Original post by ZoelinguaAlso studying Tis Pity She's a Whore and King Lear!!! So glad to know there's someone else out there studying the same texts (we're doing Blake's Innocence and Experience poetry instead of Marvell though).
I took the exam last year, didn't do too well, messed up quite badly but came out with a B overall (long story, but I'm resitting to get an A).
Biggest advice is to understand the type of questions they are likely to give you. For example, I figured out that for the comparison section, there is almost always a question on love, power, corruption etc so I prepared a couple of essays that would fit a broad range of themes. Having a balance between the two texts is also key; we started the poetry far too late last year so I knew more about Tis Pity than I did Blake so ended up seriously lacking poetry in the majority of my essays. As for the Shakespeare half, either get to know all the characters as individuals or work on themes. I studied The Tempest last year which was a dream as there were only about 5 characters which could come up in the exam... I think Lear has a few more as it's considerably longer, so I'm interested to see how it will work in terms of predicting the character that will come up.
For quotes, start gathering them as early as possible. We started Tis Pity a couple of weeks ago, so I've been typing up key quotes from each scene as we go along. I started revision really late last year (I also struggle with remembering quotes!) but found the most effective thing to do was to write them out on big pieces of paper and stick them on the wall opposite my bed and on the ceiling above my bed so I'd always be able to see them and get some last-minute-late-night-about-to-sleep-revision in. Oddly, I liked to put my poetry quotes on those little revision cards? And I drew little pictures on them if there was an image that reminded me of the title of the poem or its contents to help me remember it. Everyone works differently, some of my friends preferred just to highlight their books (which I did!) and others just to learn 5/6 general quotes that can be used for any argument.
The best way to revise is to practice writing; produce enough essays to make your teacher hate you forever. Also find inventive ways to incorporate AO3, I went to see Tis Pity at the theater last year and managed to write about it in my exam. Film's are a good way to get alternative interpretations too, Youtube has loads of resources that might help.
Re-read the plays if you get a chance too. I re-read The Tempest on an hour and a half bus ride the night before my exam because I stupidly decided to go shopping!!! It worked though, the quotes were fresh in my mind for the exam! I also didn't do any hardcore revision the night before, best not to get too stressed in the days coming up to it.