AQA GCSE English Language · Paper 2
Question 2: differences
You work out differences between something in Source A and something in Source B, using what’s suggested as well as what’s stated. You’re writing about what the texts tell you, not how they’re written: language analysis earns nothing here.
- Marks
- 8
- Minutes
- 10
- Tests
- AO1
Changed from 2026. This question has been reworded to be clearer: it now asks what you can infer about the differences. Older papers asked you to “write a summary of the differences”.
What the question looks like
You need to refer to Source A and Source B for this question.
The children in the two sources have different experiences of school.
What can you infer about the differences between the children’s experiences?
Practice Source A: a newspaper column, 21st centuryRead it
Written by LycoLearn for practice.
Every morning at ten past eight, my daughter leaves the house carrying a bag that weighs more than our dog. In it are seven textbooks, three revision guides and a timetable in four colours. She is fifteen. I asked her last week what she was looking forward to, and she thought about it for a long time and said, “Half-term.”
I don’t blame her teachers. They are some of the kindest and most tired people I have ever met. But somewhere along the way, we decided that a childhood could be measured in grades, like flour on a set of scales. We weigh our children constantly. Mock results, target grades, predicted grades, a little coloured arrow on an app to tell me whether she is “on track”. On track for what? Nobody has ever been able to tell me.
She used to draw. She used to spend whole Sundays making maps of countries that didn’t exist. The maps stopped in Year 9, because maps were not on the timetable.
Practice Source B: a school inspector’s report, 19th centuryRead it
Written by LycoLearn for practice, in the style of the 1860s.
Sir, I have now inspected the National School at Hartley, and I am happy to report that the improvement since my last visit is remarkable. Upon my entrance the whole of the hundred and twelve children rose as one, and remained standing in perfect silence until directed otherwise. Not a boot scraped.
The master, a man of excellent character, assures me that he has not had occasion to use the cane above twice in the month. The children read their lessons clearly and repeat their tables without error.
It is true that they are pale, and that several of the younger ones appeared drowsy, for many are at work in the mill before they come to school; but idleness is the greater danger, and a child who has learned to sit still has learned the first lesson of life. I recommend that the grant be continued.
How to answer it
Find three differences
Look for pairs of details about the same thing: what school demands of them, how they’re treated, how they feel.
Start with the difference
“The pressure on the children is different.” Saying this first means you’re bringing the texts together from the first line.
Give a detail from each text
One short quotation or reference from each source, with the source named.
Say what you can infer
Use “this suggests”, “this implies”, “we can work out”. An inference is the thought you have after reading the detail. The best ones go beyond the obvious.
Stay away from methods
No “the writer uses a simile”. Question 3 and Question 4 are for that. Here the marks are for what you understand.
How it’s marked
- Level 47 to 8 marks
- Perceptive inferences from both texts, well-chosen details from each, and differences that are really brought together.
- Level 35 to 6 marks
- Clear inferences from both texts, relevant details and clear statements of the difference.
- Level 23 to 4 marks
- Some attempt to infer from one or both, with relevant details. The difference is only partly explained.
- Level 11 to 2 marks
- Simple points, usually copied or paraphrased, with little link between the texts.
In our own words. Your teacher can show you AQA’s full mark scheme.
A model answer
The answer
Why it scores
The children in Source B are under physical demands, while the daughter in Source A is under mental ones. The Hartley children are ‘pale’ and ‘drowsy’ because many are ‘at work in the mill’ before school, which implies that they’re exhausted and that their learning has to fit around earning money. Her heavy bag aside, the daughter in Source A isn’t being worn down by work, but by ‘target grades’ and ‘predicted grades’, which suggests a constant anxiety that follows her home.
Starts with a clear difference. Details from both, and “implies” and “suggests” show that these are inferences.
The adults also seem to want different things from them. The inspector values obedience: he’s pleased that they ‘rose as one’, so he seems to see a good child as a silent, identical one. In Source A, the adults want results: the arrow on the app measures whether she’s ‘on track’. Both are being judged, but in Source B what’s judged is how they behave, and in Source A it’s what she can score.
“Both are being judged, but…” is real synthesis: it’s a thought that needs both texts. That’s what lifts this to the top level.
Finally, the writers suggest different losses. The daughter has lost something she once had, since she ‘used to draw’ and make maps. The children at Hartley, sent to the mill so young, may never have had that kind of time at all.
A perceptive inference: it goes well beyond the words on the page, but it’s still based on evidence.
What a weaker answer looks like
In Source A the girl has a heavy bag and in Source B the children are pale. In Source A she is fifteen and in Source B they stand up.
Why it stays low: Two details side by side aren’t a difference, and nothing’s been inferred. That’s Level 1.
How to lift it: Ask “so what?” about each detail, and start with the difference: “The children in Source B are worn down physically, whereas…”
Exam tips
- Comparing words help: “whereas”, “by contrast”, “on the other hand”.
- Two or three developed differences are plenty for 8 marks.
What loses marks
- Analysing language: comments like “the adjective ‘pale’” earn nothing here.
- Writing about one source, then the other, without linking them.
- Copying long quotations without working anything out.
Now try it
Questions people ask
- Is there still a summary question on AQA Paper 2?
- It’s the same skill, but since 2026 the wording asks what you can infer about the differences between two things. It’s still worth 8 marks and uses both sources.
- Do I write about language in AQA Paper 2 Question 2?
- No. It’s marked on your inferences and how you bring the two texts together. Language analysis isn’t rewarded here.