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ENGLISH LITERATURE
Subject
Department: ENGLISH
Examination Board: OCR
English Language AS Code:
3828 A2 Code: 7828
Prior Levels
of Attainment
GSCE Grade Requirements:
Grade A*, A or B in English and English Literature
Specification summary
For AS, you must study at least four texts, including
one play written by Shakespeare and one other text written before
1900. Your texts will include prose and poetry for examination;
and a further text, to be decided by your teacher, for two assignments
to form a coursework folder.
For A2, you will study a minimum of five further
texts. You will study poetry and drama from before 1900, including
one work written before 1770. You will undertake coursework on a
prose text written after 1914; and you will study two further texts
relating to a topic for the final Synoptic Unit. This will allow
you to show that you can compare texts and draw together the literary
skills and knowledge that you have acquired in the course as a whole.
Aims of the course
The aims of this course are to enable you to enjoy
reading and discussing English Literature, and to increase your
understanding of what the study of literature involves. The emphasis
is on getting you to know a wide range of texts in depth, by close
reading. At the same time, you will be encouraged to think about
the contexts in which these texts were written and about the different
ways in which they were read in the past and can be read now.
Summary of subject content
AS Module 2707: Shakespeare
AS Module 2708: Poetry and Prose
AS Module 2709: Complementary Study (coursework)
A2 Module 2710: Poetry and Drama (pre-1900)
A2 Module 2711: Post-1914 prose (coursework)
A2 Module 2713: Comparative and Contextual
Study
Scheme of Assessment: Modular
AS students
have traditionally been entered for Modules 2707 and 2708 for examination
in June, although we are experimenting with a January sitting for
2707. Module 2709 is Coursework and will be assessed internally
in the Spring term.
A2 students
will be entered for Module 2720 in January and the final Synoptic
Module 2713 in the following June. Module 2711 is Coursework, which
will be undertaken in the autumn term and will be assessed internally
in the Spring term.
Units of Assessment
| Unit
2707 (AS)
1 hr 30mins
Weighting: 15% of A-level
Drama:
Shakespeare
Candidates select one play, and answer two questions: one
passage-based and one essay.
(Closed text)
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Unit 2710 (A2)
2 hrs
Weighting: 15% of A-level
Poetry & Drama (pre-1900)
Candidates answer two questions, one from each Section (A:
Poetry; B: Drama). At least one question must be on a text
published pre-1770.
(Closed text)
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Unit 2708 (AS)
2 hrs
Weighting: 20% of A-level
Poetry
and Prose
Candidates answer two questions, one on a poetry text, the
second on prose. At least one text must be pre-1900.
Questions will require close study and critical
appreciation of set passages from prepared texts. In their
answers candidates must discuss the set passages in relation
to the text as a whole.
(Open text)
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Unit 2711 (A2)
Weighting: 15% of A-level
Prose (post-1914)
Candidates study one or more prose texts not previously
used in Units 2708 or 2709.
Internal Assessment (coursework)
A folder (max. 3000 words) containing either two items of
writing or an extended essay.
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Unit 2709 (AS)
Weighting: 15% of A-level
Literature Complementary
Study
A folder (guideline 1500-2000 words) containing two items
of writing on a single text chosen by the candidate. (This
must be a fourth text, not one of the three previously studied
for Unit 2707
or 2708.)
One item should focus on the
text as a whole; the second should involve a close reading
and critical discussion of a single selected passage.
(This may take the form of a recreative response with commentary.)
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Unit 2713 (A2)
2 hrs
Weighting: 20% of A-level
Comparative and Contextual Study (Synoptic)
Candidates answer two questions on a single
topic area (see below), one question from each
section.
A: close study of an unseen passage or passages related
to the set topic areas
B: essay questions involving comparative and contextual
study of at least two related texts.
Options include: Satire; Gothic Tradition; Post-Colonial
Literature; and – our main choice in recent years
- the American Novel.
(Closed text)
15 minutes will be allowed for initial reading before the
question paper is issued.
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