Edexcel GCSE English Literature Tutors Online

Edexcel GCSE English Literature is code 1ET0, with a qualification number of 601/4789/1, written for first teaching from September 2015 and first certification in 2017. It is a linear course consisting of two externally examined components, and students must complete all assessment in May/June in any single year. There is no November series.

The two components are equally weighted and differently sized, which is worth knowing before planning a revision timetable. Component 1, Shakespeare and Post-1914 Literature, is coded 1ET0/01, lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes, carries 80 marks and is worth 50% of the total GCSE. Component 2, 19th-century Novel and Poetry since 1789, is coded 1ET0/02, lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes, carries 80 marks and is also worth 50%. The second paper gives half an hour more for the same marks, because it asks for more writing rather than more content.

Both components are closed book: texts are not allowed in the examination. Component 1's Section A is a two-part question on Shakespeare, the first part focused on an extract of approximately 30 lines and the second on how a theme reflected in the extract is explored elsewhere in the play. Section B is one essay question on a post-1914 British play or novel. Component 2's Section A is a two-part question on the 19th-century novel, the first part on an extract of approximately 400 words and the second an essay on the whole text. Section B is poetry: one question comparing a named anthology poem with another from the same collection, then one question comparing two unseen contemporary poems.

Comparison is not an incidental skill in this qualification. Pearson states that between 20 and 25% of the marks must be achieved through comparison questions across AO1, AO2 and AO3, and the specification then shows exactly where those marks sit: 15 raw marks of AO2 and 5 of AO3 on the anthology poetry question, and 8 marks of AO1 and 12 of AO2 on the unseen poetry question, for 40 raw marks and 25% of the qualification. All of it is in Component 2 Section B.

The objectives put analysis first. AO1 is 37%, AO2 is 42%, AO3 is 16% and AO4 is 5%. AO2, analysing the language, form and structure a writer uses to create meanings and effects, is the single largest objective, while showing understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written is worth 16% and the writing accuracy objective is worth 5%. A student who has learned a great deal of context but cannot analyse a quotation is working against the largest objective on the paper.