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Don`t Worry About Your English Gcses - Make Notes Instead!

Revision Tips

Date : 06/02/2017

Author Information

Cassie

Uploaded by : Cassie
Uploaded on : 06/02/2017
Subject : English

This is the time of year when we all start worrying about the looming English exams. As a GCSE examiner, all I can say is: start early! This is particularly true of both GCSE and A level English Literature.

Here are my Top Three Literature Revision Tips:

1) Carve up the texts by making your own revision notes.Now I know you might say that there`s no need for this, but I disagree! The act of breaking down the key events in a set play, or the key events of a chapter helps your brain to remember the information. If I asked you to recall a party you went to last year, it might be tricky. But if you had, say, twenty key images of it stored on your phone which you looked at each week - maybe not so tricky to recall. Literature revision notes vary hugely. Some people (myself included) like to bullet point list key events or ideas, arrow in an extra idea or bit of analysis, and end each bullet with a short, easy to learn quotation. Others prefer spider diagrams. Some swear by mind maps. Or post its all round their house in different colours. Do what works best for you - the important thing is to make the notes WAY ahead of the exam. Tutoring can help you maximise the note-making process.

2) Learn as many short 1, 2 or 3 word quotations as you can. Ok, you might be allowed an open book for some tasks, but you waste a LOT of time looking stuff up this way. You need to have, say, five quotations for the theme of class in `An Inspector Calls`, or five good character quotations for Macbeth up your sleeve. Pre-learned material can always be adapted t fit the actual question. Another advantage or pre-learning quotations is that you become far more confident with the higher band skill of embedding quotations. Your essays look slicker and more mature as you write about the `dead butcher` Macbeth who failed to realise that his `vaulting ambition` was not a viable reason for regicide, thus dooming him to a meaningless life which, finally, is `signifying nothing` to him. See what I mean? You can learn literary terms in a similar way, ot create a cool acronym or word form the first letters of your terms.

3) Put your points in context. The AQA board are especially keen to see students contextualise their essay points. This means relating the discussion of the poem, scene in the play or section of the novel with the wider ideas of what was happening historically at the time. For example, in Shakespeare`s time, many believed in the concept of the Divine Right of Kings. Basically, the monarch was annointed with holy oils during his or her coronation, as the ruler was seen as God`s representative on Earth. So when Macbeth butchers King Duncan, the audience of the time would have been doubly horrified, because they would see Macbeth as damning his soul to Hell. To commit regicide, or kill a king, was an unspeakably Godless act. So the audience would find this play even more dramatic and engaging than perhaps we do today, as they`d be anxiously watching to see if Macbeth ever repents and saves his soul. As you know, he chooses evil and the Weird Sisters instead, and is tricked by them. On one level, the play serves as a moral warning to any other ambitious potential traitors of the day. A few well-placed contextual points add richness to your essay and allow you to build in follow-up ideas and analysis.

Good luck and note-making :0)

This resource was uploaded by: Cassie