2026 sample
Life of Pi · Yann Martel
[Pi and the hyena; updated-format sample]
YOUR NEXT PAPER, WITHOUT THE HUNT.
AQA GCSE English Language
Paper 1 — Explorations in creative reading and writing
8700/1 · 1 hour 45 minutes · 80 marks · 50% of GCSE
Know the content.
Past papers17 / 17
QP Question paperMS Mark schemeIN Insert
EXAM SERIESREADING CONTENT REMINDEROPEN PDF ↗
June 2025
The Midwich Cuckoos · John Wyndham
[Midwich falls silent; unexplained disappearances]
November 2024
The Glass House · Eve Chase
[Rita drives a family to an isolated forest house]
June 2024
The Grass is Singing · Doris Lessing
[Mary struggles with the heat; conflict over water]
November 2023
Possession · A. S. Byatt
[Roland, a university research assistant]
Reading extract redacted.
June 2023
Life of Pi · Yann Martel
[Pi and the hyena aboard a lifeboat]
Reading extract redacted.
November 2022
The Old Man and the Sea · Ernest Hemingway
[Opening of the novel]
Reading extract redacted.
June 2022
The Pearl · John Steinbeck
[Opening of the novel]
Reading extract redacted.
November 2021
Half of a Yellow Sun · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
[Ugwu arrives to work for a professor]
June 2020
The Silk Factory · Judith Allnatt
[Rosie & stranger child]
November 2019
The Silent Land · Graham Joyce
[Zoe and Jake skiing; an avalanche]
June 2019
The Mill · H. E. Bates
[Hartop, Alice and the family van]
Reading extract redacted.
November 2018
A Sound of Thunder · Ray Bradbury
[Eckels encounters a Tyrannosaurus rex]
June 2018
Jigs and Reels · Joanne Harris
[Mr Fisher discovers an extraordinary student story]
November 2017
Reading extract
[Alice volunteers at an archaeological dig in the Pyrenees]
Reading extract redacted.
June 2017
The Tiredness of Rosabel · Katherine Mansfield
[Rosabel returns from work at a hat shop]
Specimen
Jamaica Inn · Daphne du Maurier
[Coach journey through stormy Cornwall]
Insert included in QP.