Use it for

Planning, marking, target setting

Covers

GCSE, A-level, AP Literature, IB, first-year university

Check

Your own current specification for exact wording and weightings

The four things every course rewards

Strip away the codes and every literature course at this level asks for the same four things. Each resource in this library is built around them.

1. An argument. A clear, personal answer to the question asked, sustained from first line to last.
2. Evidence. Precise references and short quotations, chosen to prove a point and not to fill space.
3. Analysis of method. How language, form and structure create meaning, using accurate terms.
4. A wider frame. Context where it changes the reading, and, for older students, other interpretations.

GCSE English Literature

The assessment objectives used in England are shared across exam boards.

The exams are closed book, so quotations must be learnt. Short ones are enough: the quotation sheets are built for this. Shakespeare questions often begin from a printed extract and ask you to move out to the whole play.

A-level English Literature

The step up from GCSE is mostly AO5 and the quality of AO1. Interpretations should be argued with, not listed. Each study guide has a critical perspectives section written for this.

AP English Literature and Composition

The free-response section has three essays: poetry analysis, prose fiction analysis, and a literary argument on a work you choose. Shakespeare’s plays are a frequent choice for the third. Each essay is marked on a six-point rubric.

For the literary argument you write from memory, so you need a play you know well: its turning points, and a handful of exact phrases.

IB English A: Literature

The written criteria reward knowledge and interpretation, analysis and evaluation of the writer’s choices, focus and organisation, and language. A Shakespeare play can serve in Paper 2, the oral or the higher level essay.

First-year university

There is no objectives grid, but the expectations are continuous with the above. Markers look for an argument that is your own, close reading as evidence, engagement with published criticism (answered, not just cited), awareness of the text as a script for performance and as a product of its period, and accurate referencing in the department’s house style.

What this means for one paragraph

Self-assessment: mark your own essay

Read your essay with a pencil. Tick each statement only if you can point to the sentence that earns it.

• My introduction answers the question in a way someone could disagree with.
• Each paragraph’s first sentence is about meaning, not plot.
• I quote in short phrases, accurately, inside my own sentences.
• I analyse at least one single word or sound in each paragraph.
• I comment on form or structure, not only on vocabulary.
• Every context point is tied to a specific line.
• I consider another interpretation and say why I accept or resist it.
• My conclusion makes a judgement, not a summary.

One target for next time:

Use it with

Plan to these criteria with the essay planner, practise the method row with the close reading toolkit, and find ready-made sequences in the lesson plans. Specifications are revised from time to time, so always confirm details against the current documents from your board or programme.

For a low-stakes daily habit alongside the set text, Daily Bard shows one passage of Shakespeare each morning, with a plain-English reading on the back of the leaf.