Cambridge AS Level Language and Literature in English 8695/22 is the May/June 2026 Paper 2 (Drama, Poetry and Prose), variant 2. It lasts 2 hours, is worth 50 marks and you answer two questions, each from a different section, at 25 marks each. Twelve set texts were offered across three sections, each with an (a) essay question and a (b) passage question, so the biggest decision is which two sections and which question type play to your strengths. This guide covers all 24 questions and explains how the official mark scheme places answers. The paper and its mark scheme are free on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

For an overview of both 8695 papers from this series, see AS Language and Literature 8695 May/June 2026 past papers: what came up and how it was marked.

8695/22 at a glance

Rubric: answer two questions in total, each from a different section. For each text, answer either (a) or (b). Dictionaries are not allowed.

Question	Section	Set text	(a) Essay	(b) Passage	Marks
1	A Drama	Albee: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	How Albee makes families significant	George in an Act 2 extract	25 each
2	A Drama	Errol John: Moon on a Rainbow Shawl	Desire and its effects	How tension is created, Act 3 Scene 2	25 each
3	A Drama	Shakespeare: The Tempest	Miranda through her relationships	Alonso and his companions, Act 2 Scene 1	25 each
4	A Drama	Webster: The Duchess of Malfi	Different kinds of conflict	Bosola and Ferdinand, Act 3 Scene 1	25 each
5	B Poetry	Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise	The natural world, comparing two poems	Attitudes to work in One More Round	25 each
6	B Poetry	Blake: Songs of Innocence and of Experience	Social injustice in two poems	The situation in A Little Boy Lost	25 each
7	B Poetry	Plath: Ariel	Effects of settings in two poems	The journey in Getting There	25 each
8	B Poetry	Songs of Ourselves, Volume 2	Journeys in two poems	The wasp in Edward Taylor’s Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold	25 each
9	C Prose	Kiran Desai: The Inheritance of Loss	Cho Oyo, the Judge’s house	Jemubhai’s marriage, Chapter 16	25 each
10	C Prose	Stories of Ourselves, Volume 1	Characters you find unlikeable, in two stories	Da-duh in To Da-duh, in Memoriam	25 each
11	C Prose	Evelyn Waugh: A Handful of Dust	Responses to others in pain, from a critical comment	Dr Messinger’s death	25 each
12	C Prose	Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad	How the past is presented, from a critical comment	Cora’s recapture by Ridgeway	25 each
		Total (two answers from two different sections)			50

Question-by-question walkthrough

How every question is marked

The 8695/22 mark scheme marks each answer out of 25 with one set of level descriptors. Every question simply says to mark according to the levels, with no text-specific content.

• Four assessment objectives, equally weighted. AO1 is knowledge and understanding, including relevant context; AO2 is analysis of how the writer’s choices of language, form and structure shape meaning; AO3 is an informed, independent personal response; AO4 is communication of a relevant, structured, supported argument. Each level has a strand for each one.
• Six levels. Level 6, perceptive and assured, is 22–25; Level 5, confident and thorough, 18–21; Level 4, sound and competent, 14–17; Level 3, straightforward and partial, 10–13; Level 2, basic and limited, 6–9; and Level 1, generalised and restricted, 1–5. A mark of 0 is for no relevant ideas or evidence.
• Best fit, then position. Examiners place the answer in the level whose qualities it shows most of (not necessarily all), then choose a mark for where it sits within that level.
• Narrative holds answers down. Level 3 mentions occasional reliance on narrative summary or paraphrase; Levels 2 and 1 mention it too. The annotations include one for narrative.
• No single right answer. The scheme says there is no one required approach, that answers should not be penalised for leaving out a particular focus, and that examiners must meet candidates on their chosen ground if it is relevant.

Section A: Drama

Every drama passage question asks you to pay close attention to dramatic methods and their effects, so stage directions, pauses, entrances and exits, and how the audience would react are all part of the analysis.

Question 1: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Edward Albee)

• 1(a), families: discuss some of the ways Albee makes families significant. Range across the play and consider how families, real or imagined, shape the characters and the action.
• 1(b), George in an Act 2 extract: George, speaking to Nick like a father, tries to give him advice, warning him that he will be dragged under and offering him a “survival kit”. Nick laughs at him and mocks him. George says he has tried to reach him; Nick sneers, then turns on him with an insult, and George replies with a long speech, directed at Nick but not to him, about building a civilisation only for it to end in a crude dismissal. Nick applauds and laughs. The many stage directions on tone, pauses and silences are rich material for dramatic methods.

