Section B: How To Get Full Marks (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature)

Section B: How To Get Full Marks

The starting point for the analysis of any text is active reading. This means, as you read, annotating the text with your own comments and questions. Stories and novels will often contain many layers of meaning, so it is important that you explore beyond any surface meanings to uncover the deeper ideas and themes. Some appreciation of the context in which a piece of prose was written can also help your understanding, but this should never be the main focus of your exploration.

It is tempting to jump straight in and start writing immediately. However, following this guide will ensure you answer the question in the way the examiners are looking for.

Below you will find sections on:

• What skills are required

• Steps for success

• Top tips

What skills are required

Each question on this exam paper assesses all four Assessment Objectives equally. This means it is important that you know what skills these Assessment Objectives require you to demonstrate in order to get the most marks.

• AO1 is about demonstrating detailed knowledge of the text:

  • This can be through reference to specific quotations and indirect references to the text

  • Whatever references you make, they need to be well-selected and well-integrated into your response

• AO2 is about going beyond the text’s surface meaning and plot to look for underlying ideas and attitudes – the writer’s and our own:

  • This requires you to ask “why” the author has made the choices they have

  • Some elements of the writer’s context can be used to inform your personal response, but only if relevant to the focus of the question

• AO3 requires critical engagement and evaluation of how the text works:

  • “Meanings and effects” suggests that there is more than one meaning for a text, and the language, structure and form of the text contribute to those meanings

  • It does not mean just listing the literary techniques the writer has used

  • In prose, this also means considering how the writer has presented settings, characters and events

• AO4 refers to the way you shape your writing in order to communicate your engagement with the text:

  • These responses directly address the words in the question, which are designed to elicit personal responses, such as “powerful”, “vivid”, “striking”, “memorable” and “moving”

  • Contextual information should help reinforce your own interpretation, but not replace it

  • Your own response is valid as long as it is supported by evidence

The following sections explore the skills you will need to demonstrate in more detail:

• Analysing prose

• Developing a personal response

Analysing prose

Your study of prose in this IGCSE will be based on short stories, extracts from longer prose works or novels. You will either choose a passage-based question, and base your response on the passage given on the exam paper, or an essay question, which will ask you about an aspect of the whole text.

Analysing a piece of prose involves not just looking at the language the writer has used. You might also wish to consider:

What to do when analysing the author’s methods

• Take a whole-text approach:

  • In the essay question, this could involve commenting on structure: “at the start”/“this changes when”/“in contrast…“

  • In the passage-based question, consider how the passage given on the exam paper relates to the rest of the text: where does it appear in the text? What is significant about its position in the text?

• Always frame your essay with the author in mind:

  • As the examiners say: “writers use methods, including language and structure, to form and express their ideas – the choices the writer makes are conscious and deliberate”

  • Therefore, write that the author “highlights X”, “suggests Y”, “challenges Z”

  • Use the words “so” and “because” to push you to explain your own ideas further

• Zoom out to big ideas in your analysis:

  • Go from analysing language, or other writer’s choices, to the author’s overall intention or message

  • This should always link to the focus of the question

What not to do when analysing the author’s methods

• Do not just “spot techniques”:

  • Examiners dislike it when students use overly sophisticated terminology unnecessarily and without analysis

  • Knowing the names of sophisticated techniques will not gain you any more marks, especially if these techniques are only “spotted” and the author’s intentions for this language are not explained

  • Instead of technique spotting, focus your analysis on the reasons why the author is presenting the character or theme the way they are

• Do not just limit your analysis to a close reading of the author’s use of language:

  • You gain marks for explaining all of the author’s choices, not just their language

  • Instead, take a whole-text approach and think about the author’s decisions about:

    • Form

    • Structure

    • Characterisation

    • Setting

• Never retell the story:

  • “Narrative” and “descriptive” answers get the lowest marks

  • Move from what the author is presenting to how and why they have made the choices they have

Perspective

The narrative perspective of a piece of prose is the point of view from which the story is told. It is like a lens through which we view characters and events; we interpret those characters and events based on what the speaker shows and tells us.

There are two main types of narrative perspective:

When considering the narrative perspective, ask yourself if the perspective shifts, or how the perspective affects your understanding of the story.

Characterisation

It is important to remember that characters are constructs, not real people. You should therefore consider what each character’s function is in the novel, how they are presented, how they develop and how they interact with each other. Some characters may also be “foil” characters – this means any two characters who are opposites of each other. For example, Harry Potter and Voldemort are foils of each other – they embody the idea of good versus evil. Foil characters therefore help establish important themes.

There are two main types of characterisation:

Often, characters are symbolic of broader ideas or attitudes. It is therefore important to consider how a character changes as a result of the events in a novel.

Structure

When considering structure, you should think about:

• The way the writer has put the different parts of the story together

• How they set up the world of the story

• How they introduce characters

• What conflicts there are and how they are resolved

• The role of individual chapters or paragraphs in the story arc

• How things change by the end of the story

Developing a personal response

A personal response is your opinion about the text, as relevant to the focus of the question. You are being asked to consider what the writer has tried to do and whether you think they have succeeded. However, it is important that your arguments are convincing, which means that they need to be supported with evidence. Your choice of evidence, whether that be direct quotation of language, or references to the form and structure of a text, must be careful, accurate and effectively explained.

How to structure your response:

Steps for success

Following these steps will give you a strategy for answering this prose question effectively:

1. Grab your highlighter and read the question first:

   • Read carefully and highlight the focus of the question

2. If doing the passage-based question, read the passage with the focus of the question in mind:

   • Highlight and annotate as you read

   • Note down any comments about structure, form and language that will help you to answer the question

   • Ask yourself: how does what I am noting down show the focus of the question?

     • Do not just write a list of techniques the writer has used

3. Do a brief plan of 4–5 points, linking to the quotations you are going to use

4. Start your answer using the wording of the question:

   • This demonstrates to the examiner that you have understood both the question and the text

5. Go into detail:

   • Now you need to make as many points as possible, ranging throughout the passage or text

   • It is a good idea to make your points in chronological order, if possible

   • Use the annotations you have made in the margins to form the basis of each point:

     • Make your point, then support it with quotations and/or direct references to the text

     • Explain how the quote highlights the idea in the question

     • Analyse what the key words and phrases in the quote make the reader feel about the idea in the question

   • Comment on and analyse language, form and structure

   • Link your ideas to the theme and the focus of the question:

     • You should refer back to the keyword in the question throughout your answer

     • Use “because” or “as” to support your ideas with detailed reasons

   • Explore the writer’s intention and message

6. Sum up:

   • Finish your answer with a “So overall…” statement

   • Zoom back out to the big ideas in the text

   • Your finishing statement should sum up what you have discovered, relevant to the focus of the question:

     • However, it should not just repeat the points you have already made

Top tips

• Avoid being too general or vague in your introduction:

  • Your introduction should address the Assessment Objectives in some way

• Avoid simply “re-telling” the story

• Make sure every paragraph answers the question:

  • Do not just write everything you know about the text

• Avoid unnecessary words

• Re-read each of the paragraphs you have written before you write the next:

  • Check that each paragraph is clear and that it answers the question

• Ensure your selection of quotations is directly relevant to the focus of the question