The syllabus has been reviewed and revised for first examination in 2024.

The latest syllabus is version 2, published December 2022.

Changes to syllabus version 2, published December 2022

Changes to assessment (including changes to specimen papers)

Paper 1 Reading

• A change has been made to the word count for Question 3a Summary task.

Changes to syllabus version 1, published September 2021/Changes to syllabus content

Aims and assessment objectives

• The syllabus aims and assessment objectives have been updated.
• The wording of the assessment objectives has been revised to make them more concise. The assessment objectives continue to test the same knowledge and skills.

Subject content

• The syllabus content has been updated to reflect current educational thinking and practice.

• A list of command words has been added to the syllabus

Changes to assessment (including changes to specimen papers)

The order of the question papers has changed to: Paper 1 Reading and Paper 2 Writing.

Paper 1 Reading

• There is more integration of skills in the paper with 80% assessment of Reading and 20% assessment of Writing.

• There are two reading texts, printed in an insert.
• Section A assesses Comprehension and Use of Language, and Section B assesses Summary writing and a short response task.

• The summary task has changed. Please read the syllabus and specimen papers for details.

• There is a new question assessing understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes (5 marks).

• Questions are short answer and extended response.
• The marking criteria have been updated.
• The duration of Paper 1 Reading is 2 hours.

Changes to assessment (including changes to specimen papers) continued

Paper 2 Writing

• There is more integration of skills in the paper with 80% assessment of Writing and 20% assessment of Reading.

• Candidates must now write in two different styles. In Section A Directed Writing, candidates write an argumentative or discursive-style essay.

In Section B Composition, there is a choice between descriptive or narrative writing.

• The Directed Writing includes stimulus reading text(s).
• The marking criteria have been updated.
• The number of marks for the paper is 50.
• The duration of the paper is 2 hours.