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QCE · QCE Units 3 & 4 · official past papers

QCE English as an Additional Language past exams 2021–2025, by year and topic

The official QCAA exams, marking guides and examiner reports we index, organised by topic and subtopic and labelled with the study design it was written under. Open the official paper, work the question in your own workspace, or bring a tutor into it live.

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ATARMAxxing indexes 15 official QCAA English as an Additional Language papers from 2021 to 2025, with 48 questions mapped to 4 topics. Every paper opens on the QCAA website.

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EAL syllabus before the 2026 external assessment — published papers 2021–2025 · 2021–2025English as an Additional Language 2025 v1.3 — external assessment from 2026 · 2026–present

QCE English as an Additional Language exams by year: official papers & marking guidance

Past exams indexed: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021. Open the official QCAA papers, with marking guidance where available.

YearStudy designOfficial paper(s)Marking guidance
2025 QCE English as an Additional Language examEAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)External assessment — Question book ↗ · External assessment — Response book ↗ · Subject report ↗Marking guidance ↗
2024 QCE English as an Additional Language examEAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)External assessment — Question book ↗ · External assessment — Response book ↗ · Subject report ↗Marking guidance ↗
2023 QCE English as an Additional Language examEAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)External assessment — Question book ↗ · External assessment — Response book ↗ · Subject report ↗Marking guidance ↗
2022 QCE English as an Additional Language examEAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)External assessment — Question book ↗ · External assessment — Response book ↗ · Subject report ↗Marking guidance ↗
2021 QCE English as an Additional Language examEAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)External assessment — Question book ↗ · External assessment — Response book ↗ · Subject report ↗Marking guidance ↗

15 official papers across 5 years (2021–2025), 5 with marking guidance, published by QCAA. These span more than one study design; the most recent is English as an Additional Language 2025 v1.3 — external assessment from 2026. Earlier papers may cover material that has since changed.

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All the Light We Cannot See · 2 mapped questions

Concept — human nature in wartime

Character significance — Etienne

Burial Rites · 6 mapped questions

Proposition — history and storytelling

Character significance — Margrét

Reader positioning — belonging

Setting significance — landscape

Point of view — social status

Character significance — Blöndal

Macbeth · 6 mapped questions

Concept — consequences of wrongdoing

Proposition — sympathy for Macbeth

Reader positioning — leadership

Element significance — the supernatural

Point of view — loyalty

Reader positioning — Lady Macbeth

Never Let Me Go · 6 mapped questions

Reader positioning — the clones' acceptance

Character significance — Tommy

Reader positioning — friendship

Place significance — Norfolk

Point of view — being human

Reader positioning — Kathy

Othello · 4 mapped questions

Concept — reputation

Character significance — Emilia

Reader positioning — jealousy

Object significance — the handkerchief

Pride and Prejudice · 4 mapped questions

Proposition — critique of class

  • 2025EAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)Section 1 — Extended response Pride and Prejudice a)45 marksGave a statement that readers are invited to criticise a society built on rigid class divisions, for discussion. Students answer one question on one text.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Character significance — Wickham

Reader positioning — marriage

Event significance — Lydia's elopement

The Dry · 2 mapped questions

Proposition — small-town life

Character significance — Raco

The Yield · 6 mapped questions

Reader positioning — healing

Proposition — August's return

Reader positioning — survival

Object significance — the dictionary

Point of view — language

  • 2023EAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)Section 1 — Extended response The Yield a)45 marksTook Albert's view that words matter most and asked what point of view about language the novel conveys. Students answer one question on one text.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Reader positioning — Greenleaf

The White Earth · 4 mapped questions

Reader positioning — past and present

Place significance — Kuran House

Point of view — land

Character significance — Ruth

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves · 4 mapped questions

Reader positioning — normality

Relationship significance — humans and animals

  • 2024EAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)Section 1 — Extended response We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves b)45 marksAsked for an analysis of the importance of the human–animal relationship. Students answer one question on one text.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Point of view — family

Character significance — Lowell

Hamlet · 2 mapped questions

Point of view — trust

Proposition — doing right causes harm

  • 2023EAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)Section 1 — Extended response Hamlet b)45 marksQuoted a judgement that Hamlet's pursuit of justice does more damage than good and asked how far students agree. Students answer one question on one text.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Jane Eyre · 2 mapped questions

Point of view — family

Proposition — Jane's independence

  • 2023EAL syllabus in force before the 2026 external assessment (published papers 2021–2025)Section 1 — Extended response Jane Eyre b)45 marksQuoted Jane's claim to be free and independent and asked how far students agree with that reading of her. Students answer one question on one text.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

  • Unit 4 Topic 2 — Critical responses to literary texts (external assessment) — Analytical essay on an unseen question about one text from the external assessment section of the prescribed text list · Perspectives and representations of concepts, identities, times and places · Cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs that underpin the text and position readers · Effects of aesthetic features and stylistic devices · Thesis, evidence, sequencing and cohesion; grammar, vocabulary, register, punctuation and spelling
  • 2026 external assessment texts — All the Light We Cannot See — Anthony Doerr · Never Let Me Go — Kazuo Ishiguro · Othello — William Shakespeare · Pride and Prejudice — Jane Austen · The Dry — Jane Harper · The Namesake — Jhumpa Lahiri (new) · The Yield — Tara June Winch · Twelfth Night — William Shakespeare (new)
  • Unit 3 — Issues, ideas and attitudes (internal assessment) — IA1 Examination — extended response (25%) · IA2 Persuasive response (25%)
  • Unit 4 Topic 1 — Creative responses to literary texts (internal assessment) — IA3 Imaginative response (25%)

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