English language GCSE

ok I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times already, but - I did edexcel eng language and the only thing you could do to improve is just doing as much past papers/practise your writing as much as you can. For analytical writing especially, do them to the point where you can write without thinking, where you can point out themes, techniques and symbolism in texts immediately. And definitely write with the same format PETAL for every single paragraph. Make sure you look at model answers & exemplars and note down how they structure their writing & what sort of terminology to use.

I was horrible at transactional writing but still scored a 9 because I had perfected my techniques when analysing texts. So if that's the case for you then I suggest you do that too!

Watch Mr Salles videos on Youtube. He tells you what the examiners are looking for so you'll know how to answer each question. Basically, each mark you get in the exam comes from a combination of writing down a quote from the text, showing you know what the quote means (as in, use synonyms or definitions to show you understand the meaning of the quote), analysing some aspect of the language (like associations or connotations, or similes/metaphors), and then stating what effect this quote has on the reader.

The effect on the reader is the most important bit - if you forget that then you won't get the mark for using the quote. It could be something like " This makes the reader feel ...." or "This gives the impression that ..." for questions about how the writer presents something. Or it could be "This implies that the writer believes ....." for questions about the writer's perspective or attitude towards something.

You get marks for being 'perceptive' if you add extra effects using words like maybe, perhaps .... eg. "This might also suggest that ...." or "This perhaps also conveys a sense of ......".

Make sure that you link your effect to your analysis. The easiest way to do this is to make a habit of writing "because" ... eg. "The writer's use of the emotive verb "howling" gives the impression that the boy is crying like an animal because it is associated with the noise that dogs or perhaps even wolves make when they are distressed."