The English paper (英语) is one of the three compulsory gaokao subjects and is worth 150 points, the same as Chinese and mathematics. Most provinces use one of the national papers set by the Ministry of Education's examination authority, but a few set their own, and the details below describe the common national format rather than every version.
Listening comes first and is usually worth 30 points: a set of short and longer recorded dialogues and monologues with multiple-choice questions. In a number of provinces listening is held as a separate sitting, sometimes more than once, with the better result counted. Check your own province's arrangements.
Reading comprehension is the largest section. It normally has four passages followed by multiple-choice questions, plus a 'seven-choose-five' task (七选五) in which candidates restore five missing sentences to a passage from seven options. Together these are worth around 50 points. The passages range across stories, popular science, news-style features and practical texts such as notices.
Language use tests grammar and vocabulary in context. It typically has two parts: a cloze passage (完形填空) with multiple-choice gaps, and a grammar fill-in (语法填空) where candidates write a single word or the correct form of a given word in each blank. These sections reward wide reading as much as rule-learning.
Writing has two tasks on the current national papers. The first is a short practical piece (应用文写作), often a letter, notice or email of around 80 words. The second is the continuation writing task (读后续写): candidates read the opening of a story and continue it from two given starting sentences, in around 150 words. Together they are worth about 40 points, and the continuation task is often where strong candidates separate themselves.
Older papers and some provincial papers used different formats, including error correction and a single longer essay, so past papers from before the recent reforms may not match what you will see. When practising, use recent papers from the format you are targeting.
On this site, the English practice sets follow these section types, and the separate guides on reading speed, the seven-choose-five section and letter writing go into each task in more depth.