AQA or OCR english lit a level

I've applied to two schools for sixth form. One which offers AQA english literature and the other which offers OCR english lit. I've heard from many that the grade boundaries for AQA are achievable yet for OCR it proves to be quite impossible. Could anyone doing either give me some advice as I'm not sure which one to pick

Reply 1

phob17

11

id say aqa has more resources for sure

Reply 2

rubyumbum

7

ocr is impossible. on average its 28/29 out of 30 for an A* and 27 for an A in every essay in the exam. we also dont get the texts in our exams whereas AQA do. grade boundaries for an A* in AQa ive heard from friends is roughly 21/25 per essay for an A*. If you dont have an attachment for the OCR sixth form honestly i would choose AQA, OCR just asks for so much. both have coursework its just the exams that make it hell on earth

Reply 3

klnlljkklhklll

OP

11

Original post by rubyumbum

ocr is impossible. on average its 28/29 out of 30 for an A* and 27 for an A in every essay in the exam. we also dont get the texts in our exams whereas AQA do. grade boundaries for an A* in AQa ive heard from friends is roughly 21/25 per essay for an A*. If you dont have an attachment for the OCR sixth form honestly i would choose AQA, OCR just asks for so much. both have coursework its just the exams that make it hell on earth

what r u getting atm in ocr? ye i rlly do like the ocr sixth form but if its really hard to get an A* then.... the thing is im doing 3 a levels (history, english and spanish) but im native in spanish so im basically doing 2. do u think then it's possible to get an A* as I'll be devoting more time to it?

Reply 4

ghaloasjmnasj

11

Original post by klnlljkklhklll

what r u getting atm in ocr? ye i rlly do like the ocr sixth form but if its really hard to get an A* then.... the thing is im doing 3 a levels (history, english and spanish) but im native in spanish so im basically doing 2. do u think then it's possible to get an A* as I'll be devoting more time to it?

it's not impossible, but AQA is far, far, farrr easier to get an A* in. with OCR you also have to remember the names of critics, what they say, how to apply them to the question. it's such a joke of an exam board when it comes to literature i'm so glad i do AQA because it looks like a nightmare. i will say though their texts do look more enjoyable than ours.. i'd love to do gothic. also history is a really content heavy subject too so consider that as well

Reply 5

rubyumbum

7

Original post by klnlljkklhklll

what r u getting atm in ocr? ye i rlly do like the ocr sixth form but if its really hard to get an A* then.... the thing is im doing 3 a levels (history, english and spanish) but im native in spanish so im basically doing 2. do u think then it's possible to get an A* as I'll be devoting more time to it?

i litch just finished my A level today lol. I am hoping for an A, but ive had to work my arse off to get here, and i hate to sound crass but a lot harder than some of my friends who are getting the same grades at AQA but of course its different for everyone. i do agree w/ ghaloasjmnasj above, our content is soooo much more interesting, i love the gothic and american literature looks amazing too, so maybe find out what specifically this sixth form offers to see if it's something you would genuinely enjoy as it's such a drag to revise when you hate it. I do love english as a subject, but i will tell you even this guy who has an oxford offer in my class for english was ******** himself cause there is no comeback if you even do slightly badly on one essay in ocr... like you can basically kiss the A* goodbye. But if you think you can dedicate yourself to it, id say go for it tbh, i think im yapping a bit. there's a girl whos been getting consistent As and A*s all 2 years but shes a different gravy.. proper gets into her studies so theres that to consider in terms of balancing social life as she also does pre and history which are equally as dense in content and super tricky. I also do history and I HATE it... but i think thats cause i have terrible teachers, honestly cant wait to get rid of it, i think theres too much content and my course was just beige asf, but it is a great a level to have esp if you are into it. But imo, if you dont let the aura of sixth form get to you and use your frees wisely i do think you would have a good advantage because of your spanish, i think a lot of people just dont realise how much of a step up english lit gcse is to a level, theres a couple of people in my class that have learnt that the hard way. but i digress, if you want to know anything more about the course specifically or history i'd be happy to give you a bit more insight in terms of assessment objectives and all that stuff when it comes to actually writing an essay :smile:

