AQAAS Level27 resources

AQA AS English Literature B Past Papers & Mark Schemes

Download free AQA AS English Literature B (7716) past papers. Paper 1: Drama (tragedy or comedy). Paper 2: Prose and poetry genre study. 27 resources.

Download Past Papers

Type
Year

27 of 27 resources — page 1 of 2

June 2023

9 files
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – June 2023

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – June 2023

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 2B Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of comedy – June 2023

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – June 2023

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 1B Literary genres: Drama: aspects of comedy – June 2023

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – June 2023

Question Paper

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 2B Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of comedy – June 2023

Mark Scheme

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – June 2023

Mark Scheme

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 1B Literary genres: Drama: aspects of comedy – June 2023

Mark Scheme

June 2022

10 files
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 2B Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of comedy – June 2022

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – June 2022

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – June 2022

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 2B Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of comedy – June 2022

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – June 2022

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 1B Literary genres: Drama: aspects of comedy – June 2022

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – June 2022

Question Paper

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 2B Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of comedy – June 2022

Mark Scheme

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – June 2022

Mark Scheme

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 1B Literary genres: Drama: aspects of comedy – June 2022

Mark Scheme

November 2020

6 files
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – November 2020

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (Modified A4 18pt) (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – November 2020

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – November 2020

Question Paper
📄

AS English Literature B – Question paper (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – November 2020

Question Paper

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 2A Literary genres: Prose and poetry: aspects of tragedy – November 2020

Mark Scheme

AS English Literature B – Mark scheme (AS) : Paper 1A Literary genres: Drama: aspects of tragedy – November 2020

Mark Scheme

Genre-Based Literary Study: Tragedy and Comedy in Drama, Prose, and Poetry

AQA AS English Literature B (specification 7716) organises literary study through genre rather than chronology or theme, asking students to understand how the conventions of tragedy and comedy shape the way writers create meaning. Across 27 past papers covering both pathways, students can practise applying genre conventions to their set texts and comparing prose with poetry. Paper 1: Literary Genres — Drama (1 hour 30 minutes, 50 marks, 50%) focuses on a single dramatic text studied through the lens of tragic or comic genre conventions. Students choosing the tragedy pathway (Paper 1A) study a play such as Othello, Death of a Salesman, or A Streetcar Named Desire, examining how it employs and subverts tragic conventions — the tragic hero, hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis. Students choosing the comedy pathway (Paper 1B) study a play such as Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, or A Midsummer Night's Dream, examining how comic conventions — disguise, mistaken identity, the green world, festive resolution — generate meaning and pleasure. Paper 2: Literary Genres — Prose and Poetry (1 hour 30 minutes, 50 marks, 50%) extends genre study across prose fiction and poetry. Paper 2A (tragedy pathway) pairs a prose text with a poetry anthology exploring aspects of tragedy — suffering, loss, mortality, destructive passion, the fall from high to low estate. Paper 2B (comedy pathway) pairs prose and poetry exploring aspects of comedy — wit, social satire, the carnivalesque, romantic resolution, the challenge to authority through laughter. The genre approach encourages students to read literature with an awareness of literary tradition and convention. Understanding that tragic heroes typically possess both exceptional qualities and fatal flaws, or that comedy typically moves from social confusion to restored order through marriage or celebration, provides a framework for nuanced interpretation of individual texts. The strongest candidates use genre knowledge flexibly — recognising where texts conform to conventions and, critically, where they subvert or complicate them.

Exam Paper Structure

Paper 1A/1BNo calculator

Literary Genres: Drama (Tragedy or Comedy)

1 hour 30 minutes🎯 50 marks📊 50% of grade
Set drama text: extract and wider play analysisGenre conventions (tragic hero/hamartia OR comic inversion/resolution)Performance awareness and dramatic technique
Paper 2A/2BNo calculator

Literary Genres: Prose and Poetry (Tragedy or Comedy)

1 hour 30 minutes🎯 50 marks📊 50% of grade
Prose set text through genre lensPoetry anthology: genre-specific analysisCross-genre comparison between prose and poetry

