AQA GCSE English Language · Paper 1
Question 1: multiple choice
Four multiple-choice questions on a short part of the source. It’s the easiest 4 marks on the paper, and the only place where a careful reader can be certain of full marks.
- Marks
- 4
- Minutes
- 5
- Tests
- AO1
Changed from 2026. Until 2025 this question asked you to list four things. From 2026 it’s multiple choice, in the same style as Paper 2 Question 1: you shade one circle for each question.
What the question looks like
Read again the first two paragraphs of the source. Answer all parts of this question. Choose one answer for each.
1. How long had the tide table told Mara she had? A: ten minutes B: an hour C: the whole day
2. What was the causeway made of? A: stones B: wooden boards C: sand
3. When Mara set out, the causeway was wide enough for: A: only one person B: a cart C: nobody
4. How is the water moving? A: in fast, crashing waves B: slowly, from both sides C: away from the causeway
Practice source: The CausewayRead it
Written by LycoLearn for practice. It’s from the middle of a novel.
The tide table had promised her an hour. Mara checked it again, though she knew the numbers by heart, and then she looked at the causeway.
It was thinner than it had been. That was the only word for it: thinner. The long grey spine of stones that joined the island to the mainland had been wide enough for a cart when she set out, and now it was barely wider than her shoulders. Water slid in from both sides, unhurried, as if it had all the time in the world and knew she did not.
She walked faster. Her boots slapped on the wet stone. Behind her, the lighthouse had shrunk to a white tooth on the horizon; ahead, the village lights blinked on one at a time, small and warm and impossibly far away.
Halfway, the old marker post leaned out of the mist. Somebody had painted a line on it years ago, and beneath the line, in careful white letters, a single word: TURN.
Mara stopped.
Her father had walked this road every day for thirty years. He had laughed at that post. He had told her, at breakfast, with his mouth full, that the sea had never once hurried for anybody.
The water touched her heel. It was so cold that for a moment it felt like nothing at all.
She did not turn.
How to answer it
Draw a box around the lines
Only the lines named count. An answer from anywhere else is wrong, even if it’s true of the story.
Read all the options first
Two options are often close. Read each one before you choose, because the first that sounds right may not be the best.
Find the words that prove it
Put your finger on the exact line that proves your choice. If you can’t find one, it’s probably the wrong answer.
Expect a little working out
This question can test what’s suggested as well as what’s stated, so a right answer may be in different words from the text.
Shade one circle for each, then move on
If you change your mind, cross out the whole box. To bring a crossed-out answer back, draw a circle around the box. Then go: this is worth 5 minutes at most.
Worked answers
The answer
Why it scores
1. B: an hour.
It’s stated in the first sentence: “The tide table had promised her an hour”.
2. A: stones.
The second paragraph calls it a “long grey spine of stones”.
3. B: a cart.
“wide enough for a cart when she set out”. Being barely wider than her shoulders is how it is now, not how it was: that’s the trap in option A.
4. B: slowly, from both sides.
“Water slid in from both sides, unhurried”. The word “unhurried” is what rules out the crashing waves.
Exam tips
- Do this question first, and quickly: it settles your nerves and gets you into the source.
- Read the source once right through before you start, so you know what the story is about.
What loses marks
- Using something from outside the named lines.
- Spending ten minutes on 4 marks, which you’ll need later for Question 4.
- Shading two circles for one question: that scores nothing.
Now try it
Questions people ask
- Is AQA Paper 1 Question 1 multiple choice now?
- Yes. From the 2026 exams it’s four multiple-choice questions worth 1 mark each. You shade one circle per question. Older past papers ask you to list four things, so don’t be thrown if you practise on them.
- How long should I spend on Paper 1 Question 1?
- About 5 minutes. It’s worth 4 marks out of 80.