Paper 1 · Section A: Reading
Exam skills
Section A gives you one anthology text and one unseen text, then asks five questions that rise in difficulty: three short comprehension questions, a 12-mark analysis and a 22-mark comparison. Each has its own method, and none of them rewards retelling the story.
The paper at a glance
| Question | Marks | What it asks | The rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 2 | Select two words or phrases from given lines | Quote them. No analysis, no full sentences. Do not overthink it. |
| Q2 | 4 | In your own words… | Four marks, four points, zero quotation. Paraphrase everything. |
| Q3 | 5 | Explain, with brief quotations if you wish | Five clear, separate points; brief embedded quotes welcome. |
| Q4 | 12 | How does the writer use language and structure to… | Three paragraphs, no introduction, whole text covered. |
| Q5 | 22 | Compare how the two texts present… | Three developed comparisons, both texts in every paragraph. |
Mark values as in recent papers; always check the current specification. Section B (transactional writing) is a separate discipline with its own site: transactional.extendedenglish.com.
The short questions: harvest, do not analyse
Questions 1 to 3 test reading, not writing. Stay inside the line numbers you are given, and let the mark tally tell you how many pieces of information to find. The classic errors are all forms of doing too much: full sentences on Q1, quotation on Q2 (the question says your own words and means it), three points where five marks are waiting. For Q3, think in five mini-moves: a brief point in the words of the question, a brief example, a brief explanation, then a line's space and the next one.
The 12-mark question: three ideas, not thirty devices
Question 4 asks how the writer uses language and structure to achieve something: tension, wonder, engagement. Find three ways the text does it, and make each one a paragraph with a clear topic sentence, three or four embedded quotations and analysis that keeps returning to the question’s wording. About 25 minutes; no introduction, no conclusion; the whole extract, not just its opening.
The habit that separates strong answers: naming a device is labelling, not analysis. ‘The writer uses a simile’ earns nothing until you show what the simile does to the reader. Zoom in on single words, ask what they suggest, and link the effect back to the question. Embed quotations inside your own sentences (‘the writer describes time passing “relentlessly”, suggesting…’) rather than parking them on their own line.
The six errors examiners see most
- Feature spotting: technique named, effect never explored.
- Retelling the story instead of analysing the writing.
- Only writing about the first half of the extract.
- Quotations introduced separately instead of embedded.
- Copying whole lines instead of zooming in on words.
- Points that drift away from the question focus.
The 22-mark question: comparison is the skill being marked
Question 5 sets the anthology text against the unseen and asks you to compare how both present the focus. The comparison itself carries the marks, so it cannot be a bolt-on sentence at the end of each paragraph. Plan for five minutes (a quick similarities and differences table), then write three well-developed paragraphs: a thematic topic sentence holding both texts; Text One quotation and analysis; an explicit comparative link; Text Two quotation and analysis; a final sentence weighing the two. Use the writers’ surnames, draw on language and structure, and keep the connectives working: whereas, similarly, in contrast, both writers convey, while one suggests… the other implies…
Unseen texts: a method that travels
The unseen could be historical fiction, memoir, biography, reportage: the method does not change. Orient first: before any question, fix the genre, audience and purpose, and say the story of the extract to yourself in a sentence. Locate by line numbers: every answer stays inside its range. Match points to marks. Pair inference with evidence: every claim about feeling or atmosphere anchored to the words that carry it. For Q4 on an unseen, read the extract as a chain of device-quotation-effect triples, from the opening’s way in to the final image, and notice the structural moves (shifts of focus, foreshadowing, a change of sentence rhythm) as well as the figurative ones.
Practise, then get feedback
Take any text guide’s practice question, write for 25 minutes, and bring the result to the marking desk. It annotates like a teacher in your margin: no grades, ever, and no mercy for device-spotting.