefully
Highlight which lines you need to use in the source text for your answers
Scan the section of the source:
Highlight only the information directly relevant to the focus of each sub-question
Write your answers:
Read all the answer options carefully
Rule out two answer options per sub-question
Tick only one box per sub-question
Only tick four boxes in total
Examiner Tips and Tricks
It’s very important to read the answer options carefully. Although this question seems straightforward, some of the wrong answer options have been included to test your ability to read a text closely and carefully.
This means that you should try to rule out wrong answers by a process of elimination. Ask yourself: which of the answer options cannot be correct?
Learn more and test yourself
For more great tips and tricks, check out a sample answer for this question on our Paper 1 Question 1: Example page.
You can also test yourself on Paper 1 Question 1 with expert-created model answers, with fully explained examiner comments, as part of our Paper 1 Question 1 exam questions offer.
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