AQA English Literature B

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AQA English Literature B
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LITB3

• Unit 3 Texts and Genres
• 30 of total A level
• Written Paper, 2 hours. Closed book. 80 marks
• Min. of 3 texts to study.
• Elements of Pastoral.
• 2 sections in the exam answer one question for
  each.
• Exam June 2010

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LITB4

• Unit 4 Further and Independent Reading
• 20 of total A level
• Coursework. 60 marks
• Min. of 3 texts to study includes 1 pre-released
  anthology of critical material.
• A portfolio of two pieces of written coursework.
• A comparative study of an aspect of two texts.
  (1500 2000 words)
• An application of an aspect of pre-released
  critical anthology to a literary text (1200
  1500 words)
• Deadline June 2010

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Weighting of Assessment Objectives for A Level
Assessment Objectives Unit Weightings ()
Unit 3 Unit 4
AO1 7.5 5
AO2 7.5 5
AO3 7.5 5
AO4 7.5 5
Overall weightings of units 30 20
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A2 performance descriptions for English
Literature B

• AO1 A/B boundary performance descriptions.
• Candidates characteristically
• Communicate extensive knowledge and understanding
  of literary texts.
• Create and sustain well organised and coherent
  arguments, using appropriate terminology to
  support informed interpretations.
• Structure and organise their writing using an
  appropriate critical register.
• Communicate content and meaning through
  expressive and accurate writing.

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A2 performance descriptions for English
Literature B

• AO2 A/B boundary performance descriptions.
• Candidates characteristically
• Identify significant aspects of structure, form
  and language in literary texts.
• Explore, through detailed critical analysis, how
  writers use these aspects to create meaning.
• Consistently make reference to specific texts and
  sources to support their responses.

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A2 performance descriptions for English
Literature B

• AO3 A/B boundary performance descriptions.
• Candidates characteristically
• Analyse and evaluate connections or points of
  comparison between literary texts.
• Engage sensitively and with different readings
  and interpretations demonstrating clear
  understanding.

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A2 performance descriptions for English
Literature B

• AO4 A/B boundary performance descriptions.
• Candidates characteristically
• Explore and comment on the significance of the
  relationships between specific literary texts and
  their contexts.
• Evaluate the influence of culture, text type,
  literary genre or historical period on the ways
  in which literary texts were written and were
  and are received.

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Question stems

• Discuss the view
• Explore the ways in which
• Consider the view that
• To what extent
• How far do you agree that

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Example questions (section A)

• Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
• Childhood has been depicted by some pastoral
  writers as a lost Golden Age and a time of
  closeness to nature.
• Does Huckleberry Finn show Twain to be one of
  those writers?

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Example Questions (section A)

• Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
• Waugh said that the novel was written in a bleak
  period and was consequently filled with a kind
  of gluttony for the splendours of the recent
  past.
• How does Waugh use the idea of a Golden Age?

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Example Questions (section B)

• Discuss the uses made of urban and rural
  oppositions in texts you have studied.
• To what extent is a pastoral treatment of the
  past inevitably prettified and nostalgic?
• Compare depictions of rural life in at least two
  texts of your choice.