What is English Literature like at A-level?

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I'm in year 12 and do english literature and i'm finding it quite good and very much like GCSE, you focus alot on context rather than plot though. I got a B at GCSE and now I'm currently working at a C grade at Alevel. Once you know the books, quotes, context and background well and learn how to structure responses it becomes much easier. I'm aiming for an A this year.

Depending on what board your on depends on how you'll be assessed. We have some coursework and then 2 exams but they're closed exams so you need to learn all the quotes for the exam and make sure you know the books and poems really really well. The texts are alot more challenging though, for example we're studying Jane Eyre and its a very heavy read when you have to annotate and remember quotes.

How many coursework's did you do? Cause it's going linear from 2015 I think.

Yeah I feel so sorry for you!! I'm so lucky that I escaped the linear exams!! We haven't actually started our coursework yet but apparently we're doing a close critical analysis of a section of a chosen post 1900 text (The Night Watch) AND an essay exploring connections between 2 texts informed by other readers' interpretations. (The Handmaid's Tale and A streetcar named desire)

Hmm.. That's weird cause there still is coursework for English but it's just two. And we'll be studying A streetcar named desire too

It's going to be worth 20%, how about yours?

I'm thinking about taking it, but I'm not too sure. I'm in year 11 now, and I do well at GCSE in the subject, if that makes any difference.

Yeah they decided english needed some sort of coursework weighting. My coursework is 40%

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I'm in year 12 and do english literature and i'm finding it quite good and very much like GCSE, you focus alot on context rather than plot though. I got a B at GCSE and now I'm currently working at a C grade at Alevel. Once you know the books, quotes, context and background well and learn how to structure responses it becomes much easier. I'm aiming for an A this year.

Depending on what board your on depends on how you'll be assessed. We have some coursework and then 2 exams but they're closed exams so you need to learn all the quotes for the exam and make sure you know the books and poems really really well. The texts are alot more challenging though, for example we're studying Jane Eyre and its a very heavy read when you have to annotate and remember quotes.

Whyyy?!?!?

Well, on the positive side it is better than 100% exam.

D'you know of any other A-level subject that has coursework in it too?

Ooh okay thanks!

How easy is it to achieve an A*, A or B? I'm wanting to go to UCL to study Biochemistry and I will probably drop English at AS (or History depending on which one I prefer). Is English a particularly stressful subject?

I know how you feel! and no sorry, although I know biology has practical coursework like the GCSE 'isa' and they won't get rid of it but i have no idea about any other subject as my other subjects only have exams.

It's very time-consuming but I don't find it that stressful. As for getting a decent grade, i'll put it this way i do no extra reading or much planning and i'm currently working at a C/D grade which isn't that bad considering i really haven't put the work in. It's a nice break from science as well.

Ahh, okay thanks for the info

Good Luck on your studies ^.^

Yeah I thought I would balance out Biology and Chemistry with History and English Lit or Language; they're highly respected and I enjoy them! That's really good thank-you!! I'm working at a B-A* for English right now. I'm worried that if I take English Literature and History, I will fall behind on my science. Since (especially chemistry) is a tough course and I'm a little short on the math side (but I'm working hard, and almost up to scratch) so to get an A at AS in chemistry and an A at A2 will take up a lot of my time, and I won't be able to fit it in with English Lit. I'm happy with a C and over for English Lit. I'm a fast typer too and have the ability to type up exams if I want because my handwriting is substantially slow, and I have some medical problems.

Considering I want to ace both biology and chemistry, would it be a good choice?

This is long I'm sorry!!

It's completely up to you but I only do 3 Alevels and I know i'm enjoying my subjects alot more than people doing 4. I take Biology, Geography and English Lit and aiming for A's at AS. And you're right chemistry is incredibly challenging I did it for the first couple of weeks to give it a go and it really was hard so I honestly would just do English lit, biology and chemistry if i was you!! After all its better to get AAA as AS instead of possibly AABB because you couldn't focus on all 4 subjects as much.

Hmm... maybe! I'm thinking of doing Biology, Chemistry, and History OR English lit for A2 levels. UCL requires AAA minimum and then a fourth pass at AS. So I was thinking of dropping either History or English depending on which one I find easiest/least time consuming. Chemistry is a challenge that's why I need to make sure I can devote time to figuring challenging concepts and working on mathematical content, on top of achieving highly in other subjects. I'm determined to attempt to study at UCL for many reasons.

I find History easy as well as enjoyable, Chem and Bio I enjoy the most and am A/A* at triple award science in them. English I enjoy and do well in too.

I'm not going to do four subjects at A2 no way, haha! But four AS levels, yeah, I will. I'm aiming for AAA minimum at A2. Just worried about English lit taking up too much time so that my chemistry will suffer.


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Ahh I see, why don't you take a different 4th subject for AS, one that isn't very demanding like i don't know Sociology or something like that, that's fairly straight forward?

Hmm maybe! It was either History, English or Psychology for my 'fourth' but I'm pretty certain I'll do History to A2; English was going to be my AS, but I'm worried that it's a little too time consuming considering it will be dropped. I'll have a look around, but I won't cross English off just yet!