Cambridge O Level English Language (1123) Past Papers: Grade Thresholds and Examiner Report Notes

This page is a guide to Cambridge O Level English Language (1123) past papers, covering the June and November series from 2022 to 2025 and pointing you to the official papers for older series. The grade thresholds are copied from Cambridge’s grade-threshold documents, and the examiner notes are our own summaries of Cambridge’s Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers. We do not host any papers. One thing to know before you start: the syllabus changed for the 2024 series, and the paper numbers swapped round, so a “Paper 1” from 2023 is a different exam from a “Paper 1” today.

Where to get the official papers

• Cambridge O Level English Language (1123) syllabus page
• Cambridge O Level English Language (1123) past papers page

Cambridge publishes recent papers, mark schemes, examiner reports and grade thresholds on the syllabus’s past-papers page; older series are available to schools through the School Support Hub.

Use the three documents together. Sit the paper first, under timed conditions. Mark it with the mark scheme, and be strict about what the scheme actually credits. Then read the examiner report for that series (or our notes below) to see why answers like yours gained or lost marks. The report often explains a mark more clearly than the scheme does.

Which syllabus was each paper set on? The current syllabus (valid for 2024, 2025 and 2026) has two papers: Paper 1 Reading and Paper 2 Writing, each worth 50%. The examiner notes confirm that June 2024 was the first sitting of this version. Every series before June 2024 was set on the earlier syllabus. In the 2022 and 2023 papers we summarise, the order was the other way round: Paper 1 was Writing and Paper 2 was Reading. So Papers 11 and 12 from 2022 and 2023 are Writing papers, and Papers 21 and 22 are Reading papers. The task types differ too: the older Reading papers were built around notes for a summary, picking out the writer’s advice and a two-part meaning-and-effect question, while the current Reading papers have a selective summary and a short perspective task, and the current directed writing task is based on two texts. For anything older than 2022, check the syllabus version on the paper’s front cover against the current syllabus.

Series index

Series	Papers (components) examined	Examiner report notes	Grade thresholds
November 2025	11, 12 Reading; 21, 22 Writing (current syllabus)	Yes	Not in our files; see the official page
June 2025	11, 12 Reading; 21, 22 Writing (current syllabus)	Yes	Not in our files; see the official page
November 2024	11, 12 Reading; 21, 22 Writing (current syllabus)	Yes	Yes
June 2024	11, 12 Reading; 21, 22 Writing (first sitting of current syllabus)	Yes	Yes
November 2023	11, 12 Writing; 21, 22 Reading (earlier syllabus)	Yes	Yes
June 2023	11, 12 Writing; 21, 22 Reading (earlier syllabus)	Yes	Yes
November 2022	11, 12 Writing; 21, 22 Reading (earlier syllabus)	Yes	Yes
June 2022	11, 12 Writing; 21, 22 Reading (earlier syllabus)	Yes	Yes
November 2021	Earlier syllabus	Not summarised here	Not summarised here; see the official page
June 2021	Earlier syllabus	Not summarised here	Not summarised here; see the official page
November 2020	Earlier syllabus	Not summarised here	Not summarised here; see the official page
June 2020	Cancelled by Cambridge because of COVID-19	Not summarised here	Not summarised here
November 2019	Earlier syllabus	Not summarised here	Not summarised here; see the official page
June 2019	Earlier syllabus	Not summarised here	Not summarised here; see the official page

Remember the swap: from June 2024 the 1x papers are Reading and the 2x papers are Writing. Before that, it was the reverse.

What examiners keep saying

The syllabus has two strands, Reading and Writing. These are the faults that come up series after series. Where a point applies only to one version of the syllabus, we say so.

Reading

• Own-words questions. Explaining one of the two words and repeating the other, reusing the given word or a form of it, or picking a synonym that does not fit the passage. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Not reading the question precisely. Missing a qualifying word, ignoring a limit such as “first” or “one word”, ignoring a time marker, or answering from the wrong paragraph or the introduction. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Feelings and inference. Copying a phrase or retelling the story instead of naming a feeling; feelings too mild, too extreme or too vague; two near-synonyms that only earn credit once; the wrong character; evidence that does not back the feeling. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Writer’s use of language. On the earlier syllabus, putting an effect in the meaning part (or the reverse) and explaining effect through what happens next in the story: June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, November 2023. On the current syllabus, treating the language question as comprehension, naming a device such as a simile without saying what it does, repeating the words of the extract, giving one idea for a two-word phrase, or explaining words next to the chosen example: June 2024, November 2024, June 2025, November 2025.
• Summary content: main points versus examples. Giving an example where the overarching point was needed, or dropping the word that makes a point precise (for example the word that makes something a disadvantage). Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024 and November 2024.
• Summary content: incomplete points. Giving a cause without its result, an action without its consequence, or a benefit without saying what it belongs to. Seen in June 2023, November 2023, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Summary relevance. Background, examples, your own opinion, outside knowledge or invented material; covering both sides when the task asked for one; saying the same idea twice. Seen in November 2022, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Summary style. Long copied stretches, going over the word limit, and connectives bolted on mechanically or used informally. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, November 2023, June 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• The writer’s advice (earlier syllabus only). Picking advice the writer reports from other people, treating “can” as advice, or trimming a word that changes how strong the advice is. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2023 and November 2023.
• The short perspective task (current syllabus). Writing from your own view or the text’s overall view instead of the named person’s, arguing both sides, or inventing ideas with no basis in the text. Seen in June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.

