English

Course overview

The English course at Cambridge is designed to give you a broad understanding of the development of literature in English from the Medieval period to the present, combining breadth and depth and a mix of compulsory and optional papers. In the first two years, you study a range of papers covering historical periods along with Practical Criticism, and you complete coursework essays on Shakespeare and a dissertation. In the final year, there are compulsory examinations in Tragedy and Practical Criticism, and a dissertation (on a topic of your choice), and then many optional papers to choose from, including Literature and Visual Culture, The Ethical Imagination, and Postcolonial Literatures.

For more information about the course and its modules, visit the University website.

What is it like to study English at King’s?

Students studying English usually attend one to three hours of lectures each weekday morning at the English Faculty, ten minutes' walk away. Small group (supervision) teaching takes place in the afternoons, with teaching each week for two different papers. In supervisions, you can expect to be in a pair or a three. Supervisions last one hour and are designed to encourage students to discuss, debate, refine, and advance their knowledge, skills, and critical thinking. This might mean talking through ideas that the group have presented in their most recent essay, reading a short text for the first time and then responding to it, or thinking through an article or chapter of criticism together with the supervisor. Supervisions are relatively informal with an emphasis on helping you to develop your confidence and to learn from each other. A good supervision is one in which lots of questions are asked and progress is made towards answers, always being conscious that there are likely different interpretations that could be advanced.

Usually you’d be expected to write an essay or complete a research/reading task for each supervision and would receive feedback afterwards. This means that English students need to organise their time in order to make sure they are allocating sufficient time for reading, studying, and writing. The key is to find a balance of academic work with other activities you enjoy, as well as sleep and looking after your well-being.

Typically there are six to seven students studying English in each year at King’s.

What do we look for in an applicant to English?

Students of English are all different, but they share certain qualities: curiosity; a strong interest in the arts and humanities (of course you need to be a keen reader of literature, but our students often also love film, music, drama, creative writing, and dance or are also drawn to philosophy, theology, sociology, history, critical thinking, and so on); attention to nuance and to detail; the ability to see patterns and their exceptions, to make connections and to consider implications; and the capacity to build and write arguments in response to different kinds of prompts.

Although we are looking for applicants who are keen readers and thinkers about texts, there is no specific reading that we expect applicants to have completed in order to apply or before the interview. We are interested to hear at interview about your own individual reading interests.

Requirements

A Level: A*AA with A* in English Literature

IB: 41-42 points overall with 7, 7, 6 at Higher Level

Subject requirements: English Literature (if not available, we accept English Language and Literature)

Admissions assessment: Yes 

Written work: 2 pieces 

Admissions assessment

The English College admissions assessment asks you to choose two short texts from a selection and then to write an essay comparing or contrasting them in any way that seems interesting to you, paying particular attention to distinctive features of structure, language and style. The aim of the test is to see how you respond to new material, including what you notice, how you can think through the importance of your observations, and how you can put your ideas together on the page. There is no specific prior knowledge of literature that we are expecting you to have and you do not have to write your answer in any particular style.

It might help your confidence to do some practice of this kind of activity before the test, even just informally tasking yourself with noticing as much as you can in the texts that you are reading anyway will help you to feel ready for the test.

We will contact those who are invited to interview with the assessment arrangements.

Written work

Please submit two pieces of work that you have already written and had marked at school or college, ideally in the subject of English Literature or Language. If necessary, a piece of work from another humanities subject could be submitted alongside one from English.

The application process is designed to help us to learn about you, your ideas, and your writing and thinking abilities, and your written work helps to show us how you are working at the time of application. There is no need to write anything specific or to correct or improve work you submit. 

What is the best thing about studying English at King’s?

Intellectual freedom! And learning in an open and supportive environment.

A top tip for applicants to English at King’s

Follow your curiosity. Read widely, and aim to think for yourself about what you read: challenge it, explore it, be inspired or angered by it. If you’re unsure of something, look it up and find out about it. Start to build up your understanding and knowledge by making connections between everything that you encounter, in school or college certainly, but also in your wider lives, hobbies, and communities.