GCSE English Literature
Specification A
Written Paper 70% (1 hour 45 mins)
Section A
One question based on post – 1914 prose.
There will be a choice of questions (30% of marks)
Section B
One question based on pre – and post – 1914 poetry
from the Anthology.
There will be a choice of 3 questions (40% of marks).
12 key poems.
GCSE English Literature Specification A
Coursework 30%
Three tasks
Drama (pre – 1914) (Shakespeare*) 10%
*Prose (pre 1914)*
Drama (post 1914)
10%
10%
* indicates a possible ‘cross – over’ response to GCSE
English Specification A.
One of these may be an oral response if it is done as a
cross - over piece.
English Literature Examination (1)
Section A: Post 1914 prose
The following Assessment Objectives are tested in this section:
3.1 respond to texts critically, sensitively and in detail, using textual
evidence as appropriate
3.2 explore how language, structure and forms contribute to the meaning
of texts, considering different approaches to texts and alternative
interpretations
3.3 explore relationships and comparisons within and between texts,
selecting and evaluating relevant material.
Section A: Post 1914 Prose

Assessment Objectives 3.1 and 3.2 are tested in each question.

Assessment Objective 3.3, however, is not always tested, except on
Questions 1 – 3, on the AQA Anthology short stories. In these
questions, candidates will always be asked to compare two short
stories (must do at least 5 stories to ‘have a go’).

Questions styles are differentiated between Foundation and Higher
Tier.

Foundation Tier questions will always have prompts to support the
candidates’ writing, whereas in the Higher Tier paper only one of the
two questions will have prompts, to enable candidates to be freer in
their approach.

As the Sample Papers show, question setters will sometimes set a
passage from a prose text as the stimulus for response.
Section B: Pre and Post 1914 poetry
from the Anthology
The following Assessment Objectives are tested in this section:
3.1
respond to texts critically, sensitively and in detail, using textual
evidence as appropriate
3.2
explore how language, structure and forms contribute to the
meaning of texts, considering different approaches to texts and
alternative interpretations
3.3
explore relationships and comparisons within and between
selecting and evaluating relevant material.
texts,
All the Objectives are tested in each question in this section.
No balance necessary
2 poets, 4 poems each and 4 pre 1914 poems = 12 key poems, some are
cross – over

SO


2 cross – over + 1 (H) + pre 1914 = 6 poems.
Other 6 for revision skills
Comparing Poems

In Section B of the English Literature examination
paper candidates are required to compare poems by
a pair of poets in the AQA Anthology.

The pairs to choose from are Seamus Heaney and
Gillian Clarke, of Carol Ann Duffy and Simon
Armitage.

They are also required, however, to compare these
poems with at least 2 of the poems in the pre – 1914
bank of poems provided in the Anthology.
Section B: Pre and Post 1914 poetry
from the Anthology (2)

To give candidates maximum flexibility in
examination choices they should study all eight by
each of their chosen poets.

There are some suggestions, however, about which
poems might be studied most closely for each pair
and tier, in order to make the widest possible range
of comparisons.
Revised Key Poems (1)
Heaney and Clarke
Foundation
Heaney
Mid – Term Break
Follower
Digging
Death of a Naturalist
Clarke
Baby Sitting
On the Train
Catrin
The Field Mouse
Pre-1914
The Eagle
Song of the Old Mother
On My First Sonne
I love to see the summer
Higher
At a Potato Digging
Storm on the Island
Digging
Death of a Naturalist
Cold Knap Lake
A Difficult Birth
Catrin
The Field Mouse
Patrolling Barnegat
The Affliction of Margaret
On My First Sonne
I love to see the summer
Revised Key Poems
Duffy and Armitage
Foundation
Duffy
Stealing
Salome
Education for Leisure
Havisham
Armitage
My father thought it
November
Kid
The Hitcher
Pre-1914
The Man He Killed
Song of the old mother
On My First Sonne
The Laboratory
Higher
Anne Hathaway
Before You Were Mine
Havisham
Education for Leisure
Mother, any distance
Homecoming
Kid
The Hitcher
Sonnet 130
My Last Duchess
On My First Sonne
The Laboratory
Tackling English Literature Poetry
English Literature poetry counts for 40% of the total
English Literature mark.
Candidates have one hour to complete the questionnaire.
Candidates should refer to four poems in their answer:
one each from the paired, named poets and two from
he pre – 1914 Bank.
Teachers should aim to teach from a variety of poems,
thematically.
English Literature
These are extracts from the draft Mark Scheme at the
three main notional grade boundaries.
Answers are likely to include:
F grade: selection of appropriate material from 2 or more poems simple
comments on details of subject matter some awareness of writer’s
purposes/use of words some linkage between similarity or difference.
C grade: treatment of at least 3 poems, including pre – and post 1914 focus on task
explained/sustained response to details of feelings/attitudes/ideas
identification/explanation of writer’s language and devices to present or affect
structured/sustained comparison/contrast
A grade: treatment of at least 4 poems, including 2 pre – 1914 and 2 post –
1914
exploration/development of terms/implications of task
sensitive/critical response to situation/character/meaning
developed/analytical comment on/response to writer’s intended/implied
purposes
evaluative comparison/contrast
English Literature
Having gone through the same process of reading the poems as for
the Poems From Different Cultures and Traditions, the frame they
require in order to produce notes to ‘hit’ the requisite Assessment
Objectives is slightly different:
What is the poem about?
What are the poet’s feelings/attitudes/ideas
English Literature
How does the poet use the structure of the poem and any poetic devices?
What similarities of differences can you see with other poems in the selection?
Was the poet successful in his/her purpose and what is you final opinion?