A Level Latin

Our small class sizes ensure you have access to all the teaching support you need, tailored to suit your preferred learning styles. Regular teacher surgeries offer additional individual help and support, as required.

Throughout your course, you will have access to exceptional resources to support progress including JSTOR and MASSOLIT for scholarly articles on ancient literature and culture.

A Level content

• Unit 1 Unseen translation: You will improve language skills by learning new grammar and constructions, and will study in particular the works of a prose author, Livy, and a poet, Ovid. You will translate a passage from each author and will also scan two lines of poetry, showing understanding of poetic metre.
• Unit 2 Prose composition or comprehension: You will continue to develop language skills – in this paper you have the choice of answering comprehension and translation questions on the language of a passage of prose or translating a short passage of English into Latin.
• Unit 3 Prose literature: You will study either a larger extract of one prose set text or shorter extracts from two authors, including some study of the literature in translation. For 2020 students will study the Cicero speech mentioned above, exploring the context of the literature as well as its style and content, and will answer questions on aspects of the text.
• Unit 4 Verse literature: You will again have the option of studying one or two authors – for 2020 students will study the Virgil chapter mentioned above. You will study the context of the literature and gain an understanding and appreciation of Virgil’s style, presentation of characters and the content and plot - answering questions on the text, including a brief translation.

A Level assessment

• Paper 1: Unseen translation – You will translate a passage from two authors (Livy and Ovid) and scan two lines of poetry, showing understanding of poetic metre. 33% of total mark
• Paper 2: Prose composition or comprehension – In this paper you have a choice of answering comprehension and translation questions on the language of a passage of prose or translating a short passage of English into Latin. 17% of total mark
• Paper 3: Prose literature – You will answer questions on Cicero’s prose demonstrating your understanding of the style, presentation of characters, argument and wider context of this piece. You will also translate passages into English. 25% of total mark
• Paper 4: Verse literature – You will answer questions on Virgil’s Aeneid, demonstrating your understanding of the style, presentation of characters, argument and wider context of this piece. You will also translate passages into English. 25% of total mark