Do you basically just learn quotes and do practice papers for English lit ? GCSE

I sat my gcses last year. I made notes for all the poems, the books and the play in class throughout the 2 years. When mocks started getting closer I went through all my notebooks and wrote them all down into a single notebook, with their themes and context. I then picked a couple quotes for each theme and each major character and I chose to memorise those quotes, ignoring the others. I remember staying up all night, the night before the exams, memorising them. My method takes a lot of effort but it helps narrow down the list. It may not be the best method, but it worked for me. I’m not saying you have to try this method though, it’s best to choose the one that suits your style of learning.

What grade did you get?

I sat my gcses last year. I made notes for all the poems, the books and the play in class throughout the 2 years. When mocks started getting closer I went through all my notebooks and wrote them all down into a single notebook, with their themes and context. I then picked a couple quotes for each theme and each major character and I chose to memorise those quotes, ignoring the others. I remember staying up all night, the night before the exams, memorising them. My method takes a lot of effort but it helps narrow down the list. It may not be the best method, but it worked for me. I’m not saying you have to try this method though, it’s best to choose the one that suits your style of learning.

For Paper 1:

- Start off by studying specific themes and characters. The play you are studying will require you to either answer a question about a character of theme: you don't get a choice for this one. Your 19th century novel gives you a choice between character and theme. So, for these questions, collect quotes specific to each theme/character.
- Context, context, context!! For every theme/character you cover, rack up at least three points for context, especially points that match up to a quote.
- Build up essay plans wherever possible. Well-structured essays will give you the best marks.

For Paper 2:

- For your 19th century novel, again, just themes and characters. You don't need context for this one, thank God.
- Poetry will require good knowledge of each anthology poem. Give them a good read over, and if possible, print out blank copies of them and try annotating. You can fill in any gaps here.
- Memorise little morsels of context for each poem. You don't know which one might come up!
- Go about memorising two of your anthology poems: my advice is to memorise one that came up last year or the year before (for conflict this is Poison Tree and Belfast Confetti)

And then, of course, past papers!!

Good luck!

for paper 1:

- start off by studying specific themes and characters. The play you are studying will require you to either answer a question about a character of theme: You don't get a choice for this one. Your 19th century novel gives you a choice between character and theme. So, for these questions, collect quotes specific to each theme/character.
- context, context, context!! For every theme/character you cover, rack up at least three points for context, especially points that match up to a quote.
- build up essay plans wherever possible. Well-structured essays will give you the best marks.

For paper 2:

- for your 19th century novel, again, just themes and characters. You don't need context for this one, thank god.
- poetry will require good knowledge of each anthology poem. Give them a good read over, and if possible, print out blank copies of them and try annotating. You can fill in any gaps here.
- memorise little morsels of context for each poem. You don't know which one might come up!
- go about memorising two of your anthology poems: My advice is to memorise one that came up last year or the year before (for conflict this is poison tree and belfast confetti)

and then, of course, past papers!!

Good luck!