GCSE OCR English Literature

(By the way, are you doing Edexcel?)

The OP literally writes 'OCR' in the title. I have a feeling that he's probably not doing Edexcel.

Also, remembering all 15 poems is ridiculous. I only properly remembered one, and I got full marks for my poetry. I'm in no position to doubt a senior examiner, but I am of the opinion that there are easier ways to do this.

@Davy611 is an examiner for OCR's GCSE English exams. He's probably got the best insight.

Hi! My teacher in y11, who was a senior examiner or something, recommended knowing all 15 poems enough that if they came up on the paper, you'd remember relevant contextual information and be able to quickly pick out structural and language techniques but only knowing 5 of them in depth. These 5 should cover a range of different topics. For conflict, there's war, family conflict, personal conflict with identity etc. So try to pick 5 that are different in terms of content and techniques used. You can always twist poems and quotes to make sense to whatever you want it to mean - remember, Literature is subjective!!!
(By the way, are you doing Edexcel?)
Something else my teacher would always say is that the English Lit papers are untiered. The exam boards have to make it accessible to all so they will not use the old medieval poems as the one that will be on the paper. They will almost always use the ones that are short and not too hard to understand. But I suggest trying to make one of those really tough poems one of your 5 so that if anything relevant comes up, you will have a scary, unique poem.
To learn quotes: you could either use flashcards and keep reading over them again and again. I'd say forcing yourself to try to remember them word for word is ineffective and pointless. It is acceptable to just learn the essence of the quotes or be able to paraphrase - you will not be penalised for not quoting it perfectly. That is not what is being examined. Another way is to just keep revising the poems until you can just remember quotes. This isn't possible for everyone but a lot people can manage this.
General revision: just try to come up with ideas for possible questions that could come up. The idea of writing practice essays can be very daunting so it is understandable if you just want to write down ideas in note form. Remember context, where relevant. And YouTubers like Mr. Bruff, Mr. Salles and Stacey Reay are really helpful!! Go over notes and discuss ideas with friends because talking about texts can really open up a lot of new ideas.
I really wrote a lot hahah, oops! I hope this helped and let me know if you need me to clarify anything or ever need advice again, I'm always happy to help! x

Hi. Thanks for the link @Tolgarda

Everyone will approach the 'Power and Conflict' poems in different ways. Some will risk it and only revise a handful; others will do all fifteen in detail. It's up to you. You should definitely be reasonably familiar with them all though; you wouldn't want the named poem to be one that you don't know at all.

In terms of the second question, you'll find the question is quite open. If you've got a real expertise in five poems that cover all of the themes then you should be alright.

Does your school have 'Show My Homework'. I've created focused revision quizzes for each of the fifteen OCR poems that can be shared across the platform?

Most centres do 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Macbeth'. My advice is to approach your analysis in a technical fashion. Be confident and clear. Try to be as perceptive and insightful as possible. Remember context; the best essays I marked last summer explored the anti-semitism towards Shylock. Depends which task and extract you get