Reading comprehension, Year 10: Paper 1 and evaluating a statement

80

HintPaper 2 carries exactly the same total.

The whyPaper 1 has 40 marks for reading (Section A) and 40 for writing (Section B). It lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and counts for half of the GCSE.

8; 8; 20

HintThe final question is the biggest on the paper and the two middle ones match each other.

The whyQuestion 1 (4 marks) finds stated details. Questions 2 and 3 (8 marks each) are on language and on structure. Question 4 (20 marks) asks you to evaluate a statement about the text.

Prose fiction from the 20th or 21st century

HintThink of a passage out of a novel or a short story that is not very old.

The whyThe source is an extract from a novel or a short story. It is never a poem, a play or non-fiction, and it is never a text you have studied: every text in the exam is unseen.

By choosing: you shade one circle in each part

HintRecall the format of the opening question in the 2026 sample paper.

The whySince summer 2026 each part offers a few possible answers about a named set of lines, and you pick one by shading it. A mistake is corrected by crossing out the whole box.

16

HintIt is the smaller of the two parts, and less than half of the total.

The whyContent and organisation (AO5) is worth 24 marks and technical accuracy (AO6) 16. The same split is used on Paper 2, so accuracy is worth 32 of the 160 marks for the GCSE: one fifth.

15; 45; 45

HintThe three figures add up to 105 minutes, and the two sections get equal time.

The whyThe paper itself prints this advice. Section A is the four reading questions and Section B is the one writing task, so reading and writing get the same time as well as the same marks.

Half

HintRecall how heavily the final question is weighted compared with the other three combined.

The whyQuestion 4 is the largest reading question on either paper. Leaving it until the last five minutes throws away more marks than any other mistake in Section A.

Yes

HintThink about whether the question demands a single fixed stance.

The whyThe task asks to what extent you agree, so a full yes, a full no and a mixed view are all acceptable. What is marked is how well you support your view from the text.

Evaluating texts critically

HintIt is the last of the reading objectives, after find, analyse and compare.

The whyAn assessment objective is one of the skills the exam is built to measure. AO4 asks for a judgement supported by references to the text, and it is worth 12.5% of the GCSE, all of it on this one question.

The writer's methods

HintBesides your personal response, recall the mark scheme's second ingredient: the craft behind it.

The whyThe question's bullets point to your impressions, to the methods used, and to references that support both. An answer that only retells events, or only lists techniques, covers half of what is asked.

B

HintWhich opening could not be mistaken for a neutral summary?

The whyAn evaluation starts from a judgement. Opening with how far you agree gives every paragraph after it a job: to prove that judgement from the text.