IGCSE English Literature: Paper 4 - Unseen — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, testing exam technique and understanding of Paper 4’s structure rather than reproducing analysis of any specific unseen poem or prose extract. Use these alongside genuine timed practice on real unseen texts from official past papers.

Related: Paper 4 – Unseen study guide and revision notes.

Section A

1. State the total time and total marks for Paper 4, and how many questions a candidate answers. [3]

2. State the two forms of text a candidate can choose between on this paper. [2]

3. State Cambridge’s recommended amount of planning time out of the 75 minutes available. [1]

Section B

4. Explain why Paper 4 is described as testing “no prior content knowledge at all,” unlike Papers 1 to 3. [3]

5. A candidate spends the full 75 minutes writing, using no dedicated planning time, and produces an unstructured commentary that jumps between points without a clear order. Explain what the candidate should have done differently, and why. [3]

6. A candidate writes: “The writer uses a metaphor here.” Explain why this sentence alone is unlikely to gain AO4 marks, and rewrite it as a stronger sentence that would. [3]

7. A candidate has only ever practised unseen poetry throughout the course. On the exam day, they find the prose extract would actually have suited their strengths better, but they choose the poem anyway out of habit.

(a) Explain the risk in this candidate’s preparation. [2] (b) Suggest how the candidate should have prepared differently. [2]

8. Explain why a candidate who writes a detailed, accurate running summary of what happens in an unseen prose extract is still likely to score only moderately, even though every stated fact is correct. [3]

9. Explain why choosing between the poem and prose option should be based on which extract the candidate “can say more about in 55 minutes of writing,” rather than a fixed preference decided before the exam. [2]

10. A candidate on the Paper 3 + Paper 4 route assumes Paper 4 is “lower stakes” because there is no set text to learn for it. Explain why this assumption is mistaken. [2]

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Answers

1. 1 hour 15 minutes, 25 marks, and the candidate answers one question from a choice of two [3].

2. A passage of literary prose (such as an extract from a novel or short story), or a poem or extract from a poem [2].

3. Around 20 minutes [1].

4. Papers 1 to 3 reward detailed, text-specific knowledge built up over a course of study of set texts, whereas Paper 4 has no set-text list at all — the poem or prose extract is genuinely unseen, so no content can be pre-learned [2]. Instead, Paper 4 rewards the reading and analysis skills a literature student should be able to apply to any unfamiliar text put in front of them for the first time [1].

5. The candidate should have used the recommended 20-minute planning window to read the extract twice, annotate it for language, structure, form, tone and shifts in mood, and decide which of the two options to commit to before writing [2]. Planning first would have allowed the commentary to be built around a small number of well-organised, well-supported points instead of jumping between observations without a clear structure [1].

6. This sentence names a technique (a metaphor) without stating what effect it has on the reader or the candidate’s own response to it, which is what AO4 specifically requires [2]. A stronger version might read: “The metaphor makes the character’s fear feel physical and overwhelming, which unsettled me as a reader because it withholds any reassurance that the danger will pass” — connecting the device to both an effect and a personal response [1].

7. (a) The risk is being caught out on exam day by an extract form the candidate has not practised confidently, even when that form would actually have suited their strengths better than the one habitually chosen [2]. (b) The candidate should have practised both unseen poetry and unseen prose regularly throughout the course, so that the choice on the day can be made based on which specific extract suits them best, rather than defaulting to whichever form feels more familiar [2].

8. Because examiners reward selective, well-supported analysis of how specific words, images or structural choices create effects, not a comprehensive but unanalytical retelling of events [2]. A running summary demonstrates only that the candidate has understood what happens, which addresses a limited part of AO1, without engaging with AO3 (the writer’s methods) or AO4 (personal response), both of which are weighted equally alongside content knowledge [1].

9. Because both options are marked against the same four assessment objectives and carry equal marks, so neither is inherently easier; the best choice on the day depends on which specific extract gives the candidate the most to analyse in the time available, which can only be judged after reading both questions, not decided in advance [2].

10. This assumption is mistaken because, for candidates on the Paper 3 + Paper 4 route, Paper 4 carries the same 25% weighting as an entire studied set text does on the alternative Paper 2 route — it is worth exactly as much as a text studied over months of lessons, even though it requires no content to be learned in advance [2].

A note on exam technique for this topic

Because nothing on this paper can be pre-learned, the highest-value preparation is regular practice on genuinely unfamiliar poems and prose extracts throughout the course, not a final revision push before the exam — the goal is making close reading under time pressure feel routine. Always use the full 20-minute planning window rather than diving straight into writing, and build the habit of finishing every analytical point with a statement of effect and personal response (“…and this makes me feel/think…”), since this is the single most reliable way to convert accurate technical observation into the AO4 marks that are otherwise easy to leave unclaimed.