We revise our qualifications regularly to make sure that they continue to meet the needs of learners, schools and higher education institutions around the world and reflect current thinking.

All candidates take:

Paper 1, Duration 2 hours
Reading 50%
50 marks
Structured and extended writing questions
Questions are based on two reading texts
Externally assessed

Paper 2, Duration 2 hours
Writing 50%
50 marks
Directed writing question and a composition task
Externally assessed

What are the main changes to the syllabus?

To support teachers and learners, we have:

• updated the syllabus aims and assessment objectives
• updated the syllabus content to continue to reflect current educational thinking and practice. There is more information and new wording but the teaching content remains largely the same
• introduced a list of command words to the syllabus to help learners understand what will be expected of them in the exam

What are the main changes to the assessment?

• The order of the question papers has changed to: Paper 1 Reading and Paper 2 Writing.
• There are significant changes to the style, format and content of the questions in Paper 1 Reading and in Paper 2 Writing. Please see the syllabus, specimen papers and marking criteria for more detail about these changes.
• There is more integration of skills across the papers with more writing skills assessed in the Reading paper and more reading skills assessed in the Writing paper.
• The duration of both examinations (Paper 1 and Paper 2) has increased to 2 hours each.

When do these changes take place?

The updated syllabus is for examination from June 2024 onwards. Examinations are available in March 2024 for India only. Please see the 2024-2026 syllabus above for full details