GCSE English
The GCSE Years

Your child will get 2 GCSEs – English Language and English Literature

No more grades: A* - G no longer exists.

Grades 9 – 1. Grade 4 is equivalent to grade C. Grade 5 is the gold
standard which is a high grade C. Grades 7 – 9 are the top As and
A*s.

No more coursework – 100% examination!

No texts allowed in the examinations – students just need to know
them really well! Buy your own!
English
Language
Specification at a glance
Slide 7
Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights
reserved.
Where the marks are…
Paper
1
Q1
AO1
List 4 things…
Identify explicit
information
Q2
AO2
Q3
AO2
Q4
AO4
Paper
2
AO1
How does the
structure…
To what extent do
you agree?
Descriptive or
narrative writing
Comment, explain,
analyse
Comment, explain,
analyse
Evaluate texts critically
8 marks
8 marks
20 marks
Communicate clearly
Organise information
Use a range of vocab
and sentence
structure
Accurate spelling and
punctuation
AO1
True/false statements…
Write a summary…
Explicit and implicit ideas
and information
synthesis of explicit
and implicit ideas
and information
AO5/AO6
AO2
How does the
writer’s use of
language…
Comment, explain,
analyse
4 marks
Slide 34
AO5/AO6
How does the writer’s
use of language…
Identify explicit
ideas
4 marks
Q5: Writing
8 marks
Copyright
© AQA and its licensors. All rights
reserved.
12 marks
AO3
How the writers
present…
Compare writers’
ideas and
perspectives, and how
they are conveyed
16 marks
Students write
about their own
views
Communicate clearly
Organise information
Use a range of vocab
and sentence
structure
Accurate spelling and
punctuation
Content and skills for Paper 1 Section A:
Reading
• Reading a single extract drawn from literature fiction – unseen by
students.
• Could be extracts from novels and short stories
• The source for the reading questions will be selected from the 20th
or 21st centuries.
• 40 marks in total.
Content and skills for Paper 1 Section B:
Writing
• Always a choice of written prompt and visual image that is linked to
the topic of the reading text in section A.
• Always a creative task focusing on narrative and, or descriptive
writing skills.
• Marks for content and organisation as well as for technical
accuracy.
• One writing task will also be worth 40 marks
Content and skills for Paper 2 Section A:
Reading
• Two linked sources from different time periods and genres in order to
consider how each presents a perspective or viewpoint to influence the
reader.
• Sources will be drawn from the 19th century, and either the 20th or 21st
centuries depending on the time period selected for paper 1 in each series.
• Choice of genre for the sources will be non-fiction and literary non-fiction
such as high quality journalism, articles, reports, essays, travel writing,
accounts, sketches, letters, diaries, reports, autobiography and
biographical passages or other appropriate non-fiction and literary nonfiction forms.
Content and skills for Paper 2 Section B:
Writing
• The task will require students to produce a written text to a
specified audience, purpose and form in which they give
their own perspective on the theme that has been
introduced to them in section A.
• There will be a single writing task which could use a range of
opinions, statements and writing scenarios to provoke a
response.
• Both Section A and B are also worth 40 marks each
English
Literature
English Literature Specification
Slide 7
Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Structure of Question Paper 1
• 1 hour 45 minutes.
• 40% of total marks.
• 2 sections.
• Shakespeare and 19th-century novel.
• Same question approach for both texts - extract and reference to
whole text.
English Literature Specification
Slide 7
Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Structure of Question Paper 2
• 2 hour 15 minutes.
• 60% of total marks.
• 3 sections.
• Modern prose or drama, poetry and unseen
texts.
• Assesses comparison.
19th century
novels
GCSE English Literature set texts from
2015
aqa.org.uk
Modern prose
GCSE English Literature set texts from
2015
aqa.org.uk
Slide 35
Modern
drama
GCSE English Literature set texts from
2015
aqa.org.uk
Studied poetry clusters
Choice of two clusters, each consisting of 15 poems each:
Love and relationships
Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Robert Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Thomas Hardy
Maura Dooley
Charlotte Mew
C Day Lewis
Charles Causley
Seamus Heaney
Simon Armitage
Carol Ann Duffy
Owen Sheers
Daljit Nagra
Andrew Waterhouse
When We Two Parted
Love’s Philosophy
Porphyria’s Lover
Sonnet XXIV - I Think of thee
Neutral Tones
Letters from Yorkshire
The Farmer’s Bride
Walking Away
Eden Rock
Follower
Mother, any distance
Before You Were Mine
Winter Swans
Singh Song!
Climbing My Grandfather
Studied poetry clusters
Conflict and power
Shelley
Blake
Wordsworth
Robert Browning
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Wilfred Owen
Seamus Heaney
Ted Hughes
Simon Armitage
Jane Weir
Carol Ann Duffy
Imtiaz Dharker
Carol Rumens
Beatrice Garland
John Agard
Ozymandias
London
The Prelude: stealing the boat
My Last Duchess
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Exposure
Storm on the Island
Bayonet Charge
Remains
Poppies
War Photographer
Tissue
The Émigrée
Kamikaze
Checking Out Me History
Mill Chase KS4 English – Year 11
What’s going on?
Autumn 1
Autumn 2
Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The
Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Much
Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar
Studying Shakespeare play
LANGUAGE
Paper 1
Using short extracts to work on
reading skills
Write descriptive piece
Paper 1 Section A: Shakespeare
Paper 2 Section C: Poetry
SPOKEN
LANGUAGE
Summer 1
Language Paper 1
Explorations in Creative
Reading and writing
Section A: Reading
Reading 20th and 21st
Century fiction (could also
include 19th century to
widen skills)
Range of fiction –
thematic texts
Section B: Writing
Creative Writing: Narrative
and descriptive:
MOCKS
Paper 1
Paper 2
REVISION
MOCKS
Paper 1
Paper 2
REVISION
Begin fortnightly exam
practice
MOCKS
Language
Paper 2
Paper 2
Use extracts from the novel and
compare to 19th century non-fiction.
Also compare to 20th and 21st
century fiction
Write argue piece
LITERATURE
Spring 1
Spring 2
Explicit teaching of skills for each papers taken –
range of papers to be taken. Novels to be revised
first
Interviews of students – Experience Day 1
MOCKS
Paper 1,
Section A Shakespeare
Paper 2,
Section B/C –
Poetry
Language Paper 2
Writers’ Viewpoints and
Perspectives
Section A: Reading:
19th/20th/21st Century nonfiction
Section B: Writing
Transactional writing:
Writing to present a
viewpoint:
Paper 2 Section C: Unseen poetry and
comparison
Paper 1 Section A/B/C: Shakespeare/ 19th
Century novel / Modern text
Proposed KS3-4 mark scheme based on Ofqual mark to grade boundaries
How we are awarding grades
• This is the only information we have that gives us an indication of what
grade a student is achieving
• The grading seems quite harsh
• We can only gain a true reflection of your child’s performance at the end
of Year 10 based on the mock examinations.
• Before that, we can only report on individual pieces that are completed.
Revision books

Please look through the Language Revision books which we
are selling here for a discount!

We advise you buy your own copies of the texts you are
studying, as well as a GCSE notes book for revision.

Please take a handout which explains what texts each class
are studying