a QA english-language paper one question
one is supposed to be the example it's
easy opener and yet last summer more
than 50,000 students failed to achieve
full marks in this opening question in
this video I'll give you three simple
tips for hitting top marks in paper 1
question 1 and you can download the free
sample paper that we look at in this
series of videos at mr. broth calm we're
starting off with AQA english-language
paper 1 question 1 which is a simple
question intended to ease students into
the exam question one asks you to list
four things about a certain topic from a
certain part of the source so far this
has been the opening for 5 or 9 lines of
the source so a relatively short section
of the text and questions might revolve
around character or perhaps setting this
question assess is the first part of a
o1 to identify and interpret explicit
and implicit information and ideas let's
look at a typical question read again
the first part of the source from lines
1 to 7 list 4 things about brightly from
this part of the source for Mars so the
first thing to say is that students
often lose marks for writing about the
wrong part of the text in other words
not choosing their answers from within
in this case lines 1 to 7 and this might
seem like a simple mistake but do not
underestimate the pressure you can feel
particularly at the start of the exam so
a simple tip here is to draw a box
around the part of the text you're being
asked to take your answers from just
make sure you do that carefully and
don't strike through any actual lines of
text in the source because you're going
to need to look back at this opening
part of the text when you're working on
question 3 and you don't want to find
that you can't read some of the words
the main thing for this question is to
keep it simple
you should find four simple points for
your answer you can write in your own
words or take a direct quotation from
the text either way making it clear that
you are answering the question also you
could use the wording of the question
itself to help focus on the task and
avoid writing about the
thing so in this case you might start
each answer with the words brightly or
he so let's look through the lines in
question and pick out four simple points
up the road from Brent ought to st. Mary
Tavi came brightly his basket dragging
on his arm he was very tired but there
was nothing unusual in that he was tired
to the point of exhaustion every day he
was very hungry but he was used to that
too he was thinking of bread and cheese
and cider new bread and soft cheese and
cider with a rough edge to it he licked
his lips and tried to believe he was
tasting them then he began to cough it
was a long peeving cough something like
that of a dog or pony he had to put his
basket down and lean over it and tap it
his thin chest with a long raw hand
so using brightly as our sentence
openings let's pick out four simple
points about this character brightly was
tired brightly was hungry brightly was
thinking about bread and cheese and
cider brightly lift his lips and that's
it it's as simple as that full marks or
at least it should be simple but of
course lots of students fail to make it
that simple
now the examiners reports have
continually pointed out that simply
retrieving information from the text as
I've just done in that example can lead
to a better result than trying to
interpret that information in other
words students who try to draw an
inference from the point often get that
inference wrong and aren't credited with
any marks let's look at an example in
the extract brightly coughs some
students might infer from this that he's
sick and right brightly was sick for one
of their answers but that wouldn't be
awarded any marks it's not a fair
interpretation as coughing is a bodily
function and not necessarily indicative
of sickness so you would get a mark for
writing brightly coughed but you
wouldn't get a mark for trying to
interpret that cough and writing Bribie
was sick another common mistake is to
slightly miss read the text for example
in the sentence he licked his lips and
tried to believe he was tasting them and
miss reading could see a student write
he tried to believe he was tasting his
lips
but of course that's not correct what
brightly tries to believe he's tasting
is the bread and cheese and cider of the
previous sentence so make sure you
follow my three main tips for this
question pick for explicit simple points
for your answer don't overcomplicate
through trying to infer or analyze
use the wording of the question to
ensure your answers are on topic and
draw a box around the section of the
text you're directed to to make sure you
take your points from within the right
lines I hope you found this video useful
if you'd like to see a longer video on
this question then you can see one just
here click on the screen and you'll be
taken to that video please do subscribe
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