AQA GCSE Study Guide
Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, the Power and Conflict anthology, and every other public-domain text on AQA spec 8702. Full texts with margin notes that explain what's actually going on. Built for AQA students who'd rather understand the book than just survive it.
Year 10–11 · Ages 14–16 · United Kingdom
AQA is the biggest GCSE English Literature spec by a wide margin. Most state and grammar schools across England teach it, and the structure is a known quantity by now. Two papers, both closed-book, both written exams in May or June. No coursework.
Paper 1 covers Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel: 1h 45m, 64 marks, 40% of the total. Paper 2 covers your modern text, the anthology and unseen poetry: 2h 15m, 96 marks, 60%. The most common AQA text combination across the country is Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power and Conflict anthology. Whether your school went with that combination or something else, every public-domain set text is here.
AQA's four Assessment Objectives carve up the marks in roughly the same shape across both papers: AO1 (close reading) and AO2 (language, form and structure) are about 40% each, AO3 (context) is around 15%, and AO4 (accurate writing) is around 5%. Knowing which AO a question is targeting matters more than most students realise.
AQA · spec 8702
The biggest spec, taught in most schools. Two closed-book papers, Power and Conflict / Love and Relationships anthology.
Section A: one extract-based essay on your Shakespeare play. You start with the printed extract and expand to the play as a whole. Section B does the same for your 19th-century novel. Closed book, so bring your memorised quotes.
Section A: one essay on your modern text (An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies, etc.). Section B: comparison of two anthology poems on a given theme, where one is printed and the other you choose from memory. Section C: an unseen poem essay plus a comparison with a second unseen poem. Closed book.
You study one play. Macbeth is the most-set GCSE Shakespeare in the country; Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest follow close behind. Whichever you're doing, the full text is here.
William Shakespeare
The most-set GCSE Shakespeare for a reason: short, dense, and basically a study in ambition and guilt. Goldmine for AO3 on Jacobean kingship, the supernatural and the divine right of kings.
William Shakespeare
Fate, family, love and violence. All the big GCSE themes in one play, with patterning so neat you can see it from space. Strong pick on AQA and Edexcel.
William Shakespeare
Power, colonialism and forgiveness on Prospero's island. A late romance that's surprisingly compact, and common on OCR and Eduqas.
William Shakespeare
Justice, mercy and prejudice. The historical context (early modern antisemitism) is tough, but handled well it pays off in AO3.
William Shakespeare
Wit, deception and gender expectations. Beatrice and Benedick are a gift if you like writing about character, dialogue and irony.
William Shakespeare
Rhetoric and political ambition. Antony's funeral speech is one of the cleanest persuasive set-pieces in all of Shakespeare, perfect for showing how language does work.
William Shakespeare
Disguise, desire, mistaken identity. A popular comedy choice on Edexcel and OCR if you'd rather not write about murder for two years.
William Shakespeare
Jealousy, race and manipulation. Set on a few specs as the modern-text option. Iago is one of the great GCSE villains and a goldmine for character work.
You study one. A Christmas Carol is the most-taught novel on AQA; Jekyll and Hyde and Frankenstein are close behind for context-rich essays. Pick yours below.
Charles Dickens
The most-taught GCSE novel: short, structurally tidy, and Dickens basically hands you the symbolism. Strong choice if you want clear AO2 patterning and rich AO3 on Victorian poverty and the Poor Laws.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson's gothic novella covering duality, repression, and fin-de-siècle science. Short, sharp, and the form-and-structure questions almost write themselves.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Shelley's framed narrative on creation, isolation and responsibility. Longer than the rest, but Romanticism, Galvanism and the abolition movement are genuinely interesting context that pays off in AO3.
Charles Dickens
Pip's coming-of-age through class, guilt and self-deception. The longest 19th-century option, but the Magwitch and Miss Havisham scenes are exam gold.
Charlotte Brontë
Brontë's first-person bildungsroman of independence, faith and Victorian gender. Sustained voice, perfect if you want a quote bank you can rely on.