Writing

• Directed writing on the earlier syllabus. Answering only half of a two-part bullet point (a bold “and” means two things), or listing many thin points instead of developing a few. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2023 and November 2023.
• Directed writing on the current syllabus. Taking ideas from one text only, or developing one idea at length; saving all evaluation for the conclusion, or giving an opinion that is not tied to a specific idea from the texts. Seen in June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Form and register. Writing the wrong text type or mixing two (letter and report, speech and essay), slang or hostile tone in formal writing, formal conventions in an informal email, and audience awareness only at the start and end. Seen in June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2025 and November 2025.
• Descriptive writing that turns into a story. Narrating an event, a visit or a shopping trip instead of describing place, people and atmosphere; listing things with flat adjectives; describing only one of two required places, times or phases. Seen in every series from June 2022 to November 2025.
• Narrative and accuracy. Given sentences forced into a rehearsed story, weak openings and endings, and badly punctuated dialogue: June 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025. Tense switching and article or agreement errors are flagged in every series from June 2022 to November 2025; comma splicing in November 2023, June 2024, November 2024, June 2025 and November 2025; a lower-case “i” in June 2022, November 2023, November 2024 and June 2025.

Exam technique the reports repeat

• Underline the key words of every question and bullet point before you write. Check which character and which lines a question points to.
• Use the marks and the answer space to judge how much to write.
• Give feelings and explanations in your own words, but give supporting evidence as a short quotation copied in full, with no ellipses or line numbers.
• Plan before you write, then stay near the suggested word count. Very long answers tend to collect more errors, not more marks.
• Leave about five minutes per task to proofread for tense, articles, agreement and punctuation.
• Delete a mistake with a single line, and if you run out of space continue on a clearly labelled extra page.

November 2025

Current syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 Reading, Papers 21 and 22 Writing.

Reading again combined a narrative extract with a non-fiction text for the summary, and literal retrieval was stronger than inference or language work. The best scripts followed the command words, reshaped details to fit each question and looked closely at what single words suggest. Weaker ones echoed the question, retold the plot or copied at length. In Writing, the report separates development (adding examples) from evaluation (judging, ranking, challenging) and says that refusing to take a side held speeches back. Descriptive compositions often slid into story or covered only half the task, and accuracy dropped as answers got longer.

Where marks were lost

• Papers 11 and 12: inference answered with a lift, a rewording of the question, or the wrong kind of answer (an action when a reason was asked for).
• Papers 11 and 12: language questions that repeated the question’s words, discussed plot or location, or labelled a simile without explaining it; two ideas drawn from the same word earned credit once.
• Papers 11 and 12: summaries that restated one idea, strayed into irrelevant sections or added opinion; the short-response task scored nothing when written from the wrong perspective.
• Paper 21: one idea developed at length instead of a range from both texts; conclusions giving opinions unlinked to the texts, which do not count as evaluation.
• Paper 22: speeches drifting into letter or essay form, or ending on the fence; descriptions covering only one of two required elements.

Grade thresholds — November 2025

We do not have the November 2025 grade thresholds in our files. Check Cambridge’s past-papers page for the official figures.

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2025

Current syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 Reading, Papers 21 and 22 Writing.

Both Reading papers opened with a narrative extract and followed it with a shorter non-fiction text. Literal questions went well; inference, language analysis and the selective summary spread candidates out. Strong scripts kept comprehension answers short, backed each feeling with an exact quotation and explored what individual words suggest rather than naming devices. In Writing, most responses did pick ideas from both texts, but most did not evaluate them enough, so the Reading mark for directed writing tended to stall at the middle level. Compositions lost marks when descriptions became stories, when narratives relied on pre-learned plots, and through tense slips, comma splicing and homophones.

