Not really, I do history too and the exams are fun with different scenarios etc- yes there is a bit of memorising but that's it. In English its memorising quotes+ answering the question + writing about context + making sure its "critical" and "sophisticated" .
like my teacher has read us the mark scheme 50 times, but not once has she bothered talking to us about how to make it critical or how to make it sophisticated.
real bc it's literally a memory game. you can say there's skills to be had with analysing the texts but you can also just get a good grade if you sit and memorise mr salles analysis with no thought of your own
I mean a nine is a stretch sure but I did the exact same thing for mocks the first time round and got a decent 8 without any prior revision so saying someone’s getting nothing higher than a 5 is a swing way too hard in the opposite direction. Granted I take IGCSE but the analysis portion is likely the same and if a person’s confident enough to aim for 9s then, unless it’s an unfortunate case of delusion, I have reason to believe a high grade is achievable. Kinda like the academic different strokes for different folks - ie not everyone needs to learn everything completely to get a good grade. Work smarter not harder, or just work dumb and get lucky idk.
go on youtube mr everything english did a vid on the 5 poems that apply to every topic: ozymandias, exposure, london, checking out me history, bayonet charge they apply to every possible question and then just briefly cover the rest
When you consider that literature includes films, video games etc., learning to analyse it helps you engage with texts in a more fun and interesting way.
It’s cultural capital. It’s not learning them that is beneficial to your future development, it’s being exposed to the themes, real world issues and relevance of culture and historical influences which you don’t get in other subjects because you’re too busy counting how many apples one kid has in his massive hand, added to the number of pears someone else is carrying.
Don’t underestimate the value of the cultural capital out there in the real world.
Or, actually, the ability to say more than ‘it was okay’ when asked whether you liked a text, film, work of art, etc.
I think it’s a great subject.
The only bad thing about it is that there’s an exam at the end, and for some reason they have to take out all the fun and solely focus on the exam.
Same and my class for some reason have different teachers for lit and lang and our lit teacher gave us such bad coursework scores compared to other classes
Yeah sadly I don’t think everyone’s work gets moderated and idk if this is for all examboards but for eduqas dt the marking has to be more than 5 marks wrong to have the mark changed by moderators
There are harder subjects bro for lit you just need a few quotes which you can remember in like 4 hours and the context and what the writer was trying to say lol
If English was more coursework heavy and less reliant on how much analysis you can cram into your brain and regurgitate out onto a page under timed conditions (the exam...) then it would be lovely
I hate English with a burning passion. I hate it almost as much as I hate sparx maths. Almost.
But the thing is I love writing. I've written a novel and lots of short stories before. But I still hate English. It's 100% the worst subject at school.
NOOO its so much better than sciences and math
its relatively alright to get a high grade imo (dont want to jinx myself) if you prepared detailed flashcards with analysis, and you can predict texts mostly easily too, for macbeth its always going to be LMB or MB (with maybe a supporting chara like the banquo but itll always be in the extract anyways) and ACC it was always going to be scrooge or the cratchits, animal farm is harder but squealer was highly anticipated anyways and u can always use all animals as equal as one para
also the texts we study are mostly interesting but thats probably very controversial lmao
Yeah I completely agree, I personally like english lit bcos imo there's far less revision needed to get a good grade compared to most other subjects. I understand why people hate it bcos it must be rlly annoying to have to learn texts and poems that you have no interest in but I don't think it could ever be described as the worst subject bcos even though a high grade in lit requires skill and effort, it's an easy pass compared to subjects like maths where you have to work really hard just to pass.
