i need help (GCSE english)

I'm really bad at English and I really need help!!
I really want to aim for 8s and 9s but I'm not sure where to start.
I'm in yr9 going to yr 10 and I just started GCSE during lockdown.
please help.

past papers

Look at examiners reports- they tell you want the people marking your exams like to see. Some info you probably wont find anywhere else.

Reply 3

redmeercat

15

For English lit, the following should help for revision!
- Learn lots of literary techniques https://quizlet.com/gb/340046654/english-techniques-flash-cards/ and practice identifying these techniques in sections of the texts you're studying. For example, choose a specific poem or page/ paragraph or a play or novel, and annotate it for all the literary techniques that you can see.
- Practice writing PEE/ whatever acronym you've been taught paragraphs - you can also practice essays, but I often find that it's more effective to write a paragraph fairly often before doing a general English revision session than to spend a whole session writing an essay... unless you're practicing whole essay structure!
- Make sure that you're confident on the context, and aim to mention context in most paragraphs that you write.
- Practice planning essays for different topics, including elements like which part of the book you'd want to use as the main evidence for each paragraph, what your argument is, and things like that.
- Practice thinking about how different literary techniques influence your thoughts on different characters and themes. For example, does sibilance mae a character seem sly, or does rhyme give a sense of cohesion between different lines in a poem?

Reply 4

username5334302

10

Is this GCSE English Lit or Language - or both combined?

What I did for English Lit principally boiled down to:

-being super familiar with the books ie, re-reading them the christmas/easter holidays before the exam! My English teacher recommended using audiobooks too.

-learning lots of relevant quotes that cover the whole range of themes / characters. There are loads of ways to learn quotes, I guess it just depends on figuring out what works best for you. For me, that included writing sticky notes on the wall, using flashcards and making spider diagrams again and again on a whiteboard.

-doing loads of past papers - if you've already written or done a detailed plan for a bunch of essays that cover every theme / character in the book/ play/ poem, it gets to the point that in the exam that you'll be writing points about themes/characters that you've used loads before. Obviously you don't want to go the other way and be just desperate to shoe-horn in a certain point regardless of its relevance to the question, but it can help you to feel more confident going into the exam with a bunch of go-to points with quotes, language analysis and context ready at hand for whatever comes up in the exam.

-also reading lots of model answers and trying to emulate them.

Hope this helps - and good luck!

Reply 5

harleyx123

OP

15

Original post by Andy Dufresne

Is this GCSE English Lit or Language - or both combined?

What I did for English Lit principally boiled down to:

-being super familiar with the books ie, re-reading them the christmas/easter holidays before the exam! My English teacher recommended using audiobooks too.

-learning lots of relevant quotes that cover the whole range of themes / characters. There are loads of ways to learn quotes, I guess it just depends on figuring out what works best for you. For me, that included writing sticky notes on the wall, using flashcards and making spider diagrams again and again on a whiteboard.

-doing loads of past papers - if you've already written or done a detailed plan for a bunch of essays that cover every theme / character in the book/ play/ poem, it gets to the point that in the exam that you'll be writing points about themes/characters that you've used loads before. Obviously you don't want to go the other way and be just desperate to shoe-horn in a certain point regardless of its relevance to the question, but it can help you to feel more confident going into the exam with a bunch of go-to points with quotes, language analysis and context ready at hand for whatever comes up in the exam.

-also reading lots of model answers and trying to emulate them.

Hope this helps - and good luck!

mainly english lang xx

Reply 6

tansrr

11

argh, I found English language dreadful but I loved literature (i'm pretty sure I'll be getting an 8 or 9 on results day for both)

across two years I never really revised for language (i did a past paper like once), but I did for literature as it was a lot more in-depth (notes, exam questions, etc). English lit and language use very similar skills (analysis, comparison, etc) so if you practice them for English literature, you'll undoubtedly get better at them for language as you're using the exact same skills.

if you really want to get better at English language specifically, I'd recommend practicing evaluative skills (by doing evaluative exam questions), analysing unseen non-fiction texts (look online or maybe in a revision guide) as it's difficult to come up with fresh ideas in an exam if you've never seen the extract before, unlike in English literature.

What you can also do for language and literature is essay plans instead of writing the entire essay out once you've gotten better at essay writing as it saves you tremendous time. For an essay plan, I would write my introduction to the question, then i'd get come up with 3 to 4 main points for paragraphs and write them down. Around each point, I'd write down a couple of quotes that apply to the point. Because I already know how to form an essay, it just saved me loads of time, as my struggle was with coming up with ideas in an exam and not essay writing (i used to just go blank for a good 5 minutes, struggling to come up with ideas)

to sum up, i'd say focus on literature in able to help you with the analysis and comparison parts of English language. but also make sure to know how to evaluate (evaluation question was always where I lost marks as I wasn't practicing the skill as much) by answering evaluative questions and maybe look on youtube

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 7

icanhelp2000

3

Hello, I got a 9 in English Language and an 8 in English Literature, I can offer you annotations that are thorough and help you learn how to annotate on the spot and such if you want, message me :smile:

Original post by harleyx123

I'm really bad at English and I really need help!!
I really want to aim for 8s and 9s but I'm not sure where to start.
I'm in yr9 going to yr 10 and I just started GCSE during lockdown.
please help

Reply 8

belle.c

8

English Lit-
Read the texts and books multiple times. If you know what you are studying next year, then read the book or watch a good film version, especially for Shakespeare.
Write chapter / scene summaries as you go along.
Make character, scene and chapter summaries.
I watched Mr Salles on YouTube, as well as Stacey Rea and Mr Bruff, the more interpretations you have the better
There is also quite a lot of free resources on Tea, for all subjects not just English, that I found really helpful.
Contribute to class discussions, this can help you to form your own opinion on a text.

English Lang-
Read the news, on websites such as BBC News, the Guardian and the Times, or any broadsheet newspapers. Also if you struggle with tone for your non fiction writing then listen to speeches read a wider range of books.
Read more, which helps to build up your vocabulary and also to aid your comprehension skills.
Past papers, especially under timed conditions.

Reply 9

harleyx123

OP

15

Original post by icanhelp2000

Hello, I got a 9 in English Language and an 8 in English Literature, I can offer you annotations that are thorough and help you learn how to annotate on the spot and such if you want, message me :smile:

YOU GOT A 9 AND 8 BROOOOOO.
omg!! thank you, i will defo message you :smile:

thank you so much for the help, i really appreciate it :smile:

xxx

Reply 10

Pablopip

10

Original post by harleyx123

I'm really bad at English and I really need help!!
I really want to aim for 8s and 9s but I'm not sure where to start.
I'm in yr9 going to yr 10 and I just started GCSE during lockdown.
please help.

For English Lit the website Sparknotes can be useful for this. Maybe read a bit about each of the books you are studying and even read the Shakespeare alongside the translated version. This should mean when you come to reading it in lessons you will know what is going on and can think about the meaning rather than focusing on trying to understand Shakespearean!