Paper One & Two Rules to Remember
Paper One Rules
The focus: demonstrating your awareness of the
author’s use of literary devices, and their effects.
Responding to an unseen passage(prose or poem)
Writing one essay (Written Commentary)
7 pages (finish the seventh page at least)
Essay writing 101 – into with thesis, body
paragraphs, conclusion
Indent paragraphs (don’t leave a line)
First impressions count (introduction) and last
impressions too (conclusion should pack a punch)
Support your thesis through examples from the
text – e.g. “the thick, salt air hugged the morning
sun” (Lewis l.2-3). Or if using author in sentence (l.
5).
Select the prose rather than the poem (as you’ve
had more exposure)
Be mindful of the extrinsic value (the value to the
reader/society etc)
Use/Select better vocabulary that you can use on
the test (see online list)
 This is a literature exam – never shift the
focus to anything but the author and their
craft (literary devices employed within a
text.
 Don’t just focus on what the characters
are doing (they are creations by the author
as well for effect).
 Objective is to show a wide, extensive and
detailed knowledge of the tools of analysis
(literary devices/literary criticisms –
feminist, post modernism, modernism,
Psychoanalytic).
Paper Two Rules
The focus: answering the question through an
exegesis of the author’s use of literary devices and
their effects.
Responding to a question (choose one question
from the following section only - Prose (novel or
short story)
Writing one essay (Comparative Essay)
7 pages (finish the seventh page at least)
Essay writing 101 – into with thesis, body
paragraphs, conclusion
Indent paragraphs (don’t leave a line)
First impressions count (introduction) and last
impressions too (conclusion should pack a punch)
Support your thesis through examples from the
text – e.g. “the horror the horror” (Conrad).
Select 2 only or 3 prose pieces from:
The Bluest Eye, Heart of Darkness, As I Lay Dying,
Remembering Babylon
Be mindful of the extrinsic value (the value to the
reader/society, etc)
Use/Select better vocabulary that you can use on
the test (see online list)
 This is a literature exam – never shift the
focus to anything but the author and their
craft (literary devices employed within a
text.
 Don’t just focus on what the characters
are doing (they are creations by the author
as well for effect).
 Objective is to show a wide, extensive and
detailed knowledge of the tools of analysis
(literary devices/literary criticisms –
feminist, post modernism, modernism,
Psychoanalytic).