Question 2: Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Errol John)

• 2(a), desire and its effects: with close attention to dramatic methods, explore what characters want and what their desires lead to.
• 2(b), tension in an Act 3 Scene 2 extract: an evening scene. Focus on how John builds tension through dialogue, stage directions and the audience’s knowledge.

Question 3: The Tempest (William Shakespeare)

• 3(a), Miranda: how Shakespeare presents Miranda through her different relationships. Choosing relationships that show different sides of her gives you more to say.
• 3(b), Alonso and his companions in Act 2 Scene 1: Gonzalo tries to cheer Alonso by recalling the wedding of his daughter in Tunis, while Antonio and Sebastian mock Gonzalo. Alonso wishes the marriage had never happened, believing his son drowned; Francisco describes seeing the son swim strongly towards the shore, but Alonso will not believe it. Sebastian bluntly blames Alonso for the loss, Gonzalo rebukes him for his lack of gentleness, and Antonio and Sebastian go on mocking Gonzalo with puns. Contrast grief, comfort and cruelty, and look at how the mockery undercuts the king.

Question 4: The Duchess of Malfi (John Webster)

• 4(a), conflict: in what ways, and with what dramatic effects, does Webster present different kinds of conflict? Different kinds might be within the family, between classes, or within a character.
• 4(b), Bosola and Ferdinand in Act 3 Scene 1: Ferdinand dismisses the scandal about the Duchess to her face and professes his love, then, alone, shows he believes her guilty. Bosola reports rumours about her children and suggests sorcery; Ferdinand scorns the idea, blames her own nature and resolves to force a confession that night, using the key Bosola has obtained. Ferdinand refuses to share his plan, Bosola tells him he flatters himself, and Ferdinand thanks him for his honesty. Focus on power, secrecy and how much each man reveals.

Section B: Poetry

All four (a) questions require two poems, and 5(a) asks you to compare them. Choose poems that give you contrasting material.

Question 5: And Still I Rise (Maya Angelou)

• 5(a), the natural world: compare how Angelou presents the natural world in two poems from the selection.
• 5(b), One More Round: analyse how the poem presents attitudes to work. Look at its voice and form, and at what it says about labour and pay.

Question 6: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (William Blake)

• 6(a), social injustice: discuss how Blake presents social injustice in two poems.
• 6(b), A Little Boy Lost: with close attention to poetic methods and effects, discuss how Blake presents the situation. A child says he cannot love anyone more than himself; a priest overhears, seizes him, denounces him as a fiend for questioning holy mystery, and has him stripped, chained and burned while his parents weep in vain. The poem ends by asking whether such things are done on Albion’s shore. The contrast between the child’s simple reasoning and the priest’s violence, the repeated weeping, and the closing question are all worth analysing.

Question 7: Ariel (Sylvia Plath)

• 7(a), settings: discuss the effects created by Plath’s choice of settings, referring to two poems.
• 7(b), Getting There: comment closely on how Plath presents the journey in an extract from the poem, with careful attention to poetic methods and effects. The extract opens with a question about distance; the imagery and the movement of the lines are the places to look.

Question 8: Songs of Ourselves, Volume 2

• 8(a), journeys: in what ways, and with what effects, do two poems from the selection explore journeys?
• 8(b), Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold (Edward Taylor): a wasp numbed by the cold north wind warms herself in the sun, rubbing and stretching her limbs like a person. The speaker imagines her head holding wise principles, her body a store of nature’s remedies and her helmet sheltering reason, before she flies off home giving thanks. Discuss how Taylor presents the wasp: the human comparisons, the detailed physical description and the shift towards thankfulness at the end.

Section C: Prose

Every prose passage question asks you to comment closely, so analysis of the passage’s language and structure matters as much as what happens.

Question 9: The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai)

• 9(a), Cho Oyo: discuss how Desai presents the Judge’s house in the novel.
• 9(b), Jemubhai’s marriage, Chapter 16: a passage that begins with excited news of Jemu’s departure for England reaching Bomanbhai. Consider how Desai presents the marriage.

Question 10: Stories of Ourselves, Volume 1

• 10(a), unlikeable characters: discuss the presentation of characters you find unlikeable in some way, in two stories. Your personal response is built into the question, so say why each character is unlikeable and how the writer shapes that view.
• 10(b), Da-duh in To Da-duh, in Memoriam (Paule Marshall): a passage in which the narrator finds her grandmother dressed for their morning walk but lying on her chair, facing the window, and which ends with the narrator, as an adult, painting tropical scenes in a noisy New York loft. Comment closely on how Marshall presents Da-duh.

