How To Get Full Marks (CIE IGCSE English Literature)

Component 5: Coursework is designed for you to apply all of the skills you have learnt in your study of the CIE IGCSE Literature in English, but without the pressure of an exam time limit. This should enable you to engage with a wide range of reading and develop your enjoyment of literature. 

The starting point for the analysis of any text is active reading. This means, as you read, annotating the text with your own comments and questions. Any piece of literature will contain many layers of meaning, so it is important that you explore beyond any surface meanings to uncover the deeper ideas and themes. Some appreciation of the context in which a text was written can also help your understanding, but this should never be the main focus of your exploration.

Below you will find sections on:

• What skills are required
• Steps for success

Both assignments in your portfolio assess all four assessment objectives equally. This means it is important that you know what skills these assessment objectives require you to demonstrate in order to get the most marks.

• AO1 is about demonstrating detailed knowledge of the text:
• This can be through reference to specific quotations and indirect references to the text
• Whatever references you make, they need to be well-selected and well-integrated into your response
• If you are doing an empathic task, then you should seamlessly incorporate well-selected textual detail
• AO2 is about going beyond the text’s surface meaning and plot to look for underlying ideas and attitudes – the writer’s and your own:
• This requires you to ask “why” the author has made the choices they have
• Some elements of the writer’s context can be used to inform your personal response, but only if relevant to the focus of the question
• AO3 requires critical engagement and evaluation of how the text works:
• “Meanings and effects” suggests that there is more than one meaning for a text, and the language, structure and form of the text contribute to those meanings
• It does not mean just listing the literary techniques the writer has used
• AO4 refers to the way you shape your writing in order to communicate your engagement with the text:
• These responses directly address the words in the question, which are designed to elicit personal responses, such as “powerful”, “vivid”, “striking”, “memorable” and “moving”
• Contextual information should help reinforce your own interpretation, but not replace it
• Your own response is valid as long as it is supported by evidence

Please see the following guides for how to analyse prose, poetry and drama:

• Analysing prose
• Analysing poetry
• Analysing drama

Following these steps will give you a strategy for writing your coursework assignments effectively:

1. Work with your teacher to choose your texts and tasks:
• One of the two assignments can be based on a set text you are studying for the exam
• The wording of the tasks must allow you to cover all four assessment objectives
2. Plan your responses:
• This can be done under teacher supervision
• The emphasis is on a personal response and an individual exploration
• Therefore, you can use the internet or study guides to supplement your reading of the texts, but this should only help you to form your own conclusions
3. Produce your first drafts:
• You can then have a discussion with your teacher to help you to:
• Develop points in more detail
• Prove your points
• Integrate quotations and textual references more succinctly
• Structure your argument more effectively
• Adopt a more critical tone or a more authentic voice
• Reduce or increase your word count as necessary
4. You should then be able to make a further draft without anybody’s help:
• This should be proofread for errors and corrected appropriately
• Then produce your final response
5. Your final responses should have the titles clearly written at the top of each assignment