AQA English Literature Past Papers

Whether your GCSE exams are just a dot on the horizon or right around the corner, we have a core part of your revision programme right here – a comprehensive collection of AQA English Literature Past Papers.

You can download the full set right here…

…but first, let’s have a look at what to expect.

Paper 1: Shakespeare and the 19^th-Century Novel

This paper is 40% of your GCSE and will be 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

In section A, you will be tested on the work of Shakespeare that you’ve been studying. You’ll need to answer one question on your play of choice. Just to be clear, this is the text you have done in class – don’t suddenly decide another looks more interesting on the day! You’ll be asked to write in detail about an extract and to put this into the context of the play as a whole.

In section B, you will be tested on the 19^th-century novel you’ve been studying. You’ll need to answer one question on the text. Just like with the Shakespeare section, you’ll be asked to write in detail about an extract and to put this into the context of the novel as a whole.

Paper 2: Modern Texts and Poetry

This paper is 60% of your GCSE and will be 2 hours and 15 minutes long.

In section A, you will answer one essay question from a choice of two on the modern drama or prose you studied.

In section B, you’ll be asked to compare one named poem with another from your cluster (Love and Relationships, Power and Conflict or Worlds and Lives).

In section C, you’ll be given an unseen poem and a question to answer on it. You will then have a second question in which you compare this poem to another unseen poem.

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