Eduqas A-Level English Literature: Component 3 Unseen Texts overview quiz quiz

A single 80-mark essay analysing one previously studied set text drawn from the prescribed list

A comparison of two studied texts, one prose and one poetry, written up as a single linked essay

Two 40-mark sections: close reading of unseen prose (Section A) and unseen poetry (Section B)

Three separate sections covering unseen prose, unseen poetry and a passage of unseen stage drama

Any period the examiners choose

Only the later twentieth century

Only the years before 1900

1880 to 1910 or 1918 to 1939

Any period, with no designated window

Only the late-Victorian window of 1880 to 1910

Only the inter-war years of 1918 to 1939

Only poems first published after the year 2000

AO1

AO2

AO4

AO5

A full self-contained paragraph of historical background near the start

None at all, ever, under any circumstances

A light, relevant touch where it sharpens the reading

As much period detail as possible to show off knowledge

Poems are always physically longer on the page than a comparable passage of unseen prose

Poems are written in a deliberately harder and more archaic vocabulary that needs decoding

The paper formally allocates a noticeably longer period of writing time to the poetry section

Poetry is compressed, packing meaning into small choices like line breaks, rhymes and images

Arriving at a controlling idea fast, so analysis becomes proving a thesis

Writing physically as fast as you possibly can to maximise the sheer volume of words

Quoting whole paragraphs at length so the examiner sees you know the passage well

Annotating every single device in the text exhaustively before you begin writing

Section A is worth markedly fewer marks than the unseen poetry of Section B

Both sections share the paper, so time taken from Section B leaves it rushed or unfinished

Examiners actively penalise answers that run on beyond a fixed and officially stated maximum length

Section A must always be attempted last, after the poetry has been completed

Reported dialogue set out conventionally inside speech marks and tagged with said

An explanatory footnote or editorial gloss that defines a difficult or archaic word for the reader

Third-person narration that takes on a character's idiom or perspective without quotation marks

A passage of first-person diary entry written directly in the character's own voice

The opening line of the poem that first establishes its main setting

The fixed rhyme scheme running through the whole poem

The title and any dedication printed above the poem

The turn where the poem's argument, mood or direction shifts

Read its form and voice for what they do on the page, without guessing the author

Spend a good portion of your time trying to guess the likely poet and the period it comes from

Refuse to commit to a reading until you have firmly identified the poem and its author

Simply assume that any undated unseen poem must be a modern one

Memorised quotations recalled accurately from a list of prescribed set texts

A rehearsed, transferable close-reading process delivered to time

A detailed working knowledge of literary history and the major movements

A long, carefully crafted introduction setting out the writer's life