Cambridge A Level English Language 9093: Paper 1 — Revision Notes

Condensed for the final weeks. For the full explanation, use the Paper 1 Reading study guide.

Where Paper 1 sits

Paper	Title	Time	Marks	Weighting
1	Reading	2 h 15	50	50% of AS · 25% of A Level
2	Writing	2 h	50	50% of AS · 25% of A Level
3	Language Analysis	2 h 15	50	25% of A Level
4	Language Topics	2 h 15	50	25% of A Level

Papers 1 and 2 are the AS content; 3 and 4 complete the A Level.

What is actually being tested. Two things, together: analysis of an unseen text, and directed writing, in which material is reshaped for a different audience, purpose or form. Both rest on the same underlying skill — recognising how choices of language create effects — but apply it in opposite directions: analysis takes a text apart, directed writing builds one to specification. The knowledge tested in Section A is explicitly shared with Paper 2, so a wide reading habit across the syllabus’s example genres (news journalism, travel writing, speeches, blogs) pays off on both papers, not just this one.

Paper 1 structure

Two compulsory questions, one per section, 25 marks each. Each responds to an unseen text of roughly 550–750 words.

Section A — Directed response (Q1)

Part	Task	Marks	AOs
1(a)	Directed writing in response to the text, 150–200 words	10	AO1, AO2
1(b)	Compare your response in (a) with the original text — form, structure and language	15	AO1, AO3

Part (b) carries more marks than the writing itself. You are analysing your own text against the source, relating features to purpose, audience and context. Practise this comparison structured by point (form, then structure, then language), rather than describing your own text and the source one after the other, since an integrated comparison scores more highly than two separate descriptions placed side by side.

Section B — Text analysis (Q2)

Read a second unseen text and comment on its form, structure and language, relating features to meaning, context and audience, and organising your answer in an appropriate style. Assesses AO1 and AO3.

Text types you may meet

Advertisements · brochures · leaflets · editorials · news stories · articles · reviews · blogs · investigative journalism · letters · podcasts · (auto)biographies · travel writing · diaries · essays · scripted speech · narrative and descriptive writing.

Recognising the conventions of the form quickly is half of Q1(a). The directed-writing task can ask you to write in the same style as the given text, or in a deliberately different style while reusing its content — these are distinct skills, so practise both directions rather than assuming general creative-writing ability transfers automatically to either.

Analytical framework

Work through the levels rather than commenting on whatever stands out first:

• Form — the text type and its conventions.
• Structure — opening, development, shifts, closing; where information is placed and why.
• Language — lexis and semantic fields, connotation, register, grammar and sentence types, imagery.
• Context, purpose, audience — every feature must be related back to these.

Every analytical point: identify → quote → explain the effect in relation to purpose and audience.

Exam traps

• Treating 1(b) as a summary of what you wrote — it is a comparison of form, structure and language.
• Feature-spotting without linking to purpose, audience or context.
• Writing outside 150–200 words in 1(a).
• Neglecting form conventions when the task specifies a text type.
• Analysing content rather than language in Q2.
• Lifting phrasing directly from the source text in the directed-writing task — this is the most heavily penalised error in Q1(a); the material must be selected and recast in your own words, not copied.
• Dictionaries may not be used.

Self-test

1. How long is Paper 1 and what is it worth at A Level?
2. How are the 25 marks split within Question 1?
3. What is the word range for Question 1(a)?
4. What exactly does Question 1(b) ask you to compare?
5. Which assessment objectives does Question 2 target?
6. What two skills does Paper 1 test together, and how do they relate to each other?
7. Why is a wide reading habit across the syllabus’s example genres useful for Paper 2 as well as Paper 1?

Answers: 1. 2 hours 15 minutes, 50 marks, 25% of the A Level (50% of the AS). 2. 10 marks for the directed writing in 1(a), 15 marks for the comparison in 1(b). 3. 150–200 words. 4. The form, structure and language of your own response in part (a) against those of the original text, relating features to purpose, audience and context. 5. AO1 and AO3. 6. Analysis of an unseen text and directed writing; both rest on recognising how language choices create effects, but analysis takes a text apart while directed writing builds one to specification. 7. The knowledge and understanding tested in Section A is explicitly shared with Paper 2, so familiarity with the same range of text types transfers directly between the two papers.

Related: for the analytical toolkit itself — language frameworks, register, spoken-language features and directed-writing technique — see the Reading and Analysis revision notes; this page covers Paper 1’s structure, timing and mark allocation instead.