Directed response — AS & A Level English Language (9093) questions by topic
Directed response questions ask you to transform a given text into a new one for a new audience: an email disagreeing with a travel article, an advertisement drawn from a newspaper piece about an art exhibition, or a diary entry written as though you were a character reacting to an autobiographical extract. Compare, suggest, express, explain and outline require both a convincing new text and explicit commentary on how its conventions differ from the source, across a 25-mark response.
16 questions from 2023 to 2025 sit on this page. Because the comparative commentary is marked on genuine analysis of both texts rather than a summary of either, drafting a response and checking it against instant marking shows whether the commentary has stayed anchored to your own directed response, not drifted into simply retelling the original extract's content.
What examiners look for
- A recurring criticism is candidates misunderstanding the main idea of the source article, or drifting into complaints unrelated to the original text.
- Examiners repeatedly note that comparative comments were sometimes focused mostly on the extract rather than on the candidate's own directed response, or amounted to summary rather than comparative analysis.
- Reports flag responses considering audience, purpose, register and structure strictly in the order the question named them, so that one aspect, often language, was addressed less well.
- Strong answers, according to the reports, understood the conventions of the target form, for example adopting a formal register and impersonal salutation for an email to an editor.
- Examiners praise responses that compared both texts' audience, register and purpose directly, such as contrasting a broad newspaper readership with a specific, formal addressee.
May–June 2025, Paper 11
Read the text, which is taken from an information leaflet about beekeeping. You are a beekeeper who plans to visit a local school to give a speech to the school community about…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2025, Paper 12
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book by an explorer and adventurer. You work for a travel agency that organises expeditions to remote locations for young…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2025, Paper 13
Read the following text, which is an article about making journeys on sleeper trains. You work for a railway company. Write the opening text for a brochure advertising the launch…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 11
Read the text, which is a newspaper article about pollution created by new plastic. Having read the article, you decide to write an email to a large company, urging them to take…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 12
Read the text, which is an article from an online newspaper about an innovative art exhibition in Madrid, Spain. You have been asked to write an advertisement which will be…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 13
Read the text, which is an article about bird conservation from a newspaper website. Your teacher has asked you to give a speech to your classmates about the action that your…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 11
Read the text, which is an extract from a newspaper article published in 2022. You decide to write an email to the editor, giving reasons why the benefits of tourism outweigh the…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 12
Read the text, which is the opening of a chapter from Waterlog, an autobiographical book by Roger Deakin, a British film-maker, environmentalist and author. Imagine you are the…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 13
Read the text, which is a travel article written by Alex King, who is an inhabitant of Athens. Imagine you recently visited Athens as a tourist and you disagree with some of the…
Answer this question and get it marked →February–March 2023, Paper 12
Read the following text, which is an article about robots in the workplace. Your teacher has asked you to give a speech to your class, expressing your opinions about the issues…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 11
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book called Japanese Gardens by the gardener and writer, Monty Don. You work for a travel agency in Japan. Your boss has asked…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 12
Read the following text, which is an article about happy and healthy ageing, published in a British newspaper. You disagree with some points in the article. Write a response to…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 13
Read the following text, which is an article from The Indian Express newspaper. You work for a travel agency. Write the text for an advertisement for a volunteering holiday,…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 11
Read the following text, which is a magazine article about stargazing. Your teacher has asked you to give a speech to your class about the benefits to well-being of appreciating…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 12
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book titled Paradise Gardens. In response to the text, you decide to write a letter to your local authority suggesting the…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 13
Read the following text, which is an extract from a book about the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Imagine you are Tenzing. Write your diary entry about the ascent to…
Answer this question and get it marked →