The threshold qualification commissioners, Ofsted, and post-16 providers look for first. Onscreen assessment available from 2023. Modular assessment not available for this subject — but session preparation can be paced and low-stakes until formal entry.
Components
- Component 1 (4EA1/01) — Non-fiction Texts and Transactional Writing. Externally assessed. 2h 15min, 90 marks, 60% of grade. Section A: Reading (45 marks, AOs 1, 2, 3). Section B: Transactional Writing (45 marks, AOs 4, 5).
- Component 2 (4EA1/02) — Poetry and Prose Texts and Imaginative Writing. Externally assessed. 1h 30min, 60 marks, 40% of grade. Section A: Reading on poetry/prose (30 marks). Section B: Imaginative Writing (30 marks).
- Component 3 (4EA1/03) — Same content as Component 2 but non-examined assessment. 60 marks, 40% of grade. Alternative to Component 2.
- Spoken Language Endorsement (4EA1/E) — Optional. Separately reported (Not Classified / Pass / Merit / Distinction). Maximum 10-minute oral presentation.
Students take Component 1 plus either Component 2 or Component 3, plus optionally the Spoken Language Endorsement.
Assessment Objectives
The same five AOs apply across Components 1, 2, and 3. The spoken language endorsement is separately graded.
- AO1 — read and understand a variety of texts, selecting and interpreting information, ideas and perspectives
- AO2 — understand and analyse how writers use linguistic and structural devices to achieve their effects
- AO3 — explore links and connections between writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed
- AO4 — communicate effectively and imaginatively, adapting form, tone and register of writing for specific purposes and audiences
- AO5 — write clearly, using a range of vocabulary and sentence structures, with appropriate paragraphing and accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation
- Spoken Language Endorsement (4EA1/E)
Anthology — Part 1 (Non-fiction; for Component 1 Section A)
Selections from: The Danger of a Single Story (Adichie); A Passage to Africa (Alagiah); The Explorer’s Daughter (Herbert); “Explorers, or boys messing about?” (Morris); 127 Hours (Ralston); “Young and Dyslexic? You’ve got it going on” (Zephaniah); A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat (Levine); Beyond the Sky and Earth (Zeppa); H is for Hawk (Macdonald); Chinese Cinderella (Yen Mah).
Anthology — Part 2 (Poetry and Prose; for Components 2/3 Section A)
Disabled (Owen); “Out, Out–” (Frost); An Unknown Girl (Alvi); The Bright Lights of Sarajevo (Harrison); Still I Rise (Angelou); The Story of an Hour (Chopin); The Necklace (Maupassant); Significant Cigarettes from The Road Home (Tremain); Whistle and I’ll Come to You from The Woman in Black (Hill); Night (Munro).
Tests canonical
Each AO page wikilinks to one or more canonical KS4 English strands.