AQA Paper 1 English Language sample practice questions
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Support students as they build relevant language analysis skills for the AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 Section A questions with this structured analysis activity focusing on each question in detail. Updated for 2026 exams.
What's included
Get everything you need to support students as they evolve their ability to evaluate texts and respond to the newly adapted exam-style questions for GCSE English Language Paper 1 Section A from 2026:
- Free printable PDF worksheet for students to explore a typical exam-style text and related questions with accompanying model responses.
- For subscribers only, an adaptable and customisable worksheet.
AQA Paper 1 English Language sample practice questions resource
Designed for students studying AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 Section A for 2026 and beyond, this model exam paper resource enables students to become familiar with reading and deconstructing a fiction text, responding to exam-style questions and building answers that align with the official exam board marking criteria. The resource encourages students to focus on the ways in which authors explore their ideas in their writing through language, theme, form and structure.
Once students have read the given text, they can plan each question and build an understanding of exam question wording, helping them to clarify the content and depth of detail they need to include in their answers.
Key features of this resource
This useful resource is a sample Section A text and features questions in the style of AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1. The resource enables students to practise questions that might potentially appear on Paper 1 to build familiarity and confidence with the format and question type.
The questions take students through a typical Section A experience and help them to focus on language features, sentence forms and writers’ viewpoints ahead of their exams or during revision periods.
Exploring a section of the novel, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle, students are encouraged to evaluate the writer’s use of language and thematic concerns in line with AQA Paper 1 Section A questions.
There are also model answers included.
This practice paper focuses on an extract from Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha which can be found in the GCSE English Language Reading resource on the AQA website.
There are two extracts from this text within the booklet: the one accompanying this resource is the second extract, on pages 27–28.
How to use this AQA Paper 1 English Language sample practice questions resource
This resource is perfect for:
- Building understanding of typical exam-style fiction texts and questions for newly adapted 2026 questions
- Exploring possible ways to construct a detailed response for the new style 2026 questions
- Consolidating language analysis skills
- Completing revision sessions and exam or assessment preparation
- Strengthening exam question answer construction at KS4
Additional GCSE English Language Paper 1 resources
- Practice exam question for AQA Paper 1A: Responding to literary fiction texts
- Tackling question 1 of the AQA English Language exam
- AQA English Language Paper 1 practice Hard Times extract
- AQA English Language Paper 1: practice reading assessment task
- AQA GCSE Language Paper 1 practice: The Tell Tale Heart
Browse additional resources in the AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 section.
A sample extract from the resource:
- Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 11.
Answer all parts of this question and choose one answer for each question.
- Shade the circle in the box of the one that you think is correct.
- Choose a maximum of one answer for each question.
- If you make an error cross out the whole box.
- If you change your mind and require an answer that has been crossed out, then draw a circle around the box.
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- What were important to Paddy and his friends?
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Horses |
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Bikes |
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Cars |
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(1 mark)
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- How is the boys’ movement on their bikes described?
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Ran speedily down the roads |
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Walked slowly along the pavements |
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Galloped through the garage yards |
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(1 mark)
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- What happened to Paddy’s bike to cause an accident?
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The rope got caught between the spokes |
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The bike hit a stone |
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A car swerved towards him |
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(1 mark)
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- How did Paddy feel after the accident on his bike?
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He felt ill and had to go home |
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He felt ok and wasn’t cut |
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He broke his arm |
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(1 mark)
(4 marks in total)
- Look in detail at lines 1 to 16, from ‘We charged through on our bikes’ to ‘a second attack’.
How does the writer use language to describe the way the boys played on their bikes?
You could include the writer’s choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms.
(8 marks)
- Now you need to think about the structure of the source as a whole.
How has the writer structured the text to reveal Paddy’s growing confidence on his bike?
You could write about:
- how Paddy’s confidence builds throughout the source
- how the writer uses structure to create an effect
- the writer’s use of any other structural features, such as changes in mood, tone or perspective.
(8 marks)
- Focus this part of your answer on line 42 (‘I’d got the bike for Christmas’) to the end of the source.
This part of the story shows the development of the narrator’s relationship with his bike. The writer shows how this relationship changes in interesting ways.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of the narrator’s relationship with his bike
- comment on the methods the writer uses to present this changing relationship
- support your response with reference to the text.
(20 marks)
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