AQA GCSE English Language (8700): The Two Papers in 2026

AQA’s GCSE (9-1) in English Language is specification 8700, an untiered qualification assessed through two written papers of 80 marks each, Paper 1 and Paper 2, each sat over 1 hour 45 minutes and worth 50% of the GCSE. Both open with an identical AO1, 4-mark question, but not the same format: Paper 1’s Question 1 is four multiple-choice items, Paper 2’s is true/false statements.

What does your child actually answer, question by question, on AQA’s two papers?

AQA’s specification-at-a-glance page describes each paper only in mark bands — “1 short form question (1 x 4 marks)”, and so on. AQA’s own “Scheme of work: Post-16 and one-year centres” document, drawn from its resource library rather than the specification itself, sets out what actually sits behind each of those mark bands, question by question:

Source: AQA, “Scheme of work: Post-16 and one-year centres” for 8700, cross-checked against AQA’s own specification-at-a-glance page and the full 8700 specification PDF.

Two things follow from this table that neither the specification-at-a-glance page nor a mark-band summary makes visible. First, Question 1 on the two papers shares the same objective and the same 4-mark tariff but uses genuinely different formats — multiple-choice on Paper 1, true/false on Paper 2 — so a student who has only practised one format is not fully prepared for the other. Second, AQA’s own specification names Question 4 on each paper as the qualification’s designated extended-response requirement: “The final reading question on each paper — Question 4 on Paper 1 and Question 4 on Paper 2 — allows students to fulfil this requirement.” Both are the highest-tariff reading question on their respective papers, but they test different skills entirely, which is the subject of the next section.

Why Paper 1 and Paper 2 test almost entirely different reading skills

Despite carrying identical marks, identical timing and an identical writing question structure, AQA’s two papers do not test the same reading skills. The specification’s AO-weighting table shows two assessment objectives that exist on only one paper each:

AO4 — evaluating texts critically, tested through Paper 1’s Question 4, “To what extent do you agree…” — sits entirely on Paper 1 and does not appear on Paper 2 at all. AO3 — comparing writers’ ideas and perspectives, tested through Paper 2’s Question 4, “Compare how the writers…” — sits entirely on Paper 2 and does not appear on Paper 1. AO1 and AO2 are the only two reading objectives genuinely shared by both papers. A student who is strong at evaluating a single writer’s methods can still be weak at comparing two writers’ perspectives, and vice versa — the two skills are assessed on different papers and neither paper offers a second chance at the other. Both papers are scaled by a factor of x1, so the raw marks reported above are also the scaled marks that count towards the qualification’s total of 160.

The one 19th-century rule AQA applies — and the century-coordination trick behind it

AQA fixes where a 19th-century text can and cannot appear. Paper 1’s fiction source is always drawn from the 20th or 21st century: AQA’s specification states plainly that “the source for the reading questions will be a literature fiction text. It will be drawn from either the 20th or 21st century.” A 19th-century text never appears on Paper 1.

Paper 2 works differently, and its second source text is coordinated with whatever happened on Paper 1 that same series. AQA’s specification: “The sources for the reading questions will be non-fiction and literary non-fiction texts. They will be drawn from the 19th century, and either the 20th or 21st century depending on the time period assessed in Paper 1 in each particular series. The combination selected will always provide students with an opportunity to consider viewpoints and perspectives over time.” In other words, Paper 2 always carries one fixed 19th-century source, and its second source’s century is set to mirror whichever of the 20th or 21st century Paper 1 used that year — so across the two papers, all three centuries appear somewhere in every series, never by chance.

