Revision tips…English and Literature

Dates and timings

• English Literature – Shakespeare and the 19thCentury novel 22nd May, AM

• English Literature – Modern texts and poetry 26th May, AM

• English Language – Explorations in Creative reading and writing 5th June, AM

• English Language – Writer’s viewpoints and perspectives 12th

June, AM

Language papersBoth are worth 50% 1 hour 45 mins 80 marksPaper 1:Question 1 - 4 marks – 5 minsQuestion 2 – 8 marks – 13-14 mins (annotate & plan)Question 3 – 8 marks – 13-14 mins (annotate & plan)Question 4 – 20 marks – 25 mins (5 plan)Question 5 – 40 marks – 45 mins (5 plan)

Paper 2:Question 1 – 4 marks – 5 minsQuestion 2 – 8 marks – 13-14 mins (highlight differences)Question 3 – 12 marks – 15 minsQuestion 4 – 20 marks – 25 mins (5 min plan – compare)Question 5 – 40 marks – 45 mins (5 plan)

Literature papersPaper 1: 1 hour 45 mins 40% 64 marks

Shakespeare – extract for close analysis on character or theme

Bullet point 2 – same theme in wider text (50 mins – half on each section)

The Sign of Four - extract for close analysis on character or theme

Bullet point 2 – same theme in wider text (50 mins – half on each section)

Paper 2: 2 hour 15 mins 60% 96 marks

Blood Brothers 45 mins

Poetry comparison 45 mins

Unseen poetry and unseen comparison 45 mins (30 & 15)

Quick check!

• “There is something positively inhuman in you at times”

• “inside, a gravel path wound through desolate grounds…”

• “occasional glimmerings of reasoning…”

• “there was something strangely incongruous in this oriental figure framed in the commonplace doorway…”

• “Nice, amiable people, Watson!”

• “There was, to my mind, something eerie and ghost-like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light…”

Look closer!

• “There was, to my mind, something eerie and ghost-like in the endlessprocession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light…”

Embedded clause, reminding us it’s Watson’s perspective.

Semantic field of the afterlife. ‘Eerie – adjective –connotations of unnerving mood; adj ‘ghost-like; noun -‘procession’

Connotations of other-worldliness – why faces?

Verb choice - inconstant

Adj. implying closed in, lacking light, claustrophobic

Figurative / symbolic language –‘narrow bars’ imply that he is trapped, caged in some way.

Always read the question first. Underline / annotate the focus (AO1)

Spend no more than 5 mins highlighting RELEVANT AO2 – it MUST relate to the question!

Use your own shorthand for annotating

Make sure that your examples are taken from the whole source, not just the beginning

“No, no: I never guess.”

Conan Doyle’s language choices at the beginning of

the extract give a strong assertion from Sherlock

Holmes, which demonstrates his self-confidence,

“No, no”. This negative repeated exclamation serves

to highlight that when it comes to ‘detection’,

Sherlock is extremely confident in his own abilities.

His slightly arrogant self-belief is further proven with

the statement “I never guess.” Here the syntax

chosen by ACD shapes the sentence so that

emphasis falls on the pronoun ‘I’, which helps the

reader to assume that this is a confident man.

Modelled example of closely analysing the text (AO2) Question: How does Conan Doyle presentHolmes in this extract?Short quote is

AQA’s preferred style

Red = evidence

Green = device

Blue = ‘how’

Purple = writer’s intent

Familiarise yourself with key quotes in visual and kinaesthetic ways!

Chalk pens – window, mirror.

Change them daily.

Get your parents/carers /siblings to test you!

Learn some of the key lines from the poems from memory. Write them out on large, colourful paper. Blue tack them in places around your home! Get someone to take one down – which one was it? Can you remember the quote?

Twitter : @bhbsenglish

What’s an appropriately fitting quote for each picture?

For visual learners – find things that help to make quotes memorable!

I love this one…

Your teachers’ top tips• Mrs Grinnell “Zoom in on key word quotations”

• Miss Ireland “Always ask yourself ‘why?’ when writing a comment – if you’ve explained why, you’ve given a good answer, if not, add it in!”

• Miss Santese “Annotate the question”

• Miss Smith “Read the question carefully first, before anything else!”

• Mr Merrick “Always make a plan before attempting any extended pieces”

• Mr Foulkes “If you intend using any mnemonics or acronyms, write them down in a space on the exam paper so you remember them and so that the examiner can see your thinking…. Take a watch – keep it on the table”

Miss Griffiths…“Know which AOs are being assessed for each question.”“learn timings for each exam and be sure to move on to the next question on time”“Take at least two highlighters to differentiate between evidence for the different questions”“add a ‘device box’ to help you remember what you’re aiming to include in your written responses.”

Be the student who stops the examiner for a WOW factor break!