Yakub's English

Paper One — 8700/1

Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing

1h 45m Duration 80 Marks 50% of GCSE

Section A READING — 40 MARKS

One unseen literary fiction extract, four questions ascending in difficulty

Question 014 marks

List four things

Identify four pieces of explicit information from a specified section of the source text.

≈ 5 minsAO1Easiest mark

Question 028 marks

Language analysis

Analyse how the writer uses language to create effect — methods, words, phrases, devices.

≈ 12 minsAO2Methods + effect

Question 038 marks

Structure analysis

Examine how the writer has structured the whole text to interest the reader.

≈ 12 minsAO2Whole text

Question 0420 marks

Evaluation & critical response

Respond to a statement about the text — agree, disagree, and evaluate methods used.

≈ 25 minsAO4Highest stakes

Section B WRITING — 40 MARKS

Descriptive or narrative writing, one task chosen from two

Question 0540 marks

Creative writing

Write a description suggested by a picture, or a narrative — your choice from two prompts.

≈ 45 minsAO5 + AO624 content / 16 SPaG

Paper Two — 8700/2

Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives

1h 45m Duration 80 Marks 50% of GCSE

Section A READING — 40 MARKS

Two non-fiction sources from different centuries — usually 19th & 20th/21st

Question 014 marks

True or false

Identify four statements from a list of eight that are true about one of the sources.

≈ 5 minsAO1One source only

Question 028 marks

Summary & synthesis

Write a summary of differences (or similarities) between two sources — inferences required.

≈ 10 minsAO1Both sources

Question 0312 marks

Language analysis

Analyse how the writer uses language to achieve a specific effect — one source only.

≈ 15 minsAO2Methods + effect

Question 0416 marks

Comparing perspectives

Compare how the two writers convey their different attitudes and methods.

≈ 20 minsAO3Both sources

Section B WRITING — 40 MARKS

Transactional, persuasive writing presenting a viewpoint

Question 0540 marks

Viewpoint writing

Write a letter, article, speech, leaflet, or essay presenting your perspective on a statement.

≈ 45 minsAO5 + AO624 content / 16 SPaG

The Q5 Toolkit — Both Papers

Vocabulary & the Adaptable Essay

120+ Upgraded Words 1 Master Template Multiple Scenarios

The single most reliable way to lift a Q5 response from a Grade 6 into the Grade 8–9 band is to raid the vocabulary and steal a structure. The thesaurus below identifies the tired, default words that examiners see ten thousand times — and gives you the upgrades that actually score.

Beneath it, you'll find an adaptable creative-writing template. Highlighted phrases are the parts you can swap to fit any prompt — abandoned building, storm, market, beach, war scene, anything. The skeleton stays. Only the details change.

The Thesaurus UPGRADE YOUR DEFAULTS

Left column — what you'd normally write. Right column — what gets the marks. Hover any upgrade word for tone notes.

I. Description & Quality— "good / bad / nice / amazing"

goodBanned — too vague

exquisite8 impeccable8 remarkable7 accomplished8 admirable7 distinguished8

badBanned — too vague

deleterious9 ominous8 abhorrent9 catastrophic7 corrosive8 ruinous8 unsavoury7

niceBanned — vague + childish

delightful7 convivial9 agreeable7 benevolent8 picturesque8 balmy8

amazingOverused — sounds like a tweet

awe-inspiring8 mesmerising8 spectacular7 extraordinary7 transcendent9 epochal9

bigBanned — childish

immense7 colossal8 boundless8 cavernous8 infinite7 incomprehensible9

smallBland

diminutive8 minute7 trifling8 negligible8 diminished8

oldFlat — pick a mood

antiquated8 ancient7 weathered7 decrepit8 obsolete8 dilapidated8 primordial9

beautifulDefault — every student uses

ethereal9 resplendent9 luminous8 elegant7 sublime8 breathtaking7 idyllic8

uglyChildish

hideous7 repugnant9 grotesque8 misshapen8 haggard8

II. Emotion & Atmosphere— "happy / sad / scared / angry"

happyOverused

jubilant8 elated7 serene7 euphoric8 rapturous9 exultant9 radiant7

sadBanned — too small for the feeling

melancholy8 sorrowful7 desolate9 despondent9 heartrending8 lachrymose9 grief-stricken8

