Welcome to the

Mr Salles Course for AQA English Language Paper 1A

I’ll help you get top grades faster. While saving you hours of revision.

Discover the hidden strategies and techniques which force the examiner to give you top grades - without hours and hours of revision.

This course will completely change your exam answers - it changed mine.

If we haven’t met before - Hi, my name’s Mr Salles 👋

I started teaching English in 1992, then began making videos for my students in 2011, and writing exam guides in 2016. 

I knew nothing about exams when I started (because English used to be 100% coursework!). Every time a new GCSE comes out, I sit the exam papers multiple times. Sometimes I even pay to sit them with my students.

Understanding what the examiners wanted was a challenge at first. 

I was a husband, dad, a head of department and then an assistant head, running a YouTube channel on the side, and still wanted to spend time with my family and friends.

That didn’t leave a lot of time to learn exam techniques (without just copying what everyone else was doing).

But I knew I wanted the inside knowledge which would mean most of my students could gain top grades…

Over 20 revision guides later, I knew I understood the exam inside and out.

I read hundreds of exam answers, fully marked by senior examiners. I rewrote them, tore them down and built them back up again, in order to find out exactly how each mark was earned.

Then I wrote dozens of my own exam answers at every grade to exactly match what top grade students wrote. 

Each year I get hundreds of messages and emails after the exams, telling me how I helped students get top grades. In fact, 55% of viewers on my channel, Mr Salles Teaches English, say they got grades 8 and 9. And another 22% say they got grade 7.

Wait, what? How do students do across England then?

Only 4.9% of students in the country got a grade 9 in 2023. 7.1% got a grade 8. 9.6% got a grade 7. Add them all up, and 22% of students gained a grade 7 or more.

On my channel, it was 77%! (If 4200 students are to be believed).

Over 4000 viewers responded. And that was students just watching my videos.

I know, it's absolutely mental.

I think it’s fair to say that my advice can completely change your grades.

And I fundamentally believe that you can jump two or three grades very quickly.

Over 7000 students on my channel said this happened for them.

These results are fantastic. 

But how many videos did students watch? Were they the right ones, with the best advice, or older videos, where I was still learning what gets 100%?

This is what my viewers said:

Nearly 9000 students responded. At least 74% of said my advice really helped them and improved their grade.

But what if I could get 100% of my viewers top grades? How would I do that? Well, it’s pretty simple…

The Simple “Secret” Formula scoring 100% on every question

Over the last 6 years, since this AQA exam was created, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to get full marks on every question. I’ve learned how to write answers which force the examiners to give you full marks (even if they don’t want to).

I’ve spent thousands of hours sitting papers and writing 13 revision guides on the AQA English Language GCSE to try to find the secret sauce that makes the examiner give you 100% of the marks. And while I’ve learned a hell of a lot of things, the biggest thing I’ve learned is this:

There’s no secret method to each question. It’s not about PEE, PEA, PEEL, PETAL, PEARL or PRTEZEL paragraphs. It’s not even about the number of paragraphs you write.

It’s just a matter of:

1. Writing as many explanations as there are marks for the question.
2. Speed of handwriting.
3. Starting each question as quickly as you can.

That’s all it takes.

I personally guarantee that if you follow this 3-part formula, your grades will change with a speed you can’t imagine.

You might even find that you no longer even need to revise for this paper! 😳

Enrol Now

All of this stuff is easy in theory, but difficult in execution. Why?

Why do so few students actually get top grades?

One word - Revision.

Revision is hard because it takes effort, and only works if you know what to revise. And unless you have a teacher who answers lots of the exam papers under timed conditions, they probably don’t know the best techniques for you to use in the exam. 

Sure, if you turn up to class and do the work, you could slave away and adapt your teachers’ methods to get top grades.

But if, like me, you want to know how to get grade 9 as quickly as possible so you can get to all the other things you love doing in your life, your teacher’s advice might not be the best way.

Let’s face it, if their advice is working, you don’t need this course.

There are so many ways in which revising English language GCSE sucks up your spare time

Knowing What the Examiner is Looking For

What the examiners say they want in the mark scheme is complicated. The vocabulary often makes no sense. Different teachers and different YouTubers interpret it in different ways. If everyone is giving you conflicting advice, how do you choose who to trust? Who is sharing with you how well their students perform using these methods? 

Who is showing you exam answers which score 100%?

Quote Selection

Of all the quotes in the Source, how do you choose the ones which are likely to catch the examiner’s eye? You don’t want to waste time picking quotes which lead to poor quality analysis. And what can you revise when every exam paper Source is different?

