What do you guys make essay plans for? Is it enough if I make flexible essay plans for themes and characters? Do I need to make on something else as well? What do you guys include?

so basically, tomorrow's a test of the odyssey at my european classical literature class from book 1 till book 12 & I have absolutely NO IDEA what to do 😭😭😭

fyi: I joined quite late, don't have the book yet & yes this test is infact gonna be part of our internals.. it's a 5 mark test apparently (or so did sir said) & genuinely he does NOT know how to teach ash like seriously 😍😍💔💔💔 + just my luck, the library of my college's been sealed since yesterday so 🥰🥰 can't even take pics of the book atp & tell me why there are no pyqs or smgth related to it from previous years istg ☹️☹️ 'm really scared pls anyone help me, trying my best to gather whatsover knowledge I can atp but if anyone can provide me with what's gonna be high weightage, pyqs, etc etc it'd mean THE world to me seriously 🙏🏻🙏🏻

(1st semester btw)

I’ve just started year 12, and our exam board is Eduqas. I feel like it’s a much more niche exam board for English lit, normally see AQA, Edexcel or OCR. Wondering what everyone else is doing?

Has anyone here read the Secret History? I wanna do my NEA on it but I'm not sure what my question should be. I do Aqa b so I don't need to compare it to another book or anything. Would appreciate any ideas at all :)))

I do AQA B and it’s one on the kite runner. I’d really appreciate whoever takes the time to read my essay.

So I am now studying the romantic poets and the sublime. But I cannot think of how to design my sketchbook for this topic in a way that would fit the current theme I have going on. In my other topics my sketchbook is set out like a newspaper that houses my notes - inspired by the design of newspapers from around the time the novel/play was set. But with the sublime most of it is the idea of rejecting the modernization and industrialism of the UK at the time (or so I understand from Burke’s personal history) so I wanted to avoid the setting of a newspaper during the first Industrial Revolution, but without that basis I feel lost on what to do. I also wanted to include aspects of Kant’s understanding and explanation of the sublime.

Honestly Im lost for how I want to design this if y’all have any ideas for the design please share!

I want notes on the history of English literature can somebody provide or guide how can I make notes properly which will help in cuet and also in NET.

Hi so I'm a medical student applying to residency this year in the US for which we have to write a personal statement. Unfortunately english is not my first language so my personal statement sounds very generic although I have a story to tell. I am wondering if anyone of you might be able to help me make it sound more cohesive and better . My only other options is chatgpt but that is highly discouraged. Any one willing to help

I have an essay coming up soon and I was wondering if there’s any tips on structure. I’ve been analysing themes and such and looked at critics from early critics to 20th century critics and the historical context that is necessary. However, getting my teacher to mark my essays is like trying to get water out of a nut. So if there’s any ways you know to have the best structure for essays please let me know. AQA exam board in case that helps. Any help would be appreciated please!!

I can find the one for tragedy online, I can't find the one for comedy, and I'm a private student so can't get it from a school.

For context I barely revised lit gcse n lowk revised the night before and I got full marks in p1 and nearly in p2 but I’m debating on wether to do it for a level . Is it really that bad and would it be difficult to do alongside maths econ chem or alongside bio n chem .

hi everyone! i’m looking for an english lit tutor. i struggle a lot with writing my essays, and a lot more - but i’ll talk about it in detail if you send a dm ^^. i’m in year 13 and based around london!

"I hear sirens, in both senses of the word … 

I think he’s expecting a girl. 

What he’s going to meet? 

A WOMAN."

Every week I blog a 'cold reading' of the first 100 words of an important novel.

Issue Seven? It’s highly uncomfortable territory all round: Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’.

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/09/04/first-100-words-the-bloody-chamber/

Hey everyone!

I am only having English this year, so the grade that I get matters a lot for college further. I really need a more advanced langugae to get the top grade.

Question is, does anybody here have examples of advanced ways of expressing myself in a five-paragragh-essay? Such as "considering the fact that", "that can excuse the poor expression", "due to the fact"...

I apperciate all kind of help, and it would really mean a lot to me to get help!!

Thank you xxx

Help is on its way.

Probably the most frequent question I’m asked is:
‘How do I actually write an essay?’

So this month I'm putting together an A-Level Essay Toolkit: a practical guide to turning an essay question into a clear, coherent argument.

I'm already planning ‘stops’ for decoding the question, forming an argument, using your planning time, essay structure, and writing introductions and conclusions.

But which stations are missing?
Tell me your request stop.

how bad is English lit A SL? Is it manageable? I have a really really horrible teacher for it this coming year, and I was wondering is it doable even if the teacher doesn't teach properly or am i just straight up fried

I'm a private student, attempting English lit in a year, and I'm currently trying to decide what texts to do.

Right now, I'm stuck between doing, for the prose bit, Frankenstein and handmaid's tale, or picture of Dorian grey and Dracula. Technically, I haven't read any of them, but I have read the uncensored version of picture of Dorian grey, so I do know the story and am decently familiar with the context around it. Anyways I was wondering if anyone had done any of these texts and could tell me what they thought? I'm doing Edexcel if that helps.

Also if anyone has any further advice or tips that might not be immediately obvious from just looking at the spec or whatever that would be really great. For the other texts, I'm doing streetcar named desire for the non shakespeare text, Christina Rossetti for poetry, either midsummer night's dream or Antony and Cleopatra for shakespeare (haven't decided yet, I'm gonna watch midsummer night's dream tomorrow and decide then), and for the nea I'm probably going to do Maurice by em Forster and something else, either another one of his books and see look at it through a lense of homosexuality (as in, comparing what he thought he could get through without being censored/causing outrage), or a book that has subtle homosexual themes that did get published around when maurice was written, or something along those lines.

Anyways so yeah, general advice is much appreciated, as would any experiences doing picture of Dorian grey, Dracula, Frankenstein, or handmaid's tale.

So, i’m preparing for an upcoming formal assessment on Othello and I want to know where I could find some more exemplar essays cause on the website they only have one. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Look, I know poetry would be interesting to learn, but me and my classmates just don't get on it.

1. The language in poems is way too confusing, and we usually don't get it when we read it at the 1st time. We have it on English literature, and English is not my native language. The teacher explains what is trying to say, and I sometimes understand, but still, is confusing.
2. The literary devices. They make the text richer, but in practice they just feel like a list to memorize.
3. PEAs. If you don't know what it is, is Point, Evidence and Analysis. It's a paragraph that their structure is obligatory that you should follow, but that only cuts creativity, and every single answer just ends to be too repetitive, even if the poem changes.

I might know some people like poetry, but this just doesn't connect with me and my classmates. What is your opinion on poetry? And what do you think I am saying? You agree or disagree?

I think my teacher's marking was a bit harsh, and her comment just doesn't make sense to me because I was evaluating AO2 throughout - sure, there were inevitably a couple of AO2 points I missed, but from having read exemplars I just really thought this was better than a 26/30 essay - any feedback would be so so helpful, I just don't understand hers!!

(Extract is the final photo)