Reply 6

stellagrayy18

1

Original post by klnlljkklhklll

I've applied to two schools for sixth form. One which offers AQA english literature and the other which offers OCR english lit. I've heard from many that the grade boundaries for AQA are achievable yet for OCR it proves to be quite impossible. Could anyone doing either give me some advice as I'm not sure which one to pick

I would say don't do OCR... I have just done my exams for it and as much as I like the content the grade boundaries are impossible. Last year I think it was 94% for an A* or something very similar and an A was still 86%. As a high achiever I find it hard to even get an A despite getting high marks.

Reply 7

stellagrayy18

1

Original post by stellagrayy18

I would say don't do OCR... I have just done my exams for it and as much as I like the content the grade boundaries are impossible. Last year I think it was 94% for an A* or something very similar and an A was still 86%. As a high achiever I find it hard to even get an A despite getting high marks.

I do dystopia, Hamlet, and then Ibsen's A Doll's House and Rossetti's poetry btw. All of which I found really interesting, it's just the awful grade boundaries and lack of resources that made it difficult.

Reply 8

baccylaureat

11

Original post by stellagrayy18

I do dystopia, Hamlet, and then Ibsen's A Doll's House and Rossetti's poetry btw. All of which I found really interesting, it's just the awful grade boundaries and lack of resources that made it difficult.

You can do a lot of these texts on the AQA spec anyway I think. I did A Doll's House & Keats for my coursework. I think most people on AQA A do Othello & Gatsby for paper 1 (plus set poetry anthology) but I did The Go-Between by LP Hartley & The Winter's Tale for Shakespeare. Set texts vary a lot by school (especially on paper 2) but I liked mine a lot. Definitely check out which texts each 6th form does

Reply 9

IdontcareDyde

1

Do not do OCR girl I’m warning you don’t do it

Reply 10

klnlljkklhklll

OP

11

Original post by IdontcareDyde

Do not do OCR girl I’m warning you don’t do it

whyy???

Reply 11

IdontcareDyde

1

Original post by klnlljkklhklll

whyy???

Incredibly hard grade boundaries. It might seem like a small annoyance… but you can get 22/30 on all your essays AND full marks in coursework that’s a C or low B Very stressful and marking isn’t that generous

Reply 12

klnlljkklhklll

OP

11

Original post by IdontcareDyde

Incredibly hard grade boundaries. It might seem like a small annoyance… but you can get 22/30 on all your essays AND full marks in coursework that’s a C or low B Very stressful and marking isn’t that generous

what!!?? omggg. what r u getting atm?

Reply 13

rubyumbum

7

Original post by klnlljkklhklll

what!!?? omggg. what r u getting atm?

doing mocks it was literally 115 or 116/120 to get an A.. so not worth it imo sucks the life out of the subject

Reply 14

IdontcareDyde

1

Original post by klnlljkklhklll

what!!?? omggg. what r u getting atm?

I mainly get Cs and Bs, despite being generally pretty strong in English and predicted an A. I got 38/40 in the NEA so I promise I’m not just stupid or coping LOL. Also Im not trying to be annoying and brag, but it is the one subject I am genuinely interested in and “good” at.

One girl I know got 29/30 in an essay and only got a b or A, not an A* (her other essay was pretty good since she’s one of the tops of our class ). It’s always annoying when people try to scare you off from doing a subject, but if I could choose I would definetly choose aqa. Do you know what modules they teach? Deffo take that into account. The gothic is a fantastic and interesting topic and I may even choose to study this (and hamlet, amazing play) over whatever they do at aqa if it’s not that great

(edited 9 months ago)

AQA or OCR english lit a level

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