Gcse/igcse english literature : How to study for it?

How did you study for English Literature as a GCSE/IGCSE? As in how do you prep for exam questions after reading the books and poems? Any tips?

Thanks so much in advance!

Reply 1

MargotP

I just watched videos on each poem analysis and made sure i knew what kind of themes/structures/writing styles there were in each. Practice essay writing if you can, and have a teacher correct it for you and give you different tips! Reading also helps with creative writing and lets you relax while studying

I found English kind of tricky to revise for so i didn’t really work a lot apart from on the poems and ended up with A :smile:

Reply 2

studiousstudent2

Thanks so much for replying! I'll definitely do that and try essay writing. Did you have anywhere online where you got prompts for specific books and poems? I've also been doing a poem analysis of every line of each poem, but now I'm wondering if it's really worth it- did you do something similar that contributed to your A? Did you also have a specific way you answered each question? Sorry for all the questions, I hope I'm not being a bother by asking. I'm an external student so I can't ask any teachers.

Thank you so much again for replying! I really appreciate the help!

Reply 3

MargotP

Original post by studiousstudent2

Don’t worry! I understand your position as I’m actually a swiss student so I did only the english igcse on the side :smile:

Are your poems from songs of ourselves?

For poems, compare your analysis with someone else’s! Everyone always has a different interpretation and understanding and it helps you understand the main points. In the exam, is hard to remember all the little notes you’ve written down, all the tiny significances behind each line. Make sure you understand the poem and know how to immediately find 2/3 themes. If you dont have classmates to revise with, i just used youtube and found some helpful videos on how to analyse, as well as many different versions of interpreting each poem!

My pleasure! :smile:

Reply 4

studiousstudent2

This is so so helpful, thank you so much! Yes I'm doing Songs Of Ourselves for the IGCSEs- I've only got a few more to go but it came to the point where I was doing two hours analysis per poem and thought it a bit much.But I'll definitely take what you're saying into account considering you got an A. So I mainly need to focus on a few themes per poem? Was there anything else you found made a difference in how well you answered the questions? What were the type of questions you got?

Tysm again!! :smile:

Reply 5

MargotP

Original post by studiousstudent2

I’m not really sure what the questions where again its been a few years... I remember revising the themes for each poem, and trying to read the poem without any notes around it/printing out the poem again and trying to analyse it. The questions were about the main symbols in the poem i believe - nothing too precise. On some practice exams though I had trouble understanding the question, and its easy to get past that! Just go over the poem a few times and find what you think would be an important verse, and see if it could apply to the question! Keep your themes simple, and adding small details and possibly uncover an extra symbol if you can. Showing the examiner you really understand the poem is the most important.

When I get home Ill get out my books and see if I can give some better advice..

Reply 6

ohdahnnyboi

Original post by studiousstudent2

How did you study for English Literature as a GCSE/IGCSE? As in how do you prep for exam questions after reading the books and poems? Any tips?

Thanks so much in advance!

my teacher recommended having character sheets for each text, like im doing An Inspector Calls - a page for each character, and write key quotes for them throughout the book on that sheet and learn them. This means you have quotations for any question. Also, have topic/theme pages, e.g. Socialism in An Inspector Calls - write key quotes for that theme/topic on a titled page like with the characters. And obviously, past papers etc.

Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 7

alevels2020

this is just my experience btw...
- for ur texts, yes you need to learn quotes but technique is SO much more important. tbh, you could probably get away with only remembering basic quotes but you can get 8/9 by making sure your technique is excellent. also make sure you use the text given to you and analyse and use quotes from it to death. I used like 8 quotes from the text given to me in the exam and around 3 for the bit where you have to use your own quotes.
- poetry; learn theme, structure, the writing techniques used, different interpretations of the poem. you don’t have to do this but why the poets upbringing/life stories may have affected how they wrote the poem. For eg. a poem called Storm on the Island, the author grew up during the religion war in Ireland and so we can see his experience kinda.
- you literally don’t need to know all the poems, I think I had about 3/4 that I could compare others with so don’t stress out and learn like 20 poems, waste of time.

Hope this helps!

Reply 8

Kayla1709

Quotes / Themes / Analysis make sure you know it inside out and then try essay questions

Reply 9

studiousstudent2

That makes sense, I'll start applying those tips when I get back to the poems! That would honestly be so so incredible, I really appreciate all the advice you've given me. Thank you so so much again!

Reply 10

studiousstudent2

Thank you so much for replying! That makes sense, so the character's family history, traits etc? Should I look up the key quotes online for them or look for them myself (I'm not sure if any key quotes I find important will be relevant). After finding the key quotes should I explore them and write why the quote is so relevant to the character, what it conveys etc?

Thank you so so much again!

Reply 11

xxmaria1912xx

I made lots of mind maps of quotes and stuff like that for all of my texts. For the poetry, I struggled to revise tho.

Reply 12

studiousstudent2

Thank you so much for replying! How do you suggest preparing to analyze the quotes in the text? As in should I just do my best to analyse them in the exam or is there anyway I can prepare for them? When I have to use my own quotes, do you reccomend learning 5 key quotes per character, or something similar like that?

And for poetry I should also look into the poet's background, and how that might translate into the poem? Should I do the same with all poets? Is that something you could get marks for, I didn't know those were questions asked in the exam. Thank you so much!

Do you get to pick the poems in the exam? I've got around 20 from songs of ourselves, and I'm not sure if the picking is random or you get to choose between texts. What kind of questions did you get for the poetry?

Thank you so much again for such a detailed reply, it was so so helpful!!

Reply 13

studiousstudent2

Thank you so much for replying! Okay I'll definitely take those into account. Do you know anywhere online that has specific essay questions and modal answers for certain text?

Thank you so much again!!

Reply 14

studiousstudent2

Did you make the mind maps yourself or get them online then translate them into your own words? What did you get on the exam?
Thanks for the tip!

Reply 15

MargotP

Original post by studiousstudent2

That makes sense, I'll start applying those tips when I get back to the poems! That would honestly be so so incredible, I really appreciate all the advice you've given me. Thank you so so much again!

Just curious - I might have done 1/2 of the same poems as you as were a few years apart - what poems have you studied? I can help more in pms if you want im on holiday and have too much free time now :smile: