I’m sitting on an A in the AS course at the minute, here’s a couple of things that might help:
-Your argument (answering the question) is the most important thing. You should have a few main points which everything (analysis, context, etc.) links back to and supports
-You need to establish a clear idea of the type of literature you are writing about (tragedy/comedy/etc) and link this to your argument. Mention these things explicitly in your writing. (I think this applies to A2 but I have only done the aspects of tragedy bit thus far)
-Literary critics are for giving you ideas and helping you understand the texts. You don’t need to write about them or quote from them, and I would recommend not doing that
-It’s better to write a lot about a little than the converse. If you can analyse one quotation/stage direction/etc in depth (especially in an extract question) and link it to other pieces of the text, relevant context and genre while making it say something about your argument, that should be a whole paragraph and a whole point. You don’t need to say everything in your essay, only what is relevant to the question
-Looking at the way that you write helps. Sometimes you can take a whole sentence unnecessarily stating something that could be summarised in one adjective inserted into another sentence, but it’s better to make all of your words matter. I would recommend quoting from the text often, mainly short quotations of one or two words that you can easily remember
-Don’t retell the story. If you say something about an event, be as brief as possible about it and explain what it says relating to your point
-Whenever you analyse something always try to use technical terminology when you can (e.g. sibilance, dramatic irony, parallel syntax) and explain the effect it creates. e.g. The alliteration in “X” creates the effect of Y on the reader which proves my point of Z because Q
This was really long but I hope it helps, honestly one of the best things to do is ask your teachers why they mark your essays the way they do but I understand some teachers aren’t great at that. Also you have another year to improve so there’s no need to be stressed right now, a C is still good!