Soon I will be self studying English GCSE Literature and I need a very good study/student book which can teach me everything I need to know.
Any recommendations?
Also, is it possible to get a high grade 7-9 by self studying GCSE English purely on my own.
thanks.
There is no book that will teach you everything you need to know. You need to teach it to yourself. A book can help, but just reading through it over and over again isn't going to cut it. Also bear in mind there are plenty of online resources out there - you don't necessarily need to spend money on books to get a good grade.
Mr Bruff was good to me. I think York notes and CGP books are useless if you're looking to get a 9 as they're quite brief but i know some people who used the oxford editions but idk.
I got an 8 purely from the CGP guides for Pride and Prejudice, Macbeth and Inspector Calls. They're not the best really and they are pretty brief, but they do the job if you put the work in.
I got a 7 and I used the hodder education study and revise guides... honestly I used the CGP for my mocks; I got a 5, used these ones in real exam and I got a 7.
I got an 8 purely from the CGP guides for Pride and Prejudice, Macbeth and Inspector Calls. They're not the best really and they are pretty brief, but they do the job if you put the work in.
Nice! This may seem like a dumb question but, how do I actually improve? and get better? and what is the process on getting really good at English? (I haven't studied English in a very long time) for example in maths you get better by practising/memorising the formulas, doing practise questions and doing past papers, which makes it an easy subject to self teach.
What is the process for English? or is it only possible to improve if you have a tutor who can mark/critique your work?
Did you just go through the books and practise your writing afterwards, hoping you are getting better?
I am struggling to come up with a solid study plan to get better at English without the use of a teacher.
Your Welcome I think there is another which has recently come out, I couldn’t use as it came out after my GCSEs but apparently it is really good called Spark Notes or Scratch Notes
Nice! This may seem like a dumb question but, how do I actually improve? and get better? and what is the process on getting really good at English? (I haven't studied English in a very long time) for example in maths you get better by practising/memorising the formulas, doing practise questions and doing past papers, which makes it an easy subject to self teach.
What is the process for English? or is it only possible to improve if you have a tutor who can mark/critique your work?
Did you just go through the books and practise your writing afterwards, hoping you are getting better?
I am struggling to come up with a solid study plan to get better at English without the use of a teacher.
Thanks for your/all responses also!!!
Not a dumb question at all, English is probably the hardest to improve in. And the truth is, you do have to be pretty good at writing to get a decent grade. I had people in my class who were great at remembering the quotes and analysing on a basic level, but they could barely get above a 6, simply because they just weren't writing cohesively enough. To be honest, I think that's what got me a top grade in the end, because although I wasn't spending a whole bunch of time learning quotes, I've always loved writing and my essays usually reflected that.
What I did to revise was, I had four notebooks for each of my novels/plays, so, Macbeth, Inspector Calls, Pride and Prejudice, and then also poetry. For Macbeth, for example, I would structure my notes so that they answered an essay question, so like, how is corruption shown in Macbeth? And then I'd write a sort of 'easy to remember' introductory paragraph, and then bullet points three main points that I would want to discuss if that essay came up in the exam. So it might be a specific character or another theme. And then I'd jot about 4 or 5 quotes down and write a few things about them. That way, you don't have to learn many quotes, especially if you use them again for different essay titles. The key is to analyse the quotes really really well. Pick at the language used, the structure, the connotations, all that kind of stuff that examiners love. Get as many literary devices in there as possible! This site was pretty much my bible in learning as many literary devices as possible: http://literary-devices.com/. Also, if any of your novels/plays require context, add contextual points to every single main point you write.
English isn't an easy subject to self-teach at all and I'd recommend getting a tutor to mark stuff for you. If you're naturally good at writing then you might be able to survive without one, but practising loads of essay questions and getting my teacher to mark them was what helped me the most. She used to give us an essay for Friday homework every single week during year 10 and year 11, and maybe just maybe, that's what got me an 8. All that practice, and seeing where I needed to improve must have helped me more than I realised.
I know a lot of people are suggesting youtube videos right now, but I found them too brief and Mr Bruff pretty much only followed the AQA course at the time, so not helpful when I was doing Edexcel!
Are you currently being home schooled or just doing the subject out of class? I feel like English is really one of those subjects that you need a teacher for. I agree that maths is easy to self-teach but English just isn't, cause you never know how you're doing until you get an essay back and see where you're going wrong.
Sorry about the long essay but I hope it helps you and anyone else!