English Literature O Level 1986

[msjoey505]

Hello, does anyone remember the set texts from the AEB exam board syllabus? I can remember Rogue Male and Henry IV Part 1 but not the third text.

Thanks.

Surely there would have been multiple? I did Eng lit O level (Cambridge board) in 1980 and there were lots of texts to choose from – we did the poetry which most other classes in my school did not and there were two poetry choices too. And at least two Shakespeare options. Why do you want to know? Is Google no help?

I did 1976 London Board. We did: Henry IV part I, Romeo and Juliet, P&P, A Pattern of Islands and I'm afraid poetry I can't remember - might have been The Journey of the Magi? Loved it.

https://archive.org/stream/371132-1986-o-level-english-1100-qps/371132-1986-o-level-english-1100-qps_djvu.txt

https://www.theguardian.com/education/reality-check/interactive/2012/jun/21/o-level-english-exam

I did this exam! There was a poetry collection too.

I've got to say @msjoey505 your recalled texts are hard for O level eh!

I did love poetry (things like Robbie Burns and a Shakey sonnet) Midsummer Night‘s Dream and Silas Marner.

Loved Rogue Male, seem to remember To Kill a Mockingbird? We did Hamlet too.

Was it the collection of contemporary British poetry - I remember Brian Patten's Open Day at Portion and Not Waving but Drowning in there . . .

Thank you to everyone who has replied. I'm not sure how to reply individually. I was just thinking back and trying to recall. I've tried Google but couldn't get the exact syllabus. I don't remember any poetry. I seem to remember a book set in the Far East?

Thanks again everyone.

(Found my old copy of Rogue Male recently. Must reread it.)

Did my O level English Lit in 2984. Terrible set texts!
Henry 1V part 1
The Trumpet Major - Thomas Hardy
Wilfred Own war poems

Ds read my old copy recently and enjoyed it. He was laughing at my doodles and some random David Bowie lyrics in the back - I was obviously bored during class 😄

Oops. Think 'Open Day at Porton' was Adrian Mitchell. Brian Patten was 'You ask me for a poem, I offer you a blade of glass . . .'

I did English Lit O Level in 1983.

One of our texts was The Long, The Short and The Tall by Willis Hall. It was set in Malay during the 2nd World War.

Could that be what you're thinking of?

I did exams in the 80s, Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night and Tennyson

I remember the poem Adlestrop and also the novel The Cone Gatherers.

Looking at the Guardian past paper from ButteredRadishes, I think I've found the answer - Joseph Conrad's Typhoon.

Thank you!

That sounds fab to me

bloody hell Conrad for a 16yo! Bit challenging!

Agree tho that Wilfred Owen and Trumpet Major sounds aces

At least she didn’t get sodding Chaucer in the original Middle English which was what I had (Cambridge board 1977j - the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. Accompanied by Under Milk Wood and The Merchant of Venice which were fine but we didn’t get a ‘proper book’ like the other sets.

I want a [shocked] reaction to that. Chaucer for O level! My texts were a breeze in comparison to some of these.

Our teacher told us we were doing the poems and we all moaned but in fact it was a good plan - IIRC we only needed to learn a few of them while the other classes had to read and remember a whole novel.

1984 no idea which board. We had Cider with Rosie, Under Milk Wood, War Poems, Macbeth AND Brave New World.

1977 Oxford Board.

We did:
The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
The Tempest
Brighton Rock (which I hated).

1985 for English Literature and id done Language a year earlier. Is it weird that I have zero recollection of any of my O levels and the exam content? I know that I studied The Tenant of Wildfell Hall but that’s all I remember about it at all. I very much wish i could remember more about it all but it’s a complete blank.

I did that exam!
There was Rogue Male, Henry IV Part One and An Anthology of Contemporary Verse - we mostly looked at Philip Larkin but Sylvia Plath and various others were in it.
I don't remember another text for that exam tho. Maybe I will tomorrow, it's bedtime now! Good night all.