Eduqas A-Level English Literature: Component 2 Drama overview quiz quiz

A single 120-mark Shakespeare essay on one set play, written under timed conditions with no second section and no choice of question at all

One unseen drama extract analysed in the exam room, plus a separate coursework essay marked internally by the centre

Two 60-mark sections: an extract-based Shakespeare question (Section A) and a comparison of a pre-1900 and post-1900 play (Section B)

Three equally weighted sections of 40 marks each, with one separate set play studied for each of the sections

AO1

AO3

AO4

AO2

A whole-play response in the light of a stated view, exploring different interpretations

Simply more quotation drawn from the same printed Shakespeare extract used in part (i)

A direct comparison with the two set plays studied for the Section B drama comparison

A detailed analysis of the play's date of composition and its place in Shakespeare's career

AO1

AO4

AO2

AO3

Open book, with clean unannotated copies of both of the set plays allowed in the exam

Open book for the pre-1900 play only, with the post-1900 play studied from memory alone

Closed book, so you must hold precise quotations from both plays in memory

It varies from year to year, depending on which two plays have been set for the pairing

The publication date of the play and the year it first reached print

The author's biography and the events of the dramatist's personal life

A glossary of stage and theatre terms printed at the back of the edition

Soliloquy, which grants the audience privileged access to a mind

It links the texts at the level of idea, method or genre and carries a point about meaning

It simply mentions both of the plays together in one sentence, without explaining the link

It notes a shared plot event, such as a death or a marriage, that occurs in both of the plays

It is placed neatly in the final paragraph, gathering the comparison into a single conclusion

It is the only structure that the Section B mark scheme will actually permit candidates to use

Idea-led structure makes AO4 connection continuous, with both plays in every paragraph

It uses fewer quotations overall, which leaves more time to plan the rest of the exam paper

Examiners are known to mark shorter essays higher, and the idea-led structure keeps them short

Genre is irrelevant to drama and earns no marks, so the two plays can be read in just the same way

It saves valuable revision time, since you can study one set of genre conventions for both of the plays

Genre sets the conventions and expectations a dramatist uses or subverts, sharpening AO2 and feeding AO3

Only the pre-1900 play actually belongs to a genre; the modern post-1900 play sits outside any tradition

"The character genuinely feels deep down inside", treating the role as a real person

"In real life this would obviously happen", reaching outside the play for everyday logic

"Everyone already knows full well that", leaning on assumed common knowledge for the point

"Shakespeare presents" (or stages, engineers)

Marlowe's Doctor Faustus with Prebble's Enron

Two different Shakespeare plays studied side by side as the Section B pairing

Two modern twentieth-century novels read together rather than two stage plays

One long narrative poem paired with a single stage play from the same period

It is simply too long for the time available, so the answer runs out of time before the comparison

AO4 rewards continuous connection; comparison confined to a final paragraph cannot reach the top bands

It uses the wrong tense throughout, slipping into the past tense when discussing the action of the plays

It omits the introduction, leaving the comparison without any opening overview of the two set plays