Question 11: A Handful of Dust (Evelyn Waugh)

• 11(a), responses to others in pain: a quoted comment suggests the novel is less concerned with who is hurt than with how some people respond when others are hurt. Discuss how Waugh presents characters’ responses to others in pain in the light of this view.
• 11(b), Dr Messinger’s death: a passage from In Search of a City, Part 4, which ends with his hat floating towards the Amazon. Comment closely on how Waugh presents the death.

Question 12: The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead)

• 12(a), the past: a quoted comment says Whitehead rearranges the past but does not fundamentally change it. Discuss how he presents the past in the light of this view.
• 12(b), Cora’s recapture by Ridgeway: a passage from the North Carolina section, opening as the night riders drag Martin and Ethel to the park. Comment closely on how Whitehead presents the recapture.

Where the marks are on 8695/22

Answer	What you write	Marks
First answer	One (a) essay or (b) passage question from one section	25
Second answer	One (a) or (b) question from a different section	25
	Total	50

• Both answers use the same grid. A passage answer and an essay are judged on the same four objectives and six levels.
• The objectives are equally weighted. Knowledge without analysis, or analysis without a clear argument, cannot reach the top levels.
• Section choice is free. Drama with Poetry, Drama with Prose, or Poetry with Prose are all allowed, and you can mix (a) and (b) questions however you like.

How to self-mark 8695/22 with the mark scheme

1. Check the rubric. Two answers, from two different sections.
2. Read the whole answer before choosing a level. Find the level whose qualities it shows most of, then decide whether it sits high or low within that level.
3. Use the level names as a guide. Is the analysis perceptive, thorough, competent, straightforward, basic or generalised? The AO2 strand usually separates neighbouring levels.
4. Check quotation and reference. The top levels describe interpretations fully supported with well-chosen quotations; the lower levels rarely support points.
5. Mark narrative. Highlight every sentence that retells the story without making a point. A lot of highlighting points to Level 3 or below.
6. Check the question’s focus. Did the answer address the key words, such as dramatic methods, two poems, or the critical comment, all the way through?
7. Compare your two marks. If one answer is a level lower, it is often the one where you ran short of time or lost the question’s focus.

Sit 8695/22 as a timed mock

The paper allows 120 minutes for two equal answers, so give them equal time.

Block	Marks	Time
Read the questions and choose two sections and texts	–	5 minutes
Plan the first answer	–	7 minutes
Write the first answer	25	48 minutes
Plan the second answer	–	7 minutes
Write the second answer	25	48 minutes
Check both answers against the question’s key words	–	5 minutes

For a passage question, use part of your planning time to annotate the extract before you write.

Other May/June 2026 8695 papers

• 8695 Paper 12 (Writing)

Practise and download

• Download 8695/22 and its mark scheme on the Learning Portal →
• All 8695 May/June 2026 papers: overview and marking patterns
• Try a free AS Level Language and Literature in English quiz

Need help with an 8695 topic? Book a free trial lesson with an AS Level Language and Literature tutor →

Frequently asked questions

What is the rubric for 8695 Paper 22 May/June 2026? +

Answer two questions in total, each from a different section: Drama, Poetry or Prose. Each question is worth 25 marks, so the paper is out of 50 and lasts 2 hours. For each text you choose either the (a) essay or the (b) passage question.

Which set texts were on 8695/22 in 2026? +

Drama: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, The Tempest and The Duchess of Malfi. Poetry: Angelou, Blake, Plath and Songs of Ourselves Volume 2. Prose: The Inheritance of Loss, Stories of Ourselves Volume 1, A Handful of Dust and The Underground Railroad.

Can I answer two questions from the Drama section of 8695/22? +

No. Your two answers must come from two different sections, so you choose two of Drama, Poetry and Prose. Within each section you answer on one text, choosing its (a) or (b) question.

Does the 8695/22 mark scheme give points for each text? +

No. Every question is marked out of 25 with the same six-level grid, from generalised and restricted (1–5) to perceptive and assured (22–25). There is no list of expected content for any question.

How do I answer the critical-comment questions on 8695/22? +

Questions 11(a) on A Handful of Dust and 12(a) on The Underground Railroad quote a view of the novel and ask you to discuss the text in its light. Test the comment against the novel, agree or disagree with evidence, and keep the focus on how the writer presents the topic.

Where can I download 8695/22 May/June 2026 and its mark scheme? +

Both are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal, on the Cambridge AS Level Language and Literature in English 8695 past papers page.

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