AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 (2025 & 2026 Exams)

Summary

In this video, Mr. Bruff provides an insightful guide to tackling the AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5. He outlines that the question is worth 40 marks, split into 24 for AO5 and 16 for AO6. The main task is to present a personal viewpoint on a given controversial statement. He illustrates typical question formats, such as writing a letter arguing for or against school uniform, and emphasizes the importance of considering the audience, purpose, and form. Successful responses should be coherent, plausible, and well-structured, with attention to technical accuracy. Mr. Bruff stresses planning and reviewing as key to achieving high marks.

Highlights

• Mr. Bruff explains the structure and expectations for the AQA English Language Paper 2, Question 5. 📑
• The question requires students to express their views on a controversial topic, like school uniforms. 👔
• Audience, purpose, and format are key aspects students need to excel in their writing. 📝
• Illustrates using examples how understanding audience influences effective persuasion. 🎯
• Stresses the importance of structure and technical accuracy in writing high-scoring answers. ⚙️

Key Takeaways

• The question is worth 40 marks, distributed between AO5 (24 marks) and AO6 (16 marks). 🏆
• Students will respond to a controversial statement, presenting their unique viewpoint. 💡
• Consideration of audience, purpose, and form is crucial to scoring high marks. 🔑
• Successful answers must be coherent, plausible, and well-structured. 📚
• Technical accuracy is important — dedicate time to check your work. ✍️

Overview

In this informative session, Mr. Bruff walks viewers through the intricacies of AQA English Language Paper 2, Question 5. This section of the exam is pivotal, totalling 40 marks, and it's designed to assess students' ability to articulate and defend their viewpoints on controversial statements. This might involve topics like the importance of school uniforms in educational success, demanding students to argue their stance convincingly.

The video emphasizes the significance of understanding the question's audience, purpose, and form. Mr. Bruff uses past paper examples to demonstrate how thoughtful consideration of these elements can enhance the persuasiveness of a student's argument. Tailoring the response to fit the expectations of the audience, like persuading parents about a holiday trip, can distinguish high-scoring papers.

Moreover, Mr. Bruff advises on the need for a coherent structure and technical precision. Crafting a lucid line of argument and ensuring cyclical structure can improve readability and impact. With 16 marks reserved for accuracy in spelling, punctuation, and grammar, he reinforces the importance of reviewing and refining one's work to achieve top marks.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 The chapter introduces AQA English Language Paper 2, specifically focusing on Question 5. It is a writing question in Paper 2, worth 40 marks, divided into 24 marks for Assessment Objective 5 (AO5) and 16 marks for Assessment Objective 6 (AO6). Section B of the paper builds on Section A, where students are initially given two sources presenting viewpoints on a topic or theme and must answer questions on how these viewpoints are presented. In Section B, students have the opportunity to present their own viewpoint in response to the question.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Typical Question Example The chapter titled 'Typical Question Example' presents a scenario where a controversial statement is posed regarding the importance of school uniforms in influencing student behavior and academic success. The statement prompts students to articulate their viewpoints by writing a letter to their head teacher, either supporting or opposing the abolition of school uniforms. Furthermore, it's noted that traditionally, most past exam papers offer the student a choice to agree or disagree with the provided statement.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Explaining Different Perspectives The chapter discusses how to explain different perspectives when you are not asked to agree or disagree with a statement, but to explain your view. An example is given where students are asked to write a letter to their teacher about what makes a good school lesson. In this context, the chapter highlights the importance of understanding the audience, purpose, and form of the statement or question being addressed.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Importance of Form in Writing The chapter discusses the essential elements of different forms of writing, such as letters. It emphasizes the minimum expectations for each form to ensure clarity and effectiveness in communication. For instance, a letter must clearly indicate the recipient, often starting with 'Dear,' and should be structured in paragraphs. The chapter further elaborates on the complete structure of a formal letter, including components like the sender's address, date, formal greetings, and appropriate sign-offs like 'Yours sincerely' or 'Yours faithfully.'
• 02:00 - 02:30: Form Expectations and Writing Guide The chapter emphasizes the importance of utilizing all available features of a given form when writing, rather than selectively trying to remember specific ones needed. It lists various forms of writing that may be required, including letters, articles, texts for leaflets, speeches, or essays. While the chapter does not cover these forms in detail, it suggests referring to Mr. Bruff's Guide to GCSE English Language, available in paperback and ebook, for comprehensive coverage. The chapter also highlights the necessity of writing with a particular purpose in mind.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Purpose and Audience in Writing The chapter titled 'Purpose and Audience in Writing' discusses the importance of understanding the purpose of writing tasks, which could be to explain, instruct, advise, argue, or persuade. It emphasizes the need for students to recognize the specific wording of questions and present a clear viewpoint on topics. The chapter also highlights audience awareness as a crucial but often overlooked element. To achieve high marks, it is essential to write answers that are plausible and convincing, supported by examples from real exams.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Real Exam Example: Writing to Parents The chapter discusses a real exam example where students were tasked with writing a persuasive letter to their parents. The goal was to convince their parents to allow them to go on a holiday with a friend during summer. The chapter emphasizes the importance of considering the audience - in this case, the parents. It notes that successful attempts typically involved highlighting benefits such as language learning, cultural experiences, and the development of independence. The author, who was an examiner for this question, reflects on the importance of effectively addressing the parental audience to achieve persuasion.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Audience Considerations in Persuasive Writing In this chapter, the focus is on the importance of audience considerations in persuasive writing. It discusses how students often overlook the impact of understanding their audience when trying to persuade, using an example where students tried to convince their parents. Those who failed to consider their audience wrote about inappropriate topics like staying out all night and getting drunk, which were ineffective. However, a small percentage of high-achieving students understood the significance of their audience and connected with them on a personal level, opting for subtlety in their approach.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Structure and Sequencing in Writing This chapter discusses the importance of structure and sequencing in writing. It uses a personal anecdote to illustrate how attitudes and communication can evolve, particularly highlighting a conversation about growing independence. The essence of successful writing is attributed to being mindful of the audience and effectively presenting one's viewpoint. The chapter suggests that attaining high-level writing skills requires careful consideration of audience engagement and structured presentation. It notes that less successful attempts often lack this structural integrity.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Focusing on Technical Accuracy In the chapter titled 'Focusing on Technical Accuracy', the emphasis is placed on organizing ideas in a structured manner to enhance clarity and impact. The chapter suggests that employing a cyclical structure, where the beginning and end mirror each other, or starting with simple ideas and progressively developing more complex ones can strengthen your argument and presentation. Additionally, attention to technical accuracy is critical; this is particularly relevant for exams like Paper 1, Question 5, where 16 marks are dedicated to technical prowess. The chapter underlines the importance of checking work both during writing and in review stages to ensure accuracy and maximize marks.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Conclusion and Additional Resources The chapter emphasizes the availability of additional resources for further exploration on the topic. It encourages the reader to watch a longer video linked on the screen for a more in-depth understanding. There is also a call to action for the reader to subscribe to the channel for more content.

AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 (2025 & 2026 Exams) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 AQA English language paper 2 question 5 is the writing question in paper 2 it is a 40 mark question with 24 marks awarded for ao5 and 16 marks awarded for ao6 Section B Builds on Section A in section A you were given two sources presenting viewpoints on a topic or theme and you've answered questions on how the writers present those viewpoints in section B you have an opportunity to present your own personal Viewpoint in this question question you'll be
• 00:30 - 01:00 presented with a controversial statement and asked to respond with your Viewpoint let's look at a typical question school uniform is the number one most important factor in ensuring that students behave well and Achieve academic success at school write a letter to your head teacher arguing for or against the abolition of school uniform now it's worth pointing out here that historically three out of the Four Past live papers have given you the choice of agreeing or disagreeing with the state
• 01:00 - 01:30 statement just once there's been a statement where you've not been asked to agree or disagree but asked to explain your view on something for example the question was something like this most lessons are boring write a letter to your teacher explaining what you think makes a good school lesson so in that case you couldn't choose to agree or disagree but you still had the freedom to decide what to write about in what you decided made a good school lesson the question will always set out a clear audience purpose and form now form is an
• 01:30 - 02:00 interesting one because there's a minimum expectation of what to include for each form of writing and other features you might include for example with a letter at a minimum it needs to be clear that you are sending a letter to someone you might achieve that through writing Dear Mrs Smith at the beginning and you have to write in paragraphs too you can then take that all the way through to what we know of the full letter form your address the date the formal mode of address an appropriate sign off like your sincerely or yours Faithfully now for me I think
• 02:00 - 02:30 it's easier to use all of the features of the given form rather than to have to stop and try to remember which ones I need to include and which ones I don't the forms you might be asked to write in include a letter an article the text for a leaflet a speech or an essay and we don't have time to go through all of those here but they are all covered in Mr bruff's guide to GCSE English language which is available in paperback on Amazon or ebook atmr bru.com you'll also be given a specific purpose for your work
• 02:30 - 03:00 this could be worded as writing to explain instruct advise argue or persuade there's also a chance it could be worded as something different again but the key thing is that whatever the wording of the question you're being asked to present your viewpoint on a topic the third thing is audience and this is something many students Overlook now one of the key skills for high marks in this question is to actually write an answer that is highly plausible made up of convincing ideas let me give you an example from a real exam a number of years years ago to show you what I mean
• 03:00 - 03:30 the question was write a letter to your parents in which you persuade them to let you go on holiday with a friend this summer I was an examiner on this exam and I marked over 300 attempts at this question thinking about audience was so important with this question and I'll tell you why most students realized that with their parents as the audience they would need to persuade them of the benefits of the holiday such as learning a new language experiencing a new culture and developing Independence and
• 03:30 - 04:00 these students were thinking carefully about what Their audience their parents would likely be persuaded by some students did not think about this at all they wrote about going to ibea staying out all night and getting drunk and of course these answers were not convincing they did not really take into account who Their audience was and how they could best persuade that audience a tiny percentage of top Mark students thought carefully about Their audience and used that connection with their parents to be subtle they wrote Things like dear Mom
• 04:00 - 04:30 and Dad I know I've been Moody during my exams and you deserve a break I know you want me to grow up to be independent and not reliant on you forever well here's a solution to both of those issues let me go on holiday with a friend this summer you see the top Mark skills of writing something highly plausible enthralling original and subtle are only likely to come if you think carefully about your audience and how you can best present your Viewpoint to them another thing to think about is your structure less successful an answers are made up of
• 04:30 - 05:00 separate ideas presented with no sense of sequencing better answers present a line of argument well structured perhaps you can have a cyclical structure where you begin and end with the same idea for emphasis perhaps you can begin simply and move on to develop more complex ideas thinking about your structure is very important as with paper 1 question five 16 marks are awarded for technical accuracy that means you need to give yourself plenty of time to check your work both as you are writing and also at the end I hope you found this video
• 05:00 - 05:30 useful if you'd like to see a longer video on this question then you can see one just here click on the screen and you'll be taken to that video please do subscribe to the channel