Every card in Reading comprehension, Year 10: Paper 1 and evaluating a statement
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- How many marks is AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 worth in total? (number only)
80
HintPaper 2 carries exactly the same total.
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.
- Paper 1 has four reading questions. In order, they are worth 4, ____, ____ and ____ marks.
8; 8; 20
HintThe final question is the biggest on the paper and the two middle ones match each other.
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.
- Paper 1 Section A prints one source for the reading questions. What kind of text is it always?
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.
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.
- From summer 2026, Paper 1 question 1 has four parts worth one mark each. Do you answer each part by writing out a detail from the text, or by choosing from answers printed on the paper?
By choosing: you shade one circle in each part
HintRecall the format of the opening question in the 2026 sample paper.
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.
- The writing question on each paper is marked out of 40, in two parts. How many of those marks are for technical accuracy: sentences, punctuation, grammar, spelling and vocabulary? (number only)
16
HintIt is the smaller of the two parts, and less than half of the total.
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.
- AQA's advice for the 1 hour 45 minutes of Paper 1: about ____ minutes to read the source and all the questions, about ____ minutes on Section A and about ____ minutes on Section B.
15; 45; 45
HintThe three figures add up to 105 minutes, and the two sections get equal time.
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.
- Paper 1 question 4, the evaluation question, is worth 20 marks. What fraction of the marks for the reading section is that?
Half
HintRecall how heavily the final question is weighted compared with the other three combined.
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.
- Paper 1 question 4 gives a statement about the text and asks how far you agree or disagree. Are you allowed to agree in part and disagree in part?
Yes
HintThink about whether the question demands a single fixed stance.
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.
- Paper 1 question 4 is the only question on either paper that tests assessment objective 4 (AO4). What skill does AO4 name?
Evaluating texts critically
HintIt is the last of the reading objectives, after find, analyse and compare.
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.
- An answer to the evaluation question needs two kinds of comment, each backed by references to the text. One is your own impression of what is happening. What is the other?
The writer's methods
HintBesides your personal response, recall the mark scheme's second ingredient: the craft behind it.
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.
- The statement says: 'The writer makes the old house seem welcoming.' Which opening takes a position on it? (A) 'The writer describes the old house in the second half of the source.' (B) 'I agree only in part: the kitchen is warm, but the locked upper floor is anything but welcoming.'
B
HintWhich opening could not be mistaken for a neutral summary?
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.
1★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0001
2★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0002
3★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0003
4★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0004
5★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0005
6★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0006
7★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0007
8★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0008
9★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0009
10★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0010
11★ GCSE-ENLA-REA-0011
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