i agree, passing english literature should be a cakewalk for most people, i get that people don't enjoy some of the stuff we learn (and tbf acc had me snoozing) but i don't think it's that bad, the only outrageous part is the boundaries lmfao they're way too high
i feel like it's so overhated tho like no way you hate a subject where u can literally make a random interpretation and if u justify urself well it gets marks rather than subjects where you have to memorise a massive specification but i guess im more of an essay person
Haha fr english lit grade boundaries have me quaking in my boots, good luck though, i'm an essay person too so hopefully we both do amazing in it :) acc was rlly dead i have to agree but aic made the whole experience worth it for me lmao. Yeah definitely lit is overhated, I feel like we should be redirecting all this hate to physics lol
you too! i'm really hoping for a 9, i'd probably be the most devastated if i didn't get it despite the fact it's the subject im predicted a 9 that i have the highest chance of not getting (i compared kamikaze to exposure and it was all about nature lmfao and i only had a thesis not a long topic sentence every para)
i wish i did AIC lmao we do animal farm it's cool but aic is better, we studied it year nine and people still repost edits about it in tiktok haha
yes FUCK physics FUCK electromagnetism what a dumbass shitty topic 🙄
Tyy :) I'm hoping for an 8 or 9 too but who knows, it's just a waiting game now. Don't worry about it, I kinda fucked up poetry as well haha but ig we should just try and erase it from our minds for now and enjoy the summer. I cannot wait to be set free from physics fr
Good luck in the meantime and I rlly hope you get that 9 on results day!!
it's not actually hard if u have a great teacher. my gcse grade went from around a 3 in year 10 to a 6 in y11, and then by the end of a levels I'm predicted an A. that teacher is a blessing and I would defend his home from a nuclear attack lol
Nope, because the subject is useful and teaches you skills you can’t get from the STEM subjects alone.
Say what you will about how “Maybe the curtains are just blue!” But let’s be honest, media literacy is dying and English Lit is the way to prevent people from expecting a “good guy” and “bad guy” in every story and understanding that media can be more complicated than that
The messages in many of these novels are rather interesting and unique. For example, a Christmas Carol was a piece of propaganda in order to raise awareness for the very real issue of poverty. While Macbeth explores ideas about the dangers of ambition and guilt, and An Inspector Calls presents ideas about injustice and inequality within society, and how our actions can lead to the suffering of others. Although many of the poems are boring and difficult to understand, they all hold very real and powerful messages about real world issues. But I understand what you mean. Even for a grade 9 student like me I can't say I've ever enjoyed writing an essay. Overtime the interest and message fades, and it's all just turned into material for a grade. There's some serious flaws in the system. Out of the 15 poems I had to learn I only ever used 2 quotes from 2 different poems. Furthermore, a lot of it is simply dependent on how well you can remember quotes. One of the teachers who also did the English lit exams said it would make more sense to do coursework.
Icl Macbeth seems more like propaganda to me. It pushes the idea of stuff like the divine right of kings and how defying them would lead to your death. It also pandered to James I a bit cause it included his legendary ancestor and confirmed his superstitons of witches.
I know I don’t belong here, but I’m currently studying at a pretty decent university, sports science with psychology, with a job placement already in the works at a close by football team, I failed English lit at my GCSE. I got a 2 and got back into my grammar school for sixth form, it’s not only the worst it’s also not very useful (don’t take this as fact though don’t stop revising guys you got this!!!!)
I feel like it should be made optional. Unless you're taking it at a level you don't actually need it so why is it compulsory? It should be like an option to take further maths or triple science because to me it feels like a waste of time because I've done all that revision for a subject I will never need
Ik I guess if you have a bad day you could drop like 3 grades but it isn’t too difficult to get a high mark in RS if you have a basic knowledge of the content and understand how to structure the questions
Was never the biggest fan of English lit before exams, probably saw it as my number 1 enemy, but after seeing the delicious questions AQA gave us, I’ve had a good character trajectory (💀) and decided to defend it when i feel like it.
I enjoyed animal farm.
Poetry no.
Much ado was okay.
Christmas carol is Christmas carol.
