LITA3:

Reading for meaning – Love through the Ages

Reminders
Question 1 asks candidates to compare two unseen items of the same genre and make relevant
references to wider reading from the same genre. For example, if each item is a prose extract,
candidates should refer to wider reading prose texts only. No credit will be given for wider reading
references outside the named genre for Question 1.

Question 2 asks candidates to compare two unseen items from the two remaining genres and make
relevant references to wider reading from any genre. For example, if the items in Question 1 were
prose, in Question 2 one item would be a drama extract and the other a poem (or an extract from a
poem). Credit will be given to relevant wider reading references from any genre in Question 2.

Further advice
Across the whole paper, a minimum of three wider reading references must be covered. There
should be at least one wider reading reference to each of the genres of poetry, prose and drama. We
expect candidates to pay close attention to the unseen items and anticipate that 60-70% of each
answer will be devoted to the unseen items, with the remainder on wider reading. Often the best
answers are those which develop detailed references to a few, well-chosen wider reading texts,
rather than those which reference many texts in an undeveloped or superficial manner.

In a two and a half hour paper, in which each question is worth 40 marks, candidates should spend
an equal amount of time on each question. To pay sufficient attention to the unseen items,
candidates should read, think and plan for around 30 minutes per question and spend around 45
minutes writing each answer.
Candidates should be encouraged to read actively, annotating the unseen extracts and planning their
answers as they do so. Invigilators and Exams Officers should be reminded that candidates are
allowed to use highlighters and pencils to annotate their question papers. They must not, of
course, use anything other than black ink when writing in their answer booklets.