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GCSE English Literature

I am doing An Inspector Calls and some short stories for my English Lit from Edexcel. The exam is only about two weeks away and I am really really nervous, because since Year 10, we have not been doing a significant amount of work in our lessons. (well, they switched teachers ever so often).

Has anyone got any tips on how I can revise this play? Also, what are examiners looking for in A* grade answers? What kind of questions examiners like to ask in terms of theme and characters? I know that the exam will be of 4 questions, each worth 10 marks.

Although I am already on A* for coursework, but working under the pressure of time in an exam is a totally different thing. Furthermore, goodness knows whether the questions they ask will be weird or not!

I am doing the Pilot course, so I can't get hold of many past paper questions, plus, it's a new course.

Can any1 help plz....
Reply 1
Buy the York Notes for An Inspector Calls.

That was one of my texts too.

When answering the question, speak broadly and philosophically. Is the Inspector their conscience? How did each character affect Eva's life? They all exploited her some way...

Explore several possibilities. Don't be rigid, the examiner's love free thought.

Good Luck, you'll be fine.:smile:
Reply 2
Thanx, I have already bought York and Letts notes...
English, unlike other subjects like Math and science, I am just totally lost.

By the way, is anyone doing the same course? Also, I know that some schools put revision materials on the internet, does anyone know which schools do this?
Reply 3
what's this about York Notes?:confused: i've never heard of them @_@

i'm on study leave now, my exam's exactly 7 days ahead and i'm also trying to revise for english lit. i found this really good website - www.englishbiz.co.uk - and it's the BESTEST ever. for inspector's call - check out the bitesize website (Literature) and they got some notes on it. i'm doing inspector and mice and men:p:

is anyone doing the war poetry? i'm struggling especially with those:frown:
Reply 4
thanx 4 the website.

York notes for An Inspector Calls contain some revision notes on the play. But somehow I feel that it is not detailed enough and only fits loosely with the specification...Am I over worried?
Reply 5
The following websites may help.

An Inspector Calls - Guidance Notes
- There are some questions here that you could go through.
Essay Question/Review An Inspector Calls
Another Essay - Very difficult to read though, no paragraphing.

The best way to revise this play is to answer essay questions and show them to your teacher to see what is good and what can be improved. Try and know the book thoroughly so you don't need to keep reading back through in the exam, and perhaps 'dog-ear' relevant parts in the book so you can find them straight away.

Good luck in your exams.
Reply 6
Thanx Aden.
I have just looked at the website and it's really good.:smile:
Reply 7
Ok, my best advice would be is definetly stick to answering the question, do really understand this play you really have to know its historical context.
when you do get the question QUOTES, use the exam criteria of the aqa site, and then ur pretty much going to go for your top honors that way,

oh and make sure u learn the book in a way where u no where everything is , i promise you this will save you a hell of alot of time in the actual exam.

When answering the question be specific to what you refer to, you really have to be to pick up marks.
Reply 8
i think im doing the same course :smile:
are you doing to kill a mockingbird aswell?
just read over the texts and look over the york notes to pick out the main points :smile:
Reply 9
York and Cliffs notes got me an A at A Level, so they should be enough to get you a decent grade at GCSE :wink:
Reply 10
OMG the literature questions were surprisingly good! i did the question about the beast and im sure i did well in it.Only problem is i only had 45 mins to do the poetry and i did the language question on attitudes.I picked Havisham,November,My last duchess and the laboratory.Thing is I ONLY TALKED ABOUT LANGUAGE! but that is what the question said right??? did i have to mention structure?!?!:s
jesman06
Thing is I ONLY TALKED ABOUT LANGUAGE! but that is what the question said right??? did i have to mention structure?!?!:s
This question has been asked before. If they wanted you to comment on structure, they probably would've said so.
Original post by Car Expert
This question has been asked before. If they wanted you to comment on structure, they probably would've said so.

I actually got top marks on this paper. What a throwback x

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