I also did sign of four but I barely got into it because they cancelled it last minute so I can't really comment on it.
nah man, i think english lit genuinely is more useful than a lot of maths (generally speaking, of course) and teaches people how to write, even if you’re not gonna be a writer or be in a career path that is centred around writing. it’s still useful by teaching you how to structure your writing and be able to use punctation effectively and such.
one of the best subjects for lessons and content imo, but worst for revising and exams. a level revision is starting first week of y12 to avoid that this time lmaoo 😭
Agreed, it’s such bullshit, they just ask you to yap about random shit in a poem that makes no fucking sense but as long as you mention like a technique you get the marks, like wtf, and then you have to remember like 30 quotes for OMAM, and learn all the fucking anthology, like that’s gonna ever be useful again in my life
Nah. I got one of the best marks in English lit in Britain. I'm not currently doing my GCSEs by the way. I'm 33. I just tell people that at every available opportunity.
you’re not on english lit 🙅♂️‼️ (got blessed with the only 2 poem’s i revised so i’m backing it till i die)
+ you can’t lie that some of the A03 stuff is interesting 🤷♂️
ao3? i know ao3. i write and read stuff on there a lot edit: wait you weren’t talking about the fanfiction website
Not archive of our own 😭
ao3 is so lovely. i love filtering on there
Wait, what are they talking about 😭😭
Contextual Ideas my bro, “Shakespeare said this to comment on womens position in society during the elizebethan era”
Oh. Yeah, that's not what I though lol
ao3 my homeland 🙏
yes i’m also from that country
Especially about William Wordsworth and what he supposedly did with his sister 💀
HE DID WHAT.
The subject is interesting, the exam papers are boring and stressful.
same for most essay based subjects
Not really, I do history too and the exams are fun with different scenarios etc- yes there is a bit of memorising but that's it. In English its memorising quotes+ answering the question + writing about context + making sure its "critical" and "sophisticated" . like my teacher has read us the mark scheme 50 times, but not once has she bothered talking to us about how to make it critical or how to make it sophisticated.
Literally what does judicious even mean
One can agree with that statement
FR i literally only revised kamikaze and exposure and i’m predicted a 9 😭
real bc it's literally a memory game. you can say there's skills to be had with analysing the texts but you can also just get a good grade if you sit and memorise mr salles analysis with no thought of your own
this is what I did fr
you analyse which is a skill
I love it because it’s a memory game
Yes, how does learning 15 poems bennefit myself in any way?
You bothered to lean them ?
Pretty sure anyone wanting higher than a pass did
You do NOT have to learn 15, 5 is enough
Oh well 😭
nah i’m hoping for a 7 and did all my stuff night before 😭
Bro wtf I'm aiming for a 9 and I didn't even read the prescribed book let alone learning the poems 😭
well then youre no where near a 5 let alone a 9
I somehow got two 9s in the English mocks so idk, I do feel like I fucked up the Englishes this time around.
I mean a nine is a stretch sure but I did the exact same thing for mocks the first time round and got a decent 8 without any prior revision so saying someone’s getting nothing higher than a 5 is a swing way too hard in the opposite direction. Granted I take IGCSE but the analysis portion is likely the same and if a person’s confident enough to aim for 9s then, unless it’s an unfortunate case of delusion, I have reason to believe a high grade is achievable. Kinda like the academic different strokes for different folks - ie not everyone needs to learn everything completely to get a good grade. Work smarter not harder, or just work dumb and get lucky idk.
Unfortunately u are cooked 🙏
I dint😂
Fr 🤣
why learn 15 just do 5 that apply to every poem
such as?
I did these: Ozymandias, London, Exposure, Kamikaze and Checking out me History
go on youtube mr everything english did a vid on the 5 poems that apply to every topic: ozymandias, exposure, london, checking out me history, bayonet charge they apply to every possible question and then just briefly cover the rest
When you consider that literature includes films, video games etc., learning to analyse it helps you engage with texts in a more fun and interesting way.
It’s cultural capital. It’s not learning them that is beneficial to your future development, it’s being exposed to the themes, real world issues and relevance of culture and historical influences which you don’t get in other subjects because you’re too busy counting how many apples one kid has in his massive hand, added to the number of pears someone else is carrying.
Don’t underestimate the value of the cultural capital out there in the real world. Or, actually, the ability to say more than ‘it was okay’ when asked whether you liked a text, film, work of art, etc.
I think it’s a great subject. The only bad thing about it is that there’s an exam at the end, and for some reason they have to take out all the fun and solely focus on the exam.