Picking a Method for Each Question

You know that the examiners are looking for different assessment objectives in each question. So, you are probably having to remember a different method for each question. This takes up thinking time, and makes you write more slowly in the exam. How do you even know if the method is going to get you top grades?

What are Writer’s Methods?

How do you remember all the different methods writers use? Which ones come up again and again? What do you have to write about them anyway? Does it really matter if a word is a verb, adverb, adjective or noun: are any of those actually methods? What happens if you give the wrong name to the method?

Paragraphing

Does the examiner look at your answer like a photograph? Do they look for a certain number of paragraphs on the page? Do they look for What, Where, How, Why paragraphs? Do they want your answer laid out in a particular way?

Quality

How do you write an analysis which scores really high marks? What makes a good analysis anyway? Do you really have to write lots of explanations about the same quote?

Timing

How do you know when you have written enough to get full marks? Or to score enough for a grade 7, or a grade 8?

And whether you can figure all this out on your own or with your teacher, how will you do this while you’re juggling all the other subjects you want to get top grades in, while doing your best to avoid burnout?

I’m not saying that you can’t figure all of this out on your own. I did, but it took me 6 years, and 13 guides to do it. 

Yes, there are thousands of hours of videos out there teaching you how to do all of these things, but all those videos will take you hundreds of hours to watch, and hundreds of hours to implement.

And even then, you might still get it wrong and not see any results.

So how do you revise AQA English language GCSE without giving up all your spare time?

You revise only what you don’t know.

That’s the secret.

If you can dip into my course at any question, or any skill, you’ll be able to bump up your grade immediately, without sacrificing all of your time.

Walk into any McDonald’s, anywhere in the world and you’ll get the same service. McDonald’s have done a great job of systemising their business. The systems are so good, and so evolved, that you get exactly the right food, every time.

Just like McDonald’s, you want to build a system which means you get top marks every time, no matter what the exam paper.

Systems mean you don’t have to spend time thinking. This means you can spend more time writing, making points which score marks.

That’s the true secret to succeeding in the English language reading paper. Have a system which works for every question, every time. Not different methods for each question, but one method which works for all of them.

I’ve written hundreds of full mark answers using this system.

And I can show you how to do it too.

The AQA Paper 1A Course condenses 6 years and 13 revision guides into a personalised course, which answers all your questions, and lets you start at the beginning, or from where you currently are.

I’ll teach you everything about the surprising secrets of the mark scheme.

By the end, you’ll know how to answer every question, with full marks, every time, no matter what the paper. 

Not only do you get videos explaining every part of the question, you also get grade 7, 8, 9 and full mark answers, fully explained. You get to print them off to make your own notes. 

And you get a practice paper for each question. And then, rather than make it with a marks scheme, you get actual answers at each of those grades. 

I train you how to judge each answer by comparing yours to those. It removes all the mystery and helps you see exactly how to get full marks.

You’ll learn my Point Scoring System, a step-by-step approach which guarantees the examiner has to give you full marks. 

And you won’t waste precious exam time wondering what method to use for each question. The Point Scoring System is the same for every question. 

Okay, that's a lot of stuff. But does the Mr Salles Paper 1A Course actually work?

That’s why I am trialling it with only 20 students. They had 30 days of unlimited feedback on their answers so they could see exactly how to get 100%. And I can learn exactly how to make this the best course money can buy.

You can see how they learned to score full marks on every question.

That's 30+ answers for each question. Fully marked and explained.

So you can check any of your practice answers and see exactly how to score 100%.

You can read fully marked and explained answers to every question on every past paper.

But I can’t actually do the work for you. You have to put in the effort yourself.

Let’s start with who the course won’t work for - this course isn’t for you if: 

1. You're not willing to put in the time and effort to do practice questions.
2. You're looking for a magic bullet that'll get you the grade you want without any effort. 
3. You're hoping I’ll just confirm what your teachers are already telling you. My advice will probably be a bit different, because I actually sit the exam papers.
4. You're looking to jump from grade 4 to grade 9. If you aren’t getting a grade 5 at the minute, you are probably too slow at reading or hand writing to make the most of what I am going to teach you.

However, there is one thing I can guarantee. If you watch each video, read each resource, do and mark the practice paper questions, your grade will jump significantly to a grade 8 or 9.

If that sounds like something you'd like, then this is the course for you.

If it's not what you're looking for, then sorry for wasting your time in reading this far, and I wish you the very best of luck. 

But - if you’re committed to getting top grades and putting yourself in the best position to smash any AQA Paper 1A, I’m here for you, and I promise you'll get large amounts of value from the course.

Mr Salles