Author
Deb OrrockExpertise
English
Paper 1 Question 1 is designed to settle you down into the exam, so even though it is only worth 4 marks, these should be easy marks to pick up.
This guide will show you an example of this question, taken from the November 2019 AQA GCSE English Language paper, along with suggested answers.
It includes:
Have a go at writing your four answers to the example question, and then compare what you have written to the suggested answers below. The examiner will accept any other valid response that they are able to verify by checking the text. They will also accept answers that start with “There are..” or “She can see…”
The examiner will award one mark for each point about Zoe’s surroundings. The table below details examples of what you would be awarded a mark for, and what you would not get a mark for (and why):
| One mark each | No marks |
|
It was snowing It is snowing It is snowy |
It was dark (no mention of this in the text) |
| The snow is gentle | It is gentle (no mention of snow) |
| The snow is beautiful (implied) | |
| The snow has six-pointed flakes | The snow has flakes (not specific enough) |
| The snow flakes settled on Zoe’s jacket sleeve | |
| The snow looked like it was from a picture book (implied) | The snow is from a picture book (it’s not - it just looks like it is) |
| The surroundings are magical (implied) |
|
| Zoe is on a mountain |
|
|
The mountain air is icy The air was icy The air prickled with ice |
|
| The air smells of pine resin | The air smells (doesn’t say of what) |
| Saint-Bernard-en-Haut is below her | Below her is Bernard (not specific to the text) |
| There is a village/resort below her |
She is in a village (no she’s not - she is on a mountain) |
| There is a Pyrenean resort village several hundred metres below her |
|
|
To the west she can see the Pyrenees There is a mountain range to the west |
She can see a range (needs to specify mountain range) |
| The mountain range has irregular peaks | It was irregular (must include mountains or peaks) |
| She can see the dark outlines of the village below her |
She can see outlines (needs to specify of what) |
to absolutely everything:
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Deb is a graduate of Lancaster University and The University of Wolverhampton. After some time travelling and a successful career in the travel industry, she re-trained in education, specialising in literacy. She has over 16 years’ experience of working in education, teaching English Literature, English Language, Functional Skills English, ESOL and on Access to HE courses. She has also held curriculum and quality manager roles, and worked with organisations on embedding literacy and numeracy into vocational curriculums. She now manages a post-16 English curriculum as well as writing educational content and resources.