Yomi BlackLiterature-in-English is examined at advanced level depth, a taught year beyond the school certificate. That is the sentence to hold onto, because the same subject examined by a different body at a different depth needs a different plan, and candidates who carry preparation across from one to the other lose marks they did not need to lose.
- Subject
- Literature-in-English
- Examined by
- IJMB
- Format here
- Written examinations per subject, with practicals where relevant, at the end of the programme
- Depth
- Advanced level depth, a taught year beyond the school certificate
- What the grade does
- An aggregate used for Direct Entry at 200 level, with recognition strongest among northern Nigerian universities
- Papers
- Objective, a prose paper, and a drama and poetry paper on a separate day.
- Required for
- English, literature, law, mass communication, theatre arts and education
How IJMB examines this subject
The format is written examinations per subject, with practicals where relevant, at the end of the programme, and it is marked for points, aggregated across three subjects.
Three subjects only, so each carries a third of your aggregate and there is nowhere to hide a weak one.
What makes it hard
The papers are split by genre across different days, and the prescribed texts run on a multi-year cycle that candidates and some schools fail to check.
Set that against how this examination works. A taught year at an accredited centre, with the centre’s quality mattering more than any study technique you bring.
Where marks are lost in this subject
- Studying texts from a superseded selected-texts cycle, which is the single most damaging mistake in this subject.
- Plot summary instead of analysis.
- Preparing prose and drama and leaving poetry to the last week.
Verify the current selected-texts list first. Everything else in this subject depends on reading the right books.
Turning it into a plan
- Get the current syllabus from IJMB and check the year range on the cover.
- Write one line per topic area, with a box beside it.
- Work a past paper in this examination’s format, written examinations per subject, and tag every question back to a line.
- Mark the lines your teaching has never covered. Those are the priority.
- Re-weight towards the component carrying the most marks. One academic session.
What a good grade here is worth
In this examination the grade is an aggregate used for Direct Entry at 200 level, with recognition strongest among northern Nigerian universities. Literature-in-English is required for English, literature, law, mass communication, theatre arts and education, and course requirements are checked subject by subject, so a strong overall result with a weak grade here is a disqualification for the course that names it rather than a near miss.
What people ask about Literature-in-English
Is Literature-in-English compulsory?
No. It is a humanities subject, chosen as one of your electives, and you should choose it because a course you want names it.
What is it required for?
English, literature, law, mass communication, theatre arts and education.
How many papers are there?
Objective, a prose paper, and a drama and poetry paper on a separate day.
What makes it hard?
The papers are split by genre across different days, and the prescribed texts run on a multi-year cycle that candidates and some schools fail to check.
What is the most common way candidates lose marks?
Studying texts from a superseded selected-texts cycle, which is the single most damaging mistake in this subject.
Where do I get the official syllabus?
From IJMB, on its own site, free. Check the year range on the cover before you use it.
Has the syllabus changed?
Syllabuses are revised on published cycles and old ones stay online after they expire. If the copy you are holding has no year range, you do not know what you are holding.
How do I turn it into revision?
One line per topic area with a box beside it, then tick the lines off against past papers rather than against your notes. The lines that stay blank are the finding.
What the subject covers
Use these topic areas as the frame for your own checklist, then verify the detail against the syllabus IJMB publishes itself, because depth and emphasis shift between curriculum cycles even when the headings do not.
- Prose, the prescribed African and non-African novels.
- Drama, the prescribed plays.
- Poetry, the prescribed African and non-African poems.
- Unseen passages and critical appreciation.
- Literary terms, devices and forms.
The paper structure, and how to weight your time
Objective, a prose paper, and a drama and poetry paper on a separate day.
Split your preparation roughly in the proportion the components are weighted. Candidates habitually over-prepare the part they enjoy and meet the other part for the first time in the hall.
Sources
- Interim Joint Matriculation Board, Ahmadu Bello University. www.abu.edu.ng