AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 Explorations in Creative Reading & Writing 2025 & mark scheme

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I declare this is my own work.

GCSE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE N




Paper 1 Explorations in creative reading and writing
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Friday 23 May 2025 N N N Morning Time allowed: 1 hour 45 minutes
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Materials
For this paper you must have:
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For Examiner’s Use
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 Source A – provided as a separate insert.
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Question Mark
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Instructions 1
 Answer all questions. N N

 Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
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 Fill in the boxes at the top of this page.
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3
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 You must answer the questions in the spaces provided.
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 Do not write outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
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 If you need extra space for your answer(s), use the lined pages at the end of
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5
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this book. Write the question number against your answer(s).
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 Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be
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TOTAL
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marked.
 You must refer to the insert booklet provided.
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 You must not use a dictionary.
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Information
 The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
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 The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
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 There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B.
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 You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.
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 You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
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 You will be assessed on the quality of your writing in Section B.
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Advice
 You are advised to spend about 15 minutes reading through the source and all five questions you have
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to answer.
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 You are advised to plan your answer to Question 5 before you start to write.
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 You should make sure you leave sufficient time to check your answers.
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IB/M/Jun25/G4014/V6 8700/1

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Section A: Reading N N e box


Answer all questions in this section.
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You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
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0 1 N Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 8.
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List four things which happened that night from this part of the source.
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[4 marks]
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IB/M/Jun25/8700/1

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e box
0 2 Look in detail at this extract from lines 9 to 18:
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The early morning of the 27th was an affair of slatternly* rags soaking in a dishwater sky,
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with a grey light weakly filtering through. Nevertheless, in Oppley cocks crowed and othe
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r birds welcomed the dawn more melodiously. In Midwich, however, no birds sang. In Op
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pley, as in other places, hands were soon reaching out to silence alarm clocks, but in Mid
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wich the clocks rattled on until they ran down. For Midwich lay entranced.
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While the rest of the world began to fill the morning with clamour, Midwich slept on. Its m
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en and women, its horses, cows and sheep; its pigs, its poultry, its larks, moles and mice
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all lay still. There was a pocket of silence in Midwich, broken only by the rustling of the le
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aves, the chiming of the church clock, and the gurgle of the River Opple as it slid over the
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weir beside the mill.
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* slatternly – adjective meaning dirty or untidy
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How does the writer use language here to describe the early morning?
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You could include the writer’s choice of:
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 words and phrases N N


 language features and techniques N N N


 sentence forms. N


[8 marks]
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Turn over ► N N




IB/M/Jun25/8700/1