Advice for A Level English Lit Edexcel (Fast Track 1 Year)

Hi! It's quite a long explanation but in short, I'm going to self study A Level English Lit under the Edexcel starting from July/August ish in 2024 and sit my exams summer of 2025.

I'll have a tutor and doing it fast track online through Oxbridge.

I haven't studied A Level English Lit before however I am doing A Level English Lang right now in Year 13.

I'd really appreciate any advice, although I won't begin till next year I've considered to start my annotating and reading the books/plays now so when I start the course l'll just have to focus mostly on exam technique etc. I won't be able to do it as intensively as I want though as I still have 3 A levels to be sat this summer lol.

I specify edexcel as its the board l'Il be doing it under but if the suggestions are applicable regardless please let me
know.

Id also appreciate any people who've sat it to share with me resources they used and PM (I don’t know if that’s a thing here lmk) some of their writing/ mocks if that's okay? Id honestly be willing to pay too if it's something you've already uploaded as a resource on etsy etc.

Before anyone tries to talk to me out of it, the decision is final and I understand it's going to be extremely difficult. I am yet to get anything below a A-A* throughout GCSE and A Level for English so I know I'm capable of it when I commit.

Thank you!!

Hi! It's quite a long explanation but in short, I'm going to self study A Level English Lit under the Edexcel starting from July/August ish in 2024 and sit my exams summer of 2025.
I'll have a tutor and doing it fast track online through Oxbridge.
I haven't studied A Level English Lit before however I am doing A Level English Lang right now in Year 13.
I'd really appreciate any advice, although I won't begin till next year I've considered to start my annotating and reading the books/plays now so when I start the course l'll just have to focus mostly on exam technique etc. I won't be able to do it as intensively as I want though as I still have 3 A levels to be sat this summer lol.
I specify edexcel as its the board l'Il be doing it under but if the suggestions are applicable regardless please let me
know.
Id also appreciate any people who've sat it to share with me resources they used and PM (I don’t know if that’s a thing here lmk) some of their writing/ mocks if that's okay? Id honestly be willing to pay too if it's something you've already uploaded as a resource on etsy etc.
Before anyone tries to talk to me out of it, the decision is final and I understand it's going to be extremely difficult. I am yet to get anything below a A-A* throughout GCSE and A Level for English so I know I'm capable of it when I commit.
Thank you!!

hi i went from a B to an A* last year so please private message me if you would like my notes, I know tough alevels can be xx good luck!

Hi! I'm doing Edexcel EngLit, sitting exams this year (next month! aahhh). I found it sooo difficult at the start of y12 but don't be discouraged as everyone improves by a good few grades from the start of y12 to this time in y13 (e.g. I started off around a C but am now getting A*s/As).
I'd really recommend focusing intensely on the prose novels as there is just so much to know about them. Make sure you know the books inside out and (if possible) get the same copies as you'll have during the actual thing, so you become familiar with what happens whereabouts in the book. Also make sure you're very good at comparing your two texts - have precise scenes/quotes to compare.
For the Shakespeare, make sure you have a good selection of critical quotations that can be used in all essays, as well as a few specific ones relevant to major themes.
In the pre-1900 poetry (not sure the date is right there, but basically not the modern stuff), have good poem pairs to compare based on themes, you don't want to be panicking in the exam trying to figure out what on earth your second poem will be - time is soo tight on that exam!!
Remember, you get all texts in the exams, so learning precise quotation isn't as strictly needed as at GCSE, but is still important - you don't want to spend half the exam flicking through the texts!
Coursework is also 20%!! It's honestly not as daunting as it seems, make sure you have a good record of all your referenced material (I recommend using a bibliography manager like Zotero, it made my life so much easier). It ends up being like 4/5 points of comparative analysis between your text to meet the 3000 word limit which really isn't that much. Don't stress too crazy about it, but again it is 20% and it's a good feeling to know you've got that in the bag before you go into exams as a bit of padding.
Most of my revision consists of essay plans, focusing on past papers primarily from Edexcel but when I ran out of those I looked at some from the other boards and adapted where appropriate into Edexcel's format. Of course, also flashcards for quotation memorising, but I figure you already have to do that for LitLang.
I can send you copies of some of my most recent mocks if you PM me and I can figure out how to, lol. For reference, I do: A Streetcar Named Desire & Othello (Paper 1, tragedy); Wuthering Heights & A Thousand Splendid Suns (Paper 2, women and society); Post-2000 Poetry & The Metaphysical Poets (Paper 3).

hii im in year 12 and i happen to also be doing those two texts for paper 2.... how do you revise those (like, what resources do you use, etc) and do you have any tips on how to get better at writing essays on those two texts (it is currently my worst paper)......?
would be very grateful
have a nice day!

