Eduqas A-Level English Literature: exam technique overview quiz quiz

The post-1900 poetry comparison question in full

The Shakespeare extract question on the set play

The Component 2 Section B drama comparison

Component 3, the entire unseen prose and poetry paper

Only its exact page number in the printed edition

The precise date on which the whole text was first written

The name of the critic who once discussed it

The method it shows and the themes it serves

In a closed-book exam you must produce both the evidence and its analysis from memory

Quotations are not really needed in the answer at all

Analysis is always far easier to memorise than the actual quotations themselves ever are

The examiners helpfully provide all the quotations you will need

Writing out the full introduction straight away

Forming a thesis: a clear, arguable position on the question or view

Listing out every single quotation that you happen to know for the text

Reading the whole of the set text through again

It is strictly required by the formal exam rules

It reliably makes the finished answer much longer

The papers are tightly timed, so overspending on one section leaves another rushed or unfinished

It changes which of the assessment objectives are actually assessed in this one particular exam paper

It simply looks much neater on the page

It is considerably easier to find in the text

Long block quotations are strictly forbidden by the formal exam rules of the board

It can be analysed closely word by word (AO2) and keeps the prose coherent (AO1)

Close analysis of how meaning is shaped (AO2 dominant)

Connection and comparison made across the two set texts (AO4)

A critical debate that must be weighed and judged (AO5)

A straightforward summary of the plot

Simply agreeing with the view as stated

Testing the view across the text, weighing it, and reaching a judgement

Briefly summarising the stated view

Ignoring the stated view entirely and just writing generally about the text

Sheer length and an impressively wide vocabulary

A long, detailed introduction followed by a great many quotations drawn from each of the two separate texts

Idea-led structure (comparison continuous) and balance (both texts equal, every assessed objective present)

Writing about one of the two texts in real depth

Writing far too many very short paragraphs all the way throughout the whole of the comparative essay answer

Using clear comparative connectives between the two set texts

Reaching a clear and considered overall judgement

A text-by-text structure (all of one text, then the other, comparison at the end), which caps AO4

As targets: aim for perceptive analysis, a sustained argument, integrated comparison and evaluated interpretations

Completely ignored, on the grounds that only the question itself really matters

Memorised word for word and then quoted directly back, in full, in the body of the written answer itself in the exam

Only read carefully once the exam itself is over

Memorising the entire set text from start to finish

Memorised argument: quotations tagged to method and theme, with rehearsed analysis

Memorising several long passages of the set text word for word and verbatim from memory

Avoiding the use of quotations entirely in the answer