A Level · Cambridge (CIE) · 9680

Analyse a prescribed Arabic literary text

Use close reading, accurate knowledge of the prescribed text and analysis of authorial choices for 9680 Component 4.

Cambridge International A Level Arabic 9680 · exams 2025–2028 · C4-LITERATURE

Exam scope and assessment notes

This is an original, topic-mapped learning sequence, not a complete 180-hour AS or 360-hour A Level guided course. Arabic extended writing is self-reviewed, not marked by Cambridge or given an official grade; a qualified Arabic teacher should review it. It is not a timed mock. All practice passages and prompts here are original. The 9680 literature route teaches transferable analysis but does not replace reading the exact year-specific prescribed books, editions and pages.

Before you begin

Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.

Quick readiness check

Which approach is strongest for analyse a prescribed arabic literary text?

What you will learn

Answer a passage-based or issue-focused question on a studied work.
Support an interpretation with accurate textual evidence.
Explain how language, structure or form shapes meaning.

Prepare from the correct yearly list

For 9680, candidates answer three questions on different prescribed texts, with at least one text chosen from each syllabus section. Each response is marked out of 25; Cambridge advises 500–600 words.

The prescribed list and page ranges change by examination year. Use the linked syllabus for the exact year and edition; the method here does not substitute for reading the book or the assigned stories.

This lesson uses an original two-line practice text. It does not reproduce or summarise copyrighted set works.

Move from evidence to interpretation

For a passage question, establish the passage's immediate situation and then connect it to the wider work using accurate details from your own reading.

For an issue essay, select episodes that develop the issue and analyse how the writer conveys it. Relevant choices may include imagery, voice, structure, contrast or characterisation.

Avoid plot retelling, unsupported claims about author intention and a list of devices with no explanation. A teacher should review Arabic interpretation and expression.

Sources for this lesson

Pause and explain

What makes a literary claim dependable?

Put the idea to work

Worked example

Original practice lines: «عاد المسافر إلى الباب، / فوجد الضوء ينتظره لا الوجوه». Explain one possible contrast without presenting it as the only interpretation.

Show the worked solution

Identify the contrast between the light and the absent people.
Link it to a possible feeling such as welcome or loss.
Qualify the reading because the wider poem is not given.

Answer The contrast may make the home seem physically welcoming but emotionally changed. The light suggests continuity, while the missing faces suggest absence; the wider text would determine which reading is strongest.

Try a topic test

Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.

Test this topic →

From guided practice to a new situation

Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.

1 · Guided

Analyse the original contrast «الضوء ينتظره لا الوجوه» in two sentences.

Give me a hint

Explain both parts of the contrast, then qualify your interpretation.

Compare my reasoning

Identify the image of waiting light.
Explain how absent faces change its effect.
Use a qualifier such as 'may' or «قد».

The waiting light may suggest that the home remains prepared for the traveller, while the absent faces make the welcome feel incomplete. The wider poem would clarify the cause of that absence.

Look for these in your work

Analyses precise words
Explains the contrast
Qualifies the interpretation

2 · Independent

Create a three-point revision card for one prescribed poem: image, structural shift and wider theme.

Give me a hint

Fill it from the exact text and edition for your exam year.

Compare my reasoning

Record one accurate image and its location.
Identify a structural change and what it changes.
Connect both to a theme using a qualified interpretation.

A strong card gives a precise image, the relevant shift and a supported link to the poem's wider concern. The exact evidence must come from the candidate's own prescribed text.

Look for these in your work

Requires accurate text knowledge
Links structure to meaning
Avoids invented quotations

3 · Transfer

A passage-based question asks how a character responds to a loss. How can you connect the extract to the wider novel?

Give me a hint

Use an accurate later or earlier episode and explain a meaningful change or repetition.

Compare my reasoning

Interpret one detail in the supplied extract.
Select a relevant episode from the studied text.
Explain what the connection adds to your answer.

The response should interpret a precise detail from the extract, connect it to an accurately remembered episode elsewhere, and explain whether the repetition or change deepens the character's response. The exact evidence depends on the set novel.

Look for these in your work

Starts from the passage
Uses wider-text evidence
Explains the connection

Common mistakes

Retelling the plot instead of answering the question
Inventing a quotation or episode from the prescribed book
Treating one possible reading as the author's only intention

Recall without your notes

What can you explain now?

What makes a literary claim dependable?

Compare with the explanation

Accurate evidence from the candidate's studied text with an explanation of its effect

A device label or plot summary alone does not show how the text creates meaning.

After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.

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Make it stick

What must you verify before revising a 9680 set text?

If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.

Keep learning Arabic

Check the official syllabus 2025–2028