Assessment overview

Students must complete both components (01 and 02) to be awarded the OCR GCSE (9-1) in English Literature.

Content overview

Students will study texts which include one Shakespeare play, a selection of poetry post-1789, one 19^th century novel, and one modern prose or drama text from the British Isles. They will develop skills in how to critically read and evaluate literature, as well as articulating informed, independent responses to texts. Students have to make connections between a set text extract and a thematically-linked unseen extract in each exam.

The set texts will be reviewed after three years and may be subject to change. Centres will be notified of any changes one year in advance.

Component 01: Exploring modern and literary heritage texts

Students study a choice of one modern prose or drama text (Section A) and one 19^th century novel (Section B).

Section A set texts

Select one from:

• Anita and Me - Meera Syal
• Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
• Animal Farm - George Orwell
• An Inspector Calls - J. B. Priestley
• My Mother Said I Never Should - Charlotte Keatley
• DNA - Dennis Kelly

Section B set texts

Select one from:

• Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
  
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

Component 02: Exploring poetry and Shakespeare

In Section A students study one themed poetry cluster from a choice of three in the OCR Poetry Anthology. Each themed poetry cluster comprises fifteen poems carefully selected to provide a balanced and diverse collection for study. In Section B they study one Shakespeare play.

Section A set texts

Select one of the flowing three themed clusters in the OCR Poetry Anthology, Towards a World Unknown:

• Love and Relationships
• Conflict
• Youth and Age.

Section B set texts

One of:

• Romeo and Juliet
• The Merchant of Venice
• Macbeth
• Much Ado About Nothing.