scared / afraidTired

petrified7 paralysed7 apprehensive8 trepidatious9 foreboding8 unnerved8 on edge7

angryToo flat for high marks

incensed8 livid7 indignant8 enraged7 apoplectic9 fierce7 vehement9

tiredUnderwhelming

depleted8 weary7 spent7 bone-weary8 listless8 haggard8

quietUse to atmospheric effect

hushed7 pensive8 tranquil7 muted7 solemn8 pregnant9

loudBland

resounding7 deafening7 cacophonous9 strident8 thunderous7 clamorous8

III. Movement— "walked / ran / looked"

walkedPick a tone, not a default

strolled7 trudged8 meandered8 strode7 paced7 staggered8 crept7 drifted8

ranDefault

sprinted7 bolted7 fled7 careered8 hurtled8 tore7 darted7

lookedSpecify how

gazed7 stared7 glowered8 glanced7 scrutinised8 surveyed8 observed7 peered7

saidVary, but don't overdo it

murmured7 asserted8 growled7 confessed7 remarked7 intoned9 whispered7

IV. Place & Light— "dark / bright / cold / hot"

darkTexture it

murky8 inky7 sombre8 dim7 menacing7 tenebrous9 shrouded8

brightBland — texture it

luminous8 radiant7 resplendent9 harsh7 incandescent9 glimmering7

coldPick the kind of cold

biting7 glacial8 numbing7 bone-chilling8 austere8 cutting7 sterile8

hotTexture it

searing8 scorching7 stifling8 sweltering8 incandescent9 muggy7

emptyUse to evoke desolation

desolate8 forsaken8 void7 barren7 vacant7 hollow7 lifeless7

V. Sentence Starters— Avoid starting with "I" or "The"

I felt...Start somewhere stronger

A sudden chill ran through me...8 Trembling, I...8 Somewhere beneath my ribs...9

There was...Weak — reorder the sentence

Silence filled the room.8 Above the houses, a single light burned.9 Beyond the trees, something stirred.9

Then...Used by every Grade 5 student

In an instant,7 Without warning,8 Slowly, deliberately,8 Somewhere, a board creaked.9

The Adaptable Essay ONE TEMPLATE — ANY PROMPT

A grade-9 descriptive template you can adapt to any image or scenario. Highlighted phrases are swap-points — change them to fit your prompt while keeping the structure intact.

How to read this template Any phrase highlighted like this is a swap-point — replace it with words appropriate to your own prompt. The structure, sentence variety, punctuation choices, and rhetorical moves should stay. Hover any highlighted phrase for suggestions.

The street lay motionless beneath a bruised sky. Somewhere, a shutter knocked against a wall; a single light burned in a window two streets away. Nothing else moved. Nothing else, I would later realise, needed to.

For as far as I could see, the place wore the same patient stillness. The lamp-posts leaned, just slightly, as though listening. Paper drifted across the cobblestones with the formality of a procession. The world had not stopped, exactly — it had simply, for reasons of its own, decided to wait.

There was a smell — mineral, and beneath it something older. The smell of rain on stone, of cellars opened after long winters. I tasted it on my tongue before I knew I had breathed it in. Somewhere behind me, a wire hummed faintly in the wind, and that small, persistent note seemed to hold the silence together — the one sound that proved everything else was silent.

It was, I thought, the kind of street that remembered things. Not in any obvious way. Only in the way the paint had blistered, the way the windows looked away, the way the doorways waited for footsteps they had not heard in years. I felt suddenly that I was being noticed — not by anyone, but by the street itself, which had its own opinions about people who arrived alone.

