Can someone give me an insight into A LEVEL eng Lit

So in September I'm starting sixth form, and one of the options i chose for A level is English literature, because it's my absolute favourite subject, and it's one of my passions. If you have taken or a currently doing eng lit, what is it like? and how different is it to gcse level?

Reply 1

Rhythmical

You will ~~die~~ find it demanding and you'll have to do a lot of independent study, plus get ready for **** loads of essays and wider reading and research. What exam board will you be doing? My school follows the OCR exam board.

You will study a range of 1900 texts so be prepared!

Reply 2

starshine909

Really hard to keep up with, especially if you take other demanding subjects too. Like history, philosophy, maths, etc...

Reply 3

celloel

Original post by meemeekat

get ready to hate english with your soul : )

Reply 4

Rajive

Original post by starshine909

Really hard to keep up with, especially if you take other demanding subjects too. Like history, philosophy, maths, etc...

Do you do those subjects?

Reply 5

starshine909

Original post by Rajive

Do you do those subjects?

I did english lit till AS. I carried on with philisophy and ethics, history, sociology and a language :-)

Reply 6

Rajive

Original post by starshine909

I did english lit till AS. I carried on with philisophy and ethics, history, sociology and a language :-)

Can I ask what you got for English lit GCSE? I am undecided if I want to do it as well

Sorry op

Reply 7

starshine909

Original post by Rajive

Can I ask what you got for English lit GCSE? I am undecided if I want to do it as well

Sorry op

A lit, B lang :smile:

Reply 8

130398

It won't be much of a jump (at least to me it wasn't). A2 is when things start to get more serious as you can't rely on grade boundaries as much as in As (which is a relatively easy year compared to A2). If you are passionate that only helps. I do Maths and Further and applied to study straight math, literature is essentially useless to me so I do it for the bants (actually it was to keep option open for a law degree but that was long canceled since I got hooked on maths). I don't know how but after a mediocre IGCSE (A) I thought YOLO and went for literature a level, somehow got an A again at As and now having sat A2 exams I'm not too confident but still hoping for an A.
Ohh yeah and you will have to work quite a bit compared to IGCSE where you could get an A without actually reading the material (just using summaries online). A* is another story, for CIE it's almost impossible to get seeing how only the top 2% can get it.
If you want an A (unless you're going to Cambridge) then do it. Your passion will really help you and it is a great subject (the journey not the exams :colondollar:

)

Reply 9

studying_me

I don't particularly understand why everyone hates it- Literature's my favourite subject!
But just to give a little context I didn't actually choose English Literature when I was choosing A levels in Year 11; I chose Maths, Psychology, Biology and Chemistry.
But then after my GCSEs I was like I think I'd do better in humanities so I binned maths and chemistry and chose English Literature, History, Biology and Psychology.
But that's not it :colonhash:

. I changed my subjects again in the second week of Year 12 to:
English Literature, History, Philosophy & Ethics and Psychology.
And my favourite subject, as aforementioned, is English!
To be honest there is a lot of wider reading but that applies to all humanities.
For a person who never thought they'd do English Literature at A level, I'm loving it right now and even applying to study it at university!
Anyway although it isn't simple, it's my easiest subject and it doesn't kill you like others say.

Reply 10

meemeekat

Original post by studying_me

I don't particularly understand why everyone hates it- Literature's my favourite subject!

Lol preach it! yh me too lit is beautiful

Reply 11

carxto

AWFUL !!!!!!! Nothing like GCSE DO NOT DO IT

Reply 12

Rajive

Original post by 130398

)

How has literature like alongside maths in terms of workload?

Reply 13

studying_me

[QUOTE="meemeekat;65671101"]

Original post by studying_me

I don't particularly understand why everyone hates it- Literature's my favourite subject!

Lol preach it! yh me too lit is beautiful

And the next post's just like 'AWFUL !!!!!!! DO NOT DO IT'

Reply 14

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by meemeekat

Literally, there are dozen of threads like this every single year.

Here's one that was just posted last week!

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4137481&page=2&highlight=&p=65473647#post65473647

Reply 15

130398

Original post by Rajive

How has literature like alongside maths in terms of workload?

To be honest I focused mostly on Maths and French (I have sat the C1 DALF not being a native speaker, far from it in fact :smile:

and now waiting for the result). I only really focused on literature before mocks, exams and some in class essays. I memorize quotes and notes concerning themes, linguistic techniques, stage directions (if it's a play), literary criticism, some context for both author and audience etc. and try get by with that. I do have more than enough time to practice a sport and relax. I am not aiming for 100% exam results (though I have been plesantly surprised at As) but to enjoy my studies and not burn myself out when I don't see the need for it.
It's not too bad overall if you don't overstress about it and if you are ready to encounter a few downfalls on the way (say getting a B in a mock or a class essay). If you are going for Mathematics and Philosophy (which I considered) then I believe A level Literature or A level English Language to be very useful (along side maths and further maths, maybe even physics As for good measure which I have not done)

Reply 16

Abstract_Prism

English Literature is an excellent subject. I just completed my AS in it.

At first, I hated it. It was tremendously difficult, much more so than my other A-levels (History, Politics, and BTEC Law). GCSE English Lit is literally child's play compared to A-level. And I got an A in GCSE Lit.

The biggest problem you'll have with Lit is a) Not knowing what makes a good essay, and b) Not knowing how to revise. It took me till March for everything to finally 'click', and I'd been working desperately hard since January, and despite going over essays with my teacher too many times to count. If you don't get a good teacher it will really become a struggle. The solutions to the two difficulties are a) Look up the assessment objectives, memorise them, actually understand them, and see how they work in sample essays (don't listen to your teacher; my teacher still misunderstands what the assessment objectives actually are, and I don't have the heart to tell her), and b) Memorise the essays you write, and the points you make in them. Simply memorising hundreds of quotes won't help if you don't know how to apply them.

When it clicked though, it all became so clear, and its the exam I've done best in this year, I think.