At the heart of every successful A-level essay lies choice. The reason that examiners ask specific questions is that this forces the student to be selective. This choice of material — the points you make and the parts of the text you draw on — is how you show your understanding of the text and, crucially, the question. Your selection of points (with quotations to support them) enables you to demonstrate your own ideas about your set texts. Ideally, exercising this choice means that you will not write down everything you know about the topic. If you do, then you will not be able to score top marks. Choice is all.
Students sometimes choose questions by a process of elimination: ‘I couldn’t answer on Hamlet as a political play, so I wrote the one on play-acting.’ A more productive approach is to ask: which question excites me? The one that provokes you, or has you mapping out a response, bringing to mind parts of the text, or texts, to explore, is probably the one to pick. Avoid choosing a question that looks like one you answered recently. You might find yourself trying to remember what you wrote before, rather than selecting material afresh. Realistically, you will reuse some ideas you used in your previous essay but, importantly, your selection of ideas is vital: respond directly to the new question; grapple with its exact terms and key words. Check how you intend to respond to the specific wording of the question to ensure your approach addresses every aspect. Like choosing fresh ingredients for dinner rather than just reaching for a ready-meal, a good essay will contain an element of discovery.
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