For ENGLISH there are two exams:

The first paper – The Craft of the Writer – will assess your response to an anthology of material which you have studied during the course.  You must take this anthology with you into the exam (although you are not allowed to have written anything in it).  You will be asked to answer one question (from a choice of two) on modern poetry, one question on the collection of different cultures short stories and to do one of two writing tasks.

The second paper assesses your response to non-fiction texts that you will not have seen before the exam.  One question will test your ability to read the text effectively.  There will also be two writing tasks: one to argue, persuade, advise; the other to analyse, review and comment.  You will have a choice of questions in both tasks.

For ENGLISH LITERATURE there is just one exam.  You have to answer three questions, one on each of the three post-1914 texts you have studied - usually a novel, a play and a collection of poems.  You must take these texts into the exam, but you are not allowed to write any notes in them.

More information about each of the exam papers can be found on the examination board’s website at www.edexcel.org.uk.

 

William Ruff