A Level Literature in English: Paper 3 - Shakespeare and Drama (Cambridge 9695)

Paper 3 – Shakespeare and Drama is one of two papers exclusive to the full A Level route in Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695); it is not available to AS-Level-only candidates. Where Paper 1 Drama and Poetry and Paper 2 Prose and Unseen form the complete AS Level qualification, Paper 3 and Paper 4 sit alongside them only for candidates completing the full A Level, whether in one series or staged over two years.

Format: two hours, two sections, 50 marks

Paper 3 mirrors the timing and mark allocation of Papers 1 and 2 – 2 hours, 50 marks – but is structured around Shakespeare specifically rather than a general drama set:

• Section A: Shakespeare (25 marks) – one question from a choice of set Shakespeare plays
• Section B: Drama (25 marks) – one question from a choice of non-Shakespeare drama set texts

On each set text, candidates choose between two questions: an essay question (a), or a passage-based question (b) that responds to an extract from the set text printed on the paper. Set texts are not permitted in the exam room, and dictionaries may not be used.

Paper 3 is worth 25% of the full A Level. It cannot be taken as part of an AS-Level-only route, and candidates staging their qualification over two years sit it (along with Paper 4) only in the second year, once the AS Level papers are already complete.

The key difference: a fifth assessment objective

This is the single most important thing that distinguishes Paper 3 (and Paper 4) from Papers 1 and 2. The AS Level papers test four assessment objectives; Papers 3 and 4 test five:

• AO1 Knowledge and understanding – respond with understanding to literary texts in a variety of forms, from different cultures, with an appreciation of relevant contexts
• AO2 Analysis – analyse ways in which writers’ choices of language, form and structure shape meanings and effects
• AO3 Personal response – produce informed independent opinions and interpretations of literary texts
• AO4 Communication – communicate a relevant, structured and supported response appropriate to literary study
• AO5 Evaluation of opinion – discuss and evaluate varying opinions and interpretations of literary texts

AO5 is genuinely new content, not a relabelling of anything tested at AS Level: it specifically requires you to engage with other readers’ interpretations of a text – critical viewpoints, alternative readings, differing performance traditions – and to evaluate them, rather than only presenting your own independent opinion (which is what AO3 already covers). A strong Paper 3 answer therefore does more than analyse the text and offer a personal view; it also positions that view against how the text has been, or could be, read differently by others.

What this looks like in practice. Suppose an essay is analysing a soliloquy: a candidate identifies a rhetorical technique (AO2), states that it makes the character seem genuinely conflicted rather than simply villainous (AO3), and writes this clearly (AO4) – but stops there, the answer is missing AO5. Adding a sentence such as “some critics and productions have instead played this moment for its comic unease, staging the character’s hesitation as self-serving rather than genuinely conflicted” and briefly weighing that reading against the candidate’s own turns the same paragraph into one that also satisfies AO5. Repeating this pattern two or three times across an essay, rather than saving all evaluative material for a single closing paragraph, tends to score more highly.

Set texts for the 2026 series

For Section A: Shakespeare, the 2026-series set play is drawn from The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew (using the Alexander Text edition). For Section B: Drama, the 2026-series set texts include The Train Driver and Other Plays (Athol Fugard), Sweat (Lynn Nottage), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Eugene O’Neill), Kongi’s Harvest (Wole Soyinka) and An Experiment with an Air Pump (Shelagh Stephenson). Set texts rotate by examination series, so always confirm the current list for the year your candidates are sitting the exam rather than assuming continuity from a previous year.

Related resources

• Paper 3 – Shakespeare and Drama practice questions
• Paper 1 – Drama and Poetry
• Paper 2 – Prose and Unseen

How Paper 3 relates to Paper 1’s drama content

Both Paper 1 (Section A) and Paper 3 (Section B) examine drama, which can make the two feel similar at first. The real distinction is AO5: Paper 1’s drama section is assessed on AO1-AO4 only, so a Paper 1 answer that stays entirely within your own reading of the play is complete. A Paper 3 answer on the same skill set additionally needs to show awareness of how the play has been interpreted differently by other readers or critics – the same close-reading and analytical skills from Paper 1 are necessary but not sufficient at this level.

How to approach it

Because Section A is exclusively Shakespeare, build genre- and period-specific context alongside close textual knowledge – staging conventions, the play’s critical reception over time, and how different productions have interpreted key scenes, since this context directly supports AO5. For Section B, treat each set text’s critical reputation as part of what you revise, not an afterthought: look for at least two genuinely different critical readings of your studied play (for example, a reading that emphasises its social commentary versus one that emphasises its formal or theatrical innovation) and practise using both to frame an evaluative point in an essay, since this is precisely the skill AO5 rewards. Because Papers 3 and 4 are only sat by full A Level candidates in most staged routes, make sure your revision timeline accounts for tackling five assessment objectives together for the first time, rather than assuming the AS-Level habits built for Papers 1 and 2 transfer automatically.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International, Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in English (9695) syllabus for examination in 2024, 2025 and 2026: official syllabus PDF, sections 2 (Assessment objectives), 3 (Set texts for examination in 2026 – Paper 3) and 4 (“Details of the assessment – Paper 3 Shakespeare and Drama”). Verified 2026-09-02.