A-level
English Literature A
LITA3: UNIT3: Reading for Meaning
Report on the Examination
2740
June 2015
Version: 1.0
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-level English Literature A – 2740 – June 2015
General
The question paper stimulated a variety of responses and was judged by the examiners to have
been very successful in differentiating between candidates. At the top end of the scale were wellprepared students, who used their time wisely to read, think and plan in detail. Examiners were
humbled by the quality of some of these answers, which demonstrated confident understanding
and deployed wider reading in ways that illuminated their reading of the unseen items. Such
answers often opened by demonstrating a strong overview of the items in question, giving a clear
sense of what they felt were the writers’ major concerns and identifying important points of
comparison and contrast. There was no single method of achieving full marks, but answers at the
very top of the scale were marked by strong personal engagement with the unseen material, which
was expressed in mature and confident writing. Thorough understanding that showed both strong
conceptual thinking and mastery of detail was another hallmark of work of the highest quality.
Question 1
Many examiners noted that Question 1 tended to be well answered, with the best responses
engaging fully with the poems’ arguments and ideas. At the other end of the scale, some students
simply identified poetic features or became bogged down in details with insufficient comment on
overall meaning. As one senior examiner commented, low-performing candidates sometimes
‘failed to read the Yeats carefully and to quote meaningfully – they often cut off a quotation before
the end of the sense/sentence, and so lost the meaning’.
The Herrick poem was, in general, better understood, and it elicited a range of apt wider reading
links, notably to seduction poems by Donne and to Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’, with the best
references containing sufficient detail from the wider reading link – usually in the form of accurate,
well-chosen quotations – to enable students to draw out differences as well as explore similarities.
In general, those who were comfortable exploring complexities and developing comments that
addressed differences performed best, with those straining at similarity often distorting the
meaning of the items.
Despite being written in relatively simple language, Item B was often found more challenging than
Item A, but students who read carefully – clause by clause and sentence by sentence – were able
to respond to the poem’s meaning with confidence. Many identified it as a sonnet and some of the
best answers contrasted the poem with other sonnets that they had studied. Such an approach
often cast light on the Yeats poem, helping to guide students to sophisticated responses. Some of
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-level English Literature A – 2740 – June 2015
the most helpful references included those to sonnets by Shakespeare, such as Sonnets 19, 116,
147 and 148.
The examiners note that the best responses use poetic terms fluently and that there was ‘some
pleasing close analysis of structure, meter and rhyme schemes’. As ever, in such cases the use of
terminology aided interpretation and enabled the students to achieve greater precision; simply
labelling a feature without comment on meaning or effects is of limited value and can sometimes
detract from the quality of a response. One senior examiner commented that some answers from
low-performing students were weakened by ascribing meaning at a very local level to features
such as caesuras, rhythm or punctuation without ‘addressing overall meaning or engaging with the
poets’ arguments’.
Question 2
In terms of reading matter, Question 2 was the more difficult question, though the complexity of the
items did – in many cases – enable students to demonstrate their skills to a very high level. This
was particularly the case with Item D, the extract from Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. It afforded a
range of comments on stagecraft, with students of all abilities usually finding some aspects to
explore. The ambiguities of this item encouraged a variety of interpretations, with many students
suggesting alternative readings in an engaged and convincing manner. As always, the examiners
credited all personal responses that were substantiated by textual detail.
The nature of the extracts chosen also enabled many to make purposeful comparisons, since both
were focused on memories of love. In addition, their relative brevity helped students, both because
they had more time for reading, thinking and planning, and because their ability to make
comparisons was aided by them seeing both items simultaneously, since they appear side by side
on a two page spread of the question paper.
Students who could explore aspects of narrative, such as point of view were able to develop strong
readings of Item C. For high marks, commenting on meaning and effects are much more important
than identifying techniques. Some students simply labelled Woolf’s narrative technique as free
indirect speech or stream of consciousness; those who commented on how such techniques work
to shape meaning and create effects were able to win much higher rewards. High-performing
students were also able compare the inwardly-looking narrative strategy of Woolf, to the
introspection presented by Beckett and several made impressive comment on the device of the
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-level English Literature A – 2740 – June 2015
tape recorder and the ways in which this works in the theatre. Indeed, in the experience of several
examiners, the quality of the comments on Item D as a piece of drama was as high, if not higher,
than those on any drama extract in any of the previous series. It was pleasing to read so many
responses that took account of aspects of staging, such as the use of the tapes and having a
single character on stage; it was also heartening that so many commented on the likely effects of
the play on the audience, with some of the best considering the impact of the extract as the final
moments of the play.
Historical and literary contexts were, at times, enabling. While occasionally feminist readings of
Mrs Dalloway led students away from considering the detail of the text, many were able to view it in
other ways, often seeing it as a modernist text. Similarly, the extract from Beckett was often seen
as an example of postmodernism or Theatre of the Absurd.
Wider reading links in response to Question 2 were of variable quality. Weaker responses often
depended on extracts from past question papers. Stronger responses made apt use of whole texts
that had been studied thoroughly. For example, some references to Oranges Are Not the Only
Fruit compared closely the presentation of the feelings of Jeanette for Melanie with those of
Clarissa for Sally, and the best of these not only commented on the euphoric feelings of nascent
love, but also contrasted Jeanette’s later disillusionment with Clarissa’s ongoing affection. Other
strong responses made apt connections between the memories in the items and the ways in which
the Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire is presented as remembering Allan Grey.
In general, wider reading proved a useful discriminator for the examiners. Often in weaker
responses, references were made abruptly, had limited relevance or a sense of similarity to an
item was strained; in stronger answers wider reading references were made fluently, with
judiciously chosen details and differences were explored with as much confidence as similarities.
Finally, the clarity of written expression was another important discriminator. Examiners are
always impressed by students who communicate a strong sense of personal engagement with the
texts under discussion. They are even more impressed when they do so and write clearly,
cogently and precisely.
Note
Although the main purpose of this report is to summarise the ways in which students responded to
the demands of the LITA3 paper, it also offers advice on how schools and colleges can prepare
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-level English Literature A – 2740 – June 2015
students effectively for future examinations. It should be used in conjunction with the June 2015
mark scheme, which contains not only the relevant assessment grids but also indicative content for
each question. While not intended to be prescriptive, teachers and students might find this
document useful when considering potential approaches to the unseen items, as well as ways in
which comparisons and wider reading references might be made.
Mark Ranges and Award of Grades
Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics
page of the AQA Website.
Converting Marks into UMS marks
Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below.
UMS conversion calculator
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