Above me, the bruised sky was darkening into something deeper, a blue so close to black that the difference no longer mattered. The wire still hummed. The street still lay motionless. And somewhere, I knew without knowing how, a door I had not yet seen was already opening.

The Architecture, Decoded

Five paragraphs. Roughly 350 words. Each paragraph performs a specific structural function — and that's why it works.

¶1 — The Establishing Shot

Open like a film. Wide, atmospheric, no people yet. The bruised sky instantly commits to a tone (eerie, foreboding). The semicolon and the short sentence "Nothing else moved" demonstrate punctuation control. The forward-reference — "Nothing else needed to" — creates intrigue.

¶2 — The Wider World

Stay zoomed out, but introduce personification. The lamp-posts "listening", the paper moving like "a procession" — these turn the setting into a presence. The closing sentence ("The world had not stopped, exactly — it had simply, for reasons of its own, decided to wait") uses a dash for sophistication and ends on a personified verb.

¶3 — Sensory Layering

The under-used senses: smell and sound. Most students stay visual. Layering a smell ("mineral", "older") and a sound ("a wire hummed faintly") shows range. The reflection "the one sound that proved everything else was silent" is the kind of writerly observation that flags Grade 9.

¶4 — Reflection / Mood Shift

This is where the description becomes thoughtful. The extended personification ("the way the paint had blistered, the way the windows looked away, the way the doorways waited") uses a tricolon with anaphora — three "the way" clauses building. Examiners love this.

¶5 — Cyclical Close

Return to the opening image ("the bruised sky"), but altered — it has darkened. The motifs (wire, motionless street) echo. The final image — "a door I had not yet seen was already opening" — leaves the reader with intrigue, not resolution. Cyclical structure is the single biggest structural marker of Grade 9 work.

Punctuation moves to copy — A semicolon in ¶1.
— A dash in ¶2.
— Sentence-fragment ("Nothing else moved.") for rhythm.
— Italics never used (over-used by weaker students).
— Three sentence lengths visible per paragraph: short, medium, long.

The Same Skeleton, Five Different Worlds

Here's how the opening paragraph adapts to five common AQA-style prompts. The structure stays. Only the swap-points change.

Prompt: An Abandoned Building

The factory lay derelict beneath a leaden sky. Somewhere, a steel sheet shifted on its hinge; a single pigeon stirred in a broken window. Nothing else moved...

Prompt: A Storm

The sea lay heaving beneath a blood-orange sky. Somewhere, a rope cracked against a mast; a single gull cried, then stopped. Nothing else moved...

Prompt: A Marketplace

The square lay waiting beneath a mercury sky. Somewhere, a tarpaulin snapped in the wind; a single lantern still burned above an empty stall. Nothing else moved...

Prompt: A Forest

The clearing lay breathing beneath a quicksilver sky. Somewhere, a branch creaked under its own weight; a single shaft of light pierced the canopy. Nothing else moved...

Prompt: A Battlefield (aftermath)

The field lay silent beneath a iron-grey sky. Somewhere, a flag turned, slowly, on a broken pole; a single crow watched from a fence-post. Nothing else moved...

Prompt: A Beach at Dawn

The shore lay still beneath a pearl-grey sky. Somewhere, a halyard chimed against a mast; a single fishing boat rocked at its mooring. Nothing else moved...

The point Once you've memorised the structure, you walk into the exam with a Grade-9 framework already in your head. The 45 minutes are spent populating it with sensory detail and ambitious vocabulary — not panicking about what comes next.

The Three Rules of Adaptation

01: Keep the rhythm. Long sentence, short sentence, long. Don't change the sentence-length pattern — that's what makes it sound mature.
02: Commit to one tone. If the prompt is eerie, every swap is eerie. If it's joyful, every swap is joyful. Tonal consistency is half the marks.
03: Cycle back. Whatever image opens ¶1, an altered version of it must close ¶5. That single move costs nothing and lifts your structure mark.

