Select and plan 9695 set texts
Use the exact examination-year syllabus and your centre's choices to plan every selected text across the AS and A Level routes.
Section SET-TEXTS · Year-specific set texts and centre choices
Exam scope and assessment notes
Use the official syllabus for the year you will sit. The 2027–2028 edition uses five assessment objectives; the 2029–2031 Version 2 uses four revised objectives. The Paper 3 response rule also changes in 2029. Set texts rotate by year and school choice; these lessons use only original StudyForA examples and do not teach or reproduce any prescribed work. Original StudyForA practice is independent study, not Cambridge question papers, official marking or grades. The syllabus page does not identify your school's chosen texts. Use the appropriate official set-text list and editions assigned by your centre; Paper 4 requires one poetry text and one prose text. The new guide teaches year and route selection, but a text-by-text teaching sequence and individual set-text study guides remain pending. Extended essays need teacher feedback, and no timed full-paper simulation is included.
Before you begin
- Bring the set text or passage supplied for your own exam year. Use only the text and editions selected by your centre; no prescribed literary text is reproduced in this lesson.
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
An AS candidate is preparing Papers 1 and 2. Which set-text inventory is complete?
What you will learn
- Identify the correct syllabus and set-text list for the exam year
- Plan the three AS set texts and separate unseen preparation
- Check the four additional A Level text choices against Papers 3 and 4
- Choose texts with the centre while considering learner and school context
Build the AS list first
For AS, Paper 1 requires one selected drama text and one selected poetry text. Paper 2 requires one selected prose text and a response to previously unseen material. That is three set texts plus unseen practice; the unseen passage is not a fourth set text.
The set-text lists depend on the exam year and can differ between the 2027–2028 and 2029–2031 syllabuses. Read Section 3 of the syllabus for the year you will sit and ask your centre which options it has selected.
Add the A Level texts by paper
For the A Level papers, plan two further texts for Paper 3: one Shakespeare text and one other Drama text. Paper 4 uses two further selections, one from each historical period section, with exactly one poetry text and one prose text.
Use a checklist that records each text's paper, form and period. If a choice appears to satisfy one requirement but not another, verify it against the official list before you begin the full-work study plan.
Check the suitability and the full route
A Level can be taken in a staged route or in one series, while AS is Papers 1 and 2. Match every selection to the assessment year and route; do not assume an earlier year's texts remain valid.
Cambridge advises schools to choose texts appropriate to learners' age, cultural background and learning context, while following school policies and local legal requirements. The choice belongs with the centre and its exams planning.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
An A Level Paper 4 plan contains two pre-1900 texts, one poetry and one prose. Is the period requirement met?
Worked example
A learner taking AS in 2028 plans a drama and a poem for Paper 1, a prose text for Paper 2, and unseen practice. For a later A Level stage, the learner adds two Paper 3 works and two Paper 4 works. What checks are still needed?
Show the worked solution
- Check all choices against the 2028 or later examination-year syllabus that applies to each sitting.
- For Paper 3, verify one Shakespeare and one other Drama text.
- For Paper 4, verify one pre-1900 and one post-1900 choice, with one poetry and one prose text.
Answer The learner has the right number of selections in broad form, but must confirm the actual texts against the exact year-specific lists and centre choices. The unseen task remains practice with an unseen passage, not a set text.
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.
An AS learner has a selected drama, poem and prose text for 2028, and plans an unseen response. Sort each item into Paper 1, Paper 2 or practice-only.
Give me a hint
Paper 1 combines drama and poetry; Paper 2 combines prose and unseen material.
Compare my reasoning
- Place the drama and poem under Paper 1.
- Place the selected prose text under Paper 2.
- Record unseen response practice under Paper 2, but do not list it as a prescribed work.
Paper 1: one drama and one poetry text. Paper 2: one prose text plus unseen response practice. The three selected works are the set texts; the unseen material is not a prescribed text.
Look for these in your work
- All three set texts assigned
- Unseen is not called a set text
- Correct papers identified
Create an A Level selection checklist for Papers 3 and 4. State the requirements for each of the four texts without naming a title.
Give me a hint
Count two texts for each paper, then check form, period and Shakespeare requirements.
Compare my reasoning
- Paper 3 needs one Shakespeare text and one other Drama text.
- Paper 4 needs one text from each historical period section.
- Across Paper 4, the pair must contain one poetry text and one prose text; check every option in the exam-year list.
Paper 3: Shakespeare plus another Drama text. Paper 4: one pre-1900 and one post-1900 text, with exactly one poetry and one prose. The four selected titles still need confirmation against the syllabus for the exam year and the centre's choices.
Look for these in your work
- Both Paper 3 forms checked
- Both Paper 4 periods checked
- Paper 4 forms checked
Your staged A Level begins with exams in 2028 and continues with exams in 2029. Explain why you should recheck the text list and what else changes in the study plan.
Give me a hint
A later exam year may use a different syllabus edition and assessment framework.
Compare my reasoning
- Open the 2029–2031 syllabus and its set-text section instead of carrying forward the 2027–2028 list.
- Confirm the centre's selected Paper 3 and Paper 4 texts for that series.
- Review the 2029–2031 assessment objectives and Paper 3 response rule as well as the text choices.
The 2029 stage uses its own syllabus edition and text list; recheck centre choices and the changed assessment framework, including Paper 3's response rule. A staged route does not guarantee that text choices carry forward unchanged.
Look for these in your work
- Correct later syllabus checked
- Centre choices re-confirmed
- Assessment changes included
Common mistakes
- Treating an unseen passage as a prescribed text
- Reusing a set-text list from a different exam year
- Choosing two Paper 4 texts from the same period
- Selecting two poems or two prose works for Paper 4
- Assuming the centre's set-text choice without checking
What can you explain now?
Which two forms must be represented in the Paper 4 pair?
Compare with the explanation
One poetry text and one prose text, with one choice from each period section
Paper 4 requires both forms and both period sections: one pre-1900 choice and one post-1900 choice.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
Your review choice appears on Today. Sign in to sync it across devices.
Make it stick
For your exam year, list each paper, the required text forms and periods, and the official source you used to verify your centre's choices.
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.