IGCSE English Literature tutors

The papers, set texts and permitted resources depend on your qualification and examination year. Cambridge calls the subject Literature in English: 0475 uses A*–G grades and 0992 uses 9–1. Pearson Edexcel’s International GCSE English Literature code is 4ET1. Use the code on your course documents when choosing support.

Cambridge 0475 and 0992: exams in 2026 or 2027

All candidates take Paper 1 Poetry and Prose, alongside one of these routes:

• Paper 2 Drama;
• Paper 3 Drama (Open Text) plus Paper 4 Unseen;
• Paper 3 Drama (Open Text) plus Component 5 Coursework.

Papers 1 and 2 are closed text. Unseen preparation is relevant to the Paper 4 route; it is not a compulsory paper for every learner. Use the syllabus for your year and your school’s chosen route. The official 0475 syllabus page and 0992 syllabus page provide the relevant editions.

Cambridge 0475 and 0992: exams in 2028–2030

Paper 1 Poetry and Prose is open text and worth 50%. It is taken with either open-text Paper 2 Drama and Unseen or Component 3 Coursework, each worth 50%.

The prose questions in Paper 1 are essays, with no passage-based option. Practise selecting moments across the whole work to support an argument. The coursework route uses two comparative essays: one on two complete texts, including drama, and one comparing two poems. This makes the selected route important when agreeing practice tasks. See the 0475 syllabus for 2028–2030 or 0992 syllabus for 2028–2030 for the full requirements.

Pearson Edexcel 4ET1

Component 1 Poetry and Modern Prose is compulsory and worth 60%. It includes unseen poetry, anthology-poem comparison and a modern-prose essay. The remaining 40% is either the Component 2 examination or Component 3 coursework in Modern Drama and Literary Heritage Texts. Check the Pearson 4ET1 specification against your centre’s route.

Confirm your chosen texts as well as the code. Cambridge text lists can change with the exam year; a useful resource for an earlier cohort may cover a different work.

Knowing that a writer uses personification is only a starting point. A useful response connects a precise detail to an interpretation, then explains how it answers the question. Here is an invented two-line example, not a set poem or an examiner answer:

At dusk the empty playground held its breath.
One chain tapped against the metal gate.

Question: How does the writer make the setting feel unsettling?

A starting response might be: “The playground is empty and the writer uses personification.” This identifies a detail and a technique, but leaves the reader to work out their significance.

Think through the choices. “Held its breath” makes the playground seem to be waiting tensely for something; it suggests more than ordinary quiet. Against that stillness, the small sound of the chain draws attention to the absence of voices. Neither detail proves that something dangerous will happen, so the interpretation should stay measured.

A more developed response could be: “By describing the empty playground as holding its breath, the writer makes the silence feel tense and expectant. The isolated sound of the chain tapping against the gate interrupts that stillness, making a familiar place seem unsettling.”

For a follow-up, replace “tapped” with “rattled”. The louder, less delicate sound could make the movement seem more forceful, though it still would not prove who or what caused it. Practise explaining that change in your own sentence. The aim is a reasoned reading of the words, rather than a list of terminology.

Where your assessment asks for comparison, organise the response around a shared idea. For example, compare the invented playground lines above with this second invented opening:

Morning spilled across the playground;
voices raced beyond the gate.

Both passages describe the same kind of place, but that observation alone says little about their effects. “Held its breath” suggests suspended action, while “spilled” and “raced” suggest movement and energy. The contrast gives the comparison a purpose.

A connected sentence might be: “Both writers give the playground a sense of life, but the first makes it seem to wait tensely, whereas the second fills it with movement through ‘spilled’ and ‘raced’.” The sentence compares an effect and supports both sides; a fuller answer would explore further evidence from each complete poem.

For Pearson 4ET1 anthology comparison, build that habit across the poems you study. For Cambridge, use comparative practice where your selected coursework task requires it; do not turn a single-text examination question into an unrequested comparison.

A tutor can help you move between close attention to a passage and your understanding of the whole work. Bring the actual text and question so the discussion stays connected to your course. These are examples of reading tasks to discuss, rather than a fixed lesson programme.

For an unseen task, begin by establishing what literally happens and whose voice you hear. Notice a change in feeling or direction, then choose a few details that support your reading. The short example above demonstrates that first move; a full response also needs to consider the rest of the poem or passage.

Before writing, turn the question into a claim you can defend. For “How does the writer make this setting unsettling?”, an opening such as “The setting becomes unsettling because its familiar objects seem tense and isolated” gives the response a direction. “This paragraph uses personification” names a device without yet answering the question.

Plan the next paragraphs around different parts of that argument. Select evidence for each point, explain how the writing supports it, and check whether you are developing the answer or retelling events. In a whole-text response, choose moments that show a pattern or change across the work. In a passage-based task, keep close attention to the supplied passage.

Use the assessment objectives for the specific question. For example, Pearson 4ET1 modern prose includes context, while its anthology comparison focuses on writers’ methods and connections between poems. Relevant context explains something in the text; a detached paragraph of historical facts does not establish that connection.

An open-text exam still needs preparation: knowing where a useful moment occurs leaves more attention for selecting evidence and explaining it. Practise under the conditions of your own paper, including its permitted-text rules.

Use a recent paragraph or marked answer to identify the main obstacle. A learner who has not understood a scene needs a different first task from one who understands it but cannot sustain an argument under time pressure.

Agree the pace around schoolwork, your budget and time for independent practice. The sequence below is a suggested way to use tuition, not a prescribed number of lessons. It works best when the next task shows whether you can use the feedback without prompts.