1) Know your books/poems like the back of your hand. Seriously, this is the best advice I can give you. I was quite lucky in my exam, The Great Gatsby is my favourite book ever, I loved The Kite Runner, and I found a couple of Tennyson and Browning's poems really interesting, and thus I'd enjoyed it all and was more interested in them. I know this one is cliche but it helps so much!
2) Read at least the past two examiners reports, mainly for two reasons. It taught me just how they want an exam answer structured, what they want for marks, common mistakes and simple things one can do to improve their answer. It also taught me this:
DO NOT USE CHARACTER AS AN ASPECT OF NARRATIVE. Centres (including mine) consistently teach character as an aspect of narrative. It is not one. Place is. Chronology is. Symbolism is. CHARACTER IS NOT WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. (Jan or June 2012 examiners report - can't remember which.) This doesn't mean that you shouldn't mention character, but rather how the other aspects create characters.
3) Plan your answer. As tempting as it is to dive straight in, I usually spend one sixth of my time in an exam planning (so 5 minutes for a 21 Marker, 10 for the 42 marker.) while I may create tangents as I'm going along, I always referred them back to my plan, and saw where they'd slot in best rather than go off on one mid essay.
This is particularly key in section Ab) where you create an argument. One of my other subjects is history, and in that we're consistently told an argument is best formed out of five points, (1) An introduction, (2/3) point(s) in support of the question's statement [i.e. how far would you class The Greaty Gatsby as a tragedy], (3/4) point (s) against the statement, (5) a conclusion. If you do this in your plan, your argument will come together best. I also like to take quite an extreme view in an argument on an exam like this - gives your answer a bit of pizzazz.
4 - bonus tidbit) Learn about your authors' lives. Seriously, this is an amazing thing to do for your exam. If you're doing Gatsby please please do this, Fitzgerald was an amazing man and much of his life can be seen in Gatsby. Also, learn about critics' opinions. While not key, a single, easy to fit in phrase (mine was "Gatsby is America" but I can't for the life of me remember who said it) can power your essay through to the top bands.
Those are my biggest pieces of generalised advice. If you need anymore help please don't hesitate to ask.
@Johnny - just did for you mate :P
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