The Student Room Group

gcse english literature help

I’ve got an english literature exam on monday and I’m really stressed out and struggling because I haven’t been revising for the texts and i don’t really know how to start.
I’m doing macbeth and frankenstein if that helps.

Reply 1

Original post by ioieq
I’ve got an english literature exam on monday and I’m really stressed out and struggling because I haven’t been revising for the texts and i don’t really know how to start.
I’m doing macbeth and frankenstein if that helps.
hey, dw i did macbeth last year as well and loads of my revision was don ein the week before exams but i still got full marks for that essay, so first thing is dont panic! right now i'd suggest watching an indepth summary video of the book if you haven't read it properly yet, and then make mindmaps of all the key characters (macbeth, lady macbeth, banquo all of them) and the key themes (appearance vs reality, kingship, masculinity etc) and use other resources like i used the pmt summaries coz they were really good and went through them in a lot of detail. make sure for each of these chracters you have about 4 quotes, but keep them short coz you won't be able to learn everything. once you've done this just make essay plans, so get a question from a past paper, like my one last year was on how macbeth is portrayed as a male character or smth like that, and come up with three arguments, some quotes and analysis. dont worry about writing essays coz there's no time for that, but essay plans are just as useful. keep looking over ur mindmaps and knowing the key points is the most important thing, and even if you're not that confident going into the exam, remember you get an extract, and about 60% of ur essay will come from that, so u can js waffle. dont worry youve got this
(edited 1 year ago)
I dont do Macbeth and Frankenstein unfortunately but I do have some advice on how to revise for English lit, not sure of your exam board but I hope its relevant and useful:

1.

Watch a plot summary for each text, you can find these on YouTube

2.

Make sure you know key characters, themes and context- BBC Bitesize is my go to for this if you want something simple, if you want something more complete the notes on PMT are amazing

3.

Memorise paragraph structures for each question, again can’t give specific advice because i dont know your exam board but others might be able to help with that

4.

Try and learn at least 1 key quote per character and theme, i managed to find 5 quotes for Jekyll and Hyde, 1 from each key character which also had the 5 main context points and themes within them

5.

Try your best! if all you can do and don’t beat yourself up if you dont do so good on the exam, its really not the end of the world, especially if you don’t NEED the grade for anything

Hope this helps a little, good luck for Monday- Im doing lit then too, also scared :smile:

Reply 3

Original post by abcdef77
hey, dw i did macbeth last year as well and loads of my revision was don ein the week before exams but i still got full marks for that essay, so first thing is dont panic! right now i'd suggest watching an indepth summary video of the book if you haven't read it properly yet, and then make mindmaps of all the key characters (macbeth, lady macbeth, banquo all of them) and the key themes (appearance vs reality, kingship, masculinity etc) and use other resources like i used the pmt summaries coz they were really good and went through them in a lot of detail. make sure for each of these chracters you have about 4 quotes, but keep them short coz you won't be able to learn everything. once you've done this just make essay plans, so get a question from a past paper, like my one last year was on how macbeth is portrayed as a male character or smth like that, and come up with three arguments, some quotes and analysis. dont worry about writing essays coz there's no time for that, but essay plans are just as useful. keep looking over ur mindmaps and knowing the key points is the most important thing, and even if you're not that confident going into the exam, remember you get an extract, and about 60% of ur essay will come from that, so u can js waffle. dont worry youve got this

tysm will definitely follow your advice!

Reply 4

Original post by DerDracologe
I dont do Macbeth and Frankenstein unfortunately but I do have some advice on how to revise for English lit, not sure of your exam board but I hope its relevant and useful:

1.

Watch a plot summary for each text, you can find these on YouTube

2.

Make sure you know key characters, themes and context- BBC Bitesize is my go to for this if you want something simple, if you want something more complete the notes on PMT are amazing

3.

Memorise paragraph structures for each question, again can’t give specific advice because i dont know your exam board but others might be able to help with that

4.

Try and learn at least 1 key quote per character and theme, i managed to find 5 quotes for Jekyll and Hyde, 1 from each key character which also had the 5 main context points and themes within them

5.

Try your best! if all you can do and don’t beat yourself up if you dont do so good on the exam, its really not the end of the world, especially if you don’t NEED the grade for anything

Hope this helps a little, good luck for Monday- Im doing lit then too, also scared :smile:

tysm for the reply good luck with ur exams as well!

Reply 5

Does anyone know where you can find full mark model answers for all the past papers, or maybe in general actual grade 9 analysis for quotes and themes (I do aqa macbeth and christmas carol + the exam is tomorrow so this is kinda urgent)

Quick Reply