Switching to AQA: from Edexcel
Compare our GCSE English Literature (8702) to Edexcel’s offering.
Although each exam board’s specification is different, the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual state that they all need to include the following:
- at least one Shakespeare play
- at least one 19th -century novel
- a number of unseen texts
- a comparison of unseen texts
- an assessment of students’ use of vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation (AO4).
Key similarities
- Both boards have two exams, one lasting 1hr 45min, one lasting 2hrs 15min.
- Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel questions are both extract based.
- Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel text choices are almost identical.
- Both boards include a question which asks students to compare two unseen poems.
- Both poetry questions print a poem from the anthology and require the student to choose the poem they’d like to compare.
Key differences
- We offer a wider choice of modern texts, increasing your chances of finding something to inspire your students.
- We recognise that skills of literature analysis are intertwined, and assesses AO1, AO2 and AO3 holistically in every question (except the unseen poetry).
- We assess AO4 in the first section of each paper, when students are freshest and writing at their best.
Assessment comparison
Paper 1
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| 1hr 45 mins | 1hr 45 mins |
| 64 marks | 80 marks |
| 40% of GCSE | 50% of GCSE |
Section A
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Section A: Shakespeare | Section A: Shakespeare |
| One extract-based essay question. Students write about an extract from their chosen play, and the play as a whole - all within the same response. | One essay question, with two essay parts. Part one focuses on an extract. Part two focuses on the whole play. |
| AO1, AO2 and A03 are assessed holistically across Section A and Section B. | Section A, Part A assesses AO2. |
| AO4 is only assessed in Section A (4 marks). | Section A, Part B assesses AO1 and AO3. |
Section B
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Section B: The 19th-century novel | Section B: Post-1914 Literature – British play or novel |
| One extract-based essay question. Students write about an extract from their chosen novel and the play as a whole. | One essay question from a choice of two. Each question has a statement or quotation from the text. Students write about their chosen text. |
| AO1, AO2 and A03 are assessed holistically across Section A and Section B. | Section B assesses AO1, AO3 and A04. |
| AO4 is only assessed in Section B (8 marks). |
Paper 2
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| 2hrs 15 mins | 2hrs 15 mins |
| 96 marks | 80 marks |
| 60% of GCSE | 50% of GCSE |
Section A
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Section A: Modern texts | Section A: 19th-century novel |
| One essay question from a choice of two. Students write about their chosen text. | One question with two essay parts**.** Part one focuses on an extract. Part two focuses on the whole novel. |
| Section A and Section B assess AO1, AO2 and AO3 holistically. | Section A, Part 1 assesses AO2. |
| AO4 is only assessed in Section A (4 marks). | Section A, Part 2 assesses AO1. |
Section B
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Section B: Poetry | Section B: Poetry since 1789 |
| One question comparing two poems from the AQA Anthology. One poem will be printed on the paper. Students choose the second poem from the anthology cluster. | Two parts, each with one question. Part one is one question comparing two poems from the Edexcel Anthology. One poem will be printed on the paper. Students will choose the second poem from the Anthology cluster. Part two is one question comparing two unseen poems. |
| Section A and Section B assess AO1, AO2 and AO3 holistically. | Section B Part 1 assesses AO2 and AO3. Section B Part 2 assesses AO1 and AO2. |
Section C
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Section C: Unseen Poetry | No Section C |
| Two questions: one question on an unseen poem and one question comparing this poem with a second unseen poem. | N/A |
| The first question assesses AO1 and AO2, the second question assesses AO2. | N/A |
Text comparison
Shakespeare
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Macbeth | Macbeth |
| The Tempest | The Tempest |
