Understand How Authors
Create an Effect on the Reader
Download this free one-page reference that gives students a clear, structured framework for analysis, the thinking behind every high-scoring response.
Effect on the Reader
Printable Visual Guide
Enter your name and email and you will receive the guide instantly.
Who This Is For
Students aiming for Grade 6–9 in AQA English Language or Literature
Anyone who can spot a technique but struggles to explain why it matters
Students who write detailed responses but still can't crack the top mark bands
A clear visual framework showing how authorial choices, purposes, and effects link together for high-scoring AQA English analysis.
The guide breaks down the full chain of authorial intent into four clear stages
What's Inside
➥ Authorial Choices
➥ Possible Purposes
➥ Possible Effects on the Reader
➥ The Impact
A worked example showing exactly how the chain applies to a real sentence
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…
