Edexcel IGCSE English Literature Tutors Online

Edexcel IGCSE English Literature is code 4ET1, written for first teaching from September 2016 with the first examination in June 2018. This page works from Issue 3, dated August 2025, and first certification was in 2018. The qualification is linear, and all components must be taken at the end of the course of study.

The structure mirrors the English Language specification but the content is entirely different, and the two should not be confused. There is one mandatory component plus a choice. Every student sits Component 1, worth 60%, and then takes either Component 2 or Component 3, which is the remaining 40%.

Component 1 is Poetry and Modern Prose, code 4ET1/01. It is externally assessed, worth 60% of the total International GCSE, a written examination of 2 hours carrying 90 marks, available in June and November, and available paper-based or onscreen.

Component 1 has three sections and they are very unequal. Section A is Unseen Poetry, a single 20-mark essay question exploring the meaning and effects created in a poem the student has not seen, and the poem is reproduced in the question paper. Section B is Anthology Poetry, a 30-mark essay from a choice of two that compares two poems from Part 3 of the Anthology. Section C is Modern Prose, a 40-mark essay from a choice of two on each set text. That is 20, then 30, then 40, and the prose essay is worth twice the unseen poem.

The most important practical detail about Component 1 is that it is a closed book examination. Texts are not allowed in the examination room. The one exception is generous and easy to overlook: students will be provided with the anthology poems in the examination. So the unseen poem arrives with the paper, and the anthology poems arrive with the paper, but the modern prose text does not.

Component 2 and Component 3 are both called Modern Drama and Literary Heritage Texts. Both are worth 40% and both carry 60 marks. The difference is the route. Component 2, code 4ET1/02, is a written examination of 1 hour 30 minutes, externally assessed, available paper-based or onscreen. Component 3, code 4ET1/03, is non-examined assessment, internally assessed and externally moderated. Both are available in June and November.

Component 2 is an open book examination, and this is the exact opposite of Component 1. Prescribed editions of the set texts are allowed in the examination, but they must be completely unmarked, and learners or centres must purchase a prescribed edition of each set text at the start of the course. So the 40% paper can be planned around accurate quotation from a clean copy, while the 60% paper cannot.

Component 2 has two sections of 30 marks each. Section A is Modern Drama, one 30-mark essay from a choice of two on each set text. Section B is Literary Heritage Texts, one 30-mark essay from a choice of two on each set text. Component 3 replaces those set questions with teacher-devised assignments: a 30-mark essay response on the studied drama text, then a 30-mark essay response on the studied literary heritage text, both internally set and assessed and externally moderated by Pearson.

The set text load is precise. Component 1 requires all poems from Part 3 of the Anthology, which is sixteen poems, plus one modern prose text chosen from a list of seven. Component 2 and Component 3 require one modern drama text from a list of five, plus one literary heritage text from a list of six. So across the qualification a student covers one poem anthology, one novel or prose text, one drama text and one heritage text.

The lists themselves are short enough to state. Modern prose is To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, The Whale Rider, The Joy Luck Club, Things Fall Apart, Klara and the Sun and Western Lane. Modern drama is A View from the Bridge, An Inspector Calls, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Kindertransport and Death and the King's Horseman. Literary heritage is Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations and The Scarlet Letter.

Two of those prose texts are new and were added by this very issue. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro and Western Lane by Chetna Maroo are for first teaching from September 2024 and first assessment in May 2026. A student who has inherited notes from an older sibling may be working from a list that no longer matches.

The four assessment objectives map onto the sections with unusual precision, and Issue 3 is what made that visible, because it added the statement of which objectives each section assesses. AO1, close knowledge and understanding of texts with a critical style and informed personal engagement, is 30 per cent. AO2, analysing the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, is 40 per cent. AO3, exploring links and connections between texts, is 10 per cent. AO4, showing understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written, is 20 per cent.

Section by section, the mapping is as follows. Unseen poetry assesses AO2 only. Anthology poetry assesses AO2 and AO3. Modern prose assesses AO1 and AO4. Modern drama assesses AO1 and AO2. Literary heritage assesses AO1, AO2 and AO4. Analysis of language, form and structure is the largest objective and it is examined in every section except modern prose.

The consequence is that AO3 is worth 10 per cent of the qualification and every mark of it sits in the anthology poetry comparison in Component 1. Component 2 and Component 3 carry no AO3 at all. A student whose school has chosen the coursework route still has to sit Component 1 to be examined on comparing poems, because that is the only place it happens.

Component 1 and Component 2 can be sat paper-based or onscreen. Component 3 is internally assessed, so the format question does not arise for it.

The qualification is graded on a nine-grade scale from 9 to 1, and individual components are not graded. The total raw marks for the qualification are 150, with 90 on Component 1 and 60 on the second component. Students below the minimum standard receive an unclassified U result.