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English Literature: How To Improve?

Hi, I'm in Year 11 so my GCSE exams are pretty soon. I'm confident in all of my subjects except English Literature.

Throughout this school year I've been averaging 8s/9s in my other subjects but 5s/6s in this.

I just can't seem to improve: I've read the texts, annotated them, completed the CGP workbooks and made mindmaps - but nothing seems to be working.

I'm pretty stressed because I'm considering medicine in the future, which typically requires a solid set of decent GCSE results, and my teacher is always saying stuff like "just try harder, you can gets 9s in maths so why not this?", which isn't helpful.

So please can someone give me any advice? I'd be happy with a 7, but I'm currently at a loss about how to achieve that. Thanks in advance.

(Also, the texts I do are: Macbeth; A Christmas Carol; An Inspector Calls; Power & Conflict Poetry Anthology).

Reply 1

(e^iπ+1)^-1

Hello . I was in exactly the same situation untill recently. Here is what I did:

for poetry use genius and something called lit chart. Then make 2 sided small revision cards for each poem with 4 quotes 1/2 structural features ( rhyming , enjambment any thing like that) and some background info on the historical context and poet.

for the plays and novel: you should make 5/6 essays on different themes ( must be very different) and characters. When you have a test you will probibly get questions surrounding one of the themes so you can't modify your essay to suit the question.

In the test you should be aware of how you communicate your ideas. for example if you are mentioning what an author is saying use adverbs like "effectively" or " carefully". Use sophisticated language. Always link your analysis to the question and always consider what the author wants to say for the audience at that time and mention some context.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

absolutelysprout

have you tried doing practice exam questions?
if you haven't, i'd know the key themes in each novel/play and know a few quotes for each them- memorise them and know how to use them in the essay.
5/6 is good for english lit, and as long as you get a decent pass i'm sure it won't stop you from doing medicine.

Reply 3

zahra102

thanks this was really helpful , I've been looking for ways to get better at English literature for ages

Reply 4

maths_2001

This time last year I was in year 11 getting 6/7s for English lit (and language) so I decided I needed to improve it to get to the same level as my other subjects. What I found really helped was practice questions, so I completed a type of every single question into my teacher to mark after the Easter holidays. Once I got them back I listened to the feedback and recorded the marks for each question separately (e.g. Paper 1 - Q5 6/10, Q6a 17/20). Then using a slightly different question (e.g essay on a different theme) I re-did first the questions I did worst on, and then those I could've improved on. Again I listened to the feedback and recorded my mark. From here I repeated it all the way up to the morning of the exam so knew exactly how to write a good essay for each question.

Reply 5

blue338

If you look at requirements for 26-30 marks (
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-87022-SMS.PDF )

you are required to be critical, judacious and exploratory. This all means your ideas have to be original, explore different alternative ideas and pick concise evidence out you can say a lot about. Your introduction and conclusion need to be critical where you evaluate the whole task and writers method.

In terms of originals and exploratory content its really up to you, examiners would want to see something original, and as good as CGP books are you should ditch them and try either York Notes or Collins snap revision books purely because everyone uses CGP instead so it is hard to maintain originality.

At this point in time you shouldn't be doing much revision but more exam practice heres some Macbeth questions:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5294092
and heres AIC questions:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5293670
the more of these you do the more you can improve on your exam technique.

Reply 6

MimiElf

The two resources I've been finding most useful for revising English Lit are Mr Bruff on YouTube and Seneca Learning's revision platform.
I've also been doing quite a lot of practice questions under timed conditions, so that I improve my exam technique. And I have post its stuck around my room and flashcards for learning quotes.
But it sounds like you're pretty comfortable with the content, and so for the higher grades it's the analysis you need more of. In which case, i'd definitely recommend Seneca and Mr Bruff, and any other youtubers / places like SparkNotes etc. Just anything that gives you new ideas on the texts can be very useful! Good luck

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