Poetry and Modern Prose (4ET1): Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content, and do not reference any specific set poem or prose text — apply the method below to your own prescribed texts. The unseen and comparison poems printed below are original poems written for this exercise, not the prescribed anthology; use them to practise the method, then apply it to the real anthology. 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: Poetry and Modern Prose revision notes

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What each section actually assesses

Component 1 is worth 90 marks in total, over 2 hours – 60% of the whole IGCSE. Section A (20 marks) is pure AO2: since the unseen poem is printed on the paper, no memorisation is needed, and the mark is entirely for analytical skill in explaining how meaning and effect are created through language, form and structure. Section B (30 marks) assesses AO2 and AO3 together, and AO3 specifically means a response that analyses two poems well but never directly compares them is missing marks it could otherwise have earned; the real paper offers a choice of two questions in this section, each comparing two anthology poems (in the November 2023 paper, for example, one question named both poems and the other named one poem and left the second choice to the candidate). Section C (40 marks) assesses AO1, an informed and textually supported argument, and AO4, understanding of context, and rewards tracking how a theme or character develops across the whole novel rather than focusing on one memorable scene, with social, historical or cultural context woven into the argument rather than added as a separate paragraph at the end; this section also offers a choice of two questions on the real paper.

Set texts (for your own revision, not used in the practice below): the 16-poem anthology and the seven-title modern prose list are named in full in the study guide and the revision notes — both lists are revised by specification issue, not rotated by examination series.

Section A (an original unseen poem, for practice)

1. Read the poem below, then explore how the poet presents the speaker’s relationship to the empty house, referring closely to language, form and structure. [20]

Empty House

The rooms still hold the shapes of what we owned—
a paler square where the mirror hung,
a groove worn soft into the third stair down
where a hand always reached, and never wrong.

I open cupboards out of habit now,
not looking for anything, just checking
that absence has a texture I can touch,
that emptiness is also a kind of packing.

The kettle’s gone. The window’s cleaner light
falls straight across a floor no rug will soften.
I stand here longer than I need to, counting
rooms that used to argue with each other,

and find the silence is not built like grief—
it is built like waiting, patient, unconvinced,
as if the house itself still expects
the sound of someone coming back at six.

(An original poem written for this practice exercise — not a set text.)

Section B (answer (a) or (b) — original poems, for practice)

2(a). Compare how “Letters” and “The Call” below present the experience of distance in a relationship. [30]

Letters

She keeps the drawer half-open, always,
as if paper needs air to breathe—
five years of blue ink turning grey,
words she reads with her hand pressed flat
against each page, like checking a pulse.

The postmark says a country she has never seen.
The handwriting says a hand she has.

The Call

Three rings before you answer, always three—
long enough for me to picture you
crossing whatever room you’re in
towards a voice that travelled further
than either of us likes to say.

We talk about the weather on both ends,
two skies that never once agree,
and neither of us mentions
how the line goes quiet
in exactly the same place, each time.

2(b). Compare how “Riverbank” below presents the effect of time on a relationship with a second poem of your own choosing on a related theme. [30]

Riverbank

You taught me the names of things that don’t stay still—
how a river argues with its own banks,
wearing them down so slowly
neither side notices the shape it’s lost.

I think of us like that sometimes:
two banks worn smooth by staying close
to something that kept moving anyway,
carrying off small pieces neither of us mourned
until we counted what was left.

Taking the method to the real anthology (not part of this practice paper, no marks). In the exam, both Section B questions are set on poems from Part 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Anthology, and the poems are provided with the paper. Marlbridge does not reprint the anthology poems, so once you have practised on 2(a) or 2(b), use your school’s copy of the anthology to choose a pair of poems from the 16 listed in the study guide, set yourself a comparison focus (a view of love, a sense of loss, a relationship between parent and child) and repeat the same method, then move on to the official past papers, which print their own anthology questions.

Section C (practise using your own studied prose text — answer either (a) or (b))

3(a). Explore how the writer of your studied modern prose text presents the development of a central character across the novel. [40]

3(b). Explore how the writer of your studied modern prose text uses a specific relationship to reveal a central theme. [40]

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Answer plans (approach — marks depend on your chosen texts and poems)

1. A top-band response identifies the central idea precisely, then builds a sustained analysis of language (imagery, word choice, sound), form (rhyme, meter, stanza shape) and structure (how the poem develops or shifts), with every point rooted in a short, precisely selected quotation and a clear “effect” explained, not just named. These objectives are marked holistically against level descriptors rather than by splitting the total across fixed per-point figures.