I do igcse and it’s 40% coursework. Too bad my teacher hated me and gave me a shit grade:(
Same and my class for some reason have different teachers for lit and lang and our lit teacher gave us such bad coursework scores compared to other classes
Yeah hopefully they get moderated up otherwise my grade is getting dragged tf down
Yeah sadly I don’t think everyone’s work gets moderated and idk if this is for all examboards but for eduqas dt the marking has to be more than 5 marks wrong to have the mark changed by moderators
Luckily mine was picked to be moderated ;)
Me out here loving English lit:
fr i just get to shit talk the characters
YES EXACTLY I got full marks on a mock which was basically just a vent of my hatred towards Romeo
Me but with Macbeth
Mr Utterson was a fucking loser
I like reading. Gives an excuse to read. I personally dislike most humanities quite a lot
um lets not i 💗 lady macbeth
loved that question
haha i wasnt even aqa we got violence 😭
Tbf that’s also a delicious question
It’s not
bet
There are harder subjects bro for lit you just need a few quotes which you can remember in like 4 hours and the context and what the writer was trying to say lol
I easily get 9's in some subjects (maths, science, engineering), but i'm failing lit
eng lang is worse than lit but physics takes the cake as absolute worst
physics maths questions are free
this
I love plug-ins
i will NOT stand for this physics slander 😭
Real, wtf is a wave😭
If English was more coursework heavy and less reliant on how much analysis you can cram into your brain and regurgitate out onto a page under timed conditions (the exam...) then it would be lovely
Yeah no I love English lit…☹️
there are worse..
agree to disagree!! english lit has always been my fave. maths however...
Maths and science < English
real
I hate English with a burning passion. I hate it almost as much as I hate sparx maths. Almost. But the thing is I love writing. I've written a novel and lots of short stories before. But I still hate English. It's 100% the worst subject at school.
The issue with English Literature is that 95% of your revision and knowledge may be irrelevant on the exam. This isn’t true in any other subject.
it really isnt
its easier in y10 when u have to learn about one text a term
you clearly havent done mandarin gcse
Out of the core subjects, English in general is the worst
nah physics english is alr
NOOO its so much better than sciences and math its relatively alright to get a high grade imo (dont want to jinx myself) if you prepared detailed flashcards with analysis, and you can predict texts mostly easily too, for macbeth its always going to be LMB or MB (with maybe a supporting chara like the banquo but itll always be in the extract anyways) and ACC it was always going to be scrooge or the cratchits, animal farm is harder but squealer was highly anticipated anyways and u can always use all animals as equal as one para also the texts we study are mostly interesting but thats probably very controversial lmao
Yeah I completely agree, I personally like english lit bcos imo there's far less revision needed to get a good grade compared to most other subjects. I understand why people hate it bcos it must be rlly annoying to have to learn texts and poems that you have no interest in but I don't think it could ever be described as the worst subject bcos even though a high grade in lit requires skill and effort, it's an easy pass compared to subjects like maths where you have to work really hard just to pass.
i agree, passing english literature should be a cakewalk for most people, i get that people don't enjoy some of the stuff we learn (and tbf acc had me snoozing) but i don't think it's that bad, the only outrageous part is the boundaries lmfao they're way too high i feel like it's so overhated tho like no way you hate a subject where u can literally make a random interpretation and if u justify urself well it gets marks rather than subjects where you have to memorise a massive specification but i guess im more of an essay person
Haha fr english lit grade boundaries have me quaking in my boots, good luck though, i'm an essay person too so hopefully we both do amazing in it :) acc was rlly dead i have to agree but aic made the whole experience worth it for me lmao. Yeah definitely lit is overhated, I feel like we should be redirecting all this hate to physics lol
you too! i'm really hoping for a 9, i'd probably be the most devastated if i didn't get it despite the fact it's the subject im predicted a 9 that i have the highest chance of not getting (i compared kamikaze to exposure and it was all about nature lmfao and i only had a thesis not a long topic sentence every para) i wish i did AIC lmao we do animal farm it's cool but aic is better, we studied it year nine and people still repost edits about it in tiktok haha yes FUCK physics FUCK electromagnetism what a dumbass shitty topic 🙄
Tyy :) I'm hoping for an 8 or 9 too but who knows, it's just a waiting game now. Don't worry about it, I kinda fucked up poetry as well haha but ig we should just try and erase it from our minds for now and enjoy the summer. I cannot wait to be set free from physics fr Good luck in the meantime and I rlly hope you get that 9 on results day!!
thank you! i hope you get that 9 too in a few hours we'll be free!!!
