Help (A-Levels)

Has anyone taken Literature, Economics, or Sociology on the CIE exam board for AS Level? If so, could you please share the best resources you used (particularly close to the exam/ last minute) that helped you achieve an A?

Reply 1

Kingston Jenifer

Official Rep

9

Hi there!

I did English literature at AS and A-Level. When I did my A-Levels back in 2020, we were given copies of the texts in the exam - is this still the same?

Assuming you do have copies of the texts in the exam, I would not focus too much on memorizing quotes. However, I would focus on your analysis of these quotes and ensuring you have a good analytical answer that can be applicable to all/most themes.

I would also focus on essay writing. You may already know to follow a PEAL structure - Point, Evidence, Analysis and Link. As you are an AS student, here are so things that helped me reach higher marks...

1.

Embed your quotes for better flowability of your answer. For example, do not simply say "Othello shows he is jealous from the quote 'jealousy is a green eyed monster' ". Instead, say "Othello describes his jealousy as a 'green eyed monster' ". Notice how the second sentence flows a lot better, which helps you achieve better essay structure.

2.

Use context - what was mythology like? What type of monster could Shakespeare be referring to? Adding context deepens your analysis

3.

Use critics - this can be useful when explaining different interpretations and helps you to access those higher marks. For example (from what I remember!) Roland Barnes' 'death of the author' is a literary piece that essentially says that there is no link between an author and their writing - the piece is independent of the author's life (I think this is correct, please double check this!). You may have been told when and how to use critics, so double check this with your teacher.

Although I did not sit my A-Levels due to Covid, I did achieve A on my essays at AS Level.

I hope this helps - any questions do let me know!

Kind regards, Jenifer (Kingston rep).

Reply 2

ariana.banin0e

7

Original post by valerieeee

Has anyone taken Literature, Economics, or Sociology on the CIE exam board for AS Level? If so, could you please share the best resources you used (particularly close to the exam/ last minute) that helped you achieve an A?

Hey i'm doing English Lit CIE right now and my first exam is in 9 days! I'm doing texts Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Gawain and the Green knight. My other AS texts are A Handful of Dust - let me know if you are doing any of mine!

Reply 3

BraveEagle

15

Original post by valerieeee

Has anyone taken Literature, Economics, or Sociology on the CIE exam board for AS Level? If so, could you please share the best resources you used (particularly close to the exam/ last minute) that helped you achieve an A?

Heyy, I'm also taking Eng Lit on the CIE board. My first exam is in like a week. The best resources I used is LitCharts (for shakespeare translations, and sumarries of some of the texts), PoemAnalysis (for poetry sumarries and analysis), Quizlet (for memorising what each scene/poem/chapter is about), ChatGPT (to search up themes or symbolisms, and sometimes I use it to help me grade my essays. It's not perfect, but it gives me a bit of guideline) and GensparkAI (same usage as ChatGPT)

I don't know if you're doing the (a) questions or the (b) questions, but I'm doing (b) questions, so idk if these are useful for the (a) questions or not. Should be similar though. Hope this helps Xx

Reply 4

valerieeee

OP

7

Original post by ariana.banin0e

Hey i'm doing English Lit CIE right now and my first exam is in 9 days! I'm doing texts Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Gawain and the Green knight. My other AS texts are A Handful of Dust - let me know if you are doing any of mine!

I don't do any of these, but good luck!

Reply 5

valerieeee

OP

7

Original post by Kingston Jenifer

Hi there!
I did English literature at AS and A-Level. When I did my A-Levels back in 2020, we were given copies of the texts in the exam - is this still the same?
Assuming you do have copies of the texts in the exam, I would not focus too much on memorizing quotes. However, I would focus on your analysis of these quotes and ensuring you have a good analytical answer that can be applicable to all/most themes.
I would also focus on essay writing. You may already know to follow a PEAL structure - Point, Evidence, Analysis and Link. As you are an AS student, here are so things that helped me reach higher marks...

1.

Embed your quotes for better flowability of your answer. For example, do not simply say "Othello shows he is jealous from the quote 'jealousy is a green eyed monster' ". Instead, say "Othello describes his jealousy as a 'green eyed monster' ". Notice how the second sentence flows a lot better, which helps you achieve better essay structure.

2.

Use context - what was mythology like? What type of monster could Shakespeare be referring to? Adding context deepens your analysis

3.

Use critics - this can be useful when explaining different interpretations and helps you to access those higher marks. For example (from what I remember!) Roland Barnes' 'death of the author' is a literary piece that essentially says that there is no link between an author and their writing - the piece is independent of the author's life (I think this is correct, please double check this!). You may have been told when and how to use critics, so double check this with your teacher.

Although I did not sit my A-Levels due to Covid, I did achieve A on my essays at AS Level.
I hope this helps - any questions do let me know!
Kind regards, Jenifer (Kingston rep).

Thank you so much!

Reply 6

valerieeee

OP

7

Original post by BraveEagle

Heyy, I'm also taking Eng Lit on the CIE board. My first exam is in like a week. The best resources I used is LitCharts (for shakespeare translations, and sumarries of some of the texts), PoemAnalysis (for poetry sumarries and analysis), Quizlet (for memorising what each scene/poem/chapter is about), ChatGPT (to search up themes or symbolisms, and sometimes I use it to help me grade my essays. It's not perfect, but it gives me a bit of guideline) and GensparkAI (same usage as ChatGPT)
I don't know if you're doing the (a) questions or the (b) questions, but I'm doing (b) questions, so idk if these are useful for the (a) questions or not. Should be similar though. Hope this helps Xx

Thank you! This is really helpful

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