Where marks were lost

• Papers 11 and 12: inference answered by lifting text or retelling the story, sometimes from the wrong paragraph.
• Papers 11 and 12: own-words questions with only one word explained, or a synonym that did not fit the context.
• Papers 11 and 12: Question 2(e) examples that were too long or too bland, or replaced by ellipses and line references.
• Papers 11 and 12: summaries padded with opposing points or copied stretches; short responses that argued both sides.
• Paper 21: ideas from one text only, which capped the Reading mark; a closing opinion not linked to any text idea, so it did not count as evaluation.
• Paper 22: informal emails that slipped into formal letter style; the given sentence dropped into an unrelated rehearsed story.

Grade thresholds — June 2025

We do not have the June 2025 grade thresholds in our files. Check Cambridge’s past-papers page for the official figures.

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2024

Current syllabus, second sitting: Papers 11 and 12 Reading, Papers 21 and 22 Writing.

In the second sitting of the new syllabus, Reading candidates again found retrieval straightforward and struggled with three things: inferring a named character’s feelings, the language-effect questions and the perspective task. Precision decided many marks. That meant staying inside the paragraph named, quoting evidence exactly and dealing with each word of a phrase separately. Good summaries kept to the task focus and merged related points; weak ones explained background or made things up. In Writing, judging ideas from both texts separated the top levels. In composition, the report asked for sustained description, equal weight on both required parts, and control of tense and agreement.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: feelings given for the wrong character, pitched too strongly, or repeated as near-synonyms; one idea offered for a two-word phrase.
• Paper 11: perspective answers that agreed with the criticism they were meant to answer.
• Paper 12: answers taken from the introduction or outside the paragraph specified; summaries opening with background, lifting dialogue or adding invented material.
• Paper 21: ideas copied in the texts’ order with little rewording; one text heavily favoured; descriptions about events or possessions rather than people or place.
• Paper 22: examples of one idea presented as separate ideas; evaluation missing or left to the last paragraph; stories with forced given sentences, too long a time span or several climaxes.

Grade thresholds — November 2024

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	100	80	71	62	53	46	39
Y	12, 22	100	82	73	64	56	48	41

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2024

First sitting of the current syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 are now Reading, Papers 21 and 22 are now Writing.

This was the first series on the revised syllabus, with Reading moved to Paper 1 and Writing to Paper 2. In Reading, explicit comprehension went well, but inferring a character’s feelings, the language-effect questions and the new short perspective task proved harder. The selective summary rewarded a tight focus on the task and points that were reworded and combined within 150 words. In Writing, the directed task now draws on two texts, and judging their ideas was what lifted scripts into the top levels. Strong compositions described rather than narrated, used features with purpose and stayed near the word guide.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: language questions treated as comprehension; a technique named but not explained; the perspective task answered from the wrong point of view.
• Paper 12: feelings that ignored a time marker in the question or were too extreme; quotations too long or too thin to support two ideas.
• Papers 11 and 12: summaries with irrelevant material or copied stretches; on Paper 11, some were reworded so loosely the point became vague.
• Paper 21: ideas from one text favoured, listed without development, and not evaluated except in the conclusion; description that listed what could be seen, or covered only one of two places or times.
• Paper 22: articles left out, apostrophes used for plurals, comma splicing, badly punctuated dialogue and abrupt story endings.

Grade thresholds — June 2024

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	100	71	63	55	47	40	34
Y	12, 22	100	71	63	55	47	40	34

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2023

Earlier syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 were Writing, Papers 21 and 22 were Reading.

Both Writing papers set a speech for directed writing, so keeping the audience and purpose in view through the whole piece mattered as much as a good opening and close. In composition, planned and controlled writing within the suggested length did best; over-long pieces lost shape and picked up errors. In Reading, the summary depended on finding the overarching points without examples and, where a point had a cause and a result, giving both. Strong scripts handled tense, agreement and articles securely. Weak ones padded with background, narrated when asked to describe, copied without thought and confused meaning with effect.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: one half of a two-part bullet left thin; descriptions that narrated events and switched between present and past tense.
• Paper 12: long background before the main bullets; comma splicing, possessive apostrophes and irregular past tenses; dialogue not set out on a new line per speaker.
• Paper 21: summary notes giving an action without its consequence; own-words answers reusing the given words; writer’s craft answers mixing meaning with effect or explaining one word only.
• Paper 22: notes with examples or irrelevant detail attached, or one idea in two bullets; advice taken from other people in the passage rather than the writer.

Grade thresholds — November 2023

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	100	85	77	69	62	55	48
Y	12, 22	100	85	77	69	62	55	48

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2023

Earlier syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 were Writing, Papers 21 and 22 were Reading.

