NEA Strategy and Common Pitfalls

The Non-Examined Assessment (NEA) is worth 50 marks (20% of the total A-Level). It is a 2,500-word comparative essay on two texts of your choice. Unlike the exam papers, the NEA tests your ability to work independently over an extended period — selecting texts, developing a question, researching critical perspectives, and sustaining an argument. This lesson focuses on strategy and on avoiding the mistakes that examiner reports consistently identify.

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Task Negotiation

Your NEA task (question/title) must be negotiated with your teacher. This is a collaborative process, but the final decision is yours.

The Negotiation Process