a level english literature

does anyone have any tips on revising and essay exam techniques for english literature? i am currently working at a consistent B grade, but would like to achieve and A/A*. My texts are a streetcar named desire, Beloved, and Dorian Gray.

Reply 1

sadrien

10

Here is a list of things my teachers told us to do!

•

Flash cards - create flashcards for each of your Literature texts. Aim for cards which cover key characters and themes which include key quotations, relevant AO5 and AO3 that the theme or character relates to.

•

Knowledge Dumps - use a plain sheet of paper, in one colour, write down everything you can remember about the character or theme. In a second colour, use your books to fill in any information that you missed out.

•

Quick fire planning - past papers to plan out answers, thinking about the quotations, analysis and context that you would use and how you would structure your answer. Give yourself a time limit to test where your strengths and weaknesses are.

•

Practise your analysis but annotating extracts deciding on what you would talk about within a paragraph.

•

Watch revision videos on Youtube - Mr Bruff is really helpful!

•

Watch Massolit videos and make notes - you can use these for AO5 critical quotations too.

•

Listen to Revise English Lit podcasts from Seneca

•

Complete past papers using the AQA website

•

Ensure that you have AO5 for each of the texts

•

Revise subject terminology - make sure you can recognise specific techniques, especially poetic techniques. Don't forget to revise structure!

Reply 2

lucymoth

OP

2

Original post by sadrien

Here is a list of things my teachers told us to do!

•

Flash cards - create flashcards for each of your Literature texts. Aim for cards which cover key characters and themes which include key quotations, relevant AO5 and AO3 that the theme or character relates to.

•

Knowledge Dumps - use a plain sheet of paper, in one colour, write down everything you can remember about the character or theme. In a second colour, use your books to fill in any information that you missed out.

•

Quick fire planning - past papers to plan out answers, thinking about the quotations, analysis and context that you would use and how you would structure your answer. Give yourself a time limit to test where your strengths and weaknesses are.

•

Practise your analysis but annotating extracts deciding on what you would talk about within a paragraph.

•

Watch revision videos on Youtube - Mr Bruff is really helpful!

•

Watch Massolit videos and make notes - you can use these for AO5 critical quotations too.

•

Listen to Revise English Lit podcasts from Seneca

•

Complete past papers using the AQA website

•

Ensure that you have AO5 for each of the texts

•

Revise subject terminology - make sure you can recognise specific techniques, especially poetic techniques. Don't forget to revise structure!

omg thank you so much for your help!!

Reply 3

ghaloasjmnasj

11

Original post by sadrien

Here is a list of things my teachers told us to do!

•

Flash cards - create flashcards for each of your Literature texts. Aim for cards which cover key characters and themes which include key quotations, relevant AO5 and AO3 that the theme or character relates to.

•

Knowledge Dumps - use a plain sheet of paper, in one colour, write down everything you can remember about the character or theme. In a second colour, use your books to fill in any information that you missed out.

•

Quick fire planning - past papers to plan out answers, thinking about the quotations, analysis and context that you would use and how you would structure your answer. Give yourself a time limit to test where your strengths and weaknesses are.

•

Practise your analysis but annotating extracts deciding on what you would talk about within a paragraph.

•

Watch revision videos on Youtube - Mr Bruff is really helpful!

•

Watch Massolit videos and make notes - you can use these for AO5 critical quotations too.

•

Listen to Revise English Lit podcasts from Seneca

•

Complete past papers using the AQA website

•

Ensure that you have AO5 for each of the texts

•

Revise subject terminology - make sure you can recognise specific techniques, especially poetic techniques. Don't forget to revise structure!

in order to get into the top band, what does it depend more on? language and literary analysis e.g the usage of the metaphor here suggests or is it more so wider contextual links and stuff? or are they weighed equally? i rlly dont know how much literary analysis to incorporate in my essays to get into the top band and i struggle a lot with remembering the analysis :/

Reply 4

sadrien

10

Original post by ghaloasjmnasj

in order to get into the top band, what does it depend more on? language and literary analysis e.g the usage of the metaphor here suggests or is it more so wider contextual links and stuff? or are they weighed equally? i rlly dont know how much literary analysis to incorporate in my essays to get into the top band and i struggle a lot with remembering the analysis :/

i can only speak for aqa but each assessment objective is weighed equally. i would say that ao2 (analysis) is the most important. learn some critical quotations to slot in there and social/authorial context and you should be good !

Reply 5

ghaloasjmnasj

11

Original post by sadrien

i can only speak for aqa but each assessment objective is weighed equally. i would say that ao2 (analysis) is the most important. learn some critical quotations to slot in there and social/authorial context and you should be good !

ahhhhh scary i hate ao2!! yeah i do aqa too sobs

a level english literature

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