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A-level English lit vs lang/lit

What would you say is the easier A-level?

It seems to me that lang/lit has slightly less workload and texts to study compared to lit so it could be easier to handle, but am I wrong?
I am good at both but creative/descriptive writing is my real strength.
Original post by vanillacoke
What would you say is the easier A-level?

It seems to me that lang/lit has slightly less workload and texts to study compared to lit so it could be easier to handle, but am I wrong?
I am good at both but creative/descriptive writing is my real strength.

If creative/descriptive writing is your real strength then you're probably better off doing lang + lit rather than English lit because there won't be any creative/descriptive writing in English lit (unless.... you're doing OCR, in which case there's the option to do a tiny bit of creative writing for coursework)
Reply 2
Original post by neko no basu
If creative/descriptive writing is your real strength then you're probably better off doing lang + lit rather than English lit because there won't be any creative/descriptive writing in English lit (unless.... you're doing OCR, in which case there's the option to do a tiny bit of creative writing for coursework)

I'm doing Edexcel so that won't be the case.
The only thing holding me back is that English literature is looked more favourably upon my top unis compared to Lang/lit, although I'm planning on doing two other 'facilitating' subjects so maybe it will balance out.
Original post by vanillacoke
I'm doing Edexcel so that won't be the case.
The only thing holding me back is that English literature is looked more favourably upon my top unis compared to Lang/lit, although I'm planning on doing two other 'facilitating' subjects so maybe it will balance out.

I don't think there's really any problem doing lang + lit, do your unis specifically say they don't like applicants doing lang/list? the whole facilitating subject thing... Idk but imo I think it's kind of overrated. These 3 posts from this thread, 'Are facilitating subjects really that important?' might help clear things up a bit :h:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=81638222&postcount=2
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=81638688&postcount=7
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=81638882&postcount=11
it doesn't matter whether it's 'facilitating' or not especially as you've already got 2 'facilitating' subjects. just pick the subject you think you'd enjoy the most.

Original post by neko no basu
If creative/descriptive writing is your real strength then you're probably better off doing lang + lit rather than English lit because there won't be any creative/descriptive writing in English lit (unless.... you're doing OCR, in which case there's the option to do a tiny bit of creative writing for coursework)


i did aqa spec b and could do a piece of creative writing for my coursework too, but that was it.
I did Lang/lit and I thought that it was heavily literature focused! The language is instead integrated into the literature (this was in my case for eduqas a level) so they are not really taught as separate, which is more common at gcse. For example, for Shakespeare, I studied Othello but we would analyse the language used and have to comment on both literary and linguistic terminology in order to cover both Lang and lit sections of the course. In my case, the only language heavy component was spoken language which is very brief
Reply 6
Original post by StudentFinley
I did Lang/lit and I thought that it was heavily literature focused! The language is instead integrated into the literature (this was in my case for eduqas a level) so they are not really taught as separate, which is more common at gcse. For example, for Shakespeare, I studied Othello but we would analyse the language used and have to comment on both literary and linguistic terminology in order to cover both Lang and lit sections of the course. In my case, the only language heavy component was spoken language which is very brief

From what I've seen and heard about Lang/lit it seems that while there's less content the exam questions can often be a bit more tricky to answer than lit.
Would you say this is the case?
I know obviously you didn't do lit as well so you can't compare but did you find Lang/lit difficult at all?
not sure I'd completely agree with the last bit, English lang is more than just how good your vocabulary is, it's an analysis of language and techniques, as well as your ability to craft your writing, using good vocabulary, ofc :yy:
English lang (at GCSE, at least, can't speak for a level) is more about your creativity rather than English lit. I thought lit at GCSE was more regurgitating of info than lang tbh (even though I wayyyyy prefer English lit over lang)
Original post by vanillacoke
From what I've seen and heard about Lang/lit it seems that while there's less content the exam questions can often be a bit more tricky to answer than lit.
Would you say this is the case?
I know obviously you didn't do lit as well so you can't compare but did you find Lang/lit difficult at all?


I think that the Lang/lit course instead gives you an ‘all round’ overview of books, themes, etc. I think that the combined course is just as difficult as the lit course (I had friends do just lit) so I think that it is just up to personal preference. I chose combined as I didn’t want to always be reading and wanted to break the course up a bit and it gave me the option to change my mind if I wanted to. The questions are mainly focused on themes or characters which i think it just typical of any English exam, regardless of level or difficulty . The only thing that I would say was quite tough was the number of poems in the anthology - 42!! If you are passionate about English I think that either is good for you, but the combined course may be better if you are interested in English but you have other subjects that you are better at. A level English is difficult, but no easier/harder than any other subject
Original post by absolutelysprout
it doesn't matter whether it's 'facilitating' or not especially as you've already got 2 'facilitating' subjects. just pick the subject you think you'd enjoy the most.



i did aqa spec b and could do a piece of creative writing for my coursework too, but that was it.

My school does Aqa for English lang lit but it looks like the "creative" writing was all non-fiction...tbh the only reason i chose lang lit was so i could write imaginatively about serial killers or smthn
Original post by StudentFinley
I think that the Lang/lit course instead gives you an ‘all round’ overview of books, themes, etc. I think that the combined course is just as difficult as the lit course (I had friends do just lit) so I think that it is just up to personal preference. I chose combined as I didn’t want to always be reading and wanted to break the course up a bit and it gave me the option to change my mind if I wanted to. The questions are mainly focused on themes or characters which i think it just typical of any English exam, regardless of level or difficulty . The only thing that I would say was quite tough was the number of poems in the anthology - 42!! If you are passionate about English I think that either is good for you, but the combined course may be better if you are interested in English but you have other subjects that you are better at. A level English is difficult, but no easier/harder than any other subject

It seems like theres so many poems to remember... D:
Original post by REDDINGZ
My school does Aqa for English lang lit but it looks like the "creative" writing was all non-fiction...tbh the only reason i chose lang lit was so i could write imaginatively about serial killers or smthn

you could always do creative writing in your own time

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