How to Revise for IGCSE English Literature: Tactics That Work

Revising for IGCSE English Literature can feel overwhelming, especially with so many texts to remember and different types of questions to prepare for. But don't worry — with over ten years’ experience teaching English students, I have helped prepare hundreds of students for their English Literature exams. With the right approach, you can tackle your revision in a way that boosts both your confidence and your grades.

This guide will walk you through 10 key tactics to help you revise effectively for IGCSE English Literature. Whether you’re studying Cambridge CIE or Edexcel IGCSE, these strategies are backed by science and are sure to work for you.

Understand the exam structure

Before you start revising, it’s essential that you know what your exam will look like. Different exam boards assess students in different ways, but most IGCSE English Literature courses include:

• Poetry and prose: You will study and analyse set texts.

• Drama: You will study a Shakespeare play and/or a modern drama.

• Unseen texts (Optional): Some students must analyse a poem or prose passage they haven’t seen before.

• Coursework (Optional): Some students submit essays instead of sitting all exam papers.

At Save My Exams, we’ve made sure that our revision notes are always aligned with the specific exam board (and exam questions) that students will be studying for. You can find the revision notes for our IGCSE English Literature courses here:

IGCSE English Literature Revision Resources

Make the mark scheme your friend

Understanding how your work will be graded is crucial for getting top marks. I even made sure that my students could confidently mark each other’s work so that they really knew what examiners were looking for in the very best answers. One place to start is to look at your exam board’s assessment objectives and focus on:

• AO1: Understanding and responding to texts

• AO2: Analysing language, structure, and form

• AO3: Context and connections between texts

• AO4: Spelling, punctuation, and grammar (in some exams)

Understanding the different assessment objectives — and the command words — that you are assessed on is crucial when you’re revising: you’ll know exactly what skills you’re being examined on for each and every question. These can be difficult to understand, but here at Save My Exams our Cambridge CIE IGCSE English Literature exam paper overview pages set all of this out in student-friendly language:

Paper 1 Overview

Paper 2 Overview

Paper 3 Overview

Paper 4 Overview

Additionally, our revision notes for the Edexcel IGCSE English Literature course include breakdowns of the mark schemes and model answers for all question types.

Create a revision schedule

Having a structured revision plan will help you stay organised and ensure you cover everything before your exams. When making your schedule:

• Prioritise weak areas first: Focus on texts, themes, or skills you find most challenging.

• Set realistic goals: Plan to revise for manageable chunks of time.

• Balance your time: Rotate between poetry, prose, and drama to keep your revision varied.

• Use active recall: Don’t just read your notes; test yourself regularly.

For more details on the benefits of creating a revision timetable, including a downloadable template, see our article on Revision Timetables here.

Find revision strategies that work for you

Everyone learns differently, so experiment with revision methods that suit you better. In my time as a teacher, I used to train other teachers on specific revision techniques that work (and call out lots that don’t work). The best revision strategies are backed by science and are known as “active strategies”. The opposite — passive revision strategies, like re-reading and highlighting — are very ineffective. Some cognitive science-backed techniques include:

• Active recall: Self-test on themes and quotes instead of passively re-reading.

• Spaced repetition: Review your notes regularly over weeks rather than cramming.

• Dual coding: Use diagrams, charts, and colour-coded notes to reinforce learning.

• Elaborative interrogation: Ask “why” questions about themes and characters to deepen understanding.

Combining different strategies is the most effective way to retain information — so try out a few of the above!

Organise your notes by theme and character

A great way to manage your revision is to structure your notes thematically rather than revising each text chronologically. This will help you make connections across texts and make connections between characters as well.

Make mind maps connecting themes, key quotations, and character development.

At Save My Exams we always organise our IGCSE English Literature revision notes on texts by theme and character so you can make these connections more easily when you sit your exams.

Use flashcards to memorise more than just key quotations

Flashcards are a great way to test yourself and determine what you do (and don’t) know about a text. However, most students use flashcards only to revise quotations. Even better is to combine characters, themes and quotations so that you are revising multiple aspects of a text at once. For each text, create flashcards with:

• A quotation on one side

• The character, theme, and section of the text (for example, the chapter, or act and scene) on the other side

Try covering one side and recalling the information. Colour-code your cards by character or theme to make recall easier.

Exam Tip: Examiners don’t expect you to memorise long quotes, but short, relevant ones will boost your answers.

Practise writing exam answers in timed conditions

One of the most effective ways to improve your exam technique is to practise writing timed essays. The best way to do this is to gradually build up to writing full essays, first by getting confident creating essay plans.

Try to practise writing timed essay plans (in roughly five minutes) — a bullet point summary of ideas organised into three or four paragraphs — for past paper questions. Even better, ask your teacher to give you a list of practice questions to plan essays for.

Once my students became confident making these essay plans, they were also able to build their exam technique and confidence by regularly writing timed paragraphs (in about ten minutes), using these quick essay plans. 

Once you’re comfortable with planning, and have confidence in writing timed paragraphs, move on to writing full timed responses.

Test yourself with past paper questions

Every IGCSE exam board releases past papers. Download and attempt as many as possible. Pay attention to:

• The types of questions asked (are they on particular characters, or themes?)

• The command words (e.g., “Compare,” “Analyse,” “Discuss”)

Try writing essay plans for these past paper questions (as outlined above), and slowly build yourself up to completing full essays in timed conditions. Here at Save My Exams we have past papers for both IGCSE courses:

Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature Past Papers

Edexcel IGCSE English Literature Past Papers

Ask for help

You don’t have to revise alone! Make use of the support available to you:

• Teachers: Ask for feedback on practice essays or clarification on tricky themes. Don’t put this off: teachers like me always want to help students who want to improve!

• Study groups: Revising texts with friends (and testing each other) can deepen understanding.

• Online resources: Use official exam board materials, past papers, and analysis videos.

• Parents and siblings: Even if they’re not studying the subject, they can quiz you on quotes or themes.

It’s really important that if you're struggling, you reach out early — don’t wait until the last minute. Teachers really do want to help!

Stay positive and balanced

Revision can be stressful, so don’t forget to:

• Take regular breaks

• Get plenty of sleep

• Stay active and eat well

• Ask for help from teachers if needed

The more you prepare, the more confident you’ll feel walking into your IGCSE English Literature exam, but working too hard can be counter-productive: make sure you pace yourself and get plenty of rest. For more information on staying stress-free during your revision, check out our Free Exam Anxiety Relief Kit.

Improve your grades with Save My Exams

Save My Exams offers a range of resources to help you excel in your exams. For IGCSE English Literature, we offer a large collection of revision notes (including question-by-question guides), past exam papers and mark schemes.

Our resources are aligned with the specific exam boards, providing targeted support for all students:

IGCSE English Literature Revision Resources

References

EEF blog: “Building study habits and revision routines”