Any A/A* tips for AQA GCSE English Lit & Lang?

Yeah and for those that have done theirs how did you revise the poems? I'm having trouble trying to revise it none of it is sinking in! I am doing Carol Ann Dufy, Simon Armitage and Pre 1914's, Of Mice & Men and the Different Cultures Cluster 2. And does anyone know where to find A*/A example essays? Thank you!

Reply 1

cathay

How I try revising poems is by writing some practice essay questions and write down lot of notes of the poems on paper or revision cards to remember them.

Try this website of a sample A grade essay:

http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/extras/poetryessaygradea.htm

hope this helps :smile:

Reply 2

Tyraell

Hey there!

For my GCSE English Literature I just made sure I read through the set texts (you'll need to do this several times - not just glance but critically reading), did plenty of essay practice - got set them every five minutes - and discussed the texts a lot. For this, I also had a group convo's on msn with some friends about it - it really helped me organise/ gain ideas and I was having to express them in a written form too!

For English Language creative writing, it's all about practice! Just keep doing lots of practice writing etc. (making sure to include those pesky techniques, and so on) and get it marked by your teachers. Learn from what you do right/wrong and you'll gradually notice yourself improving and using techniques automatically.

Also, if you use the thesaurus heavily (but appropriately) when practice writing you can build up a bank of 'exam words' to impress the examiner with... :P

Oh - and another tip I would give: try to put a slant on your creative writing. (a) this allows you to manipulate the question slightly to something you'd want to write about and (b) it makes you stand out and increases the creativity or interestingness. For example, my question was 'describe yourself', for which I wrote about a person sitting in the middle of a town center and the day passing by - it made it easier and I'd recently written something fairly similar! Or for other things I would often take a very ironic tone, like my other question was write a 'survival guide' - or something - for a teenager staying home alone for a week; I set this like staying in the wilderness and created a scene where the people were animals etc.

The reading paper is all about exam technique and thinking on your feet, in my opinion. You have to learn to look out for certain technique and express your idea/ enough ideas appropriately. Your teachers should help you with this.

I hope all of that helps and that I didn't go too off track! (and I did AQA so I hope it's the same exam to the one you're doing... It sounds like it is)

(P.S. All of the above is my own opinion - I may be very wrong and it may not work for you as it did for me! Health Warning! ^_^)

Reply 3

Miss Melancholie

Spec A or spec B? Sounds like A from what you're studying, but don't want to give advice that isn't relevant to your spec...

Reply 4

Zwitter Ion

For my GCSE LIT exam i used the CGP revision guide and the york notes they are really helpfull and also a good tip is on the morning of the exam re-read through your texts one last time wake up early and do it.. this way when it comes to the exam you won't waste time re-reading it in as much detail.
Also the text i had to study was of mice and men again i used 3 different books to revise for this i used- GCP,LETTS and york notes this way i read all the books and then chapter summaries and then i made my own notes from what i understood.
Again writing essays is usefull. They helped me alot also if you buy the CGP book they have model A grade answers and they also give you a template to follow when writing a respond.
In the end i got an A* so it does help

Reply 5

Tyraell

I have to say I agree - the CPG books are really helpful, especially in giving background! However, for an A* response you'll probably have to take your understanding/ discussion beyond what CPG gives you.

Reply 6

city_chic

I did Of Mice and Men too, as well as An Inspector Calls. What I did for each book was to write out all of each character's main quotes, so that I'd remember them if need be. I also wrote out the main themes of each book, and quotes to go with each. Re-read over the books/poems as much as possible so you're familiar with them.

For English Lang, I practised writing descriptions and stories (we had to do one of each in the exam) and made sure I would be able to use all the techniques i.e. alliteration, sibilance, metaphors etc. etc. Just practise writing in different formats, and you'll be fine :smile:

(I did WJEC though so your exams may be totally different).

Reply 7

cheryljc

Both really depend on preparation over the 2 years rather than revision itself. I got A*s in both of mine, and basically I just re-read the texts and read through my notes. Plenty of essay practise is a must-have, so if you haven't done many practice essays, do some and get your teacher to mark them for you.

Good luck :smile:

Reply 8

aishahqwertyuiop

hey just remember to use SMILE...

Structure
Meaning
Imagery
Language
Effect

Reply 9

spurs9393

Original post by aishahqwertyuiop

hey just remember to use SMILE...

Structure
Meaning
Imagery
Language
Effect

Only 8 years late pal

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Reply 10

kingspaniard

Original post by aishahqwertyuiop

hey just remember to use SMILE...

Structure
Meaning
Imagery
Language
Effect

Aha yh a bit late!
But I made this to use for each paragraph:
PERCIL:
Point
Evidence
Reader impact
Context
Idea of writer
Language effect

I use it as a checklist