Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 1 Section A: reading fiction overview quiz quiz

Two unseen non-fiction texts drawn from two different centuries

An extract from one of Shakespeare's plays

A single poem taken from a set anthology

One unseen 19th-century literature fiction extract

24 marks

40 marks

15 marks

64 marks

6 marks, detailed language analysis of the whole text

1 mark, AO1 retrieval from named lines

15 marks, sustained critical evaluation

2 marks, comparison of two extracts

AO1

AO2

AO4

AO3

You can still reach full marks for the answer

The answer is marked under AO4 instead of AO2

You gain extra bonus marks for the depth shown

The mark cannot pass the top of Level 1

Judging how successfully the writer achieves the stated effect, with evidence

Retelling all the events of the extract carefully in the order they happen

Listing as many separate techniques as you can possibly find across the lines given

Comparing this extract closely with a completely separate second text

Because the answers to the questions are deliberately hidden within the body of the text

Because older language, long sentences and conventions cause misreadings on a single pass

Because you are required to memorise the whole extract before you may answer any question

Because the wording of the extract quietly changes between your first and second readings

You gain extra marks for showing wider reading of the text

It is credited generously under AO2 instead of AO1

It scores nothing, because only the named lines count

It improves and strengthens your later evaluation answer

Because both of the words have been clearly misspelled in the answer

Because the weather is never allowed to be the focus of this question

Because only direct quotations from the text are ever accepted here

Because they are the same point reworded, not two distinct details

Keep the retrieval questions brief and give most time to Questions 3 and 4

Spend exactly equal amounts of time on each of the four questions in the section

Spend almost all of the available time on Question 1 alone

Spend almost all of the available time on Question 2 alone

There is no real difference at all between analysing a technique and evaluating it anywhere on this whole paper

Analysis (AO2) explains how a method works; evaluation (AO4) judges how successfully it achieves the effect

Analysis is always done for Question 1, whereas evaluation is always done for Question 2 instead

Evaluation simply means listing many more named techniques than analysis usually requires you to

To copy out the writer's exact words straight from the page without changing them

To guess freely about the meaning without using any evidence from the text

To work out what the text suggests but does not state, anchored in evidence

To summarise the whole plot of the extract from beginning to end