2. Whichever option you answer, the strongest responses organise by point of comparison, not poem-by-poem (e.g. “both poems use domestic detail, but ‘Letters’ does X while ‘The Call’ does Y”), analyse language/form/structure in each poem with precision, and make the comparison explicit and sustained throughout rather than only in a closing paragraph — the comparison, not just a summary of each poem’s content on its own, is what AO3 credits. For 2(b), the strength of your chosen second poem matters: pick one with a genuine point of connection to “Riverbank” rather than a loosely related text. As with question 1, this is marked holistically against level descriptors, not a fixed split of marks.

3. Track the character or theme across at least three distinct points in the novel (beginning, a turning point, and the ending or a late development), using specific, well-chosen textual evidence at each point, and integrate relevant context — social, historical, cultural — that illuminates why the character or theme develops as it does, rather than adding context as a disconnected final paragraph. Again, this is marked holistically rather than against a fixed per-point split.

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An additional practice question for each section

4. (Section A) Read the poem below, then explore how the poet uses structure specifically — line length, stanza breaks, enjambment or caesura — to shape the reader’s response. [20]

Low Tide

The sea goes out
and out
and out,

taking with it the noise of itself,
leaving a hush of ridged sand,
a single boat listing on nothing.

We walk further than the sea allowed this morning,
find a shoe, a bottle, a shape too broken to name—

and turn back only when the light starts turning,
only when the first line of water
begins, quietly,
to close.

(An original poem written for this practice exercise — not a set text.)

5. (Section B) Compare how “Winter Apple” below uses imagery drawn from the natural world to explore a human relationship with a second poem of your own choosing on a related theme. [30]

Winter Apple

It hung on past the frost, past the bare branch,
past every other apple’s quiet fall—
red going brown at the shoulder,
skin gone loose the way skin does
when it has held a shape too long.

I picked it in December out of stubbornness,
found it still sweet beneath the wrinkling,
and understood, biting down,
that some things keep their sugar
long after they stop looking like they should.

6. (Section C) Explore how the writer of your studied prose text uses a specific setting to reflect or influence a character’s state of mind at two different points in the novel. [40]

Answer plans for questions 4-6

4. As with question 1, this is pure AO2, but the question narrows the focus onto structure specifically, so a top-band answer should not drift into discussing imagery or word choice as its main evidence — structural features (where lines break, where a stanza ends, where a sentence overruns a line) should carry the analysis, each tied to a precise effect on pacing or emphasis.

5. As with question 2, this rewards point-by-point comparison over separate poem-by-poem treatment, but because it specifies natural imagery as the shared feature, your chosen second poem must be shown to use it in a genuinely comparable way — a strong answer identifies not just that both poems use nature imagery, but how each poet’s specific choices produce a different emotional effect.

6. Setting-based character analysis is a common Section C angle: track the same setting, or a contrasting pair of settings, at two clearly separated points in the novel, and use each to make an explicit claim about the character’s development, rather than describing the setting for its own sake.

Timing and exam strategy

The question paper itself prints a recommended timing for each section: 35 minutes for Section A, 40 minutes for Section B, and 45 minutes for Section C — together the full two hours. That is not a strict proportional split of the marks (a pure 40/30/20 proportion would give Section A less time, not more, than its 35 minutes), so use the paper’s own timings rather than reworking them from the mark scheme, and leave a few minutes at the end to check all three responses.

Where marks are usually lost

• Section B answers that analyse each poem in a separate half rather than comparing directly, point by point.
• Section C answers that retell the plot instead of tracking character or theme development with a clear argument.
• Context in Section C treated as a bolt-on paragraph rather than woven into the analysis.
• Uneven time management — remember the marks are not equal across sections (20/30/40).
• Writing about only one poem in Section B when direct comparison is explicitly credited by AO3.
• Practising only on invented poems and never on pairings from the real anthology (see the note after question 2(b)), since the actual exam’s Section B draws on the anthology poems, not original material.
• Forgetting that the set texts (poetry anthology and prose novel) are fixed by the specification and only change when Pearson issues a revised specification, not on a series-by-series rotation — see the study guide and revision notes for the current lists, and always confirm you’re revising the texts for your own specification issue.