Questions about English Grades

Hi,

I've found out the results to a recent GCSE English Lang mock I sat recently and since my last one I haven't progressed at all. I need to make up 10 marks on the exam in order to get an A overall which is the grade I really want. My coursework folder is an A.

My college requires me to have a B in English Lang in order to do both English Lit and Lang A levels which is what I want to do. So yeah, technically I am onto the course already if this was my real exam.

I read something a couple of months ago that say that A and A* at GCSE suggest that the pupil will go onto get an B/A at A Level in that particular subject area. So does this mean that if I went on and got a B in the real exam, the chances of me getting As in these subjects at A Level are slim? Even though I know that once I'll get to college and all the other subjects I hate but take up my revision, I'll be fully dedicated to both these A Levels and so will have more time to focus? Is it possible at sixth form to make a larger amount of progress than in the same qualifications at GCSE level? (Just going to say I need an A at A level English lit for my desired degree if anyone asks why I want As.)

Also, if there happens to be anyone who take A Level English Literature or Language how different is the syllabus? For example now, there are a few certain areas in the exams where language comparison is required, so is there language comparison in the A Levels or not? What is the language analysis like at A Level?

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

rhensis

Both English Literature and English Language (particularly Lang though) are very different at a level (ie. much more solidly based rather than the rather wishy-wahsy gcse spec). English lit is more similar, but it takes the whole process to a much higher level, and english lang is about the science of the english language, rather than just writing stories (particularly after the new a level reforms from what my teacher has told me). I think that lang is more enjoyable so I dropped lit after AS (I got an A, but I really hated the course lol).

Lit on my exam board (OCR) basically had no language analysis; I found it very dry on that front and that's what I love about english so it's no surprise that I enjoyed language more. The lang language analysis is very different but also I feel more purposeful and enjoyable. I'm going to uni to do linguistics though so I am biased :biggrin:

Also - your GCSE performance in no way limits your a level performance. Those predictions are based on the average performance of your cohort. I got 8A* and 2A at GCSE and the average cohort performance for me was AAAB, but I actually got AAAAA and a place at Cambridge, so it's all about how hard you work. The sky is your limit - if you actually put the work in at a level, I think it's much easier to flourish than it was at GCSE :smile:

Reply 2

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by xEmilyxx

If you type in the same question in the search engine, you will get a lot of similar threads that I have answered in strenuous detail. Be sure to check it out!

Reply 3

xEmilyxx

Thanks rhensis. My exam board will be WJEC for English lit and AQA for English language. But from my past experince with the differing exam boards, I don't think the content will be much different from OCR.

I'm wondering now what the main differences are between the GCSE and A Level now of English Literature. I know you've mentioned the differences between the two levels in English Language, but im curious as to what the differences are in Literature. I already do it as a GCSE, and the exams are all about either contrasting how a theme is shared between two poems or analysing how a author shows ideas throughout novels. Does this all go then in the A Level then? Assuming you also did the GCSE.

Regarding your grades, how difficult did you find getting the As? Did it feel like it was more based on effort or ability? Did you rely mainly on ability through your GCSEs with revision to recap? Or was it effort that got you through?

Reply 4

rhensis

Original post by xEmilyxx

I didn't rely on my ability to do GCSE when I got to a level because at GCSE you can have a book in the exam, and at a level you can't (aka, I actually had to revise for AS haha!). I actually found it relatively hard (at least to start with) but I think that's because I didn't like it more than anything - the bits I did like were easy (the coursework was awesome I got full marks). I also am good at English naturally and always have been, so I think that did help (I certainly didn't work hard enough realistically - I didn't realise that you actually have to work consistently at a level, woops), but I got Cs and Ds for my first few essays, and then somehow shot up to full marks/near to full marks - basically, you have to get the skills for A Level down before you do well. I have many friends doing A2 lit and it is apparently a big step up, but I can't give first hand experience on that.

It's not dissimilar skills for a level, but I found it a very different application. You have to use critics and critical debates more, some exam boards require you to look at film/stage adaptions of the play, you have to pay better attention to certain elements of language/structure, use more specialist terms (I did Frankenstein so it was all about that framed narrative). The poetry side of my course was using a theme to look at a set of poems from an anthology - I hadn't done anything like that at GCSE, but I did iGCSE, so that might be why! It's a very respected a level because it is more academic than at GCSE - which is twofold: 1) it's challenging, but that's good because it stretches you academically and gives you room to do extra reading; 2) universities like to see you do well in it, particularly if your degree does involve english.

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