4.2 - Paper 1 Q1: Four multiple-choice retrieval decisions

Four decisions, one clear boundary

From summer 2026, AQA Paper 1 Question 1 is worth 4 marks. It asks four multiple-choice questions about a stated part of the fiction source; answer all four, but choose a maximum of one answer for each part. Treat the four parts as four separate one-mark decisions: a doubtful answer to one part need not affect the other three.

Each part has three choices, labelled A–C here. Only one is supported by the stated lines.

Before looking at options, read the stated lines for their basic situation: who is present, what happens, and what matters. Then narrow each question to its exact target and test every option against the same line range. An option fails if it belongs outside the range, contradicts the passage, attaches a real detail to the wrong person or place, or adds an unsupported idea.

Read for meaning before choosing

Read lines 1–4 first. The situation is simple: Mara has arrived early for a ferry, she is carrying a ticket, and a clerk is preparing the office. That one-sentence understanding gives each detail somewhere to belong.

Source W

1 Mara reached the ferry office before its doors opened, rain ticking on her hood.
2 The sign above the entrance was still unlit.
3 She checked the envelope three times; inside lay a blue ticket stamped 7:10.
4 Through the glass, she could see the clerk arranging coins in a tray.
5 At seven o'clock the door stayed locked.
6 A dog began barking somewhere behind the ticket hall.
7 When the clerk finally looked up, he pointed past the office towards the pier.
8 Beyond it, a small ferry was already pulling away.

For each question below, the range remains lines 1–4.

An expert does not hunt for a word that merely resembles an option. The expert keeps the situation and target in mind, then checks whether the option has the same meaning as the line.

• Part 1: B. "Before its doors opened" means before the office opens. A is tempting because the ferry later leaves, but that happens in line 8, outside the range, and it is not Mara's arrival time.
• Part 2: C. Line 3 states that a blue ticket is inside the envelope. A is a real detail, but the coins belong to the clerk, not to the envelope.
• Part 3: A. "Checked the envelope three times" means she repeatedly checks something she carries. C might sound like a sensible action at a closed office, but the text never says she knocks.
• Part 4: B. Line 4 states that the clerk is arranging coins in a tray, so B matches the supplied action. C borrows the idea of a ticket from line 3 and attaches it to the wrong action.

Guide each choice with the text

Now use the same decision with a little support. Read lines 1–4 for the situation, identify the precise target of each question, and point to the words that support one option. Keep the wet grass and the beekeeper in lines 5–7 out of your decisions because they fall outside the stated range.

Use your result to decide whether the support is ready to fade. If all four choices are secure, remove the support of pointing to a matching line before the next task: hold the relevant meaning in mind and decide independently. If a choice is wrong, do not simply memorise its letter; identify whether the error came from meaning, range, ownership of a detail or unsupported inference.