2025 OCR GCSE English Literature J352/01
Exploring modern and literary heritage texts
Complete Question paper with Marking Scheme Combined
Oxford Cambridge and RSA
INSTRUCTIONS
• Use black ink.
• Write your answer to each question in the Answer Booklet. The question numbers must be
clearly shown.
• Fill in the boxes on the front of the Answer Booklet.
• All questions in Section A have two parts, (a) and (b). Answer both parts of the question on the
text you have studied.
• Answer one question on the text you have studied in Section B.
INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 80.
• The marks for each question are shown in brackets [ ].
• Quality of extended response will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).
• This document has 24 pages.
ADVICE
• Read each question carefully before you start your answer.
, 2
BLANK PAGE
© OCR J352/01
2025 Jun25
, 3
Contents Page
Section A – Modern prose or drama Question Page
Anita and Me by Meera Syal 1 4
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2 6
Animal Farm by George Orwell 3 8
An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley 4 10
Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock 5 12
DNA by Dennis Kelly 6 14
Section B – 19th century prose Questions Page
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 7/8 16
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 9/10 18
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells 11/12 19
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis
13/14 20
Stevenson
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 15/16 21
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 17/18 22
© OCR J352/01 Turn over
2025 Jun25
, 4
Section A – Modern prose or drama
Answer one question from this section.
1 Anita and Me by Meera Syal and The Boy with the Topknot by Sathnam Sanghera
Read the two extracts below and then answer both part (a) and part (b).
You should spend about 45 minutes on part (a) and 30 minutes on part (b).
For part (a), you should focus only on the extracts here rather than referring to
the rest of your studied text.
(a) Compare how the characters’ feelings about family life are presented in these
two extracts. You should consider:
• the situations and experiences faced by the characters
• how the characters react to these situations and experiences
• how the writers’ use of language and techniques creates effects.
[20]
AND
(b) Explore another moment in Anita and Me where Meena becomes aware of
differences between her family’s life and others in Tollington.
[20]
Extract 1 from: Anita and Me by Meera Syal
In this extract, Meena thinks about her mother’s cooking.
My mother would right now be standing in a haze of spicy steam, crowded by
huge bubbling saucepans where onions and tomatoes simmered and spat,
molehills of chopped vegetables and fresh herbs jostling for space with bitter,
bright heaps of turmeric, masala, cumin and coarse black pepper whilst a
softly breathing mound of
dough would be waiting in a china bowl, ready to be divided and flattened into round,
5
grainy chapatti. And she, sweaty and absorbed, would move from one chaotic
work surface to another, preparing the fresh, home-made meal that my father
expected, needed like air, after a day at the office about which he never
talked.
From the moment mama stepped in from her teaching job, swapping saris for M
& S separates, she was in that kitchen; it would never occur to her, at least not
for many 10
years, to suggest instant or take-away food which would give her a
precious few hours to sit, think, smell the roses – that would be
tantamount to spouse abuse. This food was not just something to fill a
hole, it was soul food, it was the food their far-away mothers made and
came seasoned with memory and longing, this was the
nearest they would get for many years, to home. 15
So far, I had resisted all my mother’s attempts to teach me the
rudiments of Indian cuisine; she’d often pull me in from the yard and
ask me to stand with her while she prepared a simple sabzi or rolled
© OCR J352/01
2025 Jun25
Exploring modern and literary heritage texts
Complete Question paper with Marking Scheme Combined
Oxford Cambridge and RSA
INSTRUCTIONS
• Use black ink.
• Write your answer to each question in the Answer Booklet. The question numbers must be
clearly shown.
• Fill in the boxes on the front of the Answer Booklet.
• All questions in Section A have two parts, (a) and (b). Answer both parts of the question on the
text you have studied.
• Answer one question on the text you have studied in Section B.
INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 80.
• The marks for each question are shown in brackets [ ].
• Quality of extended response will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).
• This document has 24 pages.
ADVICE
• Read each question carefully before you start your answer.
, 2
BLANK PAGE
© OCR J352/01
2025 Jun25
, 3
Contents Page
Section A – Modern prose or drama Question Page
Anita and Me by Meera Syal 1 4
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2 6
Animal Farm by George Orwell 3 8
An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley 4 10
Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock 5 12
DNA by Dennis Kelly 6 14
Section B – 19th century prose Questions Page
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 7/8 16
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 9/10 18
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells 11/12 19
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis
13/14 20
Stevenson
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 15/16 21
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 17/18 22
© OCR J352/01 Turn over
2025 Jun25
, 4
Section A – Modern prose or drama
Answer one question from this section.
1 Anita and Me by Meera Syal and The Boy with the Topknot by Sathnam Sanghera
Read the two extracts below and then answer both part (a) and part (b).
You should spend about 45 minutes on part (a) and 30 minutes on part (b).
For part (a), you should focus only on the extracts here rather than referring to
the rest of your studied text.
(a) Compare how the characters’ feelings about family life are presented in these
two extracts. You should consider:
• the situations and experiences faced by the characters
• how the characters react to these situations and experiences
• how the writers’ use of language and techniques creates effects.
[20]
AND
(b) Explore another moment in Anita and Me where Meena becomes aware of
differences between her family’s life and others in Tollington.
[20]
Extract 1 from: Anita and Me by Meera Syal
In this extract, Meena thinks about her mother’s cooking.
My mother would right now be standing in a haze of spicy steam, crowded by
huge bubbling saucepans where onions and tomatoes simmered and spat,
molehills of chopped vegetables and fresh herbs jostling for space with bitter,
bright heaps of turmeric, masala, cumin and coarse black pepper whilst a
softly breathing mound of
dough would be waiting in a china bowl, ready to be divided and flattened into round,
5
grainy chapatti. And she, sweaty and absorbed, would move from one chaotic
work surface to another, preparing the fresh, home-made meal that my father
expected, needed like air, after a day at the office about which he never
talked.
From the moment mama stepped in from her teaching job, swapping saris for M
& S separates, she was in that kitchen; it would never occur to her, at least not
for many 10
years, to suggest instant or take-away food which would give her a
precious few hours to sit, think, smell the roses – that would be
tantamount to spouse abuse. This food was not just something to fill a
hole, it was soul food, it was the food their far-away mothers made and
came seasoned with memory and longing, this was the
nearest they would get for many years, to home. 15
So far, I had resisted all my mother’s attempts to teach me the
rudiments of Indian cuisine; she’d often pull me in from the yard and
ask me to stand with her while she prepared a simple sabzi or rolled
© OCR J352/01
2025 Jun25
