Key Facts
| 8702/2 exam date, summer 2027: Wednesday 19 May 2027, morning, 2h 15m | Wednesday 19 May 2027, morning, 2h 15m |
|---|---|
| Paper 2 marks and weighting | 96 marks, 60% of the GCSE |
| June 2026 notional Paper 2 boundaries | Grade 9: 84/96; grade 7: 64; grade 4: 34 (notional; only the qualification boundary is binding) |
Figures correct at the time of writing. Confirm current fees and deadlines with the school or university directly.
AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2, titled Modern texts and poetry, tests a studied modern prose or drama text, a comparison of two poems from an AQA poetry anthology cluster, and two unseen poems the student has never read before. Set within specification 8702, it runs for 2 hours 15 minutes, carries 96 marks and makes up 60% of the GCSE grade, against 40% for Paper 1. Both papers are closed book.
Preparing for it starts with knowing what the school has chosen: one prose or drama text from AQA's list, and one of three poetry clusters. From there, the practical work is learning how each of the paper's three sections is marked, how the 135 minutes divide between them, and how to use AQA's published past papers and mark schemes to practise against real, published criteria.
How does Paper 2 fit into the wider GCSE?
Two written papers make up the whole GCSE English Literature qualification, and both are compulsory, sat by every student regardless of the grade they are aiming for. Within Paper 2, marks are distributed across four assessment objectives: AO1, reading and responding to texts using textual references, worth 22.5% of the GCSE; AO2, analysing language, form and structure using subject terminology, worth 27.5%; AO3, relating texts to their contexts, worth 7.5%; and AO4, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and vocabulary, worth 2.5%.
Which modern prose and drama texts can a school choose?
AQA sets six modern drama texts and six modern prose texts for Section A of Paper 2, and each school selects a single title from the twelve to teach across the course; students do not choose their own text. Confirming which one the school teaches, ideally early in Year 10, means revision resources, quotation banks and practice essays can be built around that specific text alone.
The prose list includes one AQA-published anthology, Telling Tales, alongside four novels and Kit de Waal's My Name is Leon; the drama list runs from JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls to more recent plays such as Princess & The Hustler and Leave Taking. Whichever text a school has chosen, Section A's essay question is set only on that single title, so effort concentrates on that title alone.
- Drama: An Inspector Calls (JB Priestley)
- Drama: Blood Brothers (Willy Russell)
- Drama: DNA (Dennis Kelly)
- Drama: A Taste of Honey (Shelagh Delaney)
- Drama: Princess & The Hustler (Chinonyerem Odimba)
- Drama: Leave Taking (Winsome Pinnock)
- Prose: Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
- Prose: Telling Tales (AQA Anthology)
- Prose: Animal Farm (George Orwell)
- Prose: Anita and Me (Meera Syal)
- Prose: Pigeon English (Stephen Kelman)
- Prose: My Name is Leon (Kit de Waal)
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Enquire about this tutorHow does the Section A modern text question work?
Section A asks for one essay, chosen from two question options set on the school's studied prose or drama text, worth 30 marks for AO1, AO2 and AO3 combined, plus a further 4 marks for AO4: spelling, punctuation and the range of vocabulary and sentence structures used. Because there is a choice of two questions, part of preparation is practising essays on each of the text's main characters and themes, so that whichever question appears can be answered with a ready plan. Checking a finished essay directly against AQA's published mark scheme, line by assessment objective, shows exactly where marks are being lost.
How does the Section B poetry comparison work?
One poem is printed in full on the exam paper for Section B, which asks for a comparison with a second poem of the student's own choosing from the same studied anthology cluster, for 30 marks. The anthology, Poems Past and Present, is organised into three clusters of 15 poems each: Love and Relationships, Power and Conflict, and Worlds and Lives, and a school studies one cluster only. Preparation means knowing all 15 poems in that cluster confidently, since the strongest comparison poem for a given question may not be the one a student likes best, so practice should rotate through several possible pairings instead of settling on one fixed comparison.
How does the Section C unseen poetry question work?
The only part of Paper 2 set on poems a student has never studied comes in Section C, worth 24 marks for analysing a single unseen poem and a further 8 marks for comparing it with a second unseen poem. AQA's subject content asks students to experience a wide range of poetry so they can closely analyse an unseen poem's content, theme, structure and use of language without prior class discussion to draw on. Practice therefore has to come from poems outside the studied cluster, worked through cold and timed, so annotation and structural analysis become quick, practised habits before the exam itself.
Is Paper 2 closed book, including the anthology poems?
Yes, Paper 2 is closed book, and that includes the anthology poems studied for Section B, so no printed or annotated copies of any text are allowed into the exam room. AQA prints only the one named poem for the Section B comparison and the two unseen poems for Section C directly on the question paper; every other quotation, from the prose or drama text and from the second comparison poem a student selects, has to be recalled from memory. This makes learning short, precise quotations a core part of preparing for both Section A and Section B, since neither text nor anthology can be brought into the room.
How should the 2 hours 15 minutes be divided?
A common approach is to divide the 135 minutes roughly in line with the marks on offer, since Section A totals 34 marks with its AO4 allocation, Section B totals 30, and Section C totals 32 across its two questions. That works out at around 45 to 50 minutes on the modern text essay, 40 to 45 minutes on the poetry comparison, and the remaining time split across the two unseen poetry questions, with the smaller 8-mark comparison needing only a few minutes compared with the 24-mark first question. Building in a few minutes at the end of Section A to check spelling, punctuation and sentence variety directly protects the 4 AO4 marks available there.
