An overview revision guide for my GCSE OCR Board students

1. English Literature A Revision Guide

2. 2 Exams – 70% (Coursework folder – 30%)

3. Drama – 1 of 3 questions in 45 min.

4. Poetry & Prose – 90 min.1 question of 3 on each text Opening Lines

5. Overview Strategy Multi-pass exposure to the source texts over time Familiarity with Question structures Familiarity with timed response structures Awareness of Mark Schemes Review of all class notes & text annotations Online study guide reading Consolidation of class notes & further research Practise planning under timed conditions Practise writing under timed conditions Review and assessment of answers using marking criteria.

6. Drama Identify key moments in the play and re-read them Consider Sherriff’sSTAGECRAFT and EFFECT on the audience Consider the context in which the play was written & 1st performed Review all primary characters Review relationships between characters Review key themes and how they are examined through the play.

7. Poetry Review annotations on ALL of the poems in the collection Actively seek to link poems together based on – Themes Imagery Characterization and narrative perspective Tone and attitude towards the war Make sure you are able to identify the EFFECT of form Use past paper question structures to create new tasks Practise planning quickly Use a word bank of poetic terminology and comparative discourse markers.

8. Prose Review all class notes on the novella Don’t make the mistake of assuming familiarity with this text! Consider the pros/cons of the passage vs. the whole text questions Use past papers to organise your revision for this question Review all primary characters Review relationships between characters (& creatures!) Review key themes and how they are examined in the novella

9. Basic Literature Essay Structure Introduction Directly respond to the title key terms and present a clear opinion and position which you will justify in the remainder of your essay Main Body With close reference to your primary text(s) present a well evidenced argument to support the position (close exemplification & brief embedded quotation)

10. Basic Literature Essay Structure Main Body cont. Make sure each paragraph begins with a topic sentence that relates back to the essay title key terms Use discourse markers of argument (& comparison if relevant) Take the opportunity to demonstrate your appreciation of context where relevant in answering the question

11. Basic Literature Essay Structure Main Body cont. In the Drama / Prose responses, aim to make 4-5 good points that support your position, using several points in the Play / Novella In the Poetry response, place an equal weighting on each of the poems you are analysing and base your answer on closely observed details from the texts – no vague, unsupported opinions

12. Basic Literature Essay Structure Conclusion Return to the title’s key terms and aim to make a final ‘applause cue’ statement which reasserts your previously stated position but with a broader and more sophisticated appreciation of this text’s contextual influences The conclusion should be brief and focused – don’t bleed off into bland praise for the text or its author!

13. If in doubt… Re-read the question Think before you plan Plan before you write Check what you’ve written Put the time in BEFORE the night before!