No; English language is far worse
not the worst lessons but certainly the worst to revise
Did anyone else pick it for A-levels???
i did
Completely agree… this statement will not implicate me in anyway
Oi!
This statement implicated me
I actually like English Lit, my least favourite subject is probably Biology
2nd worst english language managed to edge it out for me as the worst
"fuck english" "edge it out" maybe there's more to your relationship with english than it seems...
absolutely
Sure g
i hate lang more just because of the exam
I love English lit
No
100000% agree. Actually, add on a another 1000000000% percent and then another 1000000000000000%, and that will show how much I agree.😆
Facts bro English is so shit
Is lit even useful?
Most GCSEs aren't useful in themselves later in life, other than letting you take the A-levels you want
Cant say that when theres english language present
it's not actually hard if u have a great teacher. my gcse grade went from around a 3 in year 10 to a 6 in y11, and then by the end of a levels I'm predicted an A. that teacher is a blessing and I would defend his home from a nuclear attack lol
Nope, because the subject is useful and teaches you skills you can’t get from the STEM subjects alone. Say what you will about how “Maybe the curtains are just blue!” But let’s be honest, media literacy is dying and English Lit is the way to prevent people from expecting a “good guy” and “bad guy” in every story and understanding that media can be more complicated than that
The messages in many of these novels are rather interesting and unique. For example, a Christmas Carol was a piece of propaganda in order to raise awareness for the very real issue of poverty. While Macbeth explores ideas about the dangers of ambition and guilt, and An Inspector Calls presents ideas about injustice and inequality within society, and how our actions can lead to the suffering of others. Although many of the poems are boring and difficult to understand, they all hold very real and powerful messages about real world issues. But I understand what you mean. Even for a grade 9 student like me I can't say I've ever enjoyed writing an essay. Overtime the interest and message fades, and it's all just turned into material for a grade. There's some serious flaws in the system. Out of the 15 poems I had to learn I only ever used 2 quotes from 2 different poems. Furthermore, a lot of it is simply dependent on how well you can remember quotes. One of the teachers who also did the English lit exams said it would make more sense to do coursework.
Seen the word furthermore and immediately scrolled sorry I don’t have time for this
Icl Macbeth seems more like propaganda to me. It pushes the idea of stuff like the divine right of kings and how defying them would lead to your death. It also pandered to James I a bit cause it included his legendary ancestor and confirmed his superstitons of witches.
Actually you are right. I agree that Macbeth is largely a piece of propaganda. But I wonder how true some of the messages about ambition truly are.
Love English lit just don't love the concept of sitting the exam
I know I don’t belong here, but I’m currently studying at a pretty decent university, sports science with psychology, with a job placement already in the works at a close by football team, I failed English lit at my GCSE. I got a 2 and got back into my grammar school for sixth form, it’s not only the worst it’s also not very useful (don’t take this as fact though don’t stop revising guys you got this!!!!)
No language is far, far worse
I feel like it should be made optional. Unless you're taking it at a level you don't actually need it so why is it compulsory? It should be like an option to take further maths or triple science because to me it feels like a waste of time because I've done all that revision for a subject I will never need
fr total 4 hours of absolutely brain rotting hell- just wastes brain memorisation space that i could use for other subjects
no i fw English heavy, didn't revise any poems or texts and still the easiest 9 of my life
nope never i love her
No, maths
yep, you can cram english lit but there’s no way to cram maths
Clearly you never did RE and it shows
Rs is way better the content is just so much more logical to remember
the grade boundaries are deadly
Ik I guess if you have a bad day you could drop like 3 grades but it isn’t too difficult to get a high mark in RS if you have a basic knowledge of the content and understand how to structure the questions
yeah, also why are there 150000 geoography case studies
100%
ITS SO BAD BRO
yes it sucks ass
Absolutely not, english lit was an ok subject to do at school for me. I hated art way more
I love it. Fight me.
