Year 12 WJEC Eduqas A-Level English Literature: Which Board Is Your Child Sitting? (2026 Guide)

Eduqas A-Level English Literature (specification code A720QS) is a linear, Ofqual-regulated qualification examined only in England; WJEC's separately regulated A-level English Literature (code 1720QS) is sat only in Wales, under Qualifications Wales. Eduqas has also withdrawn its free-standing AS in English Literature (B720QS), naming Summer 2027 as the final award series — the decision this page sets out for a family beginning Year 12 in September 2026.

Which Code Is Your Child Actually Entered For?

A720QS is Eduqas's A-level English Literature; B720QS is its AS. Eduqas's A-level specification draws its regulatory boundary in a single sentence: “This Ofqual regulated qualification is not available for candidates in maintained schools and colleges in Wales.” Its AS specification carries the identical wording against B720QS. Both are Ofqual-regulated, both examined only in England, and both carry their own Eduqas qualification numbers — 601/4870/6 for the A-level, 601/4871/8 for the AS.

WJEC's version sits on the other side of the same line, under different codes entirely: 1720QS for the A-level, 2720QS for the AS. WJEC's own specification states the reverse boundary: “This Welsh Government regulated qualification is not available to centres in England.” It carries separate Qualifications Wales approval numbers — C00/0722/7 for the A-level, C00/0723/3 for the AS — distinct from Eduqas's Ofqual numbers.

The two are not one qualification under two names, and the clearest evidence is structural rather than regulatory. WJEC's version is unitised across five separately coded units — AS Unit 1 (2720U1) and AS Unit 2 (2720U2), then A2 Units 3 to 5 (1720U3, 1720U4, 1720U5) — each banked and cashed in separately. Eduqas's version is a single linear award: its own technical information states plainly, “This is a linear qualification in which all assessments must be taken at the end of the course.” A student cannot carry a WJEC unit result into an Eduqas cash-in, or the reverse; the code printed on a past paper or entry statement identifies which system a school actually runs, not merely which country the exam is sat in.

What Does AS Actually Examine, and What Does the Full A-Level Examine?

AS English Literature is not a slice cut out of the A-level. Eduqas's own AS specification is explicit about the relationship: “AS qualifications are free-standing and are awarded in their own right. Assessments at AS cannot contribute to an A level grade.” A Year 12 entered for B720QS sits a complete, separately graded qualification, not a set of papers banking marks toward A720QS.

B720QS is two written papers of equal weight. Component 1, Prose, is worth 50% of the qualification and covers one pre-1900 and one post-1900 prose fiction text. Component 2, Poetry and Drama, makes up the other 50%, examining one poetry text and one play. AS results are reported on a scale from A to E — there is no A* at AS; that distinction only exists once a student reaches the full A-level.

A720QS is built from four components rather than two. Component 1, Poetry, and Component 2, Drama, are each worth 30% of the qualification; Component 3, Unseen Texts, is worth 20%; and Component 4, a non-exam Prose Study assessment of 2,500–3,500 words, makes up the remaining 20%. Where AS is graded A to E, the full A-level is graded A* to E.

Which Papers Let Your Child Take the Text Into the Exam Room?

The arrangement is not uniform, and it differs paper by paper on both qualifications. On the full A-level, Eduqas's specification marks Component 1, Poetry, “open-book, clean copy” for both sections; the same document is equally explicit about Component 2: “Component 2 within this specification will be examined without texts being available to candidates during the examination.” Component 3 needs neither format, since both sections work from unseen material — Eduqas fixes the two prose periods candidates prepare for, 1880–1910 for Question 1 and 1918–1939 for Question 2, but the actual passage is seen for the first time in the exam room.

AS reverses part of the pattern. Eduqas's AS specification marks Component 1, Prose, closed-book on both sections — pre-1900 and post-1900 fiction alike are examined from memory. Component 2, Poetry and Drama, splits down the middle within the same two-hour paper: Section A, Poetry, is “open-book, clean copy,” and Section B, Drama, is “closed-book.”

