What are the main changes to the syllabus for 2024 – 2026?

The O Level English Language (1123) syllabus has been updated. You should check the syllabus for full details. The main changes are as follows:

• The order of the question papers has changed to: Paper 1 Reading and Paper 2 Writing.
• There are significant changes to the style, format and content of the questions in Paper 1 Reading and in Paper 2 Writing. Please see the syllabus, specimen papers and marking criteria for more detail about these changes.
• There is more integration of skills across the papers with more writing skills assessed in the Reading paper and more reading skills assessed in the Writing paper.
• The duration of both examinations (Paper 1 and Paper 2) has increased to 2 hours each. This reflects the increase in the length of the reading texts in Paper 1 and of the stimulus text(s) in Paper 2.  Candidates are also expected to produce longer responses to Paper 2 Section A: Directed Writing.