| Romeo and Juliet | Romeo and Juliet |
| Much Ado About Nothing | Much Ado About Nothing |
| The Merchant of Venice | The Merchant of Venice |
| Julius Caesar (AQA only) | Twelfth night (Edexcel only) |
19th-century novel
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Jane Eyre | Jane Eyre |
| Great Expectations | Great Expectations |
| The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde |
| A Christmas Carol | A Christmas Carol |
| Pride and Prejudice | Pride and Prejudice |
| Frankenstein | Frankenstein |
| The Sign of Four (AQA only) | Silas Marner (Edexcel only) |
Modern texts/Post-1914 British play or novel
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Animal Farm | Animal Farm |
| An Inspector Calls | An Inspector Calls |
| Anita and Me | Anita and Me |
| Blood Brothers | Blood Brothers |
| Lord of the Flies | Journey’s End |
| Pigeon English | Hobson’s Choice |
| A Taste of Honey | Lord of the Flies |
| DNA | The Woman in Black |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (play-script) | The Empress |
| The History Boys | Refugee Boy |
| Never Let Me Go | Coram Boy |
| Telling Tales (AQA only) | Boys Don't Cry |
| AQA short story anthology | Belonging (collection of poems) |
| AQA past and present poetry anthology | Edexcel poetry anthology collections |
Love and relationships
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| When We Two Parted – Lord Byron | La Belle Dame Sans Merci – John Keats |
| Love’s Philosophy – Percy Bysshe Shelley | A Child to his Sick Grandfather – Joanna Baillie |
| Porphyria’s Lover – Robert Browning | She Walks in Beauty – Lord Byron |
| Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’ – Elizabeth Barrett Browning | A Complaint – William Wordsworth |
| Neutral Tones – Thomas Hardy | Neutral Tones – Thomas Hardy |
| Letters From Yorkshire – Maura Dooley | Sonnet 43 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
| The Farmer’s Bride – Charlotte Mew | My Last Duchess – Robert Browning |
| Walking Away – Cecil Day-Lewis | First Date – She and First Date – He – Wendy Cope |
| Eden Rock – Charles Causley | Valentine – Carol Ann Duffy |
| Follower – Seamus Heaney | One Flesh – Elizabeth Jennings |
| Mother, any distance – Simon Armitage | I wanna be yours – John Cooper Clarke |
| Before You Were Mine – Carol Ann Duffy | Love’s Dog – Jen Hadfield |
| Winter Swans – Owen Sheers | Nettles – Vernon Scannell |
| Singh Song! – Daljit Nagra | The Manhunt – Simon Armitage |
| Climbing My Grandfather – Andrew Waterhouse | My Father Would Not Show Us – Ingrid de Kok |
Power and conflict
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| Ozymandias – Percy Bysshe Shelley | A Poison Tree – William Blake |
| London – William Blake | The Destruction of Sennacherib – Lord Byron |
| Extract from ‘The Prelude’ – William Wordsworth | Extract from ‘The Prelude’ – William Wordsworth |
| My Last Duchess – Robert Browning | The Man He Killed – Thomas Hardy |
| The Charge of the Light Brigade – Alfred Lord Tennyson | Cousin Kate – Christina Rossetti |
| Exposure – Wilfred Owen | Half-caste – John Agard |
| Storm on the Island – Seamus Heaney | Exposure – Wilfred Owen |
| Bayonet Charge – Ted Hughes | The Charge of the Light Brigade – Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| Remains – Simon Armitage | Catrin – Gillian Clarke |
| Poppies – Jane Weir | War Photographer – Carole Satyamurti |
| War Photographer – Carol Ann Duffy | Belfast Confetti – Ciaran Carson |
| Tissue – Imtiaz Dharker | The Class Game – Mary Casey |
| The Emigrée – Carol Rumens | Poppies – Jane Weir |
| Checking Out Me History – John Agard | No Problem – Benjamin Zephaniah |
| Kamikaze – Beatrice Garland | What Were They Like? – Denise Levertov |
Time and place
| AQA | Edexcel |
|---|
| N/A | To Autumn – John Keats |
| Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Sep 3, 1802 – William Wordsworth |
| London – William Blake |
| I started Early – Took my Dog – Emily Dickinson |
| Where the Picnic was – Thomas Hardy |
| Adlestrop – Edward Thomas |
| Home Thoughts from Abroad – Robert Browning |
| First Flight – U. A. Fanthorpe |
| Stewart Island – Fleur Adcock |
| Present from my Aunts in Pakistan – Moniza Alvi |
| Hurricane Hits England – Grace Nichols |
| Nothing’s Changed – Tatamkhulu Afrika |
| Postcard from a Travel Snob – Sophie Hannah |
| In Romney Marsh – John Davidson |
| Absence – Elizabeth Jennings |
If you're thinking of switching to AQA, let us know you're interested.