literally never heard of anyone outside of my school doing ATSS and WH lol it's such an awful combo and i think hosseini is such a bad writer..!!! i have anki decks for both novels each with about 50 quotes on that i can at the very least recognise but only prob have about 15 memorised per novel. i find it's easier to know where the key moments are in each novel down to the page number as i have the same copies as we're supplied in the exams, e.g. i know what page the pebble scene is in ATSS and isabella's letter in WH. apart from learning page numbers, i don't really use my physical books i prefer searching PDFs to save time
tbh it's my worst paper too (consistently a mid-high B in it when i'm an A/A* in the other papers) and i find it soo much harder to improve in compared to the others, but i find that making sure there's lots of good relevant context that covers a range of types (biographical, literary, social, historical, etc) makes the examiners happy. also making sure there's good points of comparison in each paragraph, i.e. comparing specific scenes/descriptions and making sure you switch between the texts i.e. not having a paragraph be 250 words of WH then 250 words of ATSS instead switching back and forth like 100 WH 150 ATSS 150 WH 100 ATSS (obvi not precise word count guidelines, but i find that my essays range from 1k to 1.6k words). ensure intros and conclusions are good, intros should essentially be your 3/4 points of argument in the order you present them, and then conclusions are so hard idk how to write a good one 🫠🫠
to improve essay writing i recommend just planning as many as you can to get used to formulating an argument and then actually writing the essays in timed conditions (by that i mean writing in an hour and a half at first and then reducing down to the 1hr15 you'll have in the real thing to practise) and getting your teachers to mark them!!! or if your teachers won't, see if any of your friends in class will look at them for you. or if you do the same essay Q as a friend, compare your points of argument to get a broader range of points/views to incorporate into future essays

thank you so much!! I'm very grateful for your help (I agree the WH/ATSS combo is very odd, and I've never heard of any other school doing it either, which is why I got excited when I saw your message ahah)

Hi! I'm doing Edexcel EngLit, sitting exams this year (next month! aahhh). I found it sooo difficult at the start of y12 but don't be discouraged as everyone improves by a good few grades from the start of y12 to this time in y13 (e.g. I started off around a C but am now getting A*s/As).
I'd really recommend focusing intensely on the prose novels as there is just so much to know about them. Make sure you know the books inside out and (if possible) get the same copies as you'll have during the actual thing, so you become familiar with what happens whereabouts in the book. Also make sure you're very good at comparing your two texts - have precise scenes/quotes to compare.
For the Shakespeare, make sure you have a good selection of critical quotations that can be used in all essays, as well as a few specific ones relevant to major themes.
In the pre-1900 poetry (not sure the date is right there, but basically not the modern stuff), have good poem pairs to compare based on themes, you don't want to be panicking in the exam trying to figure out what on earth your second poem will be - time is soo tight on that exam!!
Remember, you get all texts in the exams, so learning precise quotation isn't as strictly needed as at GCSE, but is still important - you don't want to spend half the exam flicking through the texts!
Coursework is also 20%!! It's honestly not as daunting as it seems, make sure you have a good record of all your referenced material (I recommend using a bibliography manager like Zotero, it made my life so much easier). It ends up being like 4/5 points of comparative analysis between your text to meet the 3000 word limit which really isn't that much. Don't stress too crazy about it, but again it is 20% and it's a good feeling to know you've got that in the bag before you go into exams as a bit of padding.
Most of my revision consists of essay plans, focusing on past papers primarily from Edexcel but when I ran out of those I looked at some from the other boards and adapted where appropriate into Edexcel's format. Of course, also flashcards for quotation memorising, but I figure you already have to do that for LitLang.
I can send you copies of some of my most recent mocks if you PM me and I can figure out how to, lol. For reference, I do: A Streetcar Named Desire & Othello (Paper 1, tragedy); Wuthering Heights & A Thousand Splendid Suns (Paper 2, women and society); Post-2000 Poetry & The Metaphysical Poets (Paper 3).

