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Edexcel GCSE English Language revision

These activities are mapped to Edexcel GCSE English Language 1EN0. Nearly nothing about this exam can be predicted: both reading sections hand students texts they have never seen, and no amount of content knowledge helps. One thing can be predicted. Component 1 reading is a 19th-century fiction extract, every year, with no modern text beside it. That matters because the older register is the part students find hardest, and Edexcel gives it a section of its own. AQA guarantees a 19th-century text too, but it is non-fiction and it shares a paper with a modern partner text a student can lean on. Here there is nothing to lean on. So the one part of this course worth rehearsing specifically is reading old prose, and that is where these sixteen activities start.

This page lists what we actually have for Edexcel GCSE English Language 1EN0. It is built from the live activities, so it is accurate on the day you read it.

The one thing you can predict

English Language is the subject where revision advice usually runs out. There is no syllabus to cover and no facts to hold, so the honest answer to "what should I revise?" is often "nothing, practise".

Edexcel is a partial exception, and it is worth knowing where.

Component 1, Section A is a 19th-century fiction extract. Every year. On its own. That is not a topic to learn, but it is a register to get used to, and getting used to a register is something a student can actually do in advance. Long sentences. Subordinate clauses stacked three deep. Vocabulary that has drifted. A narrator who tells you what to think about a character before you have met them.

A student who has read six of those before walking in is in a different position from a student meeting one cold, and unlike everything else in this exam, that is entirely within your control.

Why that matters more here than at AQA

Both boards guarantee a 19th-century text, so this is a difference of placement rather than of presence.

At AQA the older text is non-fiction, and it sits on the same paper as a modern text about the same subject. A student who finds the older one heavy going still has a partner text to anchor them, and the questions ask them to work across the two.

At Edexcel the older text is fiction, and it has a section to itself. Nothing modern sits beside it. If a student cannot get into the prose, there is no second text to fall back on and the whole section is harder.

That is the argument for treating older prose as a routine rather than a topic: little and often, from early in the course, rather than a fortnight of it in April.

If you teach the other board, the same activities in a different arrangement are on the AQA English Language page.

Where the rest of it sits

Sixteen activities, arranged by the section of the exam each one prepares for:

  • Component 1 reading, three activities, the 19th-century fiction section.
  • Component 1 imaginative writing, three, on description, narrative shape and technical accuracy.
  • Component 2 reading, five, on two unseen modern non-fiction texts.
  • Component 2 transactional writing, three, on argument, form and register.
  • The spoken language endorsement, two, on presenting and on handling questions.

Component 2 reading is the best served, which is fair enough: it carries two texts and asks students to work across both. Fifteen of the sixteen ask students to set out a written response rather than only pick an answer.

Finding the right one

The lists below group by classroom use, worked out from what each activity contains. Homework is not a heading, because nearly all of them suit it and a heading holding everything separates nothing.

Everything here runs in eleven to twenty minutes, so a reading activity fits a lesson starter without eating the lesson. That case is made in 15-minute GCSE revision activities. The three activities embedded below are playable here without an account.

Using them

None of it needs marking, which is the practical reason a weekly routine survives in an English department. For a group who have fallen behind and need a short cycle with a recheck built in, see revision intervention a department can sustain. To put several in front of one class in order, build a sprint.

Everything else we have, by subject and board, is on the revision pages.

What this page does not do

The 19th-century prose here is an imitation. Two of the three Component 1 reading activities use passages written for the activity in a 19th-century register, and the third uses modern prose. None is a genuine Victorian text. That is a real limit on the argument this page makes: writing in the style teaches the moves, and it is not the same as meeting the real thing cold. Pair these with actual 19th-century extracts, which is what the exam will give them.

It does not mark extended writing. The writing activities work on planning, structure and technique, not on producing a full response with a mark on it.

It does not track anything, so there is no completion list to check.

Every live English Language activity for Edexcel

16 activities, all mapped to Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language (1EN0).

Good for intervention (6)

Good for starter (4)

Good for mock preparation (3)

Good for cover lesson (2)

Good for tutor time (1)

See all 16, by topic

Try it with your class

Edexcel English Language 11 minutes

Fact Finder

8 steps, 6 interactive, 5 activity types.

Best used for
Starter Tutor time Intervention
  • Starter: Short enough to open a lesson and still leave time to teach.
  • Tutor time: Fits a short tutor slot without being cut in half.
  • Intervention: Mostly questions, so it finds the gap quickly.

Try one question

Q2 asks for further explicit information. Mr Grey "had been told the house was empty." Which detail suggests it might NOT be empty?

Edexcel English Language 18 minutes

Narrative Arc Builder

14 steps, 9 interactive, 8 activity types.

Best used for
Homework Independent study
  • Homework: Set it as a link. It marks itself.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.

Try one question

In a narrative arc, what happens at the climax?

Edexcel English Language 19 minutes

Synthesis Station

14 steps, 9 interactive, 9 activity types.

Best used for
Homework Independent study Mock preparation
  • Homework: Set it as a link. It marks itself.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.
  • Mock preparation: Asks students to build an answer, not just recognise one.

Try one question

All four sentences are about the same pair of texts. Which one belongs in your answer to 7a?

Common questions

What can students actually prepare for in this exam?

The register of the Component 1 extract. Everything else about the reading is unseen, but that extract is 19th-century fiction every year, so getting comfortable with older prose is preparation rather than guesswork. The rest is practising the moves and doing them faster.

How is that different from AQA?

AQA also guarantees a 19th-century text, but it is non-fiction and it sits beside a modern text on the same paper, so a student has something familiar to work from. At Edexcel the older text is fiction and it has a whole section to itself.

Are the extracts genuine 19th-century writing?

No, and this is the honest limit of the page. Two of the three Component 1 reading activities use prose written in a 19th-century register for the activity. The third uses modern prose. They practise the moves on an imitation, which is not the same as meeting a real Victorian extract cold.

How does the coverage map onto the components?

Three activities for Component 1 reading, three for imaginative writing, five for Component 2 reading, three for transactional writing, and one each for presenting and responding. Sixteen in total, eleven to twenty minutes.

Does it cover the spoken language endorsement?

Yes, with one activity on presenting and one on handling questions. It is reported separately and does not affect the 9 to 1 grade, which is exactly why it tends to get left until last.

Will I see who has completed them?

No. Following a shared link records nothing about who followed it, which is a deliberate choice about children's data.

Put one in front of a class

Tell us the subject and how long you have. You get a link to hand out, and it marks itself.

Create a free teacher account

Written by David Wright, Co-Founder, DoRevision.

David builds DoRevision with his son Noah (15). David has spent his career building EdTech products, and Noah has grown up watching lines of code being written. As a student at an important stage of his education, together they are building the revision platform that Noah is using to help revise for his GCSE exams and hopes his friends will find useful too.

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  • AQA GCSE English Language revision for teachers Every live AQA GCSE English Language (8700) revision activity. It is the one specification here with no subject content in it, which changes what revision can even mean, and this page is honest about what that costs.
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