Edexcel A-Level Arabic set texts: all six, and how to choose

That choice is worth more thought than most students give it. You’ll live with these works for two years, write two extended essays on them under exam conditions, and you’ll have no notes and no dictionary in the room.

The six works

Literary texts

Films

A note on البخيلة: the specification dates it 2012, but Ahmed Shawqi died in 1932 — almost certainly an edition date rather than composition. The English titles are working translations; the specification lists the works in Arabic only.

Two texts, or one text and one film?

One text and one film is the more common choice, and for most students it’s the better one. A film gives you a second body of material to write about with far less reading load, and visual detail is easier to recall precisely under exam pressure than a novel’s prose.

Two literary texts suits you if you read Arabic comfortably and enjoy it, and if you’d rather write about language and style than about camera work and staging. It also means you skip Section C entirely — some students prefer answering two questions of the same kind.

Whichever you pick, one thing is non-negotiable: you have to know the work in specific detail. The essays that lose marks are the ones that describe a theme in general terms without ever pointing to a scene, a line, or a moment.

How to choose

Four questions worth answering honestly before committing: how comfortable is your reading; what do you actually find interesting; what can you get hold of with good editions or subtitles; and what can your tutor teach in real depth. A tutor who knows one work well is worth more than a syllabus-wide overview.

Start with the Wadjda film guide — the most modern and accessible work on the list — or read how Paper 2 is assessed.