English or Literature

[scandin9]

I am achieving extremely high grades in 'normal' english; therefore, I am considering completing literature 1&2 in year 11. Do you believe this is a good idea? Or would it be more beneficial to consolidate my strengths in mainstream english?

[literally lauren]

I'll quote what I've said before about English v. Lit because I'm lazy:

It depends on your strengths.
English is more criteria oriented; you'll be writing a couple of different types of essays, some that look at specific texts, some that involve analysing newspaper articles/speeches, and some that involve broader ideas. Literature is arguably more creative and you'll still get a bunch of different essays throughout the year, but ultimately it's a lot more text centric. Where in English you'd be discussing characters and themes, Literature focuses more on language and how it's used to create meaning, but of course there's a lot of overlap between them.

I recommend taking a look at the past exam papers and assessor's reports (just google it) for each subject since that should give you a vague idea. There's also some sample essays in the report that might help. That said, if you're in Year 10 then there'll be a new study design by the time you're in year 12, but it's not radically different.

In terms of which is better for your ATAR, English scales down by 1, Lit goes up by 1, so it's not a massive difference. Your enjoyment and skill in the subject will sway it a lot more.

If you're scoring well in English, you'll probably score well in Lit too, but you might find it slightly harder. I'd say give it a try for year 11, you can always swap back early in the year if it doesn't work out.

[walkec]

Why not do both?

[scandin9]

Doing both is not an option as I would have to drop one of my 3/4 subjects.