How do I approach an essay in my English A Level Exam?

Before your exam it is essential that you have a thorough understanding of the text you are writing about. The most important thing to remember in an A Level essay is the balance of assessment objectives; you could write an essay with the strongest, most coherent argument that an examiner has seen, yet if you have not included all four of the assessment objectives (the AO’s) then your mark will not reflect this. The four AO’s are AO1 – your line of argument, AO2 – critical analyse of structure, form and language, AO3 – connections and comparisons across the texts / critical quotations from other readers and AO4 – historical context. It is vital that before the exam you are prepared in each of these four sections, for example: remembering key quotations from the texts to back up your argument as well as having historical context for each text. Once you have seen your question, planning is key. Take the first 10 – 15 minutes planning your essay which should include around 3 main arguments with the four AOs included in each. When writing your essay, try not to write a chunk on each objective, but instead weave them in throughout. For example, a comparison between a text can be backed up with historical context instead of just ‘throwing’ in this information in at the end of your point to show you have done your research. Lastly, always link back to the question. Every single point you make should have a clear link to the original question and this will ensure you avoid waffle and illustrate your capability of writing concisely.