Please Help - English Literature

COULD ANYONE GIVE ME ADVICE ON ENGLISH LITERATURE AT A-LEVEL. I GOT A B GRADE AT GCSE LEVEL.

This post is going to sound extraordinarily pedantic but please don't write like that - it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in your ability to achieve a good grade in English Literature at A-Level. (No major offence meant - good luck with your A-Levels)

Edit: With my comment about your writing style I meant your insistance on 'Typing Sentences Like This' with the first letter capitalised - there's no reason to delete half of your post :smile:

Reply 2

Icy Ghost

What kind of advice?
If you enjoy studying novels and writing essays about them, then this is the subject for you. You shouldn't struggle too much if you've achieved a B grade at GCSE, but you must be putting in the hard work.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/t130973.html That's the link, which may help if you are doing AQA English Literature.
Good luck!

Reply 3

Pixelated

Gaz031

Bit harsh. Maybe he has a sticky "shift" key. :wink:

In response to the OP's question. Not much I can help you with because I don't know your exam board but, here goes. There is much analysing to be done in English Literature - so if you are critical and analytical, those qualities would benefit you. You have to enjoy poetry and Shakespeare (especially if you are doing Edexcel) and if you are not put off by carrying out your own reading of literacy texts in your free time, you should be fine. It would be good if you enjoyed developing your literacy tastes in your leisure time, because there is much comparing/linking to be done at A Level. Anyway, to summarise; English Literature is demanding and challenging (though I myself have not done it). Skills required are: the ability to be analytical, the ability to be critical and the ability to "think outside the box" - necessary for 'decoding' pre-1900 poetry. :wink:

If you have adept verbal reasoning skills, I suggest you consider English Language & Literature (combined course) because you can still study literature (you study Middle-English - Chaucer peroid and pre-1700 poetry) and also the use and history of the English Language (much more useful in my opinion because you can gain analytical skills but also further develop your literacy skills). :smile:

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

Reply 4

PennyRoyalTea

No, No, NO!!!! i got an A* in GCSE Eng Lit and i enjoy reading but AS Eng Lit was just horrible..(well my exam board was- Edexcel) i started off the year getting C's and D's possibly some E's and U's and the occasional B, i hated it, personally i think it is the hardest subject to get a decent grade in, my teachers put me on course for a C and said i wouldn't achieve anything better. But i worked. And i worked. And i worked towards the exams, buying extra books and downloading book reviews off the net and i got an A, i'd like to see the look on the teachers faces when i go back to school!
So, to sum it all up, i hate it with a passion and would not advise anyone in their right mind to take it unless they were in love with the subject. Loads of people in my class got A*'s/A's/B's last year and have been getting C's and D's. but i can say its MUCH easier to get a good grade in the Eng Lit/Lang course.
But If you really enjoy eng lit and your a very hardworker then it is possible to get a high grade.

Hope i haven't put u off too much but i hope this helps!

Reply 5

Multiplexed

I agree with the dude above, i hated English Literature!

Reply 6

leannemarie

Wouldn't say that Eng Lang/Lit is easier though. Eng Lit gets much much better results in my school. Something like 15As.

Reply 7

Mata

I'm going to defend English Lit.

I (like PennyRoyalTea) got an A* at GCSE and did it at AS level (AQA) and found it the subject that I didn't need to worry about at all. The books (apart from Handmaid's tale) were quite fun, interesting discussions, homework in essay form wasn't bad, bit of extra research, nice coursework content, not much revision required.

Maybe its a bit like maths, where you can also get an A* at GCSE and struggle at AS level. Basically, if you're the sort of person who can knock out a good essay, interpret things, and make sure that you stick to the question being asked, you'll do ok. Quite a few people in my class got A's (some lower than others) and nobody absolutely failed.

Then again, I'm biased, I just love English.

Reply 8

kellywood_5

AS English lit is very similar to GCSE in terms of content. I studied a poetry anthology, a novel and 2 plays, 1 Shakespeare. However, I found it harder than any of my other subjects, even though I actually did better in it that history in the end :confused:

You have to be much more analytical and at the start of the year I was getting Ds in my essays even though I got an A at GCSE. I ended up with 237/300, which is 3 marks off an A :mad:

Only take it if you enjoy reading (obviously!), analysing every little thing and writing lots of essays.

Reply 9

Zoecb

I had the opposite experience. I found AS English Lit so much more enjoyable than GCSE.
GCSE English Lit is rushed in every sense of the word. There is a lot of material to cover in a short time and the exam time is miniscule. You can't do much in 40 minutes, and they seem to take that into account. As long as you pack in some vaguely relevent points you get marks, even if they're badly expressed and spelt wrong, which I disagree with.

AS you have more time, can go into detail, have discussions, and timed essays are 1 hour so you can write something decent and coherent. I did badly at GCSE because the hoops they wanted you to jump through were so obvious I didn't realise I had to write things that basic down. At AS I got to use a bit of insight and write things that were actually interesting about the texts.

Reply 10

Champagne Breakfast

Ryan7413

COULD ANYONE GIVE ME ADVICE ON ENGLISH LITERATURE AT A-LEVEL. I GOT A B GRADE AT GCSE LEVEL.

To do English Lit A-Level with a fair chance at success I would say you have to be passionate about English, otherwise you're going to have a very tricky time with it. And I'm talking about being genuinely interested in the books you read and probably being a regular reader in your own time. If you're doing it because it's respected, traditional and will help you with communication, reasoning and analytical skills, I'd suggest History which I feel you don't need to be as 'passionate' about. As for your GCSE grade, it shouldn't really get in the way of what you do at A-Level, but if you did better in some other GCSEs I would recommend taking those up through to A-Level, unless you're sure this is the only thing you want to do.

Reply 11

kellywood_5

Zoecb

I did badly at GCSE

You got an A! :eek:

Reply 12

kellywood_5

The Ace is Back

If you're doing it because it's respected, traditional and will help you with communication, reasoning and analytical skills, I'd suggest History which I feel you don't need to be as 'passionate' about.

Interesting, it worked completely the other way for me. At AS I wasn't particularly fond of English and still got 237/300, but I loved history and only got 220/300.