1. English Language Paper 1: Reading
Question 1
Short succinct answers focused on the subject of the question gains the marks
Question 2
Students need to understand the context of the passage
Single word analysis works well
Writing about effect is successful
Sentence types and punctuation references rarely work
Question 3
Complex technical terms are not needed, tracking the start-middle-end helped students focus their answers unless they just re-told the story
Straying into language means focus on structure is lost
Empty comments “makes the reader want to read on.” add nothing
Contrasting the features in the article works well – earlier the writer used…to…which is different from… because…
Remind students bullet points refer to structure that interests them
Question 4
Students must cover both halves of the question for the full marks
Writer’s methods must be included
Only write about details from the lines stated
Students don’t need to focus on a counter argument as this can make the answer overly complex
Referring clearly to the question is very useful in this question
Avoid using historical context from out of the text as this doesn’t show understanding of events or characters in the text

2. English Language Paper 1: Writing
Question 5
There was “greater control, clearer narrative structure and shorter, more focused responses.”
Students who focused on ‘gore’ didn’t achieve highly
Planning is important but shouldn’t dominate the time
Plots from films, games or past exams or lit texts should be avoided
Wow words in vocabulary were often misused or misplaced within the writing
Sentence variety was better this year
Using semi-colons, colon’s and apostrophes accurately a few times is preferable to throughout the text at any point
“Spelling of key words, correct homophones, correct apostrophes, accurate sentence and speech punctuation are all core skills for this specification”