PAPER 1 QUESTION 1

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU

5 MINUTES
SPEND ON THE QUESTION?

Read the question

Read from the specific lines set
You can directly quote OR paraphrase
Write in full sentences
Make sure that you are answering the question

ANSWER THIS QUESTION BEFORE YOU READ THE WHOLE OF THE

SOURCE
Q1 PARTS
HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANT
OF THE QUESTION FIRST

Draw round the right lines on

the paper
PAPER 1 QUESTION 1 – ‘A Hanging’ – George Orwell 5 mins
We set out for the gallows. Two wardens marched on either side of
the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close
against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once
pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like,
followed behind. Suddenly, when we had gone ten yards, the
procession stopped short without any order or warning.
List four things about the people walking to the gallows. 4 marks
1.
2.
3.
4.
 PAPER 1 QUESTION 1 – Mark yourself
We set out for the gallows. Two wardens marched on either side of
the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close
against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once
pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like,
followed behind. Suddenly, when we had gone ten yards, the
procession stopped short without any order or warning.
Award yourself 4 marks for any of
the following: 5. The prisoner is being physically
1. Some of them were armed restrained.
2. One of them is a prisoner 6. Some of them were magistrates
3. Some of them were wardens 7. They walked for 10 yards before
4. The procession stopped suddenly stopping
BEFORE YOU READ THE SOURCE, READ THROUGH EACH QUESTION AND PLAN

Q2 Q3 Q4
ANNOTATE THE SOURCES AND ADD TO PLAN AS YOU READ

QUESTION 4
SECTION IS
MADE CLEAR

STRUCTURE FOCUS FOR EACH

PARAGRAPH
 PAPER 1 QUESTION 2
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU
10 MINUTES
SPEND ON THE QUESTION?

READ THE QUESTION

• Make sure that you only focus on the section you have been asked to.
• Go through and find as many things as you can.
• Pick your strongest THREE to take forward (if you have nothing to say about why
the writer used it, don’t put it in your answer) – be judicious, ‘zoom in’ on words
to analyse.
• Do not just identify the technique eg a simile you must identify the effect it has.
• The bullet points do not equate to marks- you do not have to find a point for each.
• ALWAYS THINK ABOUT THE WHY –WHY HAS THE WRITER CHOSEN
TO USE THAT LANGUAGE?
Q2
HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE
QUESTION FIRST.

ANNOTATE THE EXTRACT WITH YOUR IDEAS

 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES – ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
How does the writer use language here to describe the fog? You could include the writer’s choice of:
• words and phrases
• language features and techniques
• sentence forms.
8 marks

I have said that over the great Grimpen Mire there hung a dense, white fog. It was drifting
slowly in our direction and banked itself up like a wall on that side of us, low but thick and
well defined. The moon shone on it, and it looked like a great shimmering ice-field, with the
heads of the distant tors as rocks borne upon its surface. Holmes' face was turned towards
it, and he muttered impatiently as he watched its sluggish drift. Every minute that white
woolly plain which covered one-half of the moor was drifting closer and closer to the house.
Already the first thin wisps of it were curling across the golden square of the lighted window.
The farther wall of the orchard was already invisible, and the trees were standing out of a
swirl of white vapour. As we watched it the fog-wreaths came crawling round both corners
of the house and rolled slowly into one dense bank on which the upper floor and the roof
floated like a strange ship upon a shadowy sea.
 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES – ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
How does the writer use language here to describe the fog? You could include the writer’s choice of: 8 marks – 10 mins
• words and phrases
• language features and techniques
• sentence forms.

Simile AO2 Adjectives AO1 Impenetrable/

opaque/ obscuring
 THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES – ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE – What a good one
looks like.

How does the writer use language here to describe the fog? You could include the writer’s choice
Doyle uses the adjectives
of:
• words and phrases
“dense” and “thick” to
• language features and techniques
• sentence forms. create the impression that
the fog is impenetrable; it
obstructs the narrator’s
vision and rises “like a
wall” in front of Holmes.
The simile makes the fog
seem imprisoning, which
adds to the sinister
atmosphere.
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES – ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE – YOUR TURN to
continue
How does the writer use language here to describe the fog? You could include the writer’s choice of: 8 marks – 10 mins
• words and phrases
• language features and techniques
• sentence forms.

Repetition

AO2
Juxtaposition

Threatening/
AO1
menacing/ sinister
 PAPER 1 QUESTION 3
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU
10 MINUTES
SPEND ON THE QUESTION?