What AQA’s spoken language assessment actually requires

Every 8700 candidate completes a compulsory spoken language assessment, reported separately from the GCSE grade. AQA grades it against criteria common to every exam board rather than issuing its own board-specific component code — unlike Edexcel, which codes the equivalent assessment as component 1EN0/03, or OCR, which splits it between components 03 and 04 depending on a centre’s moderation route. What AQA’s own specification adds, beyond that headline fact, is the operational detail of what the assessment actually involves:

• Guideline duration: “the duration should be no more than ten minutes”.
• Presentation formats may include talks, debates, speeches or dialogues.
• The wider-audience rule: where the only audience is the teacher, AQA requires the presentation to be “designed in such a way that it could have a potentially wider audience than just one person (eg it replicates a television interview)”.
• Three assessment objectives apply only here — AO7 (presentation skills in a formal setting), AO8 (listening and responding to spoken language, including questions and feedback) and AO9 (using spoken Standard English effectively) — none of which are tested on the two written papers.

One further point is worth stating precisely, because it is an absence rather than a rule. A full-text search of AQA’s 26-page 8700 specification for “carry forward”, “carried forward”, “re-use”, “reuse” and “previous result” returns no matches anywhere in the document. That is not the same as AQA prohibiting carry-forward — it simply is not addressed in AQA’s own specification, in contrast to Edexcel and OCR, both of which state a carry-forward provision explicitly in theirs. A family whose child is resitting after moving between exam boards should not assume AQA’s spoken language result behaves the same way Edexcel’s or OCR’s does; it should be confirmed directly with the centre, since AQA’s specification itself does not settle the question either way.

Is AQA’s English Language exam actually changing?

Yes, and the changes are dated and confirmed directly by AQA. AQA’s own research blog states that “a number of small but meaningful changes have been made to AQA’s GCSE English Language papers”, and that these changes “first appear in our summer 2026 papers”. The changes went through a trial in which close to 200 Year 11 students sat a modified version of the June 2023 GCSE English Language papers, with the revised question wording applied, before AQA confirmed them for live use.

One specific change is named directly: AQA added “a ‘typical features’ column to the mark scheme for Question 5 on both papers”, following the trial, in which “many of the examiners taking part in the trial made use of it.” Question 5 is the writing question on both papers — descriptive or narrative writing on Paper 1, point-of-view writing on Paper 2 — so the same mark-scheme change applies to both. Separately, AQA’s own 2026-dated post-16 scheme-of-work document is what confirms the four-question multiple-choice format now used for Paper 1’s Question 1, a format not named in those exact terms on the specification-at-a-glance page, which describes it only as “1 short form question”.

What else does AQA’s own register confirm about 8700?

A handful of administrative facts about 8700 sit only at Ofqual’s register and in the specification’s final section, and are useful to a family confirming exactly what their child is entered for:

• Ofqual’s register lists 8700 at 120 guided learning hours and 120 total qualification time, with assessment methods classified as “Task-based Controlled Assessment, Written Examination”.
• The qualification’s DfE discount code is FK2B.
• AQA’s specification states directly that 8700 “overlaps with the AQA Level 1/Level 2 Certificate in English Language”, and is “fully co-teachable with GCSE English Literature”.
• Ofqual’s register confirms exactly one currently-available AQA GCSE English Language entry — the other two AQA GCSE English Language entries on the register are both marked “No longer awarded”, legacy pre-reform qualifications rather than a live parallel edition.
• 8700’s regulation start date at Ofqual is 12 August 2014, with an operational start date of 1 September 2015, consistent with the specification’s own first-teaching date.

None of the question-level detail above is generic GCSE English Language advice with AQA’s name attached. The Q1 format split, the AO3/AO4 divide between the two papers, the century-coordination rule and the 2026 mark-scheme change are all specific to 8700, and a tutor who has only taught, say, Edexcel’s 1EN0 or OCR’s J351 will not automatically know where AQA’s question formats and objective allocations sit differently. Our GCSE English Language tutors build every 8700 programme around the actual anatomy of Paper 1 and Paper 2 — treating them as two papers that test different skills, not one syllabus examined twice. For the national picture across all four English boards, our GCSE English Language comparison page covers spec codes, AO percentages and the 19th-century placement rule across AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas in full.

Frequently Asked Questions About AQA GCSE English Language (8700)

What is AQA's specification code for GCSE English Language, and is there more than one live edition?