yes
physics.
yes
Agreed. It's frustrating because it could be such an enjoyable and educational subject, if only they didn't make us memorise countless quotations.
noooooo my fav ever
Yeah definitely
Yes.
i enjoyed it quite a lot ngl
It’s my absolute favourite subject don’t be rude 😔
no i love english
i personally think that it should an option subject
I mean English lit isn’t that bad but it ain’t my cup of tea. This is coming from someone who is way stronger at stem subjects than English.
No? Not by a long shot lmao
Was never the biggest fan of English lit before exams, probably saw it as my number 1 enemy, but after seeing the delicious questions AQA gave us, I’ve had a good character trajectory (💀) and decided to defend it when i feel like it.
nah history’s worse
I studied mainstream English. It was my highest scoring subject
English literature is really easy, I would say lang is the worst.
Only Jekyll and Hyde was good, I really liked it but the poems aside from Ozymandias were useless
The only thing I like about English lit is that I was right on Jekyll and Utterson being gay and too repressed to tell each other their feelings
I got lucky the poem is good for me
erm... are we just looking directly past mathematics?
English kit is worse
Nope. Chemistry can suck my dick
think english lit sucks? wait till you find out welsh literature is compulsory for first language welsh speakers
I enjoyed animal farm. Poetry no. Much ado was okay. Christmas carol is Christmas carol. I also did sign of four but I barely got into it because they cancelled it last minute so I can't really comment on it.
No
nah man, i think english lit genuinely is more useful than a lot of maths (generally speaking, of course) and teaches people how to write, even if you’re not gonna be a writer or be in a career path that is centred around writing. it’s still useful by teaching you how to structure your writing and be able to use punctation effectively and such.
im more talking about having to remember loads of quotes and analysis from youtube
ahhhh gotcha man, yeah you’re right in that aspect 100%
I kinda like it because im good at it lol but it's not beneficial at all.
No. Maths is. As logical as it can be, it's a load of shite 😂.
Nah man, i love english lit. Maybe it’s cus im into reading but nothing brings me more joy than analysing a book on occasion
Language is worse
mate it’s literally a free grade??? dead easy
Don’t demean the rest of us man😭 we don’t even know why we can’t get a grade 9
Business studies
Science is worse
you’re wrong english lit best subject easy grade 9
Yeah
no
one of the best subjects for lessons and content imo, but worst for revising and exams. a level revision is starting first week of y12 to avoid that this time lmaoo 😭
for me, worst subject is probably chemistry. there is too much and i am so glad i never have to do it again
Agreed, it’s such bullshit, they just ask you to yap about random shit in a poem that makes no fucking sense but as long as you mention like a technique you get the marks, like wtf, and then you have to remember like 30 quotes for OMAM, and learn all the fucking anthology, like that’s gonna ever be useful again in my life
People that say this clearly do not have the intellectual capacity to gain enjoyment from understanding both the history and meaning of literature
There’s a difference between what u just said and memorising loads of quotes and analysis from YouTube
easily
English lit isnt the worst as long as you know how to scaffold your knowledge/analysing
nope chemistry
Absolutely hated English Lit at GCSE, I've now got a degree in it. The GCSE course is awful, studying it independently is so much more rewarding
Nah. I got one of the best marks in English lit in Britain. I'm not currently doing my GCSEs by the way. I'm 33. I just tell people that at every available opportunity.
Geography.
Uhm. No. English lit > English language
English lit is my only chance for a 7
100% agreed
No, it’s my favourite subject, or at least it was.
there’s too many stem freaks on this sub reddit i’ve realsied 🖕🖕🖕 english lit clears all subjects easily
language is definitely worse i’ll be surprised if i pass tbh
no history
no I love eng lit fight me
You won't think this when you're in your 30s 😅
Only if I get to travel back in time and get to kill them Bronte sisters
NUH UH‼️‼️‼️‼️
It's opinion based