Hi! I'm doing Edexcel EngLit, sitting exams this year (next month! aahhh). I found it sooo difficult at the start of y12 but don't be discouraged as everyone improves by a good few grades from the start of y12 to this time in y13 (e.g. I started off around a C but am now getting A*s/As).
I'd really recommend focusing intensely on the prose novels as there is just so much to know about them. Make sure you know the books inside out and (if possible) get the same copies as you'll have during the actual thing, so you become familiar with what happens whereabouts in the book. Also make sure you're very good at comparing your two texts - have precise scenes/quotes to compare.
For the Shakespeare, make sure you have a good selection of critical quotations that can be used in all essays, as well as a few specific ones relevant to major themes.
In the pre-1900 poetry (not sure the date is right there, but basically not the modern stuff), have good poem pairs to compare based on themes, you don't want to be panicking in the exam trying to figure out what on earth your second poem will be - time is soo tight on that exam!!
Remember, you get all texts in the exams, so learning precise quotation isn't as strictly needed as at GCSE, but is still important - you don't want to spend half the exam flicking through the texts!
Coursework is also 20%!! It's honestly not as daunting as it seems, make sure you have a good record of all your referenced material (I recommend using a bibliography manager like Zotero, it made my life so much easier). It ends up being like 4/5 points of comparative analysis between your text to meet the 3000 word limit which really isn't that much. Don't stress too crazy about it, but again it is 20% and it's a good feeling to know you've got that in the bag before you go into exams as a bit of padding.
Most of my revision consists of essay plans, focusing on past papers primarily from Edexcel but when I ran out of those I looked at some from the other boards and adapted where appropriate into Edexcel's format. Of course, also flashcards for quotation memorising, but I figure you already have to do that for LitLang.
I can send you copies of some of my most recent mocks if you PM me and I can figure out how to, lol. For reference, I do: A Streetcar Named Desire & Othello (Paper 1, tragedy); Wuthering Heights & A Thousand Splendid Suns (Paper 2, women and society); Post-2000 Poetry & The Metaphysical Poets (Paper 3).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17pe6ilmabmcdbwwdzzbht7bvxhjrfapa?usp=sharing
this is a link to all the essays i could find that i wrote for englit - not sure if it will work!!!
Some of the essays (esp those in times new roman) were written in y12 and i've left little comments on ones that were particularly bad... Othello is definitely my best so those are all a/a* whereas prose is more like a/b depending on when i wrote them

Hi! I'm doing Edexcel EngLit, sitting exams this year (next month! aahhh). I found it sooo difficult at the start of y12 but don't be discouraged as everyone improves by a good few grades from the start of y12 to this time in y13 (e.g. I started off around a C but am now getting A*s/As).
I'd really recommend focusing intensely on the prose novels as there is just so much to know about them. Make sure you know the books inside out and (if possible) get the same copies as you'll have during the actual thing, so you become familiar with what happens whereabouts in the book. Also make sure you're very good at comparing your two texts - have precise scenes/quotes to compare.
For the Shakespeare, make sure you have a good selection of critical quotations that can be used in all essays, as well as a few specific ones relevant to major themes.
In the pre-1900 poetry (not sure the date is right there, but basically not the modern stuff), have good poem pairs to compare based on themes, you don't want to be panicking in the exam trying to figure out what on earth your second poem will be - time is soo tight on that exam!!
Remember, you get all texts in the exams, so learning precise quotation isn't as strictly needed as at GCSE, but is still important - you don't want to spend half the exam flicking through the texts!
Coursework is also 20%!! It's honestly not as daunting as it seems, make sure you have a good record of all your referenced material (I recommend using a bibliography manager like Zotero, it made my life so much easier). It ends up being like 4/5 points of comparative analysis between your text to meet the 3000 word limit which really isn't that much. Don't stress too crazy about it, but again it is 20% and it's a good feeling to know you've got that in the bag before you go into exams as a bit of padding.
Most of my revision consists of essay plans, focusing on past papers primarily from Edexcel but when I ran out of those I looked at some from the other boards and adapted where appropriate into Edexcel's format. Of course, also flashcards for quotation memorising, but I figure you already have to do that for LitLang.
I can send you copies of some of my most recent mocks if you PM me and I can figure out how to, lol. For reference, I do: A Streetcar Named Desire & Othello (Paper 1, tragedy); Wuthering Heights & A Thousand Splendid Suns (Paper 2, women and society); Post-2000 Poetry & The Metaphysical Poets (Paper 3).

Hi! It's quite a long explanation but in short, I'm going to self study A Level English Lit under the Edexcel starting from July/August ish in 2024 and sit my exams summer of 2025.
I'll have a tutor and doing it fast track online through Oxbridge.
I haven't studied A Level English Lit before however I am doing A Level English Lang right now in Year 13.
I'd really appreciate any advice, although I won't begin till next year I've considered to start my annotating and reading the books/plays now so when I start the course l'll just have to focus mostly on exam technique etc. I won't be able to do it as intensively as I want though as I still have 3 A levels to be sat this summer lol.
I specify edexcel as its the board l'Il be doing it under but if the suggestions are applicable regardless please let me
know.
Id also appreciate any people who've sat it to share with me resources they used and PM (I don’t know if that’s a thing here lmk) some of their writing/ mocks if that's okay? Id honestly be willing to pay too if it's something you've already uploaded as a resource on etsy etc.
Before anyone tries to talk to me out of it, the decision is final and I understand it's going to be extremely difficult. I am yet to get anything below a A-A* throughout GCSE and A Level for English so I know I'm capable of it when I commit.
Thank you!!

hi i went from a B to an A* last year so please private message me if you would like my notes, I know tough alevels can be xx good luck!