AQA's GCSE (9-1) in English Language is specification 8700, Ofqual qualification accreditation number 601/4292/3, currently at Version 1.6, March 2026. There is only one live 8700 edition -- a full-text search of the specification for "Current" or "Updated" edition language returns no matches, and Ofqual's own register lists exactly one 8700 entry as "Available to learners"; the other two AQA GCSE English Language entries on the register are both "No longer awarded" legacy pre-reform qualifications, not a parallel live specification. AQA describes 8700 as untiered and skills-based, and it is fully co-teachable with GCSE English Literature.

How does Question 1 differ between AQA's Paper 1 and Paper 2?

Both papers open with an AO1 question worth 4 marks, but the format is different on each. Paper 1's Question 1 is four multiple-choice questions about the source text. Paper 2's Question 1 is a set of true/false statements about its source text. AQA's own "Scheme of work: Post-16 and one-year centres" document names both formats directly. Neither the specification-at-a-glance page, which describes both simply as "1 short form question (1 x 4 marks)", nor any other AQA page states that the two low-tariff opening questions use different formats.

Why do AO3 and AO4 each appear on only one of AQA's two papers?

AQA's specification allocates Assessment Objective 4, evaluating texts critically, entirely to Paper 1 -- it is worth 12.5% of the qualification and does not appear on Paper 2 at all. Assessment Objective 3, comparing writers' ideas and perspectives across texts, sits entirely on Paper 2, worth 10% of the qualification, and does not appear on Paper 1. AO1 and AO2 are the only two reading objectives both papers actually share. In practice this means the two papers, despite carrying identical marks and identical timing, test almost disjoint sets of reading skills.

How does AQA decide which century the second source text on Paper 2 comes from?

Paper 1's fiction source is always drawn from the 20th or 21st century -- AQA's specification never sets a 19th-century fiction text on Paper 1. Paper 2 always pairs a fixed 19th-century non-fiction or literary non-fiction text with a second source, and that second source's century depends on Paper 1: AQA's specification states it is drawn "from the 19th century, and either the 20th or 21st century depending on the time period assessed in Paper 1 in each particular series." The two papers are coordinated series by series so that all three centuries appear somewhere in the qualification every year.

Does AQA's spoken language endorsement carry forward if my child resits GCSE English Language?

AQA's own 8700 specification sets out the assessment itself -- a prepared spoken presentation of no more than ten minutes' guideline duration, graded against criteria common to every exam board rather than a board-specific component code, and assessing AO7 (presentation skills), AO8 (responding to questions and feedback) and AO9 (spoken Standard English) -- but a full-text search of the 26-page specification for "carry forward", "carried forward", "re-use", "reuse" and "previous result" returns no matches. That is an absence in AQA's own document, not a stated prohibition, and it contrasts with Edexcel and OCR, whose specifications both state a carry-forward provision explicitly.

What changed in AQA's GCSE English Language mark scheme for the summer 2026 papers?

AQA's own research blog confirms that wording and mark-scheme changes, described as "small but meaningful", first appeared in AQA's summer 2026 GCSE English Language papers, following a trial in which close to 200 Year 11 students sat a modified version of the June 2023 papers. One confirmed change: a "typical features" column was added to the mark scheme for Question 5, the writing question, on both Paper 1 and Paper 2. AQA's own post-16 scheme-of-work document, dated 2026, also names the four-question multiple-choice format now used on Paper 1's Question 1.

Does AQA GCSE English Language overlap with any other AQA qualification?

Yes. AQA's specification states directly, under its overlaps section, that 8700 "overlaps with the AQA Level 1/Level 2 Certificate in English Language". Ofqual's register lists 8700 at 120 guided learning hours and 120 total qualification time, with assessment methods classified as "Task-based Controlled Assessment, Written Examination". The qualification's DfE performance table discount code is FK2B, and its regulation start date at Ofqual is 12 August 2014, with an operational start date of 1 September 2015.