The Pre-Plan COPY — FILL — WRITE

Copy either template. Fill in the five boxes before you write a single sentence. Every model essay in the Past Papers tab was built from one of these two plans.

You have 45 minutes for Q5. Spend 5 on the plan, 35 writing, 5 checking. The plan is not optional — it is what separates a Grade 9 from a Grade 6. Without it you drift. With it you know exactly what every paragraph does before you write it.

The red boxes show exactly what was filled in for the June 2022 rescue story and the Nov 2018 cars letter. Your job is to fill them in for your own prompt in the same way.

Paper 1 — Story / Description Pre-Plan

Copy this

Tone One word. Stick to it.

e.g. June 2022 (rescue): “vast indifference — the sea does not care”

My tone: _______________________________________________

Pick one atmosphere. Every word in every paragraph must serve it. If a sentence doesn't fit the tone, cut it.

Controlling image Opens ¶1. Returns in ¶5.

e.g. June 2022: “the arm appearing and disappearing in the grey swell”

My image: ______________________________________________

This is the thing your whole piece orbits. It must appear in ¶1 and return in ¶5 — altered, so the meaning has shifted.

¶4 pivot The “And yet” moment.

e.g. June 2022: “I had not decided — the body had. Below the level of thought.”

My pivot: ______________________________________________

One sentence that changes the direction of everything. This is the Grade 9 insight — the thing only your narrator can observe.

Three senses Specific. Not “smell” — what smell?

e.g. June 2022: salt taste / cold as a physical wall / the tug of the current as weight

Sense 1 (sight/sound): _________________________________

Sense 2 (smell/taste): _________________________________

Sense 3 (touch/texture): ________________________________

5 vocab upgrades Pre-loaded. Use them all.

e.g. June 2022: slate / indifferent / involuntary / deliberating / insistent

word 1 word 2 word 3 word 4 word 5

Pick from the Thesaurus section. Pre-loading stops you defaulting to "nice" and "walked" under pressure.

Paper 2 — Letter / Article / Speech Pre-Plan

Copy this

Hook image / anecdote Opens ¶1. Returns in ¶5.

e.g. Nov 2018 (cars): “village 12 miles from the station — the Tube map on the wall”

My hook: _______________________________________________

One concrete image or story that your whole argument hangs from. Must reappear in ¶5 with new meaning. Abstract openings score lower — always start with something real.

Core position One sentence. No waffling.

e.g. Nov 2018: “The car is not a curse — it is freedom, and freedom can be misused.”

My position: __________________________________________

Write your thesis in one sentence before you start. If you can't do it in one sentence, you don't know your argument yet.

Concession What you admit is true.

e.g. Nov 2018: “Cars do pollute. The death toll is real. I yield all of it.”

What I concede: ________________________________________

Conceding something early is the single move that separates Grade 7 from Grade 9. It shows you can think, not just argue. Always goes in ¶2 or ¶3.

Human evidence A real person. Not a statistic.

e.g. Nov 2018: “the district nurse / the elderly woman in the village”

My person: _____________________________________________

Statistics are forgettable. A specific person doing a specific thing is not. Invent them — examiners don't fact-check. Give them a job, a place, a situation.

5 vocab upgrades Pre-loaded. Use them all.

e.g. Nov 2018: asymmetry / confinement / catastrophically / subsidised / complacently

word 1 word 2 word 3 word 4 word 5

For Paper 2 pick words that sound measured and authoritative — not dramatic. Formal vocabulary signals an intelligent adult voice.

Real Questions — 2017 to 2024

The Past Paper Bank

13 Real Q5 Tasks Grade 9 Full Model Essays

Every task below is a genuine Question 5 from a past AQA 8700 exam series. Each one expands into a complete Grade-9 model essay written specifically for that prompt. Tap any question to read the full response.

Use the filters to switch between Paper 1 (creative writing) and Paper 2 (viewpoint writing). Reading full essays for real prompts is the fastest way to internalise what the top band actually looks like.