Great Expectations
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is assigned in US schools at grades 9–12, with a Lexile measure of 1150L. It appears across 1 curriculum reference, sourced from state DOE pages and AP/IB/Common Core syllabi. Every citation below links to the primary source.
This page shows where Great Expectations is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.
- Lexile
- 1150L
- Grade range
- Grades 9–12
- Difficulty for grade
- Within the grade 9–10 band (1050–1335L)
- Age range
- Ages 14–18
- Pages
- 544
- Reading time
- about 10 hours (est.)
- First published
- 1861
- Genre
- Classic Fiction
- ISBN-13
- 9780141439563
Reading difficulty: At 1150L, Great Expectations falls within the typical 1050–1335L text-complexity range for 9th grade (Common Core Appendix A) — a grade-appropriate reading challenge.
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About this book
Charles Dickens follows the orphan Pip from a humble Kent childhood through a mysterious inheritance that lifts him into London society and the burdens that come with it. As Pip pursues the cold Estella and learns the true source of his fortune, the novel weighs ambition against gratitude and social rank against worth. A staple of ninth- to twelfth-grade and AP English curricula, it is one of Dickens's most assigned works for its tight plotting and study-ready themes.
Why widely assigned
This Classic Fiction title, reads at high-school literary complexity, typically at grades 9–12. Written in the 1860s; pairs with curriculum units on ambition and social class; cited across 1 curriculum framework.
Themes
ambition · social class · coming of age · class · loyalty
Content notes
period violence
Where this book is assigned
Similar grade-level books
Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury · 890L
The Diary of a Young GirlAnne Frank · 1080L
1984George Orwell · 1090L
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald · 1070L
See all books like Great Expectations→ — matched on theme + reading level.
Common questions
- What grade level is Great Expectations?
- Great Expectations is most commonly assigned in US schools in grades 9–12, with a Lexile measure of 1150L. Specific grade placement varies by curriculum — AP Literature and IB English Literature typically use it in grades 11-12.
- What is the Lexile level of Great Expectations?
- Great Expectations has a Lexile measure of 1150L according to MetaMetrics. Lexile measures text complexity, not content maturity — check the grade range and content notes separately for age-appropriateness.
- How long does it take to read Great Expectations?
- It takes about 10 hours to read Great Expectations (544 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 600 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
- Is Great Expectations hard to read for 9th grade?
- At 1150L, Great Expectations falls within the typical 1050–1335L text-complexity range for 9th grade (Common Core Appendix A) — a grade-appropriate reading challenge. Lexile measures text complexity, not thematic maturity — check the content notes for age-appropriateness separately.
- What curricula assign Great Expectations?
- Great Expectations appears on reading lists for AP English Literature & Composition. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
Why this book is on this list
Each dimension below is sourced from a public reference. The full framework is documented on the classification standard page.
- Lexile measure
- 1150L — sourced from MetaMetrics’ Lexile Hub.
- Grade band
- Grades 9–12 — drawn from state ELA frameworks and AP/IB syllabi citing this book.
- Curriculum alignment
- Cited in 1 curriculum on this site (see “Where assigned” above for primary-source links).
- State-level evidence
- Not yet documented in a state-level framework on this site.
- Removal / banning records
- No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
- Seasonal / contextual tags
- No seasonal or program-specific tags on this book.