Need help in deciding!!!

Hi! I'm currently in year 11 and doing my GCSE exams.
For A levels I was thinking to do maths, business, biology and english.
But i don't know what english to do; english language or literature.

Help!!!😔

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Reply 1

whatsername2009

Original post by bluelezah

Hi! I'm currently in year 11 and doing my GCSE exams.
For A levels I was thinking to do maths, business, biology and english.
But i don't know what english to do; english language or literature.

Help!!!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Original post by Imposition

You could look at your schools course structure for both and then chose the one that appeals to you the most.

Alternatively, you could drop business and do both.

I agree with this. English Lit and English Lang both vary a lot between specifications, so you need to find out what you're signing up for in terms of content and structure. In English Lit, for example, the exam on my specification (AQA A) was mostly about responding to unseen extracts, whereas other exam boards place more emphasis on set texts.

It might help us to help you, OP, if you tell us what you're hoping to do after A-level, what your predicted GCSE grades are in the subjects you've chosen, and any thoughts you have about English Lit and Lang based on your experience so far and what you know about the course content for A-level. Do you enjoy reading? How do you feel about studying 'difficult' older texts such as Shakespeare plays? Or are you more interested in English as a language?

Reply 2

Helloworld_95

English lit is more respected, and if you're going for more respected you should try to take economics instead of business studies

Reply 3

mamma_mia123

I love English lit, my friends dont enjoy English language as much as they thought they would. Go with what you enjoy at the end of the day :smile:

Reply 4

bluelezah

I think i'll just wait for my results and i'm going to taster days in our school so i have a clue on what we're going to study and if i'll enjoy the subjects that i want to choose.

Thanks for the help!!!😃

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Reply 5

Jess-94

I took both English lit and language and I'm currently sitting my A2 exams. Although English language is hard, I favour it greatly over English literature. I regret taking Literature soooooooo much! It is absolutley nothing like it is at GCSE. If I could choose my options again i certainly wouldn't pick literature. However, its a personal choice but i warn you there is so much to remember and you have to analyse things in a way that is ridiculous...

Reply 6

swaggiee

english lit sounds more sophisticated

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Reply 7

username845765

Original post by swaggiee

english lit sounds more sophisticated

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Hence why it's more respected ^^ and is harder.. but more impressive =D

Reply 8

camaieu

Original post by bluelezah

All I can advise you to do is to choose wisely! English Literature is a lot of work, especially at A2. I'd advise that you look up the specifications for both Lang. and Lit. on your exam board website, and make your decision based on that. I found that English Literature, whilst rewarding, was by far my most difficult and time consuming subject. From what I gather, if you're interested in linguistics/the workings of language itself, Language would be of interest to you. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to study it.

Don't let me put you off Literature however - I did enjoy it, but it's a lot of work!

Reply 9

overskrill

Although literature is well respected, you have to be good at it. If you choose literature and don't do that well in it then what's the point? An A grade in language > C grade in literature.