Both Writing papers used a formal letter for directed writing, followed by a choice of descriptive, argumentative and narrative compositions; fewer candidates chose the argument titles. The Reading papers kept the familiar notes, summary and advice tasks, then narrative comprehension, own words, vocabulary and writer’s craft. In Writing, strong scripts developed two or three ideas per bullet instead of listing many, stayed formal but polite, and used ambitious words accurately. Weak ones had tense, article and punctuation errors and no control of length. In Reading, the narrative passages proved harder, and good notes did not always turn into relevant summaries.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: a bullet skipped, or a required item named but not described; descriptions that narrated an event instead of the scene asked for.
• Paper 12: list-like points with no development; slang and informal sign-offs; colons and semi-colons used in place of full stops or commas.
• Paper 21: the writer’s advice included as a content point; a linked cause and result given only in part; a summary that a reader who had not seen the passage could not follow.
• Paper 22: “can” treated as advice; own-words questions answered by retrieval; effect answers that described what the character did next.

Grade thresholds — June 2023

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	100	82	74	66	58	51	44
Y	12, 22	100	82	74	66	58	51	44

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2022

Earlier syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 were Writing, Papers 21 and 22 were Reading.

Directed writing moved away from letters this series: one paper set a persuasive article for other students and the other a formal report to a local authority, each followed by descriptive, argumentative and narrative choices. Reading kept notes, summary and the writer’s advice, then narrative comprehension, own words, vocabulary and writer’s craft. The report says the strongest scripts fitted format and tone to the reader, developed points instead of listing them and kept tenses under control. In Reading, the best separated main points from examples and read each question closely.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: a speech or letter written instead of an article; personal gains given where benefits to others were asked for; descriptions drifting into narrative.
• Paper 12: one advantage given where the plural was asked for; letter and report formats blended; a vague plea instead of a specific solution.
• Paper 21: examples instead of the overarching point; summaries weighted to one section or padded with opinion; advice the writer only reports from others.
• Paper 22: examples signalled only by brackets; summaries over the 180-word limit; limits such as “first” or “one word” ignored; meaning answers that slid into effect.

Grade thresholds — November 2022

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	100	83	75	67	60	53	46
Y	12, 22	100	83	75	67	60	53	46

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2022

Earlier syllabus: Papers 11 and 12 were Writing, Papers 21 and 22 were Reading.

Both Writing papers set a formal letter for directed writing, then descriptive, argumentative and narrative compositions. Both Reading papers paired a non-fiction passage (notes, summary and the writer’s advice) with a narrative passage testing comprehension, own words, vocabulary in context and writer’s craft. In Writing, the report reminds candidates that most marks are for language: tense control, articles and agreement were the usual weak spots, and very long compositions tended to gather more errors. In Reading, the best scripts picked out the general points rather than examples, kept every key word in a point, and kept meaning and effect apart.

Where marks were lost

• Paper 11: half of a two-part bullet answered; descriptions that listed things with bland, repeated adjectives; compositions far longer than 500 words.
• Paper 12: a required detail missed or given vaguely; a tone that was too aggressive or too apologetic; dialogue with no purpose or faulty punctuation.
• Paper 21: examples not flagged with “for example” or “such as”; wordy summary openings and a string of memorised connectives; effect explained through plot.
• Paper 22: points trimmed until a vital qualifying word disappeared; near-verbatim summaries; an opinion given when a feeling was asked for.

Grade thresholds — June 2022

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
P1	50	90	76	67	58	49	40	31
X	11, 21	100	84	76	68	61	53	46
Y	12, 22	100	79	71	63	56	49	42

Option P1 (component 50) is listed on Cambridge’s June 2022 threshold document; our examiner notes do not cover that component.

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

How to use this page

1. Check the syllabus version first. For practice on today’s exam, start with June 2024 onwards, where Paper 1 is Reading and Paper 2 is Writing. Older papers still help with skills such as own-words answers, summary and composition, but remember the numbers are swapped and some task types have gone.
2. Sit one paper under timed conditions. Use a paper from the official past-papers page. Use command words to decode what each question wants.
3. Mark it honestly with the mark scheme. Then read the notes for that series above, and the faults in What examiners keep saying, and tick off any you made.
4. Fix the weak skill. Use our Paper 1 Reading revision notes, Paper 2 Writing revision notes, Paper 1 Reading practice and Paper 2 Writing practice. Work through the 1123 checklist and find more on the O Level English Language hub.
5. Try a free diagnostic. There is no dedicated 1123 diagnostic yet, but you can see what we offer on the diagnostics page.
6. Re-test on a different series a week or two later, and compare your marks against that series’ thresholds. See grade thresholds for the June 2026 figures for our flagship syllabuses, and the exam calendar for your dates.
7. Get feedback on your writing. Having a teacher mark your directed writing and compositions shows you which level you are working at. Book a free trial lesson.

About these notes

Our sources are Cambridge’s grade-threshold tables for 1123 (June and November 2022, 2023 and 2024) and its Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers (June and November 2022 to 2025). Everything here is written in our own words. Thresholds change every series, so never use them to predict future ones. If you spot an error, please report a correction.