Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English Literature: Modern Drama and Literary Heritage Texts — Practice Questions (4ET1)

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, in the style and at the standard of the examination. They are not reproduced past-paper questions — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Component 2 study guide

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Section A: Modern Drama (30 marks)

1. Choose one character from your studied modern drama text who experiences a significant change across the play. Explore how the writer presents this change. [30]

Section B: Literary Heritage Texts (30 marks)

2. Explore how your studied literary heritage text presents the relationship between an individual and the society around them. In your answer, refer to the significance of the text’s historical or social context. [30]

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Model approach: Section A

A strong response to a character-change question (like Q1) is built around identifying two or three distinct stages of the character’s development, each supported by specific reference to language, form or structure, rather than a single broad claim that the character “changes.”

Stage 1 (early in the play):  the character is presented as [confident /
                               naive / powerless -- specific to the text],
                               shown through [a specific line, stage
                               direction, or interaction with another
                               character]
Stage 2 (a turning point):    a specific event or revelation shifts the
                               character's position, marked by a change
                               in how the writer presents their dialogue
                               or behaviour
Stage 3 (by the play's end):  the character has moved to a new position,
                               and the writer signals this through
                               [changed language register, staging,
                               relationships with other characters]

Because Section A is assessed against AO1 (informed personal response) and AO2 (analysis of language, form and structure), each stage in this structure should combine a clear personal interpretation of what the change means with specific textual evidence of how the writer achieves it — description of plot events alone, without analysis of the writer’s choices, will not access AO2’s marks.

Model approach: Section B

Because Section B additionally assesses AO4 (significance of contextual factors), a strong response to Q2 links the individual-and-society theme directly to the text’s historical or social setting, not just to the plot itself.

AO1/AO2 only:   "The protagonist is constrained by the expectations of
                those around them, shown through the other characters'
                disapproving dialogue."
AO1/AO2 + AO4:  "The protagonist's constraint reflects the rigid social
                expectations of the period in which the text is set,
                when individual choice was far more limited by class,
                gender or convention than in a modern context -- the
                writer uses the individual's struggle to critique,
                rather than simply depict, those wider social
                structures."

The second version earns AO4 credit specifically by connecting textual evidence to the world the text was written in and set in, rather than treating the individual’s situation as if it existed without a historical or social backdrop.

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Exam technique for this component

Because the exam is open-book, the priority in preparation is not memorising quotations word-for-word but building the ability to locate relevant passages quickly under time pressure — practise navigating a copy of your set texts at speed, noting roughly where key scenes or turning points fall, so retrieval during the exam itself is fast rather than a first attempt. For Section B specifically, build genuine contextual knowledge of your literary heritage text’s period alongside close reading of the text itself, since AO4 credit depends on connecting the two rather than analysing language in isolation. With two essay questions to answer across 1 hour 30 minutes, practise full-length timed responses to one drama and one literary heritage question in a single sitting, not just individually, so pacing reflects the demands of the real exam rather than each question type revised separately.

Choosing between two essay-question options

Each section offers a choice of two essay questions on the studied text, and briefly weighing both before committing is worth the small time investment it costs. A quick self-check for each option: which question allows me to draw on the textual passages and evidence I know most confidently, and which question’s focus (character, theme, technique) plays more directly to material I have already prepared in depth? Committing to the first option read, without this brief comparison, risks choosing the question that happens to appear first rather than the one that genuinely suits the candidate’s prepared knowledge best — a small planning step that can meaningfully affect the final mark.

Revising literary heritage context efficiently

Because Section B’s AO4 credit depends on contextual knowledge, build a short, focused set of contextual facts for the studied literary heritage text — the period it was written in, the social or historical circumstances it responds to, and how those circumstances relate to the text’s central themes — rather than accumulating broad, unfocused historical knowledge that is difficult to deploy precisely in a timed essay. A contextual point is only useful in an essay if it can be connected directly to specific textual evidence, as demonstrated in the model commentary above, so practising this connect-context-to-evidence skill directly, rather than revising context and text separately, is the more efficient use of revision time.

Where marks are usually lost

• Describing plot events in Section A without analysing the specific language, form or structural choices the writer makes.
• Writing a Section B answer that is strong on textual analysis but never engages with historical or social context, missing AO4 credit.
• Over-relying on memorised quotations rather than the skill of locating and analysing passages in the open-book exam.
• Running out of time on Section B because Section A, often the more comfortable question, was allowed to overrun.