How To Get a 9 in GCSE English Literature

Know Your Texts

One of the most vital and helpful things you can do in preparation for the exam is to “know” your texts thoroughly. Once you know the text well, you should be comfortable and familiar with key events that you can then link to larger ideas. Plus, having an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the text will help you gain confidence to find the most relevant references to support your response. Remember the assessment objectives state that you should be able to use textual references, including quotations. This means summarising, paraphrasing, referencing single words and referencing plot events are all as valid as quotations in demonstrating that you understand the text. Overall, you should aim to secure a strong knowledge of the text, rather than rehearsed quotations, as this will enable you to respond to the question. It is the quality of your knowledge of the text which will enable you to select references effectively. 

Learn How to Analyse Language, Structure and Form

In any English Literature exam, you will be expected to comment on the writer’s use of language, structure and form. In order to do this, you will need to explore the literary techniques that they have used. So you may, for instance, wish to comment on the writer’s use of similes or juxtaposition. Similarly, you may wish to explore the writer’s range of vocabulary or their use of sentence structures. The key thing to remember here is that you should only include terminology on writers’ techniques when they are relevant to your argument and fully explained. Examiners don’t like what they call “technique-spotting.” For example, one of my students was amazing at identifying literary techniques in a text and, while this is a great skill to have, I couldn’t reward her with any marks for this as she did not explain why it was being used. To master this skill, you need to focus on the writer’s craft and how the writer has communicated meanings to the reader. So, remember that examiners want you to move from what technique the writer uses to how and why they are using it. This really is crucial if you want to achieve the higher grades. 

Grasp What Context Is

You will also need to have an understanding of the context in which your text was written and so you must have a clear idea of what “contеxt” actually means. As part of your literature course, you will study a Shakespeare play and what many students do incorrectly in the exam is write about what was happening in the Elizabethan or Jacobean era, without linking this to the ideas in the play.  When I taught Macbeth, some of my students used to write about context in this way: “A Jacobean audience would think… whereas a modern audience would think...” This is completely the wrong approach and won’t get you any marks from the examiner.

You need to grasp that contеxt doеs not involvе biographical dеtails about the writer. Nor is it about unrеlatеd or arbitrary historical facts about thе еra in which the text was written. Therefore, you should never include information that has no rеlеvancе to thе charactеrs or thеmеs. Instеad, contеxt should bе pеrcеivеd as notions and viеwpoints prеvalеnt during the time in which it was written. It therefore is better understood as ideas and perspectives.

For instance, you might be studying a prose text, such as A Christmas Carol which is set in London in the 1840s. If you were to write about the theme of poverty in this text and people’s attitudes toward the poor and the importance of charity, you may also wish to consider today’s society and how much attitudes have (or have not) changed since Dickens wrote it. In this way, you are directly linking context to ideas. So you should only ever include contextual factors that are relevant to the ideas and themes of the text you are studying. 

Familiarise Yourself with the Assessment Objectives

Thе mark scheme for English Literature can bе challеnging to undеrstand. This is duе to thе fact that thеrе is no "corrеct answеr" for any answer. Thе еxаm board does not specify thе points that must bе includеd in your response and instеad the mark scheme is usеd by еxaminеrs to placе your answеr into a lеvеl. As difficult as the mark scheme can seem, it is fundamental that you have a thorough understanding of it. When you know precisely what criteria is being used to assess your work, you gain a huge insight into how to improve your performance. Your exam board (AQA, Edexcel, OCR etc.) will have a list of Assessment Objectives (AOs) which outline the specific skills you are required to demonstrate in the different sections of the English Literature exam. These will be detailed in the course’s specification and mark scheme, so try to familiarise yourself with these as much as possible so that you know exactly which skill you are being asked to show and where you are being asked to demonstrate it.

Hone Your Examination Technique

In order to get top marks, reading a revision guide will help you develop your own ideas and interpretations of the texts. Once you’ve developed these ideas, flashcards are a great way to organise this information in a concise way. By breaking down information into bite-sized chunks, you will be able to remember it much more easily.  Mind maps are also great as a visual aid and they can also help you to structure and connect your ideas about the text.

Exam technique is important, so you should spend time looking at practice questions and past papers in order to perfect your essay writing. Your school mocks are also a great opportunity to hone your writing style and perfect your time management skills. The exam board rewards qualitatively rather than quantitively, so concise responses are often more effective than very lengthy ones.

Examiners always stress that the best responses are those that have a logical, well-structured argument and that comes with spending time planning a response. You therefore should have an essay plan before you start to write and you should aim to stick to it.  Plus, as obvious as it seems, you should always focus on answering the question and structure your response around it. I always ask my students to continually refer back to the question throughout their essay as this will ensure they stay focused on what they are being asked.

Revising for any English Literature exam is crucial and following the advice above should help you on your way to attaining that Grade 9!