Edexcel A-Level English Literature: Prose (Component 2) overview quiz quiz

Two thematically linked prose texts in a single integrated comparative essay

One prose text studied in isolation and analysed without any comparison to another work

An unseen prose extract only, with no set texts prepared in advance of the examination

One set prose text read alongside a single linked poem from the same period

Only a single shared similarity between the two texts, with no mention of any difference at all

A genuine point of connection and a genuine point of difference, plus the line of argument

The number of texts being compared in the essay

The exam board that sets the examination paper

It is shorter and lets you cover the whole task in noticeably fewer paragraphs overall

It avoids using quotations and so saves time you would spend learning evidence

It compares both texts within each paragraph, making connections explicit

It lets you discuss only one text and ignore the other entirely

There is no difference between them; the theme and the question's angle are simply two names for the same thing

The theme is the plot of the texts, whereas the angle is the setting in which the action takes place

The theme is chosen freely by the student rather than fixed by the exam

The theme is the broad shared focus; the question narrows it to a precise angle you must answer

The qualification or divergence turns a simple "both show X" into an analytical comparative point

It uses fewer words overall and so leaves you a good deal more time to spend on the rest of the comparative essay

It avoids close analysis and lets you assert the connection without proving it from the texts

It only needs one text, so you can prepare half as much material for the exam

The volume and tone an actor uses when reading the novel's dialogue aloud in a stage adaptation

Who tells the story and from what perspective, controlling what the reader knows and feels

The font and typeface chosen for the printed book

The number of chapters the novel is divided into

Writing a long passage with no punctuation at all so that the prose runs on continuously in a single unbroken and breathless stream

Direct speech set out in quotation marks and clearly attributed to a named speaker by the narrator

A technique blending a character's thoughts and idiom into third-person narration, often creating irony or sympathy

A sustained second-person address that speaks directly to the reader as you

Using far too many quotations and then leaving them to stand without any close analysis at all

Comparing the two texts so closely that the differences between them disappear from view

Writing too little about the social and historical context surrounding the novel

Treating the novel as a transparent window and analysing characters as real people

Only where it changes the reading of a specific moment

Always, as a separate background paragraph placed near the start of the essay

Only in the introduction to the essay

Never, because context is not assessed

It cannot illuminate any difference, since context is purely background detail and never bears directly on the way two writers happen to handle a shared theme

Writers responding to different historical pressures treat a shared theme differently, and naming the pressure explains the divergence

By listing the relevant dates and historical events in a paragraph of their own before the comparison

By summarising the plot of each text so the reader can see the events the shared theme arises from

Choosing the most relevant moments and analysing the method each writer uses in them

Comparing the two texts closely within a single argued and thesis-driven paragraph

Listing where each text shows the theme without analysis or a comparative argument

Quoting accurately and integrating evidence smoothly

Give one text most of the analysis and let the other appear only briefly in passing

Discuss only the harder of the two texts in any real depth

Alternate strictly between the texts by page count

Balance the texts so neither is reduced to a footnote