This paper reflects on the values and practices of a revolutionary UK A level (senior secondary) course that achieved a high degree of validity and reliability in assessing the study of English literature. John Hodgson and Bill Greenwell were involved in its teaching and assessment from an early stage, and Greenwell's comments on an early draft of the paper have been incorporated. The practice of literary response enshrined in the course was based on a striking application of "personal

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... to literature, gave students opportunities to show capability in studying and writing a range of literary styles and genres, provided little motive or opportunity for student malpractice, and engaged teachers regionally and nationally in a developed professional community of practice. It remains a touchstone of quality as well as of innovation in English curriculum and assessment. ture qualification, syllabus 660. Introduced in 1977 as Syllabus 753 by the Associated Examining Board (AEB), this course embraced a range of pedagogic and assessment practices intended to promote student reading and thinking rather than the rehearsal of received opinion. These included an open-book examination, where candidates could take annotated copies of texts into the examination hall, and an opportunity for students to write a number of "critical" and "creative" assignments that were assessed by the candidates' teachers and moderated by the assessment authority. None of these elements was novel within literature examinations, but the AEB was the first course to offer such a holistic and coherent approach to assessment. Coursework, originally 30% This is the accepted version of The Work of the Course: validity and reliability in assessing English Literature, which has been pulished at http: //onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eie.12132/full p.2 of the assessment, became 50% in the 1980s, and some teachers and examiners hoped and expected it would reach 100%. (The rise mirrored the increase of GCSE English coursework to 100% Intelligence of Feeling, a text that theorised ways of enabling students' responses to art-works, including literature, to be expressed creatively. "Many a university student," claimed Witkin (1974: This is the accepted version of The Work of the Course: validity and reliability in assessing English Literature, which has been pulished at