Q1
1 mark
Find the detail
Identify the information requested from the specified lines.
Focus: accurate selection.
GCSE English revision • Edexcel
Know what the question wants. Know how to answer it.
Make sense of unseen fiction and develop your imaginative writing with step-by-step support, story-planning tools and Grade 9 models from The Lightup Hub.
For Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language 1EN0/01: Fiction and Imaginative Writing.
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Your question-by-question guide
Section A uses one unseen 19th-century fiction extract. Reading is worth 24 marks; imaginative writing is worth 40.
Identify the information requested from the specified lines.
Focus: accurate selection.
Find the words or phrases requested in the question.
Focus: follow the precise task.
Explore both, explaining how they create the effect named in the question.
Focus: evidence, methods and effects.
Judge how successfully the writer achieves the stated effect, using evidence.
Focus: a supported judgement.
Answer Question 5 or 6. Shape your ideas around the chosen prompt.
24 marks for communication and organisation; 16 for vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation.
Check your qualification: this guide covers 1EN0/01. English Language 2.0 (1EN2) and International GCSE use different papers.
Exam information: Pearson Edexcel specification .
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Imaginative writing: a small example
Starting idea: I stood outside the house. It was dark and I felt nervous.
The house waited at the end of the path, its windows black. I reached for the gate. Behind the door, something clicked.
The revision lets the setting and a small action suggest the feeling. Try improving one moment in your own writing before adding more events. This is an original illustration, not a marked Grade 9 answer.
The things you want to know
Practise with unseen fiction extracts and your qualification's current papers. Work on selecting evidence, explaining effects and supporting judgements. For writing, practise planning and improving short passages before building towards a complete timed response.
Paper 1 lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and is worth 64 marks, contributing 40% of the GCSE.
Language is the writer's choice of words and expressions. Structure is how the writing is organised, including changes in focus, pace or order. When analysing, explain what those choices make the reader notice or feel.
No. Choose one writing task. Read both options, choose the prompt you can develop most effectively, and leave time to check your work.
The reading extract is unseen, so practise finding useful evidence in the text provided. Learn how to explain a quotation rather than memorising quotations from a different story.
Join Lightup for free , answer the questions about your texts and papers, then choose English Language Paper 1 as your weakest topic when asked. That selection gives you the Paper 1 taster. Choosing a different topic gives you a different taster.
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Revising both papers? Explore Edexcel Paper 2 .
See how the free Mock Ready Check works and find out what to focus on before mock week.
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