I was very interested to read Viv Groskop's account of taking an A-Level in English literature this year (Why I went back to A-levels, G2, 17 August) and think she's undertaken an admirable challenge. However, as someone who sat a similarly prescriptive A-level English course and then continued on to read English at university, I feel her conclusion misses the point somewhat.
While she bemoans the lack of emphasis on reading around the subject, her main criticism is that there is too much coursework and not enough focus on exams which prepare people for the "real world". Like, I'm sure, most recent graduates, I now work in an office. Never in the years I have performed this job, and many similar jobs, has anyone asked me to produce a piece of work with only the information I can remember, and with no feedback from my peers or colleagues before submission. Instead most of my work, like A-level coursework, is produced up against a deadline but with input from others, redrafting and fact-checking to improve the finished document.
The real problem with the modern A-level course is that many students arrive at university or enter into the "real world" with limited research skills and a poor idea of how to structure a written document that is organised for clarity and readability rather than to maximise opportunities to shoehorn in chunks of "knowledge". Surely the aim of studying English at A-level should be to acquire good research and writing skills, as well as get to grips with some wonderful texts.
Good luck to Viv for her results.
Tom MacAndrew
London
• Viv Groskop says achieving 120/120 in her AS exam was "laughable" as "no one should be able to score that in English literature". I assume this assertion comes from an idea that to achieve full marks, an answer would have to be "perfect". No answer is perfect, but one which meets all the assessment objectives in the mark scheme deserves to be rewarded fairly.
Also, Viv writes about having to memorise dates to fulfil the assessment objective that requires students to view a text in its context. In fact, this meaningless memorising of dates is exactly what the examiner does not want to see. Marks are only awarded for comments about context which arise directly out of a point about the text itself, in a way which illuminates that point in some relevant way.
Oonagh McGowan
London
• Viv Groskop says "a recent report from … Civitas described A-levels as 'mickey mouse qualifications'". To clarify, this was not a claim made by Civitas, but one out of 150 quoted A-level teachers. It is neither "ease" nor modular courses that are an issue with A-levels, but repetition ad nauseam through AS-level resits.
Anastasia de Waal
Deputy director, Civitas