How to use AQA's past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports
AQA publishes past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports for the 8702 specification, and working through them under timed conditions is the most direct way to prepare for Paper 2's format. Practising Section C questions on genuinely unseen poems is particularly useful, since no amount of studying the anthology replaces the specific skill of analysing a poem cold. After each timed attempt, comparing the answer directly against the published mark scheme, sentence by sentence, shows which assessment objective needs more work; examiner reports then add detail on the kinds of response AQA's examiners have seen gaining or losing marks, without needing to know which exact questions were set.
Related guides
- AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 guide
- How to get a grade 9 in GCSE English Literature
- GCSE reading list
- GCSE English tutors
- IB English Literature
Paper 2 at a glance
AQA English Literature Paper 2 (8702/2) is one written paper of 2 hours 15 minutes and 96 marks, worth 60% of the GCSE, and every student sits the same paper whatever grade they are aiming for. Sections A and B each ask for a single answer, while Section C asks for two, so the paper contains four written responses in total. The marks divide as follows.
- Section A, modern texts: one essay from a choice of two on the studied prose or drama text, worth 30 marks plus 4 marks for AO4, so 34 in all.
- Section B, poetry anthology: one comparative question on a named poem printed on the paper and one other poem from the studied cluster, worth 30 marks.
- Section C, unseen poetry: one question on a single unseen poem and one question comparing it with a second unseen poem, worth 32 marks across the two.
- Total: 34 + 30 + 32 = 96 marks.
For the Section A text most often taught,An Inspector Calls key quotesgive a starting bank of lines to learn for a closed-book paper.
The morning start and the date of Paper 2 sit within the wider run ofGCSE exam datesthat AQA publishes for each series.
AQA Paper 2 past papers by series
AQA publishes 8702/2 papers series by series, and each series on its assessment resources page can carry a question paper, a mark scheme and an examiner report. Specimen papers sit alongside them for students who want a first run through the format before attempting a live paper. Because the mark scheme and the examiner report both quote how marks were awarded, a student gets most from a paper by attempting it timed and then reading both documents against the finished answers.
The 8702 assessment resources page at https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-literature-8702/assessment-resources is the place to look for the papers available.
- Question paper: the full 2 hours 15 minutes paper, with a choice of questions on every set text in Section A.
- Mark scheme: indicative content for each question plus level descriptors for AO1 to AO4.
- Examiner report: commentary on how students answered each question in that series.
- Specimen papers: published for the specification before the first live series.
What a Section A question looks like
A Section A question names the play or novel and asks how the writer presents one character, group or idea, followed by two bullet prompts, and the student chooses one of two such questions on the text the school has taught. A published AQA paper on An Inspector Calls offered one question on what life is like for women in the play and another on how older and younger characters respond to the Inspector, each worth 30 marks with 4 further marks for AO4.
Both prompts follow the same shape: what is shown, then how Priestley shows it. The mark scheme describes the top level, worth 26 to 30 marks, in these terms.
- A critical, exploratory, conceptualised response to the task and the whole text, with a well-structured argument.
- Judicious use of precise references to support interpretation.
- Analysis of the writer's methods with subject terminology used judiciously, including exploration of the effects of those methods in creating meanings.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 tiered, with separate foundation and higher versions?
- No. Unlike some GCSE subjects, AQA GCSE English Literature has no tiers, so every student takes the same Paper 1 and Paper 2 regardless of target grade, with no separate foundation or higher entry. Paper 1, Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel, makes up the other 40% of the grade.
- Does the unseen poetry section in Section C offer a choice of question?
- No. Section C sets one fixed question on a single unseen poem, worth 24 marks, followed by a second fixed question worth 8 marks comparing it with another unseen poem; there is no choice of question, unlike Section A, where students pick one essay from two options on their studied text. Broad, varied practice at analysing unseen poems under timed conditions is the practical response, since the specific poems set cannot be predicted in advance.
- What grade counts as a pass in GCSE English Literature?
- GCSE grades in England run from 9, the highest, down to 1, replacing the old A* to G scale. The Department for Education recognises grade 4 and above as a standard pass. This overall grade for GCSE English Literature combines results from both Paper 1 and Paper 2, since Paper 2 is not separately graded on its own.
- Do the AO4 spelling and grammar marks apply across all three sections of Paper 2?
- No, AQA's specification itemises AO4 marks only within Section A, where the modern text essay carries 30 marks for content plus 4 separate marks for AO4: spelling, punctuation and the range of vocabulary and sentence structures used. Section B's poetry comparison and Section C's unseen poetry questions are not broken down with a separate AO4 allocation in the same way, so the most direct return on SPaG practice for Paper 2 comes from polishing the Section A essay specifically.
- How long is AQA English Literature Paper 2?
- AQA English Literature Paper 2 (8702/2) lasts 2 hours 15 minutes, which is 135 minutes. Any reading time is included in that figure. The paper has three sections, with one essay in Section A, one comparison in Section B and two unseen poetry questions in Section C.
- How many marks is Paper 2 out of?
- Paper 2 is out of 96 marks and makes up 60% of the GCSE. Section A carries 30 marks plus 4 for AO4, Section B carries 30 and Section C carries 32 across its two questions. Paper 1 is marked out of 64 and carries the remaining 40%.
- When is the English Literature Paper 2 exam?
- AQA sits 8702/2 in the morning session of the summer exam series, and the exact date appears in AQA's published exam timetable for each series. Students should check the timetable for their own series and confirm the date with their school's exams office, since entries are made through the school.
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