english language essay gcse

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AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers

Welcome to our page dedicated to AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers. Here, you can access a wide range of past papers, including specimen papers, mark schemes, and examiner reports, all in one place. Whether you're a student or a teacher, our comprehensive collection will help you to prepare for your exams, improve your skills, and achieve your academic goals. So why wait? Start exploring our AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers page today!

November 2021 AQA GCSE (9-1) English Language (8700) Past Exam Papers (Labelled as June 2021)

• | November 2021: Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (8700/1) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert
• | November 2021: Paper 2: Writer's Viewpoints and Perspectives (8700/2) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert

November 2020 AQA GCSE (9-1) English Language (8700) Past Exam Papers (Labelled as June 2020)

• | November 2020: Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (8700/1) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert
• | November 2020: Paper 2: Writer's Viewpoints and Perspectives (8700/2) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert

June 2019 AQA GCSE (9-1) English Language (8700) Past Exam Papers

• | June 2019: Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (8700/1) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert
• | June 2019: Paper 2: Writer's Viewpoints and Perspectives (8700/2) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert

November 2018 AQA GCSE (9-1) English Language (8700) Past Exam Papers

• | November 2018: Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing (8700/1) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert
• | November 2018: Paper 2: Writer's Viewpoints and Perspectives (8700/2) Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert

June 2018 AQA GCSE (9-1) English Language (8700) Past Exam Papers

• | Question Paper Mark Scheme Insert

1-to-1 lessons tailored to AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers

➞what are aqa gcse english language past papers.

AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers are previous exam papers for the AQA GCSE English Language qualification. These papers are used by students to practice and prepare for their exams.

➞Where can I find AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers?

AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers can be found on the AQA website or other educational websites that provide past papers for students to use for practice.

➞Why are AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers important?

AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers are important because they provide students with an opportunity to practice answering exam-style questions and to become familiar with the format and structure of the exam. This helps students to feel more confident and prepared for their actual exam.

➞How do I use AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers to prepare for my exam?

To use AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers to prepare for your exam, start by selecting a past paper from a reliable source. Set yourself a time limit to complete the paper, and then answer the questions to the best of your ability. Once you have finished, check your answers and identify areas where you need to improve. Use this feedback to guide your future study and revision.

➞Can AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers help me to achieve a higher grade in my exam?

Yes, AQA GCSE English Language Past Papers can help you to achieve a higher grade in your exam. By practicing exam-style questions, you can become more confident and familiar with the format and structure of the exam. This can help you to perform better on the day of your actual exam.

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Free downloadable english gcse past papers with mark scheme.

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• AQA GCSE English Past papers
• Edexcel GCSE English Past Papers
• OCR GCSE English Past Papers
• WJEC GCSE English Past Papers

CIE IGCSE English Past Papers

• Eduqas GCSE English Past Papers

One of the best ways to revise for your GCSEs is to look at past papers. To make your life a little easier, 😉 we have compiled a list of different past papers to help you find what you are looking for! 

AQA English Past Papers 

Even the most educated and learned scholars lose the will to live after spending more than five minutes searching for papers on the AQA website! 💀

If you want to brave it alone, here are the links: 

• AQA English Language past paper resources  
• AQA English Literature past paper resources  

If you want us to neatly, concisely and handily lay them all out for you, 😇 then get a load of this: 

AQA English Language: Paper 1 

This exam paper is fiction (stories). You will be given two sources and have to answer five questions. 

• Question booklet  
• Insert  
• Mark scheme  

AQA English Language: Paper 2 

This exam paper is non-fiction (not stories). 😅 You will be given one source and have to answer five questions. 

• Question booklet

AQA English Literature: Paper 1 

English Language Paper 1 focuses on Shakespeare and 19th Century 

• Mark scheme

AQA English Literature: Paper 2 

English Literature Paper 2 focuses on Modern Texts and Poetry (Anthology and Unseen)~

Edexcel English Past Papers 

The Edexcel website is definitely better to navigate than the rabbit warren, AQA. Can you believe that someone thought to upload the question paper, mark scheme and extracts all onto the same document?! 🤯

• Edexcel past paper resources: English Language   
• Edexcel past papers resources: English Literature  

The downside is that there are not that many past papers available online. 

OCR English Past papers

The OCR Website gives a comprehensive and easy to navigate website with past papers. Here are the links:

• OCR English Language past paper resources 
• OCR English Literature past paper resources  

If you want a more comprehensive breakdown of the 2019 English papers, read on… 

OCR English Language: Communicating Information and Ideas 

• Question paper 

OCR English Language: Exploring Effects and Impact 

• Question paper  
• Mark scheme 

OCR English Literature: Exploring Modern and Literary Heritage Texts 

Ocr english literature: exploring poetry and shakespeare , wjec english past papers.