Jane Austen
Austen on marriage, class and irony. Elizabeth Bennet is one of the most teachable narrators in the canon, and the free indirect speech is a treat for AO2.
George Eliot
Eliot's short pastoral on isolation and community. Set on Edexcel and significantly less daunting than her bigger novels.
H. G. Wells
Wells's late-Victorian alien invasion novel. Yes, really. Excellent for context on imperialism, science and end-of-century anxiety.
All public-domain poems from the Power and Conflict, Love and Relationships and Conflict anthologies. Reading the full collections each poem comes from is the move that lifts you from a 6 to an 8.
Wilfred Owen
Owen's war poems anchor the AQA Power and Conflict anthology, especially Exposure and Bayonet Charge. Reading the wider collection sharpens your unseen poetry instincts.
Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson
Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade is a Power and Conflict centrepiece. Reading it in full Victorian context makes the patriotism question much more interesting.
William Wordsworth
The Prelude extract sits in Power and Conflict. Wider Romantic context gives you AO3 ammunition that actually feels alive.
Baron George Gordon Byron Byron
Byron and the Romantic tradition more broadly: useful for unseen poetry pattern-spotting (form, voice, persona, dramatic monologue).
William Blake
Blake's London is an anthology staple. Reading the wider Songs of Innocence and Experience sharpens his political symbolism, and pairs cleverly with anything in the Power and Conflict cluster.
AQA Paper 1 hands you a printed extract for both Section A (Shakespeare) and Section B (19th-century novel). The wording is always the same: "Starting with this extract, explore how..." Your essay should literally start with the extract, drill into language and form, then expand to the rest of the play or novel. Skip the extract analysis and you'll cap your AO1 marks.
Section C gives you one printed unseen poem (24 marks) and a follow-up comparison with a second unseen (8 marks). The mark split tells you where to spend the time: dig deep on the first poem, then keep the comparison short and method-focused. Don't let the second poem eat your timing.
Section B gives you one printed anthology poem and asks you to compare it with another from the same anthology. You choose the second one from memory. Pick partners in advance, ideally one for every printed poem you might see. Don't try to choose on the day.
AQA stems are almost always "How does Shakespeare present..." or "How does Dickens explore...". The verb "present" is your cue. Examiners want method (language, structure, form), not just "what happens". A paragraph that explains what a writer DOES with their language scores higher than one that summarises what happens in the scene.
AQA GCSE English Literature is spec 8702. It's the qualification taken by most state and grammar school students in England. Search "AQA 8702 past papers" on the AQA website to find every paper since 2017, plus mark schemes and examiner reports.
AQA gives schools a closed list. Shakespeare options: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar. 19th-century novel options: A Christmas Carol, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, The Sign of the Four. Modern text options span post-1914 plays (An Inspector Calls, Blood Brothers, History Boys) and post-1914 novels (Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Anita and Me). Anthology: Power and Conflict OR Love and Relationships.
Paper 1 is 1h 45m and worth 64 marks (40% of the GCSE). Paper 2 is 2h 15m and worth 96 marks (60%). Total time on paper: 4 hours. The two papers are usually sat about a week apart in late May.
AO1 (close reading and well-chosen references): around 40%. AO2 (analysis of language, form and structure): around 40%. AO3 (context): around 15%. AO4 (accurate writing): around 5%. The exact split shifts a percentage point or two between papers and questions. Practical takeaway: AO2 carries half your grade, so always show what the writer is DOING with language, not just what's happening.
Both are AQA Section B anthologies. Your school picks one; you study that anthology's 15 poems plus prepare for unseen poetry. Power and Conflict covers war, authority and the natural world (Ozymandias, Exposure, My Last Duchess, Charge of the Light Brigade). Love and Relationships covers love and family (Sonnet 29, Love's Philosophy, Mother Any Distance, Walking Away). Equally hard, equally examined.
No. Both papers are closed-book. You'll get printed extracts for the Shakespeare and 19th-century novel questions on Paper 1, and one printed anthology poem plus printed unseen poems on Paper 2. Quotations from your modern text and the rest of your anthology cluster have to come from memory.
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