A Level Set Texts: Going Beyond the Curriculum to Reach the Top Marks in 2024
Over the duration of your A Level courses, you’ll have the opportunity to study fewer subjects in greater depth than before. This is a chance to broaden the scope of your learning beyond what’s covered in lessons: when studying English and foreign languages, the set texts you’ll cover can be extended far beyond the syllabus to enrich your understanding and enjoyment of them. Here, I’ve outlined a few ways in which you can broaden your learning with the specific goal of improving the quality of your essays and other written work, with a focus on English Literature and Ancient & Modern Languages.
English Literature A-Level
The English A-Level course is very clearly set out, with assessment objectives which must be met in order to access the top marks. However, focusing purely on assessment objectives when going about writing A Level essays can limit the variety and interest of your writing, and enhancing your studies with extracurricular reading can enable you to fulfil these objectives in a less regimented way. For example, a key aspect of A Level English essays is demonstrating an understanding of the context of the text you are studying. This ‘context’ can include social, historical, cultural, biographical and literary information, so be ambitious! Reading other works by the author you’re studying is a brilliant way of really beginning to understand the way the author writes and what motivates them; making thematic or even stylistic comparisons across works will impress examiners hugely. For example, if you’re studying Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, read ‘The Glass Menagerie’, or, better still, go and see a production of it; then you’ll be equipped to make comments about Williams’ dramaturgy across his oeuvre.
Remember that texts don’t exist in isolation, and that writers inhabit complex socio-political environments; read up on the historical background of the texts you’re studying. The more specific the connections you make to the historical context, the better, and the more convincing your argument will be. For example, if you’re studying Jacobean drama, it might help to gain an understanding of the Reformation and how it affected religious practices; if you can make connections with contemporary events, you’ll reveal to examiners that you can situate a text within a cultural moment rather than seeing it as a book you have been randomly assigned.
However, it’s important not to impose contextual information onto a text if it isn’t actually relevant; not all texts written in the 1920s are dealing with the aftermath of the First World War, for example. To help you avoid such a pitfall, and to really give your essay-writing an edge, have a look at literary theory on the subject. Studying literature doesn’t involve clear-cut rules; it involves constructing coherent and persuasive arguments, and some literary criticism will persuade you that context is all-important as a means of ‘decoding’ a text, whilst other theorists insist that all the relevant information is in the text itself. These are different ‘approaches’ to literature; other ‘approaches’ include feminist, post-colonial and Marxist theory, and seeking out an overview of these schools of thought will enable you to analyse texts with a precise sense of what kind of analysis you are performing. A good introduction to the subject is Jonathan Culler’s Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2011). Our online extracurricular platform, Minds Underground™, also hosts an exciting theory masterclass for those looking to gain a deeper understanding:
Languages A-Levels: Modern and Ancient
Modern Languages
What’s exciting about studying a foreign language at A Level is the sheer scope of the course. Whilst you will be given vocabulary lists and required grammar, it’s up to you to really inhabit the language in your own time to improve your fluency and to increase your personal vocabulary. The larger your vocabulary in the language you’re studying, the greater your possibilities of expression are. When you write translations as well as literature essays in the language, you’ll be limited only by the size of your vocabulary, so the best way to improve your writing other than gaining a sound understanding of the grammar is to expose yourself to as much of the language as possible, so that your writing will sound more idiomatic and fluent.
Listening to radio programmes and podcasts in the language you’re studying is a good place to start; for example, if you’re studying German, the website Deutsche Welle contains useful programmes such as Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten and Nachrichten in 60 Sekunden which will help you to stay abreast of current affairs – useful for oral exams! – whilst exposing you to the language as it is used by native speakers. Films will also improve the fluency and variety of your expression; for French, Jean de Florette is a brilliant film to start with, whilst for German, Das Leben der Anderen is an engaging and challenging film to watch.
Latin and Classical Greek
If you’re studying a Classical language for A Level, the focus will be less on spoken and written fluency in the language itself, but proficiency in analysing and writing about Latin and Greek texts. The best way to improve your literature essay-writing in these subjects is to delve beyond the confines of the syllabus. Don’t worry; this doesn’t necessarily mean going off and reading reams of untranslated Cicero independently! What will help is researching the writers you’re studying and the world they inhabited. For example, if you’re studying Virgil’s Aeneid, read up on Virgil’s relation to the emperor Augustus and his role as Rome’s great epic poet; look at the circumstances in which your set texts were written. An engaging introduction to Roman history is Mary Beard’s recent publication, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.
All this is to say that when studying set texts, situate them within their cultural point of origin. Avoid viewing texts in isolation; remember that writers inhabit complex, multifaceted societies, and demonstrating an awareness of this by researching beyond the set texts will enable you to aim for the very highest marks.
By Sarah (English Literature and Language, University of Oxford - U2 Tutor)
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