AO6 — Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
(Verbatim spec text private side only — © AQA)
Tests canonical
Where assessed
Both papers, Section B. AO6 is dedicated to SPaG and accounts for 16 of the 80 marks on each paper — i.e. 20% of the writing mark.
Cross-overlay equivalents
- Edexcel IGCSE 4EA1 AO5 (direct equivalent — Edexcel weaves SPaG into AO5 alongside structural features)
- FS English L2 Writing (sentences, grammar, punctuation, spelling sub-skills)
Awarding-body notes
AQA giving SPaG its own dedicated AO with explicit mark allocation makes proofreading and editing skills disproportionately important on AQA compared to Edexcel.