JC student shares about experience studying H2 Literature |
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I am presently a JC2 student offering H2 Literature. For starters, the 'A' Level H2 Literature comprises 2 papers. Paper 1 is very much about run-of-the-mill literature and requires the candidate to draft 3 essays: a comparison between two pre-selected poems (of which at least one was written by a Singaporean), plus two separate analyses of a prose and drama text. Paper 2 on the other hand is a period-based elective paper which currently focuses on the English Renaissance; one question from each of three sections must be answered (unseen text extract, comparison and analysis). Let me just say that the junior college you study in really affects your experience because the texts used vary from school to school. One important thing to note is that because there’s so much content to internalize you won’t have much time to slowly savor the written word. So be warned it ain't participating in a book club or anything remotely close. Pretty much from day 1 you are thrown into the deep end and made to analyze/debate stuff alongside being force-fed tons of information. I am quite thankful that I embraced all titles chosen by my school teachers, so I loved discussing about them and thoroughly enjoyed the learning process. Writing essays is also quite tough if you’re not used to it. The established framework for analysis is VERY rigorous and demanding, much much more than secondary school. In secondary school you could get away with “this quote shows this theme yada yada yada”, however for H2 Literature you need to vigorously back your assertions with an extremely legitimate treatment of things. You must really comb through the entire text and be cognizant of even the tiniest detail. The range of themes and topics that can be examined are inexhaustible and consequently it’s almost impossible to be 100% prepared. Just my two cents worth. Hope the above articulated will be somewhat helpful to folks mulling over whether to study the subject in junior college. |
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YOU MAY WISH TO READ: Studying Literature in Singapore Dr Harrold's English Literature Learning Companion Site (US) Appreciating the magic of Special Needs Education outfit Swords And Stationery with Shaun Low |