Here is where you can find past papers for the WJEC English Literature and English Language GCSEs:

• WJEC English Language past paper resources 
• WJEC English Literature past paper resources

The WJEC website is good because it groups past papers and mark schemes by year (so it is easy to find a year) but confusing in that all of the past papers and mark schemes are jumbled into the same list – which becomes particularly confusing when you have higher and lower tiers and the rather unimaginatively named ‘Unit 2A’ and ‘Unit 2B’. 😳

But fear not, we’ve filtered through the chaos and ordered it for you in a neat way! 💪

WJEC English Language: Unit 2

• Past paper 

WJEC English Language: Unit 3

• Past paper  

WJEC (foundation) English Literature: Unit 1

Wjec (foundation) english literature: unit 2a , wjec (foundation) english literature: unit 2b , wjec (higher) english literature: unit 1, wjec (higher) english literature: unit 2a, wjec (higher) english literature: unit 2b .

The Cambridge IGCSE websites are pretty straightforward and easy to use so they don’t need us to distil the information for you. 🙌 Here are the links to all of their past paper resources:

• English Language past paper resources   
• English Literature past paper resources   

Eduqas English Past Papers

And finally, there is good old, Eduqas! Here are the links to the websites with their past paper resources: 

• Eduqas English Language past paper resources 
• Eduqas English Literature past paper resources  

And here is a paper by paper breakdown of the different components for each paper: 

Eduqas English Language: Component 1 

Eduqas english language: component 2, eduqas english literature: component 1, eduqas english literature: component 2.

So there you have it! A handy breakdown of all the different English Literature and English Language GCSE papers, mark schemes and inserts! 📚 If you would like some more help with your English GCSEs (or even A-Level) preparations, you can book a free trial session with one of our English tutors on the GoStudent website ! 

You might also like to check out our guide on how to analyse unseen poetry ! 

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Paper 1 Marked Answers

Looking at examples of marked answers is a great way to help you understand the skills you need to show for each question and the level of detail you need to include. on each answer you'll see annotations from the examiner in the margin. these show where the student has included a skill and at what level. at the end you'll see the final mark., these are example answers from the june 2019 paper 1. .

Edexcel GCSE English Language Past Papers

This section includes recent GCSE English Language (9-1) past papers from Pearson Edexcel. You can download each of the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language past papers and marking schemes by clicking the links below.

November 2022  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

Paper 1: 1EN0/01  English Language - Fiction and Imaginative Writing  Download Paper    –    Download Mark Scheme

Paper 2: 1EN0/02  English Language - Non-Fiction and Transactional Writing Download Paper    –    Download Mark Scheme

June 2022  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2021  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2020  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

The above papers are labelled June 2020

June 2019  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2018  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

June 2018  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

November 2017  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

June 2017  Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language Past Papers (1EN0)

English: June 2016 Edexcel GCSE Past Papers

Unit 2: 5EH2F/01 The Writer’s Craft – Foundation –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme

Unit 2: 5EH2H/01 The Writer’s Craft – Higher –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme

English Language: June 2016 Edexcel GCSE Past Papers

Unit 2: 5EN2F/01 The Writer’s Voice – Foundation –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme

Unit 2: 5EN2H/01 The Writer’s Voice – Higher –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme

English: June 2015

Unit 2: 5EH2H/01 The Writer’s Craft – Higher –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme

English Language: June 2015

English: June 2014

2: 5EH2H/01 The Writer’s Craft – Higher –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme

English Language: June 2014

English: June 2013

2: 5EH2H/01 The Writer’s Craft – Higher –   Download Paper  –  Download Mark Scheme  

English Language: June 2013

For more GCSE English Language past papers from other exam boards  click here .

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GCSE English Language

• Specification
• Planning resources
• Teaching resources
• Assessment resources
• Introduction
• Specification at a glance
• 3.1 Scope of study

Scheme of assessment

• Non-exam assessment administration
• General administration

Find past papers and mark schemes, and specimen papers for new courses, on our website at aqa.org.uk/pastpapers

This specification is designed to be taken over two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course.

GCSE exams and certification for this specification are available for the first time in May/June 2017 and then every May/June and November for the life of the specification.

This is a linear qualification. In order to achieve the award, students must complete all exams in November or May/June in a single year. All assessments must be taken in the same series. November entries will only be available to students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August. See Resits and shelf life in the General administration section for November entry restrictions.

• provide extended responses
• demonstrate their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across a full course of study for this qualification.

