English

CCEA A-Level English Literature is taken in Northern Ireland and follows the modular AS and A2 pattern, with AS units in Year 13 counting towards the final grade. Students study poetry, drama including Shakespeare, and prose, and complete an internally assessed coursework unit at A2.

CCEA sets a distinctive emphasis on the study of literature in its historical and cultural context, and Irish and Northern Irish writing features more prominently than on the English boards — Heaney, Friel and Mahon appear regularly on set text lists. Students who read beyond the set texts within that tradition tend to write with more confident context, which is where the assessment objectives concentrate marks.