The Examination

1. ITS VALUE

The examination paper is worth either 30% or 60% of your overall award—so it's important to take it very seriously.

2. HOW MANY QUESTIONS SHOULD I ANSWER?

At first glance, the Question Paper may seem daunting—around forty pages long, lots of detailed information to absorb on the opening page, a dozen or so pages and over forty questions in the mandatory Literary Study section alone.

But you needn't panic.

Only ONE or at most TWO questions have to be answered.

If Creative Writing is your chosen Option, you need only answer ONE question—which must, of course, be selected from the mandatory Literary Study section of the paper.

If you have chosen an Option other than Creative Writing, you will be required to answer TWO questions. Your first will be, as it is for all candidates, from the mandatory Literary Study section. Your second will be from the Language Study section or the Textual Analysis section or the Reading the Media section.

3. HOW MUCH SHOULD I WRITE?

Remember that you have one and a half hours in which to tackle each question. Of course, not all of that time should be spent writing. You should take as much time as you need to think about the question and to plan how you intend to respond to it. Then you should begin writing in as much detail as you think relevant and manageable in approximately one hour’s worth of solid writing.

4. WILL I HAVE A CHOICE OF QUESTIONS IN EACH SECTION OF THE PAPER?

For the mandatory Literary Study section, you should have studied the work of at least two authors (from different genres - Drama, Poetry, Prose). If you are properly prepared, therefore, for the examination, you should have a choice between the questions set on each of your chosen authors. There is similar choice in the Optional Sections of the paper: Language Study (for which two topics will have been studied), Textual Analysis (for which two genres will have been practised) and Reading the Media (for which two media categories will have been examined).

5. WHAT IF I CAN'T REMEMBER MY QUOTATIONS ACCURATELY?

Because you don't have access to your texts during the examination, you will not be penalised for minor inaccuracies as you attempt to support your answer with relevant quotations and references. You should, however, be so familiar with the texts you have studied that quoting from them is instinctive and natural to you. Learning key quotations by heart is one way of ensuring that you have developed a firm grasp of the central concerns and features of the text.

6. WHAT SHOULD I ACTUALLY WRITE?

The simple answer is that you should write directly in response to the terms of the question you are attempting. One of the main things examiners are looking for is evidence of your willingness to get involved, your ability to confront the terms of the question—to meet its implications head on and to deploy your knowledge of the text to provide convincing supporting evidence for the line of thought you are seeking to develop.

7. THE STANDARDS REQUIRED

Use the marking instructions for this exam to help you to see clearly the difference between an answer that is acceptable and would pass and one that would earn you top marks.

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