How to Answer Question 1 (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language)

How to Answer Question 1

Paper 1, or Component 1, is the “fiction” paper. You will be given five reading questions to answer about an extract from a longer piece of literature or a short story in Section A. You should always begin by dividing up the reading passage into the sections specified by each question, and you should complete these questions in the order they are given.

The following guide to how to answer Question 1 includes:

• Question 1 overview

• How to answer Question 1

• Exam tips

Question 1 overview

Question 1 will be on the first ten or so lines of the reading passage. It is important that you do not take any information from outside of the lines specified on the question paper, nor any information given to you in either bold type or italics above the reading passage. You will not receive any marks if you do.

This question is a quick “select and retrieve” question. This means that you are being assessed on your ability to quickly scan a short section of text to find specific information. Most of this information will be explicit or obvious, but some may be implied (meaning you will have to read between the lines).

The question is worth 5 marks and you should only spend a maximum of 5 minutes on it.

How to answer Question 1

Let’s look at Question 1 from the November 2021 exam:

Remember, this question will always ask you to list or offer five things. This is normally five things you learn about something or someone in the passage, but it could also be five reasons for something. What is important is that you correctly identify what the focus of the question is (what you are being asked to list five things about).

Therefore, in order to achieve full marks for this question, follow these steps:

1. Identify the correct section of the reading passage

2. Read the question and highlight the focus (what you are being asked to list or give five things about)

3. Scan the section of text and highlight at least five things that answer the question

For the above question, you might highlight the passage like so:

4. Write your answers as five separate bullet points:

• Each bullet point has to be written as a complete sentence about the focus of the question

• You receive no marks for just writing direct quotes from the text, or copying whole sentences that are not adapted to answer the question

• If you can, write down more than five things; the examiner will take your top five
  

Exam tips

• Make sure each point is separate and — if relevant — start each point with “she”, “he” or the character’s name

• If the passage is written in the first person, and you are asked to list five things you learn about the protagonist, you must change each answer to “he”, “she” or the character’s name (do not write “I” at the start of each answer)

• Most of the information will be explicit and easy to find:

  • However, there will normally be at least one or two pieces of information that you will have to infer from what you read

  • For example, in the case of Mma Ramotswe, you can infer that she was good at her job, because her services were in considerable demand and she almost always came up with some information for her client

• You do not need to write your answer as a continuous paragraph:

  • Nor do you need to use direct quotations, or analyse any aspect of the language the writer has used

For an exemplar model answer to an example of Component 1 Question 1, please see Question 1: Model Answer.