Key Information

Exam BoardAQA
Specification Code7716
QualificationAS Level
Grading ScaleA–E
Assessment Type2 written papers (closed book)
Paper 1Drama: Tragedy (1A) or Comedy (1B) — 1 hr 30 min, 50 marks, 50%
Paper 2Prose and Poetry: Tragedy (2A) or Comedy (2B) — 1 hr 30 min, 50 marks, 50%
Genre FocusTragedy pathway (1A + 2A) or Comedy pathway (1B + 2B)
Set TextsDrama set text + prose text + poetry anthology
Exam SessionsJune only
Total Resources27

Key Topics in English Literature B

Topics you need to know

Tragic conventions (hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, catharsis)Comic conventions (disguise, festive inversion, green world, resolution)Drama as performance (staging, audience response, theatrical technique)Genre awareness in prose fictionPoetry and the expression of tragic or comic modesSubversion and complication of genre expectationsClose reading with genre-specific critical vocabularyContextual understanding of genre traditions

Exam Command Words

Command wordWhat the examiner expects
How far do you agreeEvaluate the given statement about the text, arguing for and against with textual evidence — reach a clear conclusion
ExamineAnalyse the text's use of genre conventions in detail, exploring both conformity and subversion
Consider howExplore the writer's methods, focusing on the specific aspect identified in the question
CompareDraw out specific similarities and differences between the prose and poetry texts in their treatment of the genre
Explore the significanceAnalyse a specific passage or feature, explaining its importance to the text's genre and meaning
DiscussPresent a sustained argument with evidence from the text, considering different perspectives

Typical Grade Boundaries

GradeApproximate mark needed
A71–81%
B60–70%
C49–59%
D38–48%
E27–37%

⚠️ AS English Literature B uses 100 raw marks total (50 per paper). Grade thresholds vary between sessions — check AQA's published boundary documents.

Applying Genre Conventions to Specific Texts Without Mechanical Tick-Box Analysis

The biggest pitfall in genre-based literary study is applying conventions mechanically — identifying the tragic hero, locating the hamartia, ticking off anagnorisis — without genuine critical engagement. The examiners want you to use genre knowledge as a lens for interpretation, not a checklist. Ask yourself: does this text straightforwardly fulfil the tragic/comic pattern, or does it complicate it? Where does it deviate, and what is the effect of that deviation? A response that argues 'Willy Loman is both a tragic hero and a critique of the concept of the tragic hero' demonstrates far more sophisticated genre awareness than one that simply labels him as a tragic figure. For drama texts, performance awareness strengthens your analysis. Consider how a director might stage the scene in the extract — what would the audience see, hear, feel? Stage directions, soliloquies, asides, dramatic irony, and the physical positioning of characters all contribute to tragic or comic effect. Writing about a play as a piece of theatre rather than solely as a literary text demonstrates understanding of the dramatic form. The prose and poetry paper requires you to connect two very different text types through their shared genre conventions. Identify parallel structural patterns: both tragic prose and tragic poetry may use imagery of descent, darkness, or entrapment; both comic prose and comic poetry may use irony, bathos, or unexpected juxtaposition. The strongest responses find genuine points of comparison rather than treating the prose text and the poems as separate entities that happen to share a label. When writing about genre, use the correct critical vocabulary. Tragedy has its own terminology: hamartia (the flaw or error), hubris (excessive pride), peripeteia (reversal of fortune), anagnorisis (recognition or discovery), catharsis (emotional release). Comedy has: the alazon (the self-deceiving braggart), the eiron (the self-deprecating wit), the green world (a space outside normal social rules), festive inversion, and resolution through marriage or reconciliation. Using these terms precisely signals your command of the critical framework.

More AQA AS Level Subjects

Explore other AS Level subjects from AQA

Related Past Papers

AI-Powered Revision

Meet your AI Tutor

Get clear explanations, worked examples, and step-by-step guidance on any AS Level English Literature B topic. Your personal AI tutor, free to try.

✓ No credit card required✓ Covers all AQA topics✓ Instant answers