OCR English Lit Help !!

Hi!
I've currently just started year 12 and am studying lit, history, econ + epq.
I was fortunate enough to get quite high GCSEs and want to continue that in A-levels, but I did so without much revision, so now I'm trying to find out how to revise effectively, especially for lit.
If anyone who did OCR lit (Hamlet, Rossetti, Ibson, Orwell and Attwood) has any resources, revision methods or any advice in general that would help to achieve high grades, it would be really appreciated.

Reply 1

checka888

im in yr13 doing OCR lit, but not the same books as you! fortunately, i can give you some [hopefully] useful advice [i got an A* in summer mocks] !

my biggest tip is to research, research, research. the way you get top marks in english - im sure you're already well aware of the ridiculously high grade boundaries - is through understanding of the text primarily, and an understanding of the AOs , or in other words, what the exam is asking of you.

what kind of stuff to research? oddly enough, i would start with AO5 - so critics and critical interpretations of the text. i would recommend using JSTOR [you get 100 free articles a week if your school doesnt already have a subscription] to find essays and journals on the text, but all it takes at first is a simple google of the text [for more popular novels/authors e.g. Orwell, there are 1000s of resources available]. blogs are super useful, as they're typically easy to read and short, whilst still containing really interesting opinions of the text. i also use other people's pre-made Quizlets, as well as websites like savemyexams.com if you're struggling to understand what a certain chapter is about. what all this enables you to do, is to get a nuanced perception of the text, and from that you will be able to form your own opinions. this will also improve your AO1, as reading how other people structure their arguments can help structure yours as well.

after you have excellent general understanding of the text, you will subconsciously start to think about what it means to you. it will all make sense to you suddenly [sounds weird but i promise!], and you will actually start to enjoy researching it; you want to find more evidence to support your views [dont forget to engage with even the views you disagree with, this is what an A* student does e.g. "although Smith suggests "xyz", it could also be argued that {insert own opinion}...".]

in terms of revision, i had to switch up from my gcse method, which was flashcards, simply because there are more AOs with different weightings. i now make a huge knowledge organiser - using all the info i collected from in class/personal research - for each compartment of the exam [e.g. The Gothic, or The Tempest etc]. in this, i split it up into sections of the following: general themes [in which you include quotes to support], context, and AO5. you want to make sure that you have the most info on the most weighted AO e.g. if AO3 = 50%, you want to ensure that you have the most knowledge in context. i then print this out, and although it might sound a bit strange, almost discuss each quote/point aloud to myself, highlighting and making more links in pen as i go. when you fully immerse yourself in a text, you will suddenly find you are remembering loads of quotes, context, and critics quotes.

i know it sounds a lot, but thats because it is - this is an A-Level. its supposed to be challenging and hard, and you have to dedicate a lot of time to your subjects if you want to achieve those top grades.

hope this was helpful, and please dont hesitate to ask if you want more help or a bit more clarification :smile: