How should I approach and structure the long English Language AQA Exam questions?

Firstly, whilst there are wrong answers to English questions, there is never one single right answer to any English essay. Your job is to argue your point of view to the question asked. If you state your view clearly in an introduction and support what you say in the body of your essay then you will do well! Therefore, just try hard to make your introduction paragraph a very succinct answer to the essay question, then use the rest of your essay to back-up your opinion.

This is not as difficult as it sounds. You will be given a piece of text or media to analyse in regards to the question which will give you a focus. For example, take the question: "Examine how the text uses language to achieve its purpose and create meaning." Your introduction should have already identified the purpose and overarching meaning of the text. Now in the time you have, you can make 3-4 points as to why you think this. Pick out evidence from the texts and explain why this links to your answer. The more you justify why, the better your marks. With each of your points proving your initial answer, you have created a clearly-stated, well-supported argument. You can finish off with a short conclusion summarising the main points and reiterating your answer.