Paper 1 Question 4 Example Grade 9 Answer: AQA GCSE English Language
Here’s an example Question 4 answer that received a Grade 9 (17/20) with examiner feedback. It’s in response to the ‘Rosabel’ question paper from June 2017. View the paper and extract here: https://www.expert-tuition.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/june17-p1.pdf
You may also want to try the paper yourself before looking at the answer below.
If you’re looking for full support with AQA GCSE English Language, take a look at our Complete Revision Pack here - it contains everything you need to get top marks on the exams, including tons of example answers, question breakdowns, stories to read, practice questions + more!
THE QUESTION
A student said, ‘This part of the story, set in the hat shop, shows that the red-haired girl has many advantages in life, and I think Rosabel is right to be angry.’ To what extent do you agree? In your response, you could:
• Consider your own impressions of the red-haired girl
• Evaluate how the writer conveys Rosabel’s reactions to the red-haired girl
• Support your response with references to the text. [20 marks]
THE ANSWER
In my opinion Rosabel should have the right to be angry, as the red-haired girl was clearly teasing her and making fun of her for being poor. There’s are a lot of evidence pointing to this, and in my next two paragraphs, I will write about the two main points.
In this text I think Rosabel has the right to be angry, as the red-haired girl only lets Rosabel try the hat to says it’s beautiful, but then buys it immediately to show her how rich she is and doesn’t need to hesitate when buying stuff. This is clearly shown in this quote “Rosabel turned to the mirror and placed it on her brown hair, then faced them. ‘Oh, Harry, isn't it adorable,’ the girl cried, ‘I must have that!’ She smiled again at Rosabel. ‘It suits you, beautifully.” This shows that she let Rosabel try the hat to show her how beautiful the hat is, but then snatches her dreams to ever own it, by buying it immediately.
The girl is quite rude to Rosabell, she laughs down at her when talking about the hat. This is clearly shown in the quote “The girl glanced at Rosabel laughingly. ‘Have you any hats like that?’”. She mocks Rosebel for being poor and working at a hat shop. The adverb ‘laughingly’ clearly shows us that she thinks this is a game and doesn’t care about Rosbel’s feelings. She also doesn’t expect the shop to own any lavish hats, but when presented with the hat she still finds ways to mock Rosabel and her job. One of which is making Rosabel wear the hat.
However shop workers meet these types of people quite often and Rosabell could just be jealous and couldn’t keep her emotions in check. “She smiled again at Rosabel. ‘It suits you, beautifully.’” This quote clearly shows that the girl could have just tried to be polite, but unfortunately made the wrong impression on Rosabel. The verb smiled is most commonly used when you are happy or when you are laughing, it connotes joy. So, the girl smiling at Rosabel is most likely trying to compliment her or make her happy. She could have smiled sarcastically, but there’s no evidence of this occurring, except of Rosabel's tantrum. In the end I still think Rosabel has the right to be angry. As there is some evidence in the other paragraphs, but everybody has a different opinion, and we will never know which is correct.
In conclusion I still think that Rosabel had the right to be angry as the red-haired girl clearly flexes her money by buying the hat without hesitation. She also laughs at Rosabel when asking for the hat, this clearly shows she doesn’t think Rosabel’s hat shop can afford such hats. On the other hand, she does compliment Rosabel while wearing the hat, which could just mean she’s just rich, and her humor is bad.
17/20
FEEDBACK
This is a great essay with clear points organised into PEE structures and a good intro / conclusion.Your analysis is deep and you identify precise evidence to support your argument. To improve, make sure to provide a clear evaluation in the conclusion where you state which side you are on, rather than being too balanced. Also, in the introduction make sure to not state general points about what you will explore, instead just jump straight into the points of the argument. You got a brilliant grade for this piece, and it’s excellent work - very well done!
You might be interested: Paper 1 Question 2 Breakdown: AQA GCSE English Language
Thanks for reading!
Try our complete AQA GCSE English Language Papers 1 + 2 course!
This course includes:
Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives
Section A Breakdown (Analysis of Perspectives)
Section B Breakdown (Nonfiction Writing)
How to Write Comparative Analysis + Summaries
Planning Support for Persuasive + Informative Writing
Example Student Responses, L5-L9
Example Full Mark Answers by a Tutor
Practice Papers Written by an AQA Examiner
Nonfiction Writing Practice Questions
Grade Boundaries Explained
Mark Scheme Breakdown
BONUS MATERIAL: How to write great speeches, letters, diary entries + articles
Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing
Section A Breakdown (Creative Reading)
Section B Breakdown (Creative Writing)
How to Analyse Language Features + Structural Devices
Planning Support for Creative Writing
Example Student Responses, L5-L9
Example Full Mark Answers by a Tutor
Practice Papers Written by an AQA Examiner
Creative Writing Practice Questions
Grade Boundaries Explained
Mark Scheme Breakdown
BONUS MATERIAL: Reading Support + Recommended Short Stories
