ask me any gcse english lit tips :)

hi everyone, I did my gcses this year and managed to get a 9 in English Literature (64/64 in my Macbeth + Jekyll & Hyde paper, 90/96 in my AIC + power & conflict paper)

feel free to ask me for any advice + tips, and I'll see what I remember!

Reply 1

Ash_300

hi, can you please send me some of your essays/plans, i'm really struggling with the analysis so honestly anything would be helpful. Could you also please send me some of your quotes and their analysis? How did you revise? Also those are amazing results! Congrats!

Reply 2

bbb15

Hello! I have an english literature when i go back to school, and ive gotten a 5 and 6. Im very skeptical of my knowledge on context and how to apply it to essays. Do you have a structure you follow when writing your essays? And could you send me some of your quotes with the analysis please as well as a few essay plans? How are you able to memorise quotes? And how do you revise? Well done!!

Reply 3

Hellopeople!

Original post by indyra

hi everyone, I did my gcses this year and managed to get a 9 in English Literature (64/64 in my Macbeth + Jekyll & Hyde paper, 90/96 in my AIC + power & conflict paper)
feel free to ask me for any advice + tips, and I'll see what I remember!

How to get grade 9 in macbeth - do you have notes, essay plans, anything I can have pls pls help and same for inspector calls

Reply 4

indyra

Original post by Ash_300

thank you!

regarding essays & essay plans, if I'm being completely honest, I never actually wrote any amazing essays or plans except for during the exam which I happened to do really well in

my tip is to know quotes + analysis for the text really well but choose your quotes wisely
you want quotes for each character & theme
e.g. repression & dr jekyll - “my devil had long been caged, it came out roaring”

•

this quote shows that the more Jekyll tries to limit his addiction & repress himself, the stronger it grows

•

using the metaphor of a "devil" links Jekyll's addiction to being Hyde with an image of hell - this would repulse a predominantly Christian society, and therefore demonstrates his addiction as a painful punishment (link to context)

•

the verb "caged" symbolises confinement - this is reflective of how Victorian society locks up people's impulsive desires (link to context)

•

the anthropomorphism of the verb "roaring" signals aggression, which reflects the power & violence of Jekyll's suppressed desires after finally emerging

there are other things I could've added to the analysis, but they key points to take away is that the best essays are often those that analyse only a few quotes but in much detail (and fluently embed small ones along the way) and those that provide an alternative analysis tend to get the top grades

when you analyse anything, think about why the author is presenting the scene/character this way - everything they do is for a purpose and always link it to the context the text was set in
remember to consider effect on the reader too!

my way of revising aside from learning quotes and searching the entire web for a bunch of analysis was knowing what exactly the examiners were looking for and I think that is what really helped me in the end

if you are running out of time, don't bother with a conclusion, in fact I'd suggest to not even write one because my school told us we did not need need them
as long as you have a strong thesis at the start, outlining your general answer to the question they give you + the writer's intention, followed by a paragraph for each of your points (with a topic sentence at the start), then you are good to go

hope that was helpful :smile:

(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 5

indyra

Original post by bbb15

thanks!

I never learnt very complicated context - even the obvious context that everyone else will mention will you get marks and this can often be linked to themes (I would explain in detail but it's been 7 months and I barely remember it)
Jekyll & Hyde Context:

•

Victorian society was very repressive because of the importance of maintaining a respectable reputation --> this links to the theme of repression/secrecy, reputation

•

society was also very religious (predominantly Christian), so when Darwin published his book On the Origin of the Species it was very controversial - people did not accept it because it went against their religious beliefs --> this links to the theme of science vs religion

•

Lombroso's theory of physiognomy (Google would explain better)

•

Freud's theory of Id, Ego, Superego (again Google would be better but essentially Jekyll represents the Ego, Hyde represents the Id)

Macbeth Context:

•

divine right of kings

•

great chain of beings

•

patriarchal society

•

regicide

Now how I'd apply context to any essay would often be by linking it to a quote
e.g. "is this a dagger I see before me" - Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 1

•

the rhetorical question exhibits the internal conflict Macbeth faces towards his actions

•

his hallucination of the dagger demonstrates the toll that the thought of regicide is already having on him - it is symbolic of him spiralling into madness

•

the "dagger" is a manifestation & externalisation of his "black & deep desires" (quote from Act 1 Scen 4)

•

a "dagger" connotes violence & betrayal, hinting at the regicide Macbeth is about to commit - the ultimate sin going against God & the Divine Right of Kings

•

a modern audience may feel sympathy for Macbeth's tumultuous mental state, however The Jacobean audience would've been repulsed by even the thought of regicide

"ape-like fury"

•

the simile blurs the line between man & animals, drawing attention to Hyde's troglodytic nature

•

the dehumanising image of Hyde strips of his humanity and suggest that his violent actions are driven by innate desires

•

the comparison to an "ape" implies that there is something primitive about the violence & evil that Hyde exhibits

•

reference to "ape" also links to Darwin's Theory of Evolution - Stevenson may have intentionally played on his Victorian readers' fear of evolution in order to make Hyde appear more terrifying
alternatively, Stevenson could be imply that all humans have inherited some level of savagery from the original creatures we have evolved from

For structure I'd just have my thesis followed by my paragraphs with a topic sentence at the start of each one and no conclusion because my thesis would include all the ideas I'd present in my essay anyways

Unfortunately I never made any essay plans because I was very lazy and left my revision till too late so I spent my time memorising quotes and analysis
the way I'd memorise quotes was a very weird method but it worked out well: I'd walk around my room saying the quotes out loud and then repeating it till it got in my head, and then I'd try see how much I remember the next day and keep revising them so that I wouldn't forget them till the exam

hope that helped a bit :smile:

Reply 6

Ash_300

Original post by indyra

thank you!
regarding essays & essay plans, if I'm being completely honest, I never actually wrote any amazing essays or plans except for during the exam which I happened to do really well in
my tip is to know quotes + analysis for the text really well but choose your quotes wisely
you want quotes for each character & theme
e.g. repression & dr jekyll - “my devil had long been caged, it came out roaring”

•

this quote shows that the more Jekyll tries to limit his addiction & repress himself, the stronger it grows

•

the verb "caged" symbolises confinement - this is reflective of how Victorian society locks up people's impulsive desires (link to context)

•

the anthropomorphism of the verb "roaring" signals aggression, which reflects the power & violence of Jekyll's suppressed desires after finally emerging

there are other things I could've added to the analysis, but they key points to take away is that the best essays are often those that analyse only a few quotes but in much detail (and fluently embed small ones along the way) and those that provide an alternative analysis tend to get the top grades
when you analyse anything, think about why the author is presenting the scene/character this way - everything they do is for a purpose and always link it to the context the text was set in
remember to consider effect on the reader too!
my way of revising aside from learning quotes and searching the entire web for a bunch of analysis was knowing what exactly the examiners were looking for and I think that is what really helped me in the end
if you are running out of time, don't bother with a conclusion, in fact I'd suggest to not even write one because my school told us we did not need need them
as long as you have a strong thesis at the start, outlining your general answer to the question they give you + the writer's intention, followed by a paragraph for each of your points (with a topic sentence at the start), then you are good to go
hope that was helpful :smile:

Thank you so much! I'll try that, and i love the analysis of the quote, thanks again x

Reply 7

FM-LovesOxford

Can I ask how did u revise and prepare for english lit cos whenever I revise and have a test, I always get a 7 but I want to get a 8/9 in gcse? Any tips would help and quotes for macbeth, inspector calls, Christmas carol would help! Tysm