Paper 1 Section A: questions on the Close Study Products — AQA GCSE Media Studies 8572
AQA GCSE Media Studies · 8572
Paper 1 Section A: questions on the Close Study Products
Paper 1 questions
What you need to know
The short and medium questions on printed Close Study Products and their forms: one- and two-mark items that define a term or state a convention, and analysis worth 6, 8 and 12 marks.
The 2025 questions on gender stereotypes and verbal codes in the OMO advert, the conventions and enigma codes of magazine covers, and contexts and representation on the Tatler cover; the 2024 questions on Heat and a Daily Mirror double-page spread.
What examiners reward: naming the convention, not only giving an example, and linking context to the product.
A question set out as AQA sets it, with its wording and marks, and a model answer with the level and mark an examiner would give and why, beside a weaker answer and what would lift it.
Timing: about an hour for Section A.
Sentence starters and a short checklist of the steps, for students aiming at Grade 4 and above.
The Close Study Products for 2027 and 2028 exams are His Dark Materials ('The City of Magpies') and Doctor Who ('An Unearthly Child'); the Daily Mirror and The Times; Marcus Rashford's and Kim Kardashian's online presence; Lara Croft Go, with Blackpink The Game for 2027 exams and Lego Fortnite for 2028 exams; the Galaxy, Represent and OMO adverts; the Tatler and Heat covers; Black Widow and I, Daniel Blake; the Arctic Monkeys and Blackpink videos; and Radio 1's launch and Kiss Breakfast. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was set only for 2025, so past questions on it are practice only.
Back readings of class, gender and ethnicity with specific evidence from the products, as the mark schemes reward.
