How to REALLY get A*s in English

I agree with most of this, but I'm far from fond of the first part of the 'essay structure' section. I feel that 'PEEL' is rather old school and restrictive to the extent where the line of argument can actually be limited (AQA did pick up on this in their 2018 insight report for GCSE). I definitely would not class it as 'a great method to use' in most circumstances. Saying this, you are right in how elements of PEEL can be expanded on and manipulated, which is an approach that I prefer.

I also hate memes being used for revision. It feels like an absolutely awful distraction from proper study and revision. I will absolutely not be using those for revision, but that is a personal preference, and I can see why some students would use them haha.

I do also feel that learning the assessment objectives is a revision technique for English that is overlooked and can really help students. I organise my notes according to the assessment objective that it falls under and learn which questions demand what kind of assessment objective(s).

I might want to write an article like this in the future, when I am finished with A-level. I appreciate your effort into making this.

Hi, thanks for reading my article! I understand why you may disagree with my recommendation of PEEL and for students who don't want to adhere to it don't have to and may still get top marks. However, PEEL is bare minimum required in order to get high marks, as long as you loosely follow it and adapt it as appropriate to your essay. Of course this method is going to be restricting to those who've mastered essay writing, but it's better to have some form of structure in your mind that will remind you to redirect your argument to the question.

As for the memes, I placed it at the end ofthe article as it's definitely not a substitute for revision, but as a fun form of engaging with your text just like with the tip about using kahoot, engaging with your course and incorporating it into your free time is great as it may not technically help you revise, but it brings forward parts of the plot to the front of your mind --plus makes it more enjoyable to engage with in class

A quick question either of you may be able to answer: when trying to meet AO4 at A-level, is it better to refer to specific authors or works by name, or to make general comments about literary movements?

Are you talking about critical interpretations (AO5) here? I'm pretty sure AO4 pertains to the comparison of literary texts.

I was actually talking about AO4: "AO4 involves connections across texts and sees possible meanings and interpretations arising not only out of the contexts of the text itself (AO3) but also out of the wider and broader contexts which comes from the study of period. Thus even when an individual text is being investigated it should still be seen as being framed by a wider network of texts and contexts to which it connects."

So a better way of phrasing my question would probably be: when one is writing about a single text, should one refer specifically to wider reading in order to meet AO4, or is it preferable to make general statements about how the text fits into its literary movement (how it is innovative or typical, etc)?

Sorry I wasn't clearer!

The statement above seems to refer to wider reading, which can help strengthen AO4 when referenced, but is definitely not required to meet it. You only have to explore connections across texts to meet AO4.

Besides, where was that excerpt from? I didn't see it on OCR's specification (although I haven't thoroughly gone through it).

Thank you so much for your helpful answer! The excerpt was from AQA, the exam board I'm using. I'm not sure whether it would apply to OCR as well.

The assessment objectives are exactly the same across all awarding bodies, so this will apply. Are you with AQA A or B?

I'm with AQA A.

Ah ok, what texts are you studying?

Othello, Jane Eyre, AQA's anthology of love poetry, Spies, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Skirrid Hill. I am taking the exams this summer and am currently trying to polish my exam methodology, which I admit is something of a chore. I'm studying from home, which means that I sometimes feel a bit in the dark about meeting the examiners' requirements.

What about you?

I see. That's a nice combination of prescribed texts. I wonder what it is like studying from home. Anyway, mine are Hamlet, an anthology of 15 poems by Christina Rossetti, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid's Tale, A Streetcar Named Desire and Small Island.

If you don't mind me asking, what grade did you achieve at GCSE?

PEEL still looks quite basic for me, but if you're aiming for a pass, then I guess it is passable. You may see the people that rely on PEEL look like headless chickens when it comes to other elements of English such as creative writing because they've fostered a mentality of depending on an applicable, rather rigid structure to forming arguments for the analysis element of English. For anyone doing English language at GCSE (and even at A-level for coursework), such a mentality of requiring a sort of structure to refer to can sometimes be detrimental. I'm talking about AOs five and six here.

I appreciate the effort to make texts more engaging though, but I guess I just never found much fun with that.

What did you get for your gcse English?