1. My TSR
  2. Study help and revision tips
  3. A-level and GCSE exams

Students react after GCSE English Language Paper 1 on 23 May 2025

two students surrounded by books

Top tweets and memes, after AQA serves up a cuckoo shock

There was a lot to pack into less than two hours for GCSE English Language Paper 1 today, with some tricky story prompts and an extract from AQA that's already going down in infamy.

We've picked out some of the best reactions from TikTok and X - scroll down to take a look and see which ones reflect your experience of this paper.

And don't forget, there's tons of chat happening over on the forum too. Tap the links below to check the conversation on your exam.

GCSE English Language discussion on The Student Room

Want to check in on a different subject or exam paper? Find students discussing all the exams from this summer's GCSEs here.

Also see:

That extract on the AQA paper had people raging

@newnameloading_slay #aqa #languagepaper1 #englishlanguage #gcse ♬ Riptide - Tik Toker
@rayashx btw this is joke dont judge me ppl i know 2025 english language paper 1 aqa absolutely foolishness #goviral #aqa #gcse #year11 #question50 ♬ original sound - rea rea
@user283836328633 gosh darn it #fyp #leavers25 #gcse #aqa #exams #school #relateable #viral #englishlanguage ♬ Running Off (Slowed Down) - Jshxwty

But Edexcel? Well that seemed a lot more chilled...

@iminthegeto EDEXCEL ACTUALLY BLESSED US THAT WAS SO GOOD #englishlanguagepaper1 #englishlanguagegcse #englishgcse #edexcel #edexcelenglish #gcses2025 #gcses #gcsememes #fyp #exams #ukschool #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #xybca ♬ Play hard joathxn - joathxn

It's English language, so there's always time for a hearty serving of waffle...

Despite some tricky moments, there were still some cold pillow wishes going around for the examiners

@summerjacqueline i smoked that paper bares g bares #relateable #foryoupage #englishlanguage #gsce #ate #aqa ♬ original sound - 💋
@idkwhatthisiss 🙏 #english #language #gcse #eduqas #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #leavers2025 ♬ Assumptions - Sam Gellaitry
@dprivooo @daisy #fyp #englishlanguagepaper1 #subscribetodaisy #subscribe #viral #relatable #foryoupage #fyppppppp #gces2025 #gcse ♬ hot people and talented editors are using this - ⋆. 𐙚 ̊

And remember: even if this one was tough, there’s still another paper to turn it around

@kellywelly_xo #foryoupagee #englishlanguage #gcses #2025 ♬ sad SpongeBob music - michael

What people are saying about GCSE English Language Paper 1 on The Student Room

The book was midwich cuckoos it wasn’t great. I felt as though there wasn’t so much techniques to talk about and I kept reusing my ideas. The story was also bad it was a day with no technology which I found quite strange to answer the photo was a town but I felt like it’d be hard to talk about. A lot of people found it fairly difficult especially question 4

AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1

Haidnsosns

Some kind of demon decided to use that extract at AQA headquarters I am actually about to barge in there and duel whoever decided to not just pick that extract but make us talk about how boring the EARLY MORNING is and how far we agree with the statement that the text is hard to understand?? What??? I'm sorry but last year got to analyse the relationship between 2 characters but we get the mysterious tone and how it is hard to understand?? Genuinely think this paper was a social experiment my grade 9 in English language is out the window because why did I just have to analyse a whole text where not even we knew what was going on

AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1

sillysod69

That was such a nice extract omggg I loved it

Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 1

mistyjuice

More GCSE exam reactions on The Student Room

Ask a question in the English Literature and English Language Exams forum
Your question will be posted in the English Literature and English Language Exams forum
Awesome! Your question has now been posted. View your post here
  5. Please choose where you want to post your question.
    Please choose your study level.
    Please enter what your question is about.
    Please enter your question.
    Your message must have two characters or more.
People are talking about this article Have your say
Article by Nik Taylor on Friday 23 May 2025
Last edited by Nik Taylor on Thursday 12 June 2025