Paper 1: Non-Fiction Texts - 1.1 Reading — Edexcel GCSE English Language
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Paper 1: Non-Fiction Texts - 1.1 Reading explained
Critical reading means doing several things at once with a text.
Read the full explanation
Identify and interpret themes, ideas and information, then choose a reading approach that fits your purpose: skim to orientate, scan to locate, close-read to analyse. Compare and evaluate how useful, relevant and well presented the content is for that purpose. Draw inferences and justify each one with evidence from the text, and support your own viewpoint by referring to that evidence. Judge bias and misuse of evidence, separating claims that are supported from those that are not. Reflect critically and evaluatively, using the text's context and your wider reading, and accept that other readers may respond differently. For example, in a 19th-century report on working conditions, weigh the writer's selection of witnesses and statistics before accepting the conclusion.
Your focus
- Identify and interpret themes, ideas and information, and select a reading approach appropriate to the stated purpose.
- Draw and justify inferences with textual evidence, and support a point of view by referring to evidence within the text.
- Identify bias and misuse of evidence, reflect critically and evaluatively using context and wider reading, and recognise the possibility of different responses to a text.
Paper 1: Non-Fiction Texts - 1.1 Reading exam tips
Marking Points
- Identifies and interprets themes, ideas and information accurately, showing understanding of what the text states and implies.
- Selects a reading approach suited to the purpose and compares or evaluates the usefulness, relevance and presentation of content for that purpose.
- Draws inferences that go beyond literal statement and justifies each inference with specific evidence from the text.
- Supports a point of view by referring to evidence within the text, linking the claim to the quotation or detail used.
- Identifies bias and misuse of evidence, distinguishing statements supported by evidence from those that are not.
- Reflects critically and evaluatively on the text, uses its context and wider reading, and recognises that different responses to the text are possible.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Plan by purpose: decide whether the question asks you to identify, compare, evaluate or reflect, and shape your paragraphs to that demand.
- 💡Use short, precise evidence and explain how it supports your point rather than dropping in long quotations.
- 💡Reserve time to comment on context, wider reading and alternative responses, since these are part of the critical reading requirement.
Common Mistakes
- Retelling the text instead of interpreting it. Correction: state what the text suggests and why, then anchor the point in a specific detail or quotation.
- Making an inference with no evidence. Correction: every inference needs a supporting detail from the text, introduced and explained.
- Treating every statement in a text as equally reliable. Correction: check whether a claim is supported by evidence in the text and comment on bias or misuse of evidence where it occurs.