Hi everyone,
Having read your comments I completely understand your concerns as I too had poor teaching. Don't worry though, I worked extremely hard and received full marks in both my poetry (Yeats and Kavanagh) and Gatsby sections so I can give you's some tips on what worked for me in my module last Summer.
Firstly, for the poetry section relate to the key terms in EVERY opening line of EVERY paragraph, it is vital that you let your examiner know that you are understanding the question set. This may seem highly obvious yet this worked for both myself and another student 2 years prior to me who also received full marks in his exam. Also, state e.g "Next, both Yeats and Kavanagh depict the theme of childhood in their poems "Among School Children" and "A Christmas Childhood" by their use of form and structure.." By tweaking this line to suit situation/language/imagery/tone, you are literally telling the examiner what's next on your list of methods and making it extremely easy for marks to be awarded per each method. So for the poetry, I would definitely advise that your essay structure is key to gaining high marks as a messy and unorganised structure does not clearly outline what you're discussing and how well you know the poems being addressed.
Whilst in The Great Gatsby, essay structure is also extremely important as you must, once again, restate the key terms in EVERY opening line of EVERY paragraph whilst counteracting the given statement. For example the question may be; "The Great Gatsby is more effective as a Symbolic Novel than a Realist Novel". Therefore, you must outline your literary contexts for both novels discussed (gaining AO4 marks) and clarifying how it is symbolic e.g the "green light" reflects money and the "fresh green breast of the New World" which relates to the new settlers of America which Gatsby is essentially a member of. Whilst Realism must also be highlighted e.g "rich girls don't marry poor boys" a direct quote from Ginevra King's father who did not approve of Fitzgerald, thus establishing autobiographical context whilst Fitzgerald also evidently outlines the real settings of The Plaza Hotel and New York, creating an effective Realist Novel. It is essential that you agree and disagree with the terms of the question to gain your AO3 marks, "Whilst Fitzgerald utilises allegory to present a Symbolic Novel, his use of actual locations such as New York prove highly effective in 'The Great Gatsby', thus depicting a Realist Novel."
If there's any main points to take from my advice, I would most definitely encourage you to restate the key terms and any relevant context at any given time, yet try to gain a balance as you don't want to lack in methods (AO2) and quotes (AO1) due to placing too much time and emphasis on the key terms. Also, spend time and effort on writing one superb essay with clear and focused opening lines to each paragraph and a strong introduction and conclusion which can be used as a template to be used in all of your essays, with the exception of altering your key terms to suit the given question. By creating a template to be used over and over again, you will recite such a structure in your actual module, much to your own obliviousness! Also, have a sophisticated vocabulary (AO1 marks) in your mind which can be altered per each paragraph e.g. Fitzgerald.. presents/ depicts/ denotes/ employs/ illustrates/ highlights/ discusses/ manifests/ exhibits/ utilises/ creates/ devises etc.
I hope this helps a lot and eases your concerns. Don't worry and just revise and practice essays, learn quotes and know your context as it is vital to achieve Mark bands 5/6a/6b.
Good Luck to you all and may CCEA be generous to you all this Summer!