READ THE QUESTION

• Make sure you check whether the question wants you to focus on the whole
of the source or part of the source.
• Next to each paragraph, note what the focus is of each paragraph.
• Focus on the beginning, middle and end.
• Think about WHY the writer has chosen to structure the text this way.
 Paper 1 Q3
Structure as sequential and cohesive development

Students might identify traits such as shifts in time or movement in thought, eg from past to
future. Other structural examples include:
•zooming in from something big to something much smaller (or vice versa)
•a sudden or gradual introduction of new characters at significant points
•moving from inside to the wider outside world (or vice versa)
•combining external actions with internal thoughts
•switching between different points of view
•developing and reiterating – focusing on a point of view by expanding and repeating it
•cyclical structure – returning at the end to what happened at the beginning
•positioning of key sentences and their impact on the whole.
Q3
Annotate
the
extract!
 THE BEES – LALINE PAULL
The cell squeezed her and the air was hot and fetid. All the joints of her body burned from her frantic twisting against the
walls, her head was pressed into her chest and her legs shot with cramp, but her struggles had worked - one wall felt weaker.
She kicked out with all her strength and felt something crack and break. She forced and tore and bit until there was a jagged
hole into fresher air beyond.

She dragged her body through and fell out onto the floor of an alien world. Static roared through her brain, thunderous
vibration shook the ground and a thousand scents dazed her. All she could do was breathe until gradually the vibration and
static subsided and the scent evaporated into the air. Her rigid body unlocked and she calmed as knowledge filled her mind.

This was the Arrivals Hall and she was a worker.

Her kin was Flora and her number was 717.

Certain of her first task, she set about cleaning out her cell. In her violent struggle to hatch she had broken the whole front
wall, unlike her neater neighbours. She looked, then followed their example, piling her debris neatly by the ruins. The activity
cleared her senses and she felt the vastness of the Arrivals Hall, and how the vibrations in the air changed in different areas.
Row upon row of cells like hers stretched into the distance, and there the cells were quiet but resonant as if the occupants
still slept. Immediately around her was great activity with many recently broken and cleared-out chambers, and many more
cracking and falling as new bees arrived. The differing scents of her neighbours also came into focus, some sweeter, some
sharper, all of them pleasant to absorb.

With a hard erratic pulse in the ground, a young female came running down the corridor between the cells, her face frantic. 
 THE BEES – LALINE PAULL
The cell squeezed her and the air was hot and fetid. All the joints of her body burned from her frantic twisting against the
walls, her head was pressed into her chest and her legs shot with cramp, but her struggles had worked - one wall felt weaker.
She kicked out with all her strength and felt something crack and break. She forced and tore and bit until there was a jagged
hole into fresher air beyond.

She dragged her body through and fell out onto the floor of an alien world. Static roared through her brain, thunderous
vibration shook the ground and a thousand scents dazed her. All she could do was breathe until gradually the vibration and
static subsided and the scent evaporated into the air. Her rigid body unlocked and she calmed as knowledge filled her mind.

This was the Arrivals Hall and she was a worker.

Her kin was Flora and her number was 717.

Certain of her first task, she set about cleaning out her cell. In her violent struggle to hatch she had broken the whole front
wall, unlike her neater neighbours. She looked, then followed their example, piling her debris neatly by the ruins. The activity
cleared her senses and she felt the vastness of the Arrivals Hall, and how the vibrations in the air changed in different areas.
Row upon row of cells like hers stretched into the distance, and there the cells were quiet but resonant as if the occupants
still slept. Immediately around her was great activity with many recently broken and cleared-out chambers, and many more
cracking and falling as new bees arrived. The differing scents of her neighbours also came into focus, some sweeter, some
sharper, all of them pleasant to absorb.

With a hard erratic pulse in the ground, a young female came running down the corridor between the cells, her face
frantic. 
The extract opens with a focus on the setting
(“the cell”), which immediately intrigues the
reader as we are invited to wonder who the
“her” is and how she ended up imprisoned in a
“hot” cell. The sense of claustrophobia builds
further as the writer describes each of her
actions in detail (“twisting”, “pressed”,
“kicked”, “forced”, “tore”, “bit”).

The tension is suspended in the third

paragraph; our attention is drawn away from
the action as the writer reveals that she is a
“worker” in an “arrivals hall”. This information
is deliberately vague, to intrigue us further (we
don’t know what she works as). The mystery is
further exaggerated by the shift to a one line
paragraph – there is a sense that much is left
unsaid.
 PAPER 1 QUESTION 4
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU
20 MINUTES
SPEND ON THE QUESTION?

