Cambridge IGCSE Literature Tutors Online

Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English is syllabus 0475. This page works from the syllabus for exams in 2026. Exams are available in the June and November series, and also in the March series in India.

All candidates take Paper 1, Poetry and Prose. What happens after that depends on the route chosen. Candidates take either Paper 2, Drama, on its own, or Paper 3, Drama (Open Text), together with Paper 4, Unseen, or Paper 3 together with Component 5, Coursework. All candidates are eligible for grades A* to G, and there is no Core and Extended tier.

The routes are not equivalent in exam load. Paper 2 is a single paper of 1 hour 30 minutes worth 50%, so a student on that route sits two papers in total. The other two routes split that same 50% into two papers of 25% each: Paper 3 at 45 minutes plus Paper 4 at 1 hour 15 minutes, or Paper 3 plus the coursework portfolio. So the choice changes how many exam sittings a student faces, not how much the drama text is worth.

Paper 1 is Poetry and Prose. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, carries 50 marks and is worth 50% of the qualification. Candidates answer two questions on two texts, one poetry and one prose, and they answer on one set text in Section A and one set text in Section B.

Paper 2 is Drama. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, carries 50 marks and is worth 50%. Candidates answer two questions on two texts from the drama set text list.

Paper 3 is Drama (Open Text). It lasts 45 minutes, carries 25 marks and is worth 25%. Candidates answer one question from a choice of two, both carrying equal marks, and relevant passages are printed on the question paper. As the name suggests, this is an open book paper: candidates may take their clean copy set text into the exam room, but the text must not contain personal annotations, highlighting or underlining, and editions with extensive study notes or face-paging translations or explanations are not permitted. Editions with brief introductions, conclusions and foot or end notes are allowed, though candidates must not use those additional notes during the examination.

Paper 4 is Unseen. It lasts 1 hour 15 minutes, carries 25 marks and is worth 25%. Candidates answer one question from a choice of two, and both require a critical commentary on a poem or prose extract printed in the question paper. One question is based on a passage of literary prose, such as an extract from a novel or short story, and the other is based on a poem or an extract from a poem. Candidates should spend around 20 minutes reading the questions and planning their answer before starting to write.

Component 5 is Coursework. It carries 25 marks and is worth 25%, and consists of a portfolio of two assignments, each on a different text, internally assessed and externally moderated.

Now the part that decides how the course actually feels day to day: the set texts. These are named in the syllabus for 2026, and the syllabus warns that set texts regularly rotate and may change from one year of examination to the next, so the list must be checked for the year the candidate actually sits.

For Paper 1 Section A, Poetry, candidates answer on one set text. The first option is 15 poems from Songs of Ourselves Volume 1: Aphra Behn, Song: Love Armed; Sujata Bhatt, A Different History; William Blake, The Chimney-Sweeper; Elizabeth Brewster, Where I Come From; Boey Kim Cheng, Report to Wordsworth; Gillian Clarke, Lament; Kevin Halligan, The Cockroach; Seamus Heaney, Follower; Liz Lochhead, Storyteller; Charles Mungoshi, Before the Sun; Katherine Philips, A Married State; Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Man; Carol Rumens, Carpet-weavers, Morocco; William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18; and Judith Wright, Hunting Snake.

The second poetry option is 15 poems from Songs of Ourselves Volume 2, Part 3: Nancy Fotheringham Cato, The Road; Sarah Jackson, The Instant of My Death; Arun Kolatkar, The Bus; Julius Chingono, At the Bus Station; Imtiaz Dharker, These are the Times We Live in; Elizabeth Jennings, The Enemies; Sampurna Chattarji, Boxes; W H Auden, The Capital; Arthur Yap, an afternoon nap; Elizabeth Smither, Plaits; Elizabeth Daryush, Children of Wealth; Thomas Love Peacock, Rich and Poor or, Saint and Sinner; Musaemura Zimunya, A Long Journey; Stevie Smith, Touch and Go; and George Szirtes, Song.

The third poetry option is 15 poems by Kayo Chingonyi from the collection Kumukanda: The Colour of James Brown's Scream, Broomhall, The N Word (I.), Waves, A Proud Blemish, Andrews Corner, 'Round Midnight, This poem contains gull song, Fisherman's Song, Some Bright Elegance, Curfew, Kumukanda, Grief, Kung'anda, and Baltic Mill.

For Paper 1 Section B, Prose, candidates answer on one set text from a list that includes seven whole novels and one anthology. The novels are Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai, Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai, I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The War of the Worlds by H G Wells. The anthology option is 10 stories from Stories of Ourselves Volume 2: Nick by Christina Rossetti, The Woman's Rose by Olive Schreiner, The Black Ball by Ralph Ellison, The Gold Watch by Mulk Raj Anand, When It Happens by Margaret Atwood, The Man Who Walked on the Moon by J G Ballard, A Walk to the Jetty by Jamaica Kincaid, Showing the Flag by Jane Gardam, Haywards Heath by Aminatta Forna, and Fluke by Romesh Gunesekera.

For Paper 2 and Paper 3, the drama set texts are the same list. Candidates choose from Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage, A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney, A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. On Paper 2 a candidate must answer on two different set texts from that list. On Paper 3 a candidate answers on one.

There is one detail about Shakespeare editions that is easy to miss and worth knowing before a single essay is written. The edition used for setting extract questions on examination papers is the Alexander Text of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, edited by Peter Alexander. The syllabus adds that this complete one-volume edition is not recommended for classroom study of individual plays, so students should work from a usable school edition and be aware that extracts in the exam come from the Alexander text.

The assessment objectives are four, and each is worth the same. AO1 is showing detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms of drama, poetry and prose, supported by reference to the text. AO2 is understanding the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and exploring texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes. AO3 is recognising and appreciating the ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects. AO4 is communicating a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.

The weightings are AO1 25 per cent, AO2 25 per cent, AO3 25 per cent and AO4 25 per cent of the qualification. The per component tables are the same for Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3 and Paper 4, each at 25 per cent for each objective. So unlike most qualifications, there is no paper where recall is worth more than response. Every paper tests all four objectives equally.

The questions themselves reward specific things, and the syllabus is explicit about them. Candidates must show knowledge of the content of the text through reference to detail and use of quotations, understand characters, relationships, situations and themes, show understanding of the writer's intentions and methods through response to the writer's use of language, and give a personal response. That personal response is sometimes asked directly, through questions such as what do you think or what are your feelings about something, and sometimes by implication, through questions such as explore the ways in which something is presented.

The qualification is graded A*, A, B, C, D, E, F or G, with A* the highest and G the lowest. A candidate whose performance does not meet the standard required for grade G is ungraded, which is reported on the statement of results but not on the certificate.