Intermediate 2 English Critical Essay Help

Like everyone else, my English Int 2 exam is on the 17th.

I am kind of starting to panic and I don't feel prepared for the exam. My teacher hasn't really taught us what we need to know, for the past month he has left class time to us to use it as we please and if we ask for help he gives a minimal amount of feedback.

I managed to scrape an A in my prelim and English hasn't been the best subject for me. I need to get better than my prelim because I'm not sure how my folio went, I sort of rushed it.

I am okay with close reading, with a little practice I will manage it but I am struggling with my Critical Essay writing. I am not sure if I will be able to tailor my essay to a question that may come up. I am mostly scared of the fact that any question can come up and there's always a chance I might not be prepared enough for it.

Q1. How do you prepare for Critical Essays?
Q2. How many texts is it reasonable to learn?
Q3. What types of questions are guaranteed to come up?
Q4. Is it worth buying a study book for help even if it is not relevant to my texts?

I would appreciate if you could give me any tips or link me to any sites that would be resourceful to me.

The texts that I'm doing are:

Poetry: Glasgow Sonnet No. 1 by Edwin Morgan
Prose: Mossy by Audrey Evans AND/OR Animal Farm by George Orwell
Drama: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

(edited 10 years ago)