The final reading question on each paper - Question 4 on Paper 1 and Question 4 on Paper 2 allows students to fulfill this requirement.

All materials are available in English only.

Aims and learning outcomes

Courses based on this specification should encourage students to:

read fluently and write effectively. They should be able to demonstrate a confident control of Standard English and they should be able to write grammatically correct sentences, deploy figurative language and analyse texts.

Courses based on this specification should enable students to:

• read a wide range of texts, fluently and with good understanding
• read critically, and use knowledge gained from wide reading to inform and improve their own writing
• write effectively and coherently using Standard English appropriately
• use grammar correctly, punctuate and spell accurately
• acquire and apply a wide vocabulary, alongside a knowledge and understanding of grammatical terminology, and linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
• listen to and understand spoken language, and use spoken Standard English effectively.

The Spoken Language endorsement will be reported on as part of the qualification, but it will not form part of the final mark and grade.

Explorations in creative reading and writing

• in section A, reading a literature fiction text in order to consider how established writers use narrative and descriptive techniques to capture the interest of readers
• in section B, writing their own creative text, inspired by the topic that they have responded to in section A to demonstrate their narrative and descriptive skills in response to a written prompt, scenario or visual image.

The paper will assess in this sequence, AO1, AO2 and AO4 for reading, and AO5 and AO6 for writing. Section A will be allocated 40 marks, and Section B will be allocated 40 marks to give an equal weighting to the reading and writing tasks.

The source for the reading questions will be a literature fiction text. It will be drawn from either the 20th or 21st century. Its genre will be prose fiction. It will include extracts from novels and short stories and focus on openings, endings, narrative perspectives and points of view, narrative or descriptive passages, character, atmospheric descriptions and other appropriate narrative and descriptive approaches.

As a stimulus for students’ own writing, there will be a choice of scenario, written prompt or visual image that is related to the topic of the reading text in section A. The scenario sets out a context for writing with a designated audience, purpose and form that will differ to those specified on Paper 2.

Writers’ viewpoints and perspectives

• in section A, reading two linked sources from different time periods and genres in order to consider how each presents a perspective or viewpoint to influence the reader
• in section B, producing a written text to a specified audience, purpose and form in which they give their own perspective on the theme that has been introduced to them in section A.

The sources for the reading questions will be non-fiction and literary non-fiction texts. They will be drawn from the 19th century, and either the 20th or 21st century depending on the time period assessed in Paper 1 in each particular series. The combination selected will always provide students with an opportunity to consider viewpoints and perspectives over time. Choice of genre will include high quality journalism, articles, reports, essays, travel writing, accounts, sketches, letters, diaries, autobiography and biographical passages or other appropriate non-fiction and literary non-fiction forms.

In section B, there will be a single writing task related to the theme of section A. It will specify audience, purpose and form, and will use a range of opinions, statements and writing scenarios to provoke a response.

Non-exam assessment

• giving a presentation in a formal context
• responding appropriately to questions and to feedback, asking questions themselves to elicit clarification
• using spoken Standard English.

Students must undertake a prepared spoken presentation on a specific topic. The topic is at the discretion. As a guide, the duration should be no more than ten minutes. The key requirements are:

• presentations must be formal but may take a wide variety of forms, including talks, debates, speeches and dialogues
• students must identify the subject for their presentations in advance and agree it with their teacher
• presentations must be planned and organised. Students should be advised that that lack of preparation is likely to prevent access to the criteria for the higher grades
• students may use pre-prepared notes, powerpoint etc. to assist them during their presentations but this is not a requirement
• as part of, or following, the presentation students must listen to and respond appropriately to questions and feedback
• where the audience is the teacher only, the presentation and dialogue must be designed in such a way that it could have a potentially wider audience than just one person (eg it replicates a television interview).

Assessment objectives

Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all GCSE English Language specifications and all exam boards.

The exams and Spoken Language endorsement will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives.

• identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas
• select and synthesise evidence from different texts
• AO2: Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology to support their views
• AO3: Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed, across two or more texts
• AO4: Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references
• AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
• AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. (This requirement must constitute 20% of the marks for each specification as a whole.)
• AO7: Demonstrate presentation skills in a formal setting
• AO8: Listen and respond appropriately to spoken language, including to questions and feedback on presentations
• AO9: Use spoken Standard English effectively in speeches and presentations.

Weighting of assessment objectives for GCSE English Language

Assessment weightings.

The marks awarded on the papers will be scaled to meet the weighting of the components. Students’ final marks will be calculated by adding together the scaled marks for each component. Grade boundaries will be set using this total scaled mark. The scaling and total scaled marks are shown in the table below.