READ THE QUESTION

• Make sure that you check whether the question wants you to consider all of the text or a
certain section of the text.
• Question 4 is asking you to bring your thoughts together from questions 2 and 3. You need
to think of questions 2 and 3 as preparing you for this!
• EXAM TIP: You will probably find it easier to AGREE with the statement. The reviewer
has said it for a reason. You need to make it clear to the examiner whether you agree or
disagree.
• Think of this question as a treasure hunt. The reviewer has made a statement and now you
need to find everything in the text that proves them correct.
Q4 MAKE SURE
YOU ARE CLEAR
Annotate THE LINES YOU
the ARE LOOKING
extract! AT
 THE SNOWMAN – JO NESBO

After reading this opening, a teacher observed that "The writer creates a tense and suspenseful atmosphere” 
To what extent do you agree? In your response, you could:

• write about your own impressions of the creature

• evaluate how the writer has created these impressions
• support your opinions with references to the text.
20 marks
 THE SNOWMAN – JO NESBO

IT WAS THE day the snow came. At eleven o'clock in the morning, large flakes appeared from a colourless sky and invaded the
fields, gardens and lawns of Romerike like an armada from outer space. At two, the snow ploughs were in action in Lillestrom, and
when, at half past two, Sara Kvinesland. slowly and carefully steered her Toyota Corolla SR5 between the detached houses in
Kolloveien, the November snow was lying like a down duvet over the rolling countryside.

She was thinking that the houses looked different in daylight. So different that she almost passed his drive. The car skidded as she
applied the brakes, and she heard a groan from the back seat. In the rear-view mirror she saw her son's disgruntled face.

"It won't take long, my love," she said.

In front of the garage there was a large patch of black tarmac amid all the white, and she realised that the removal van had been
there. Her throat constricted. She hoped she wasn't too late.

"Who lives here?" came from the back seat.

"Just someone I know," Sara said, automatically checking her hair in the mirror. "Ten minutes, my love. I'll leave the key in the
ignition so you can listen to the radio. She went without waiting for a response slithered in her slippery shoes up to the door she
had been through so many times, but never like this, not in the middle of the day, in full view of all the neighbours' prying eyes.
She heard the buzz of the doorbell inside, like a bumblebee in a jam jar. Feeling her desperation mount, she glanced at the
windows of the neighbouring houses. They gave nothing away, just returned reflections of bare black apple trees, grey sky and
milky-white terrain. Then, at last, she heard footsteps behind the door and heaved a sigh of relief.
 PAPER 1 QUESTION 5
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU
35 MINUTES
SPEND ON THE QUESTION?

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING NARRATIVE WRITING

The paper could
• Write a story from a first person/third
contain one of person
each perspective.
• Think about your description –question,
use or 2 •ofGive
one details of an experience and take the
vocabulary and figurative language.
type – there isreader
no on a journey.
• Include a variety of sentence lengths
guarantee; you need
and types. • Think about the order you do things -
to be able to do include
both. things like flashbacks
• Use ‘show don’t tell’ in order to avoid
• Use interesting vocabulary along with a
making obvious statements, give clues
variety of sentence lengths and types.
to the reader, focus on small areas in
detail and develop your description. • Use features of story writing such as
setting and dramatic climax.
 Describing a character or place using
SHOW DON’T TELL
Brief version – ‘TELLS’ the reader the
Brief version - ‘TELLS’ the reader Sally street was covered in snow (weak
is disorganised (weak writing) writing)
Sally, who worked in a newspaper office, When I woke in the morning, I saw my
was very disorganized. street was covered in snow.

Detailed version - ‘SHOWS’ the reader Detailed version – ‘SHOWS’ the reader
Sally is disorganised (effective writing) the street was covered in snow
(effective writing)
As she sat down at her desk, Sally heaped
a pile of letters and files onto the top of I emerged from beneath my duvet to
her in-tray. She hunted for a biro she see that my street was covered in a
thought she’d seen earlier in the day. white, glistening duvet of its very own.
 PAPER 1 QUESTION 5
DESCRIPTIVE WRITING NARRATIVE WRITING
• Write the opening of a story where someone is
trapped.

• Write the opening of a story titled 'Everything is

Broken'.

• Write the opening of a story that begins with the

lines: "Where do they go? There is no where in the
world where they belong."

• Write the middle part of a story that involves a

place that has been damaged by war.

• Write the ending of a story that has the last lines:

"The calm returned, and silence fell once again.
PAPER 1 QUESTION 5