Paper 1 · Skill Builder · AO1
Retrieval: find the information
Read the source, then select what is actually stated. Retrieval is the foundation every later question is built on.
Teach first
Retrieval means finding what the text says, not what it hints at. Look for facts, names, numbers, times and short descriptive details you can point to.
Source A — from an original LADDER English extract
The harbour had emptied by four o'clock. Only one boat remained, tied loosely to the far post, its paint blistered and its name half scrubbed away by salt. A woman sat on the wall above it, counting the gulls.
She had come every afternoon that autumn. The fishermen no longer greeted her; they simply moved their crates around her as though she were part of the stonework. When the light failed, she folded her coat over her arm and walked back up the hill without once looking at the water.
Original LADDER English practice material — not an official AQA paper.
Question 1 of 4
Skills assessed: AO1 — identify and interpret explicit informationWhich statement is stated directly in the source?
Next up: Inference — what can we work out?