2018 – 2024 A-Level H1/H2 English Literature Marking Scheme
TLDR
Your essay will be evaluated based on what you have written, not what you have left out. This means that as long as you clearly explain the focus of your discussion in your thesis and introduction, and provide comments (substantiated with relevant quotes) on language, form, and style, such as structure, genre, diction, syntactical devices, register, imagery, tone, rhythm, rhyme, linguistic patterns, and dramatic qualities, you will do well.
Skills
- Draw connections between personal experiences and ideas with those presented in the text.
- Comment on how both the content and form of the text influence the reader’s response.
- Demonstrate an understanding of how the text invites the reader to respond.
- Demonstrate how the context of a literary text affects the understanding of the text.
- Show knowledge of social, cultural, and historical influences on the creation of texts.
- Comment on how characters, viewpoints, and situations reflect social conventions, beliefs, and attitudes of individuals and groups in a society.
- Interpret the ideas, viewpoints, and values expressed in a text.
- Understand literary influences, traditions, and the roles of reader, text, and author.
- Critically analyse and evaluate how a writer’s choices of form, structure, and language shape meaning.
- Understand the elements of literary genres.
- Analyse literary form, including structure, setting, character, conflict, plot, methods of characterisation, and themes.
- Analyse stylistic devices, including voice, persona, symbolism, irony, mood, and tone.
- Analyse the use of language, including register, diction, tone, imagery, and rhythm in a text.
- Recognise imaginative or dramatic techniques for creating effects.
- Present a sustained interpretation supported by appropriate and detailed references to the text(s).
- Present an evaluative/critical comparison and make connections between two or more texts.
- Clearly communicate knowledge, understanding, and insights relevant to literary study.
- Demonstrate the ability to write effective literary essays that convey knowledge and understanding of texts and insights into the texts.
- Show the ability to use appropriate literary terms in responses.
- Present a clear and coherent argument in support of ideas.
How to score 22–25?
Paper 1 Section A (Unseen Poetry)
To analyse poems critically:
- Provide a personal and informed response.
- Compare and contrast the poems in original ways.
- Conduct a detailed analysis of form, structure, and language to create meaning.
- Evaluate the effects of form, style, and language with mature judgement and clear focus.
- Provide a coherent and seamless response.
- Use appropriate quotations, paraphrasing, and critical terminology concisely and sophisticatedly.
- Work should be personal, subtle, and elegant.
- Give economic expression to complex ideas.
Paper 1 Section B and C
To analyse a text critically:
- Look at how the writer uses form, structure, and language to create meaning.
- Assess the effects of the writer’s use of form, style, and language.
- Make a clear argument that answers the question.
- Show that you understand the literary context of the text.
- Use quotes, summaries, and critical terms to support your analysis.
- Your analysis should be thoughtful, personal, and perceptive.
- Keep your analysis brief and clear, even when dealing with complex ideas.
- For an exceptional analysis, aim for an elegant and subtle style.
Paper 2 and 3 Section A
- Provide a personal and informed response.
- Conduct a detailed analysis of form, structure, and language to create meaning.
- Evaluate the effects of form, style, and language with mature judgement and clear focus.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the literary context of the work (in terms of literary period / theme / genre / historical context).
- Provide a coherent and seamless response.
- Use appropriate quotations, paraphrasing, and critical terminology concisely and sophisticatedly.
- Work should be personal, subtle, and elegant.
- Give economic expression to complex ideas.
Paper 2 and 3 Section B
Candidates must provide answers based on different texts in Sections B and C. Any overlap of material will not be rewarded.
In Section B, candidates must compare two texts and, therefore, should give roughly equal weight to each text in their answer.
- Show thoughtfulness and originality in analysing texts.
- Compare and contrast texts in original ways.
- Analyse how writers use form, structure, and language to create meaning.
- Evaluate the effects of writers’ use of form, style, and language with a mature judgment and clear focus on the question and key issues.
- Develop a coherent argument relevant to the question.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the literary context of the work (in terms of literary period / theme / genre / historical context).
- Support analysis with pertinent references to the text, using quotes and critical terminology concisely and effectively.
- Respond sensitively and personally to the question, with a style that is clear and elegant, and gives economic expression to complex ideas.
Paper 2 and 3 Section C
Candidates must provide answers based on different texts in Sections B and C. Any overlap of material will not be rewarded.
Provide a personal and informed response to the text.
Analyse how the writer uses form, structure, and language to create meaning.
Evaluate the effects of the writer’s use of form, style, and language with a mature judgment and clear focus on the question and key issues.
Develop a coherent argument relevant to the question.
Demonstrate an understanding of the literary context of the text in terms of period, theme, genre, and historical context.
Support the analysis with detailed and pertinent references to the text, using appropriate quotations, paraphrasing, and critical terminology concisely and economically.
Respond sensitively, perceptively, and personally to the question set, with a style that is fluent and gives economic expression to complex ideas, and may even be elegant and allusive at the upper end of the band.
