Welcome news for students taking GCSEs next year, Ofqual has announced a change to English Literature exams. Instead of having to answer questions on the full 4 areas (Shakespeare, poetry, 19th century novel and post 1914 fiction/drama) students will have to answer a Shakespeare question but will be able to select 2 out of 3 of the other content areas (poetry, 19th century novel and post 1914 fiction/drama). “For 2021 only … Effectively, this means schools can drop one of their set literature texts for the coming year.”
https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-english-gcse-pupils-can-drop-text-2021
As a literature fan, I feel a little sad at children missing some of the of rich content; as a realist, I can see this offers children the very best chance of doing well in exams for which they have lost 4 months preparation time. Schools will make their decision as to which area to drop – I have my suspicions what area that might be for most schools but wait with interest to see if I’m right.
As ever, at EKT we can provide expert tuition for all areas of the Literature exam. Feel free to contact us at any time.