English literature GCSE summer 2024

[Needmorelego]

Hi all. Is there anyone who has a child in Year 9 whose school has already started the summer '24 curriculum. I am trying to find out what novels are going to be studied.
Thanks

For each exam board, there is a set selection in each category (e.g. Modern prose / nineteenth century novel / Shakespeare play).

The school, and sometimes individual class teachers, make the choice, as there is only time for one of each to be taught. Students then answer the exam question on the ones they've studied.

There is some crossover in what's included from different exam boards and therefore texts which are more popular, but it's impossible to know for sure what will be chosen without checking directly.

Hi - you need to check the exam board and with the school. Each school has a choice of which books they will study. The options booklet will confirm

Yep you need to check with school op. Some schools do the same texts across the year, others vary them. Also they vary from board to board.

If you are looking for some suggested summer reading fir your teen tho, then take a look at AQA or Edexcel eng lit. I would suggest Animal Farm, Jane Eyre, Taste of Honey, Christmas Carol, all quite approachable and short (well apart from JE).
Be aware your school may then do Inspector Calls and Jekyll and Hyde! But no background reading is ever a waste imo.

Thanks everyone. My daughter has just switched to a SEN school where not everyone does GCSEs but she is keen to do English and Maths - she would almost be an independent candidate. She is currently Year 9 so I thought she could get a head start.
Although to be honest with the novels listed above I don't think she is going to as keen 😂
She is more of a Japanese manga fan. Maybe just English Language GCSE is the way to go...

She is more of a Japanese manga fan.

Ha. There would be a lot of happy teens if some of those were on the syllabus. Hope she likes her new school.

@VeganGod thanks. Yes a curriculum of manga would be perfect.
She even considered independently doing GCSE Japanese but that interest fizzled out. But you never know...

I believe AQA is the most popular exam board for English Lit and it actually lists the most popular texts studied on the examiner's reports, "The most common text by far continues to be Macbeth, followed by Romeo and Juliet, which together account for the vast majority of responses. There are some centres studying Much About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice. Only a small number of centres are studying The Tempest or Julius Caesar"

19th Century novel first choice for most schools is A Christmas Carol
followed by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Plus the poetry elements. An Inspector Calls for what would normally be paper 2, Blood Brothers, Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies.

If either of my sons could have dropped English Lit they would have. Ds2 is still a big reader including anime novels. If she doesn't need English lit then English Language is all that is required for the maths and English element of GCSEs.

@OnTheBenchOfDoom thanks.
Why do they pick such boring texts 😂
The Shakespeare part isn't bad as long as you get to actually watch the play. My daughter actually went through a Shakespeare phase when she was about 9 but it was all Usborne Abridged or graphic novel versions she read !!

@Needmorelego yes but my son hates Romeo and Juliet, boring "love" story where they dramatically kill themselves. My degree is English Lit so they have watched Shakespearean plays for years. They are not impressed that I saw Kenneth Branagh play Hamlet at the RSC

My lovely MIL bought the abridged children's versions of Shakespeare and the first thing I did was open Much Ado About Nothing to see how they approached it in children's terms.

Ds is just thankful that their poetry anthology is Power and Conflict and not Love and Relationships.

@OnTheBenchOfDoom I saw Kenneth Branagh in Hamlet at Stratford too !!
I think my daughters response would be "who" 😂

@Needmorelego I was up in the rafters but I didn't care, it was epic. Mine know who Ken is (like we are friends) as they have seen Murder on the Orient Express plus clips from Much Ado and Henry V movies. I think I still have a crush on Ken. Andrew Scott does an incredible To be or not to be soliloquy which is on YouTube.

yes

Ds is just thankful that their poetry anthology is Power and Conflict and not Love and Relationships.

Ah, but if you do Edexel then at least you get to study I Wanna Be Yours which Arctic Monkeys fans love. Our entire family knew that one off by heart by the time dd had finished!

oops zombie thread - reported

@Comefromaway I don't mind that my zombie thread got reactivated 😂
Daughter is Year 11 now but not doing GCSEs yet. Her reading interests have become quite interesting in the last couple of years. Loves a lot of the Penguin Classics - especially Dickens.
Still loves her Manga as well 🙂