Revising for GCSE English Paper 2 - Poems from Different Cultures

I sat this last year because our school does one one year and another the next. Poetry is what I think of as my weak point but it ended up ok and I got an A overall. Our school made us use the damned PEE system (point, evidence, explanation), which I managed to get to grips with and if you don't mind that it allows practically no literary freedom of expression then it's good to use. Otherwise, use your brain. I had a habit of writing everything I could in the exam...sorry this isn't turning out to be much practical advice for you. I can't think what was wanted. On the Lit. course we're using a retarded system called SMILE (Structure, Meaning, Imagery, Language, Effect On Reader), oh god don't get me started.

Good luck and it's only mocks so try not to worry about them. I didn't because I'd already applied to all of my colleges, so I had no reason to worry...

I know what you mean! 45 mins is really not enough. I did my mocks in November and there were a few things which I really noticed helped me.

1) Always do a plan (although you probably do anyway if you're getting marks like that) and don't spend more than five minutes on it.
2) A few days before the exam, write out some introductions for different topics (e.g. identity, traditions, culture) which you can tweak in the exam and learn them. I tend to find the introduction makes or breaks an essay for me and I tend to waste time on it. Knowing exactly what to write will help.
3) Learn the analysis of the poems so well that you could practically write about them without even seeing them. I learnt the analysis by printing out unanalysed poems and seeing how much I could recall from my Anthology (so basically write out all your notes again on the blank poem to see how much you can remember). I then compared my notes with the new analysis and learnt the stuff which I had forgotten. This stops you from getting stuck so you can write continuously.
4) Always have the same structure for your essays so you know exactly what you are going to write about next. The one I use tends to follow this pattern: Introduction, compare structure, compare literary devices (similes etc), compare the poet's attitude, compare themes, conclusion.
5) Remember that you only need to make one point for each literary technique to get the mark, so don't waste time repeating yourself just for one mark. Don't write "In this poem, there are similes here and it shows this, and there are similes here that show this and again here" because provided the examiner knows that there are simles somewhere in the poem and that you realise they are there for a purpose (and explain the purpose and compare to the other poem), you will only get set of marks.

EDIT: 6) And finally, learn which poems you can/want to compare for each topic, so when you walk into the exam and you see the word "identity" or "traditions" or "culture" or something else in the question, you immediately think "ah! I will compare these two poems" and don't have to waste time deciding.