Edexcel IGCSE English A Past Papers
Every question paper and mark scheme from 2014–2024, free to download. 15 exam sittings, 78 papers.
All Edexcel IGCSE English A papers below are free — no account and no download limit. Each sitting lists every unit with its question paper and mark scheme side by side, along with the paper reference printed on the booklet.
2023
About Edexcel IGCSE English A past papers
This page holds 41 question papers and 37 mark schemes for IGCSE English A, covering 15 exam sittings from 2014 to 2024. Every paper is free to open, with no account and no download limit, and each one sits beside its mark scheme so you can mark your own work the way an examiner would. The most recent sitting here is May 2024.
The units covered are P1, P1R, P2 and P2R. Papers appear under more than one specification code — 4EA0 and 4EA1 — because the qualification has been revised during this period. Older papers remain useful: most of the subject content carries over, and the extra practice is worth more than a tidy archive. Each paper is labelled with its own code so you can see which generation it belongs to. Papers marked R are replacement papers, set for a different time zone. They cover the same specification to the same standard, and because fewer students work through them they are a good choice when you want a paper you have not already seen.
Papers here come from the January, May, June and October series — about 1.4 sittings a year across the 11 years covered, which is why there is usually a recent paper available whichever session you are entered for. 4 of the question papers here do not yet have their mark scheme beside them; the rest are complete pairs. If you need one of the missing schemes, tell us and it usually goes up within a few days.
Revising English A
English Language A cannot be revised by memorising content, which is why students often do not revise it at all. That is a mistake — it can be practised.
What is being tested is a set of repeatable moves: finding evidence in an unseen text, explaining the effect of a writer's choice rather than just naming it, and structuring a piece of writing under time pressure. Each of those improves with deliberate practice.
The commonest lost mark is identifying a technique without explaining its effect. "The writer uses a simile" earns nothing. What the simile makes the reader feel, and why that serves the writer's purpose, is where the marks live.
For the writing section, practise planning in two minutes and sticking to the plan. Most marks lost there are structural — a strong opening that loses its way — not a shortage of ideas.
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