A clean copy means exactly that: Eduqas requires the prescribed edition with no annotation, and only the prescribed edition may be taken in. A student preparing for an open-book paper is training a different skill from one preparing for a closed-book paper on the same qualification — close, in-the-moment reading of a text in front of them, rather than recall of quotation under exam conditions — and on both B720QS and A720QS, a student meets both skills within the same qualification, sometimes within the same component.

The AS Qualification Has Been Withdrawn — What That Means for a Year 12 Starting in September 2026

Eduqas's own qualification page carries a standing notice, headed “AS Qualification Withdrawal”: “The AS qualification has been withdrawn. There will be assessment opportunities for current learners in Summer 2026 and Summer 2027, with the final award in Summer 2027.” Checked 7 September 2026, the notice is scoped to the AS alone — the same page lists A720QS, the full A-level, separately, with no equivalent statement against it.

A student starting Year 12 in September 2026 who is entered for the AS has a last opportunity in a named series: Summer 2027. Eduqas's own dated timetable for that cycle sets the AS Component 1 exam for 13 May, Component 2 for 21 May, with AS/A Level Results Day on 12 August. After that series, B720QS is no longer awarded.

None of this changes what the full A-level, A720QS, offers. AS assessments never contributed to the A-level grade in the first place — Eduqas's own AS specification is explicit that AS qualifications “are free-standing and are awarded in their own right” and that “assessments at AS cannot contribute to an A level grade.” A school choosing not to enter Year 12 for the AS was already choosing to sit no external assessment until Year 13 on the linear route; the withdrawal removes the free-standing AS as an option for a later cohort, but it does not touch A720QS itself.

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Who Chooses the Set Texts — Eduqas or the School?

The answer differs by component, and English Literature is the subject where that freedom is widest. Components 1 and 2, on both AS and the full A-level, work from a short Eduqas-prescribed list rather than an open choice: A-level Component 1, Section A, for example, offers five named pre-1900 poets to choose from — Geoffrey Chaucer, John Donne, John Milton, William Blake and Christina Rossetti — and the school or student studies one.

Component 3, Unseen Texts, needs no text choice at all in the ordinary sense: both the prose and poetry questions are genuinely unseen. What Eduqas does fix is the period each unseen prose passage is drawn from — 1880–1910 for Question 1, 1918–1939 for Question 2 — so preparation can still be targeted at two defined eras of prose style, even though the specific passage is new on the day.

Component 4, the NEA Prose Study, is the one component where the school genuinely chooses. Eduqas's specification requires “two prose texts by different authors, one published pre-2000 and one published post-2000,” but both are “nominated and submitted via WJEC's secure website for approval” by the centre, not selected from an Eduqas list. That single component carries more choice than every exam paper on the qualification combined. Eduqas's full set-texts list sets out every prescribed option for Components 1 and 2.

When Does the School Lock In the NEA Text Choices?

Earlier than most families expect, and the choice is made by the school, not requested from a parent — there is no route for a family to nominate a text to WJEC directly. Eduqas publishes the deadline each cycle in its own “Important Dates” calendar. For the 2026-2027 cycle — covering candidates sitting the Summer 2027 series — the Component 4 text-nomination deadline was 31 October 2026, with the online nomination system “removed from the secure website” on 30 November 2026.

Those particular dates apply to the cohort already in the second year of the course this cycle, not to a Year 12 starting in September 2026 — that cohort's own equivalent deadline falls in the autumn term of their second year, once Eduqas publishes the corresponding Important Dates calendar for that later cycle. What the published pattern shows is the shape of the timeline: the NEA text choice is locked in early in the autumn term, with roughly a month allowed for a school to correct a nomination before the system closes, well before any exam paper is sat.

For a family, the practical implication is timing rather than action. The nomination itself runs through the school's exams office and WJEC's secure website; a parent's role is to know that the choice happens early in the second year of study — not to expect it to still be open when spring revision starts. For the wider picture of how this decision sits alongside a Year 12 student's other subjects, see our A-Level Tuition overview.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reviewed September 2026: specification codes, component structure, weightings, book status and published dates were checked against Eduqas (WJEC CBAC) and WJEC specifications, the Eduqas qualification page and Eduqas's Important Dates calendar, retrieved 7 September 2026.