This subject report is listed under English A in the 2018 examination archive. The catalogue session is May 2018. The information below helps you identify the document before opening the complete PDF. Subject, year and session labels come from the archive catalogue; the original cover remains the reference if a label differs. A file is not automatically suitable for your current syllabus simply because its subject name matches.
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May 2018 extended essay reports
Page 1
English A
Overall grade boundaries
Grade: E D C B A
Mark range: 0-6 7-13 14-20 21-26 27-34
The range and suitability of the work submitted
On the whole examiners saw a wider range of literature (for Categories 1 and 2) and text
types (for C ategory 3) which demonstrated perhaps an increase in student ownership of the
task.
Category 1
Modern novels were by far the most popular choice, with essays on poetry and drama in the
minority, although candidates who wrote on poetry topics often produced focused arguments
that were aptly contextualized and grounded in literary terminology, and there were some
excellent essays on Shakespeare and Arthur Miller (the two dramatists most represented).
Popular texts, authors and research questions included The Great Gatsby and the American
Dream; Plath and mental health; The Book Thief and colour; dystopian fiction ( 1984, Brave
New World and A Handmaid’s Tale) , fairy tales, The Catcher in the Rye, Poe’s short stories,
and The Hunger Games . Other candidates chose to write on vampire fiction, science fiction
and music lyrics along with an interest in exploring the graphic novel.
Generally, children’s and young adult texts (Harry Potter, Coraline, fairy tales, etc.) are not
aspirational enough and make life more difficult for the candidate where the depth of
comment to sustain a critical reading of the text is lacking. Literature geared toward younger
audiences such as L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time or Keyes’ s Flowers for Algernon tends to
produce superficial essay s that lack analytical development. Candidates and supervisors
need to be reminded that this is a possible pitfall of choosing more simplistic works: pairing
the more youth-oriented text with a more mature text perhaps helps the argument develop at
a more sophisticated level.
A few students simply compared two poems or a limited selection of short stories which,
again, failed to offer depth of comment. At the other extreme were cases of multiple texts –
several Shakespeare plays, for example - which were far too ambitious.
May 2018 extended essay reports English A
Page 2
Category 2
Often the
File information
Subject
English A
Document type
Subject report
Year
2018
Session
May 2018
Level
Not labelled in the archive
Paper
Not labelled
Examination zone
Not labelled in the archive
Language
English
File size
268 KB
Pages
9
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