AQA · 7712
AQA English Literature A
231 questions on the set texts most schools choose, with AQA's essay questions.
The papers
- Paper 1: Love through the ages 75 marks, 180 minutes.
- Paper 2: Texts in shared contexts 75 marks, 150 minutes.
- Non-exam assessment: Independent critical study 50 marks, coursework.
Set texts in this course
- Shakespeare Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, The Winter's TalePractise
- Prose The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Jane Eyre, PersuasionPractise
- Poetry The pre-1900 love poetry anthology, Wilfred Owen and the poets of the First World WarPractise
Not covered: The Awakening, the post-1900 love poetry anthology, the in-copyright prose texts (Atonement, Rebecca, The Go-Between, A Room with a View, The Island of Missing Trees), the Paper 2 texts other than the First World War poems of Owen and his contemporaries, and the non-exam assessment. In-copyright texts are not quoted or taught here.
Skills: assessment, interpretations, unseen texts and connections
- LessonPractice
How A-level Literature is assessed: papers, objectives and levels
AQA A 7712: Every paper- Know each board's papers, sections and set-text choices
- Know the five assessment objectives and what each rewards
- Know how the level descriptors separate a straightforward answer from a perceptive one
- LessonPractice
Genre, critical lenses and interpretations
AQA A 7712: Every paper- Use the terms of tragedy and comedy precisely: hamartia, anagnorisis, peripeteia, catharsis, comic resolution
- Apply feminist, Marxist, post-colonial, eco-critical and narrative readings to a text
- Weigh interpretations in an argument instead of listing critics
- LessonPractice
Unseen poetry and prose
AQA A 7712: Every paper- Read an unseen poem or prose passage for voice, imagery, form and structure
- Compare two unseen poems' methods as well as their ideas
- Connect an unseen extract to the genre or period you have studied
- LessonPractice
Connecting texts and using context
AQA A 7712: Every paper- Build a comparative argument across two texts, not two essays side by side
- Use contexts of writing and of reception to explain meaning
- Plan a 25 or 30-mark essay with a clear line of argument
Shakespeare
- LessonPractice
Othello, Acts 1 to 3: Venice, Cyprus and Iago's plot
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section A (Shakespeare)- Know the plot of Acts 1 to 3, from Iago's grievance to the temptation scene
- Analyse how Shakespeare presents Iago's manipulation, Othello's love and Desdemona's choice
- Use context: Venice, race, the Ottoman threat and Jacobean attitudes to marriage
- LessonPractice
Othello, Acts 3 to 5: jealousy, murder and recognition
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section A (Shakespeare)- Know the plot from the handkerchief to Othello's death
- Analyse Othello's changing language, Emilia's role and the tragic ending
- Judge readings of Othello as a tragic hero, and of Iago's motives
- LessonPractice
The Taming of the Shrew
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section A (Shakespeare)- Know the induction, the two wooing plots and the wager
- Analyse how Shakespeare presents Katherina, Petruchio, marriage and money
- Weigh readings of the ending: submission, irony or performance
- LessonPractice
Measure for Measure
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section A (Shakespeare)- Know the plot: Angelo's rule, Isabella's plea, the bed trick and the Duke's return
- Analyse how Shakespeare presents law, mercy, desire and power
- Weigh readings of the Duke's proposal and Isabella's silence
- LessonPractice
The Winter's Tale
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section A (Shakespeare)- Know the plot from Leontes's jealousy to the statue scene
- Analyse the play's two worlds, time, loss and restoration
- Use context: the late plays, romance conventions and the Jacobean court
Prose
- LessonPractice
The Great Gatsby
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section C (comparing texts)- Know the plot and Nick's narration from West Egg to Gatsby's funeral
- Analyse how Fitzgerald presents love, wealth, class and the American Dream
- Use context: the 1920s, prohibition, old and new money and the First World War
- LessonPractice
Wuthering Heights
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section C (comparing texts)- Know the two generations' stories and the novel's frame narrators
- Analyse how Emily Brontë presents love, revenge, nature and the Gothic
- Use context: class, inheritance and women's position in the early nineteenth century
- LessonPractice
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section C (comparing texts)- Know the seven phases of Tess's story
- Analyse how Hardy presents Tess, fate, nature and Victorian morality
- Read Tess as a domestic tragedy and weigh the subtitle, A Pure Woman
- LessonPractice
Jane Eyre
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section C (comparing texts)- Know Jane's five settings, from Gateshead to Ferndean
- Analyse how Charlotte Brontë presents love, independence, religion and Bertha
- Use feminist and post-colonial readings of the novel
- LessonPractice
Persuasion
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section C (comparing texts)- Know the plot from Kellynch to Anne and Wentworth's engagement
- Analyse how Austen presents constancy, persuasion, class and the navy
- Use context: the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the rise of a new gentry
Poetry
- LessonPractice
The pre-1900 love poetry anthology
AQA A 7712: Paper 1, Section C (comparing texts)- Know the poems of the pre-1900 love poetry set list, from Sonnet 116 to Hardy and Dowson
- Analyse how the poets present desire, loss, constancy and social convention
- Compare the poems with your prose text across time
- LessonPractice
Wilfred Owen and the poets of the First World War
AQA A 7712: Paper 2, Option 2A (WW1 and its aftermath)- Know Owen's major poems and those of Rosenberg, Brooke and Edward Thomas
- Analyse how the poets present combat, pity, protest and memory
- Use context: recruitment, the front line and the home front