A Level English Literature

Please refer to EN's Entry Requirements Guide for specific advice on our Admissions Policy. This guide is supplied at interview to prospective students and is also available to Schools & Careers Advisers.

English Literature is the course for you if you enjoy:

- Reading novels, poetry and plays

- Discussing characters and themes

- Exploring how writers construct their texts.

English Literature will help you to become a perceptive reader, as well as developing your analytical skills, your written expression and your logical reasoning skills. By studying English, ‘you develop the insight of an artist, the analytical precision of a scientist and the persuasiveness of a lawyer’. (Prof. Maureen Moran, Brunel University)

The AS course

The two AS exams are on Shakespeare and Poetry (Paper 1), and Prose (Paper 2). For Paper 1, you will study Othello and a collection of pre-1900 poetry, for a closed book exam worth 50% of the AS. This paper has essay questions on each text. For Paper 2, you will study two novels, The Great Gatsby and The Awakening for an open book exam, which is also worth 50%. Paper 2 will have a comparative essay question on the novels you have studied as well as a question on an unseen extract.

The A level course

This builds on the work you have done at AS; the texts are used again here, and are enhanced by more advanced analysis and exploration of critical views. Othello, The Great Gatsby and the poetry will be assessed again for the first A level exam. You will study The Woman in White for the first NEA text, which you can pair with a text of your choice for an independent extended essay. You will also study modern poetry, prose and drama in your second year, which will be assessed in the second A level exam.

Exam - 80%

Coursework - 20%

At least Grade 5 in GCSE English or English Language & English Literature. An average GCSE score of 4.80 or higher.

Assessment

AS level: 100% exam (50% Paper 1, 50% Paper 1)

A level: 20% Non-Examined Assessment, 80% exam (40% Paper 1, 40% Paper 2)

At Higher Education: Degree in English Literature, English Studies, Creative Writing or as qualification for most other degree subjects.

Careers in: Acting, Teaching, Research, PR, Advertising, Journalism, Media, Writing, Publishing, Library Services, Civil Service, Public Administration, Counselling, any career requiring high standards of written and spoken English.