A Level English Literature

Course summary

The English Literature A-Level is a two-year course that appeals to students who love literature and want to read and explore texts in a more detailed way. What will you learn? The redesigned A-level Literature course will begin with an exploration of genre. Students will study the conventions of either tragedy or comedy, beginning with Marlowe and further dramatic and fictional texts. The written exam for this unit will take place at the end of the second year of study. The following unit explores an additional genre: either science or society or supernatural writing. This unit will also be assessed at the end of the second year and comprise the detailed study of three texts including prose and poetry. Finally, students will also have an element of independent coursework that will require them to study two prose texts. Students will be expected to use critical, theoretical and philosophical approaches to reading and produce one comparative essay of 2500-3000 words, referring to two texts.